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WASHINGTON, June 5 (Reuters) - Microsoft (MSFT.O) will pay $20 million to settle U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charges that the tech company illegally collected personal information from children without their parents' consent, the FTC said on Monday. The order requires Microsoft to take steps to improve privacy protections for child users of its Xbox system. It will extend COPPA protections to third-party gaming publishers with whom Microsoft shares children's data, the FTC said. "Our proposed order makes it easier for parents to protect their children's privacy on Xbox, and limits what information Microsoft can collect and retain about kids," said Samuel Levine, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection. The law requires online services and websites directed to children under 13 to notify parents about the personal information they collect and to obtain verifiable parental consent before collecting and using any personal information collected from children.

Persons: Samuel Levine, Levine, Kanishka Singh, Jacqueline Wong, Sonali Paul Organizations: Microsoft, Federal Trade Commission, Children's, FTC, Consumer, COPPA, Thomson Locations: FTC's, Washington

☆ Democrats warn Musk after Twitter safety execs leave
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

After news broke last week that both Twitter's head of trust and safety, Ella Irwin, and head of brand safety and advertising quality, A.J. Brown, had departed, four senators wrote in a letter to Twitter owner Elon Musk and new CEO Linda Yaccarino that they were concerned about Twitter's ability to meet its legal obligations. The Democrats asked the Twitter leaders several questions about whether and how the company has complied with the security and privacy obligations in the FTC consent decree. "Mr. Musk's behavior reveals an apparent indifference towards Twitter's longstanding legal obligations, which did not disappear when Mr. Musk took over the company," the senators wrote. "Regardless of his personal wealth, Mr. Musk is not exempt from the law, and neither is the company he purchased."

Persons: Ella Irwin, Brown, Elon Musk, Linda Yaccarino, Elizabeth Warren, Ed Markey, Ron Wyden, Mazie Hirono, Musk's, Musk, Twitter Organizations: Federal Trade Commission, Twitter, FTC, Department of Justice, New York Times, Democrats, CNBC, YouTube, Elon Locations: Sens, Hawaii

Amazon will pay the Federal Trade Commission more than $30 million to settle allegations of privacy lapses in its Alexa and Ring divisions, according to filings on Wednesday. A separate suit alleges Amazon violated the FTC Act and Children's Online Privacy Protection Act by illegally retaining thousands of children's information through their profiles with the Alexa voice assistant. Under the proposed settlement, Amazon will have to delete inactive child accounts as well as some voice recordings and geolocation information. Amazon has faced scrutiny over the data that's collected by its kids-oriented Echo smart speakers, which use Alexa to respond to commands. Amazon will also have to implement a privacy program to govern its use of geolocation information.

Organizations: Amazon, Federal Trade Commission, FTC, Justice, COPPA

☆ Amazon to Pay $25 Million to Settle Children’s Privacy Charges
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( Natasha Singer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Amazon agreed on Wednesday to pay a civil penalty of $25 million to settle federal charges that it kept sensitive information collected from children for years, including their precise locations and voice recordings, in violation of a children’s online privacy law. It was the latest legal action in an intensifying regulatory effort to require some of the world’s largest tech platforms to better safeguard their younger users. The case, brought by the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department, centers on Amazon’s handling of the personal details it collected from children who conversed with Alexa, the company’s voice-activated virtual assistant. In a legal complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, regulators said the tech giant had kept young people’s Alexa voice recordings indefinitely and used the data for business purposes like training its algorithm to understand children, violating the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.

Organizations: Amazon, Federal Trade Commission, Justice Department, Alexa, Western, of Locations: U.S, of Washington

☆ U.S. Surgeon General: We need to protect kids from social media risks immediately
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-23 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

In 2021, he issued an advisory about the threat of Covid misinformation and called on social media companies to make changes that favor fact-based sources. He's also previously said that age 13 is "too early" to use social media. In the latest advisory, Murthy concedes that social media can have both positive and negative effects on kids. The surgeon general lays out several recommendations for policymakers, tech companies, parents and caregivers, young social media users and researchers. Determine the role of the developmental stage on the progression of poor mental health outcomes as a result of social media use.

