Human rights, civil liberties and technology groups are lambasting a Department of Homeland Security proposal that calls for foreign visitors to voluntarily provide their Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and other personal social media data as a way to further vet them. One civil liberties coalition, which includes Access Now, the Center for Democracy and Technology and Electronic Frontier Foundation, said the plan would be invasive, ineffective and costly. One think tank said the government should be given an opportunity to experiment and assess how such data can be used -- with proper privacy protections.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a 38-page Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review opinion from April that confirms that some government surveillance involving collection of phone numbers is legal. The opinion from the court (which often rules in secret) “confirms the legality of the government’s continued collection of post-cut-through digits (PCTD) using a pen register and trap and trace (PRTT) device, authorized pursuant to Title IV of FISA [the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act],” the ODNI said in a Monday blog post. “Title IV authorizes the government to use a PRTT device to seek and capture dialing, routing, addressing or signaling (DRAS) information. Title IV does not authorize the use of a PRTT device to seek the contents of a communication.” ODNI said it released the opinion in conjunction with DOJ. The FISA court of review “concluded that FISA authorizes and the Fourth Amendment does not prohibit collection of all PCTD obtained with a PRTT device to acquire non-content DRAS information, so long as the government is prohibited from using any incidentally collected content,” the blog post said.
Sixty percent of smartphone users with Pokemon Go were likely to enter a business offering Pokemon-branded discounts to players, said a survey by marketing communications company MGH collected through Survey Monkey Audience. Some 38 percent were likely to buy a Pokemon-themed product, and 60 percent viewed businesses hosting Pokemon promotions favorably, it said. Restaurants and bars topped the list of business categories offering Pokemon-themed products or discounts, followed by retail stores at 44 percent. Facebook (72 percent) and store signage (52 percent) were cited highest for communicating Pokemon-themed discounts. The online survey of 1,000 U.S. smartphone users ages 18-55 was done in July with a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percent at the 95 percent confidence level, it said.
Americans are making their smartphones more secure, CTIA said Thursday, reporting on the results of a Harris Poll it commissioned. Harris found that 69 percent of U.S. wireless consumers surveyed use PINs/passwords on their smartphones, which is an increase of 13 percent from 2015 and 38 percent from the first survey in 2012. Harris also found that 51 percent have installed remote lock and erase software on their smartphones, up 42 percent from 2015 and 31 percent from 2012. It said 73 percent of respondents say they run software updates “every or almost every time,” 51 percent have installed an anti-virus and 86 percent “are familiar” with cybersecurity. “These results show that our continued education initiatives are working, and we remain committed to increasing consumer adoption,” CTIA said in a news release. Harris used a sample from the Harris Poll Panel of 1,008 U.S. adults, 18 or older, who own and use a smartphone and/or tablet, the firm said. “Because the sample is based on those who were invited to participate in the Harris Poll online research panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated."
Regulators readying guidelines for enforcing net neutrality provisions in the EU telecom single market regulation are facing not only criticism of their proposals but also hostility from some quarters over their competence and independence. A Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) consultation on the draft document (see 1606060005) closed July 18, but responses haven't been made public. Various players, however, including telcos, digital rights groups and consultants, made their comments available to us, and many said the guidelines need more work.
AT&T has made a bid to participate in FirstNet, the national wireless network for first responders, AT&T Chief Financial Officer John Stephens confirmed on a quarterly earnings call. AT&T has been widely seen as a likely candidate to make a play for the FirstNet contract, likely in competition with Verizon (see 1606300064). T-Mobile has said it won’t participate.
Two-thirds of Facebook employees are men and more than half are white, the company said in annual hiring statistics released Thursday. Among its entire workforce, 52 percent are white, 38 percent Asian, 4 percent Hispanic and 2 percent black. One-third are women. The company’s senior leadership is 71 percent white, 21 percent Asian, 3 percent black and 3 percent Hispanic. And 73 percent of senior leadership are men, it said. Facebook said 7 percent of employees responding to a survey self-identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, transgender or asexual. Facebook said 61 percent of employees responded to the voluntary survey about sexual orientation and gender identity. Facebook said it’s doing better at increasing diversity, with new senior leadership hires over the past 12 months including 9 percent black, 5 percent Hispanic and 29 percent women. Over the next five years, Facebook will donate $15 million to Code.org, which provides computer science education to historically underrepresented populations, it said. Facebook said it will encourage recruiters to strive for more diversity, promote an inclusive working environment and support tech education among underrepresented populations.
Apple ranks highest in customer satisfaction among suppliers of smartwatches, and Samsung holds the same distinction in fitness-band devices, J.D. Power said in two reports released Tuesday. They measure overall satisfaction with smartwatches and fitness trackers among a total canvass of about 6,000 consumers who bought one or both of those devices in the past 12 months, said the researcher. Overall customer satisfaction with smartwatches is 847 (on a scale of 1,000), it said. But nearly two in 10 indicated having experienced one or more problems with their smartwatch, with short battery life as the leading complaint, it said: “When customers experience one or more problems with their smartwatch, there is a significant 21-point drop in overall satisfaction.” Overall customer satisfaction with fitness band devices across all brands is 829 on a scale of 1,000, it said. Ease of use (cited by 48 percent of consumers) in the main purchase consideration in choosing a particular brand of fitness tracker, followed by price (40 percent), brand reputation (38 percent) and positive reviews (36 percent), it said.
The debate over 5G and fixed satellite service sharing of the 28 GHz band increasingly involves power flux density (PFD) and proposed limits on that measure of signal power level at the receiver. "As long as you will be sharing spectrum between satellite and terrestrial systems, this is the issue," Farooq Khan, CEO of 5G technology company Phazr, told us. "The back and forth over precise technical limits on power is entirely normal," satellite industry consultant Tim Farrar told us in an email, pointing to such issues as the Globalstar/Wi-Fi in 5 GHz or the GPS industry's past challenges to Ligado. "I'd expect the FCC to be leaning in favor of terrestrial interests because that is the political priority."
Dish Network, DirecTV and the Diego Beekman Mutual Housing Association Housing Development Fund agreed to drop their appeals and cross appeals before the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, said a stipulation (in Pacer) filed Wednesday with the 2nd Circuit. The appeals and cross appeals came after a judge for the U.S. District Court Southern District of New York in March granted the DBS companies' motions to dismiss the lawsuit but rejected their request for attorney fees and costs. Diego Beekman, owner of 38 apartment buildings in the Bronx, sued claiming the DBS companies installed satellite dishes without its approval and caused property damage as a result. U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla in her ruling said the landlord failed to allege exclusive possession of the buildings, which would be required to maintain an action for trespass.