Companies claiming they’re protecting student safety might be surveilling them inappropriately instead, three Democratic senators wrote Monday. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, both of Massachusetts, and Richard Blumenthal, Conn., wrote to the owners of Gaggle, Bark Technologies, GoGuardian and Securly about their use of AI "and algorithmic systems to monitor students’ online activity.” They raised concerns the companies’ monitoring practices violate federal law, compound “racial disparities in school discipline” and drain “resources from more effective student supports.” GoGuardian said in a statement it received the letter and is looking forward to responding. It said it’s a “proud signatory of the Student Privacy Pledge, certified as [Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act]-compliant by the Internet Keep Safe Coalition, and trusted by schools and districts across the U.S. to help protect their students.” Gaggle said it "takes privacy and student safety seriously; the company has a robust privacy policy that strictly limits students’ personally identifiable information (PII) to students’ names and school districts (in other words, Gaggle does not collect any data related to students’ race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation) and layers its artificial intelligence with a team of trained content reviewers to analyze context and help prevent false flags." The other companies didn’t comment.

DOJ’s Antitrust Division will bring enforcement actions when anticompetitive conduct by standard-essential patent holders or other players in the standards development process harms competition, Economics Director-Enforcement Jeffrey Wilder told a Global Competition Review summit Wednesday. But not every patent licensing dispute “invites an antitrust challenge,” said Wilder. Though antitrust claims are no “panacea for failed bilateral negotiation,” antitrust should play a role “when the standards-setting process is used to thwart competition and harm consumers,” he said. He vowed the division will promote policies “that encourage good-faith licensing negotiation” and give “clearer guidance” on how “bad-faith conduct can hinder competition.” It will support standards-development organizations adopting intellectual property rights policies “that address licensing inefficiencies and enable the dissemination of standardized products,” he said: The division will try to be “transparent” about its enforcement priorities and policy changes.

The U.S. and EU should maintain “close coordination” and an “exchange of information” on semiconductor policy and strategy to bolster resilience of the semiconductor supply chains in both regions, blogged Jennifer Meng, Semiconductor Industry Association global policy manager, and Meghan Biery, the association’s director-global technology and security policy. “While geographic specialization has served the global semiconductor industry and its consumers well,” they said Tuesday, “it has also created potential vulnerabilities in the global value chain.” Governments in both regions are trying to introduce and implement policies to encourage investment in “high-risk gaps in the supply chains and to establish a more geographically diverse supplier base,” they said. The U.S. and EU should “jointly analyze the combined strengths and weaknesses” of those policies to ensure “each region’s respective incentive programs are open to the most globally innovative companies,” they said. Promoting information sharing and transparency about each region’s incentive programs can help build supply chain resilience, they said. The inaugural meeting of the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council convened in Pittsburgh beginning Wednesday with the goal of expanding and deepening trade and transatlantic investment ties, they said. Chips should top the U.S-EU trade partnership "agenda" in Pittsburgh, blogged Al Thompson, Intel vice president-U.S. government relations, and Fernando Loureiro, Intel senior director-government director, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Expanding "advanced semiconductor capabilities" will offer Europe and the U.S. "their best chance to reduce dependency on imports from Asia and elsewhere and re-establish themselves as major producers of computer chips," they said Tuesday. The EU and the U.S. "used to be global leaders in the semiconductor industry," they said. "With political and industry forces aligning to reinstate that leadership, we look forward to seeing the progress made in Pittsburgh this week and beyond."

Rakuten Mobile Americas offers an affordable way for carriers to replace Chinese gear in their networks, General Manager Azita Arvani said in a call with FCC Wireless Bureau staff. “American wireless carriers can deploy a cloud-native network running on the Rakuten Communications Platform as part of the rip and replace program at lower cost, higher security, and more quickly than traditional wireless appliances,” said a filing posted Tuesday in docket 21-63.

U.S. District Court in Waco, Texas, rightly denied Intel and Samsung motions to transfer the patent infringement cases in which they are defendants to the Northern District of California, ruled the U.S. Appeals Court for the Federal Circuit Monday. R&D company Demaray sued Intel and Samsung in Waco for infringing two patents on use of semiconductor fab reactors. In denying the transfer motions July 1, the Waco court ruled that neither company “had established that the Northern District of California was a clearly more convenient forum than the Western District of Texas, the plaintiff’s chosen forum,” said the appeals court. “Intel and Samsung have not shown a clear and indisputable right to transfer,” it said. “Mindful of the standard of review, we are not prepared to second-guess the district court’s findings.” Neither manufacturer commented now.