Persons: Vivek Murthy, It's, Murthy, He's Organizations: Fund, National Center of Excellence, Social Media, Mental, CNBC, YouTube

☆ Fact Check-No deal between DuckDuckGo and Microsoft to track users online
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Independent experts say that DuckDuckGo blocks known tracking scripts from loading to prevent vulnerable personal identifiers from being exposed, including Microsoft-owned scripts. A separate partnership with Microsoft for advertising on DuckDuckGo’s search results page is limited to ad placements, not tracking users or building profiles, a DuckDuckGo spokesperson said. Users sharing the headline, “Google Lite: DuckDuckGo Signs Secret Deal with Bill Gates to Track Users Online” in April 2023 can be seen (here) and (here). We’re glad this is no longer the case,” the company said in a statement (here)DuckDuckGo’s privacy policy on tracking users can be seen (here). Whether browser privacy protections ever permit user tracking is beyond the scope of this fact check.

May 10 (Reuters) - A federal judge on Wednesday urged the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to resolve its dispute with law firm Covington & Burling over the agency's demand for the names of 300 clients affected by a cyberattack on the firm. The SEC sued Covington in January to force the prominent Washington-based firm to identify public company clients whose information was accessed or stolen in the breach. Mehta told an SEC lawyer that the subpoena puts Covington in the “very awkward position” of having to identify its clients to an enforcement agency without evidence of wrongdoing. “We’re not targeting any particular party,” SEC lawyer Eugene Hansen responded. A lawyer for Covington, Theodore Boutrous, said the SEC has made Covington a “test case” for new authority to scrutinize public companies through demands on their law firms following a hack.

☆ Bittrex approved to borrow $7 mln bankruptcy loan in bitcoin
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Dietrich Knauth | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Seattle-based Bittrex filed for bankruptcy Monday, saying it intended to return customer funds and wind down its U.S. operations. Before filing for bankruptcy, Bittrex stopped accepting new deposits from U.S. customers and told its existing users to withdraw their crypto from the platform. Shannon approved the loan on an interim basis, allowing Bittrex to borrow 250 bitcoin from its parent company Aquila Holdings, which is not filing for bankruptcy. Bittrex will seek permission to borrow an additional 450 bitcoin at a hearing in June, and the total value of its proposed loan is $19.7 million, based on bitcoin prices when it filed for bankruptcy. The case is Bittrex Inc, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, No.

☆ FTC proposes barring Meta from monetizing kids' data
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The Federal Trade Commission proposed on Wednesday barring Facebook parent company Meta from monetizing kids' data after it says the company violated a 2020 privacy order. The FTC alleges Facebook also violated an earlier 2012 order by continuing to allow app developers access to private user information. The FTC is also accusing Meta of violating the Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule by misrepresenting parental controls on its Messenger Kids app. Compliance with the 2020 order would also extend to any companies Meta acquires or merges with. After Meta responds, the Commission will decide whether updating the 2020 order "is in the public interest or justified by changed conditions of fact or law."

☆ Employee Monitoring and Surveillance
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +50 min

Ensuring Employee Safety and Systems SecurityEmployers may use electronic workplace monitoring and surveillance to protect their:Worksites. Potential Liability for Electronic Workplace Monitoring and SurveillanceEmployers that engage in electronic workplace monitoring and surveillance must comply with various federal and state laws, including:The Wiretap Act. Best Practices for Electronic Workplace Monitoring and SurveillanceTo avoid violating relevant state and federal laws, before conducting workplace monitoring and surveillance, employers should:Consider the purpose and appropriate scope of their monitoring and surveillance activities and what methods will help them achieve their objectives. Determine the Purpose of Workplace Monitoring and SurveillanceBefore conducting any workplace monitoring or surveillance, best practice is for employers to identify the purpose and goals of these activities to:Ensure that there is a legitimate business purpose for the planned monitoring and surveillance activities. Determine the scope of monitoring and surveillance necessary to accomplish the business purpose, and conduct only the minimum monitoring and surveillance necessary to meet that business need.

☆ Bluesky Social: Twitter's former CEO has a new app that looks a lot like Twitter
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Samantha Murphy Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —The buzzy new social media app of the moment looks so much like Twitter it’s almost hard to distinguish the two. But under the hood, Bluesky, developed by Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey, is vastly different. The Bluesky social media app logo is seen on a mobile device in April 2023. Like Mastodon, Bluesky appeals to a number of Twitter users who are frustrated with the direction of the platform under owner Elon Musk. As Eve 6 wrote on Twitter: “Bluesky invite codes are the new blue check.”