Imported Apple products should be subject to a withhold release order (WRO) from Customs and Border Protection and be blocked at the ports from entering the U.S. due to possible involvement of Chinese forced labor in their production, said the Campaign for Accountability (CfA) in a Monday filing. The seizure of Apple imports "credibly tied to forced labor would be consistent with" other recent CBP enforcement actions, said the nonprofit. "There is now compelling evidence that Apple iPhones, computers, and other products should be added to the list." CfA believes "there is sufficient evidence to conclude that Apple, the world’s most valuable company, is in violation of the Tariff Act," said Executive Director Michelle Kuppersmith. By issuing a WRO and preventing the importation of Apple products linked to forced labor, CBP "has the power to compel Apple into action beyond its blanket, face-saving denials,” she said. Lawmakers asked Apple in June to work closely with CBP to be sure iPhones and other products are free of forced-labor entanglements. Apple didn't comment Monday but claimed previously its supply chains are free of forced labor. "Apple’s repeated claims to have 'thoroughly investigated' the forced labor issue are suspect, given the evidence that such factory inspections appear to be challenging, if not impossible, in China," CfA said. The group made the filing through CBP's e-Allegations portal to report suspected trade law violations. Recent Department of Homeland Security records said CBP typically accepts or rejects WRO petitions within 30 days.

This pandemic brought “this dramatic acceleration of people moving to a digital lifestyle,” PayPal CEO Dan Schulman told a J.P. Morgan investor conference virtually Thursday. How people work, play, pay and consume their entertainment -- “all of that is moving to the mobile phone,” and people “are staying there at elevated levels,” he said. The new smartphone “super app” that PayPal launched days ago, featuring a new two-day “early access” direct deposit component, was a “substantial upgrade to where we were from a consumer perspective,” he said. But it’s only the first “iteration” of an app PayPal plans to improve with each passing quarter, he said. Any company like PayPal that wants to be “a major financial services player” needs to be “world-class at regulatory compliance,” said Schulman. “We operate in 200 different jurisdictions around the world,” under 67 “different regulatory frameworks,” he said. It has “great engaged relationships with all the regulators,” he said. “If there are emerging fintechs who think they can play outside the regulatory boundaries, they're wrong.”

BlackBerry is making “significant progress” in negotiations to sell the portion of its patent portfolio involving mobile devices, messaging and wireless networking -- “areas of business that we are no longer actively involved with,” said CEO John Chen on a call Wednesday for fiscal Q2 ended Aug. 31. BlackBerry and the potential buyer reached preliminary agreement on “many of the key terms,” he said. “We expect to execute a definitive agreement this quarter.” Q2 licensing revenue was only $15 million because patent “monetization activities remain limited while negotiations for the potential sale continue,” said Chief Financial Officer Steve Rai. Neither he nor Chen identified the possible buyer. BlackBerry made the decision five years ago to exit handset development and manufacturing in favor of a royalty-bearing model that licenses the brand and intellectual property to other smartphone makers (see 1609280006). The stock closed 11% higher Thursday at $10.60.

The O-RAN Alliance and two of its members said they resolved issues about possible ramifications of the U.S. decision to list three Chinese alliance members on the Commerce Department's entity list. Equipment vendors Nokia and Ericsson had halted activities with the alliance over concerns about possible penalties (see 2109030053). The alliance said Sept. 13 its board "approved changes to O-RAN participation documents and procedures." It's up to individuals members "to make their own evaluation of these changes, [but] O-RAN is optimistic that the changes will address the concerns." The alliance didn't comment on what the changes were. Ericsson told us Tuesday it's now "satisfied" the alliance "found a solution that resolves the issue." Nokia said Wednesday it's "delighted" the alliance's work can now continue and will resume its technical contributions.

Disney “called it exactly right” when it shifted during the COVID-19 pandemic last year to the three-pronged strategy of releasing some feature films direct to theaters, others exclusively through Disney+, and still others as a hybrid Premier Access option through theaters and on Disney+ streaming, CEO Bob Chapek told a Goldman Sachs conference virtually Tuesday. Amid the market's "vast uncertainties," deciding which film goes to which channel is akin to working a stick shift, he said. The three-pronged distribution approach has “locked in” some “flexibility,” said Chapek. “We love theatrical exhibition. We’ve seen the power of that the last several decades.” But direct-to-consumer streaming is “strategically the most important thing our company is doing,” he said. The studio has a slate of upcoming movies conducive to “very short” theatrical exhibition “windows,” said Chapek, citing Encanto, the animated musical debuting Nov. 24 in theaters and 30 days later on Disney+. Its “relatively short theatrical window” will capture “99.9% of the viewers that would go see that movie anyway,” and create a buzz for those who want to watch it a month later on Disney+, he said. The media company is interested in sports betting, as are its partner sports leagues, the CEO said. In-game wagering is “definitely a place we want to be,” said Chapek. “It’s not something we would do necessarily solo in the gambling area, but we believe that our brands have the degrees of freedom to enable us to expand our presence there, and I think you’re starting to see us take some pretty big steps along that way.”