☆ Spain hopes to set up AI regulation during EU rotating presidency
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

MADRID, April 26 (Reuters) - Spain aims to set up a set of regulations for artificial intelligence during its rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, Economy minister Nadia Calvino said on Wednesday. Calvino added that such future rules must not stop AI development, but ensure privacy protection. Spain is preparing to take on the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second half of 2023. Reporting by Inti Landauro. Writing by Emma Pinedo, editing by Andrei KhalipOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ The Saudi crown prince wants to build a trillion-dollar utopia in the desert. His deals with China reveal a darker vision.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

It's part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's modernizing vision of the country. But behind the outlandish plan, developed by Saudi Arabia's powerful crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, is a much darker reality. Crown Prince Mohammed appears keen to replicate those projects on a grander scale. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman announces a zero-carbon city called "The Line" to be built at NEOM in northwestern Saudi Arabia, January 10, 2021. It appeared to be the beginning of a fruitful partnership for Crown Prince Mohammed.

☆ Fed Governor Bowman casts doubt on the need for a U.S. digital dollar
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Jeff Cox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman expressed skepticism over the possibility of a digital U.S. dollar, noting Tuesday the multiple risks such a system could impose. For the past few years, Fed officials have been studying whether to join a handful of other central banks to implement its own type of cryptocurrency. However, she said an interest-bearing Fed digital dollar could provide harmful competition for banks, limiting their ability to lend. Like other Fed officials, Bowman said the looming implementation of the FedNow payments system also will address many of the needs cited by central bank digital currency promoters. Perhaps the CBDC's biggest Fed advocate has since left the central bank: Former Governor Lael Brainard is now director of the National Economic Council.

☆ Biden administration to propose tighter health privacy rules around abortion
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Zoë Richards | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The Biden administration on Wednesday will propose new health privacy protections to prevent protected health information from being used to investigate or sue people who facilitate abortions, senior administration officials said. Vice President Kamala Harris will announce the new language, aimed at strengthening existing privacy rule protections under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, when she meets with a task force on access to reproductive health care Wednesday afternoon. The HHS proposal centers on barring using or disclosing protected health information that could be used to identify, investigate, prosecute or sue people, health care providers and others involved in seeking or providing abortion care. In a document outlining its proposal, the White House said taking steps to protect sensitive health information had taken on "renewed importance" in light of such efforts. The proposed rule would continue to allow a regulated entity such as a health insurance company or provider to use or disclose protected health information "for permissible purposes" under the privacy rule, a senior administration official said.

CNN —The US Department of Health and Human Services will propose a new rule on Wednesday, aimed at safeguarding privacy and prohibiting the prosecution of individuals who seek abortions. The new rule proposal comes as Vice President Kamala Harris is set to convene an interagency taskforce meeting on reproductive rights at the White House. Attorney General Merrick Garland and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra will also attend. After the decision dropped Friday, a senior administration official said the White House immediately began engaging allies on the next steps. Harris has led the administration’s response on abortion rights.

The proposal is aimed at protecting woman who live in states where abortion is illegal who travel out of state to have the procedure done - something thousands of women are already doing, research shows. It is unclear whether the proposed rule would actually stifle criminal investigations. The federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) covers most health insurance and other company benefit plans and generally preempts state laws on abortion-related coverage. But it does not prevent states from prosecuting plans, sponsors, administrators and their employees in all instances. Reporting By Jarrett Renshaw and Heather Timmons; Editing by Heather Timmons and Mark PorterOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

The lobbying comes amid a sustained effort by TikTok to play down fears raised by lawmakers who want to ban the app, which has 150 million monthly active users in the U.S. She defended the work of TikTok's team in Washington and said the company is trying to address lawmakers' privacy and safety concerns. At the furthest end of the extreme is the legislation from Hawley and Buck that simply seeks to ban TikTok outright by directing the president to block transactions with ByteDance. Hawley has not eased his campaign to ban TikTok. But after, "our phones were ringing off the hook," with the majority of callers voicing opposition to a TikTok ban.

☆ China urges Apple to strengthen data security
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

HONG KONG, March 28 (Reuters) - China has urged Apple (AAPL.O) to strengthen its data security and personal privacy protection, the country's state planner said in a statement on Tuesday. Chairman of National Development and Reform Commission Zheng Shanjie made the comments when he met Apple CEO Tim Cook on Monday, the statement said. Reporting by Ella Cao and Meg Shen, Editing by Louise HeavensOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez rejected banning TikTok in her first TikTok video, saying it 'just doesn't feel right to me'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-26 | by ( Sam Tabahriti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez discussed calls to ban TikTok in her debut on the app. The New York Democrat said the bipartisan push to ban TikTok in the US "doesn't feel right to me." AOC said America needed stronger data and privacy protection laws rather than a TikTok ban. The New York Democrat started her video by saying: "This is not only my first TikTok, but it is a TikTok about TikTok. She pointed out that the US doesn't have "significant data or privacy protection laws," before mentioning the European Union's data privacy law, known as the General Data Protection Regulation.

☆ Utah just passed a bill that will force children to get parental consent before joining social media platforms
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Sawdah Bhaimiya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Utah's governor Spencer Cox passed legislation restricting teenagers' access to social media. The new bill requires social media firms to obtain parental consent before children can open accounts. It also requires social media companies to establish a curfew for teens from 10:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m.Sign up for our newsletter for the latest tech news and scoops — delivered daily to your inbox. Republican Governor Spencer Cox passed the Social Media Regulation Act, which aims to force social media companies to verify the age of all Utah residents before they can sign up for or maintain a social media account. The Associated Press reported that social media companies will likely sue to stop the law going into effect.

☆ TikTok CEO set for grilling in House hearing. But U.S. lawmakers also face questions
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +15 min

U.S. tech platforms including Meta's Facebook and Instagram, Google's YouTube , Twitter and Snap's Snapchat have raised similar fears for lawmakers and users. Evaluating a potential banThere's little appetite in Washington to accept the potential risks that TikTok's ownership by Chinese company ByteDance poses to U.S. national security. The interagency panel tasked with reviewing national security risks stemming from ByteDance's ownership has threatened a ban if the company won't sell its stake in the app. Trahan said members should ask about national security risks of the app, but those questions should be substantive. Bowman noted lawmakers haven't received a bipartisan congressional briefing from the administration on national security risks stemming from TikTok.

☆ TikTok hearing: CEO Shou Chew to testify before Congress for the first time
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

TikTok CEO Shou Chew will face the House Energy and Commerce Committee during his first appearance before Congress, in a hearing that kicks off at 10 a.m. In his prepared remarks, Chew is expected to issue broad promises to protect US user data, to keep teens safe and to remain free from any government influence. As scrutiny from lawmakers’ mounts, however, so does the app’s popularity and reach in the United States. TikTok was the top downloaded app in the United States in 2021 and 2022, according to data from analytics firm Sensor Tower. In the months leading up to his appearance on Capitol Hill, Chew, who rarely gave interviews previously, has gone on a media tour in the United States.

☆ TikTok CEO to tell lawmakers its parent company is ‘not an agent of China’
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —TikTok CEO Shou Chew plans to tell US lawmakers that the app’s parent company, ByteDance, does not work for the Chinese government as he seeks to avert a US ban and reassure policymakers TikTok poses no national security threat. “Let me state this unequivocally,” Chew will say, according to a copy of his remarks released by a key House panel. New TikTok data created by US users is already being stored on cloud-based servers operated by the US tech giant Oracle, a change that took effect last month, according to the testimony. USDS already has nearly 1,500 full-time employees and the company plans to hire more. Chew plans to describe the incident as a “misguided attempt to trace the source of a leak of confidential TikTok information.” TikTok informed the Energy and Commerce Committee about the spying “within moments of informing our employees,” Chew will add.

It exceeds in being a smart alarm clock, and it can you give control of your smart devices. It's meant to function as a very smart alarm clock while giving you the ability to control your smart home, video chat, see pictures of cute animals, and stream video. Lowest Price Amazon Echo Show 5 The second-gen Echo Show 5 is a compact smart display that's perfect for use as a smart alarm clock on your bedside table. And while it works as a decent smart alarm clock, it won't blow you away as anything beyond that. The Amazon Echo Show 8 offers a much larger screen and better speakers than the Amazon Echo Show 5.

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