MuckRock released a document it said was obtained by a member in which the FBI acknowledged the Tacoma, Washington, Police Department’s use of StingRay cellphone tracking equipment. MuckRack released the copy of a nondisclosure agreement (NDA) between Tacoma and the Justice Department Monday. StingRay devices are cell site simulators, manufactured by Harris, which “trick mobile phones into connecting to a StingRay as if it were a cell tower,” MuckRock said (http://bit.ly/1slLxiJ). “This allows police to determine the cell phone’s location, and thus its owner’s.” The document is heavily redacted, with four of six pages completely blacked out. The FBI requires state and local police to sign an NDA before it can acquire a cellphone eavesdropping and tracking technology, said the FBI letter released through a Freedom of Information Act request by MuckRock, the news site that submits FOIA requests (http://bit.ly/XUNmoG). The document comes from 2012 and shows the FBI asking the Tacoma police to agree to the NDA before acquiring the StingRay tracking technology. According to other FOIA requests made by the Electronic Privacy Information Center, the FBI has used StingRay since at least 1995 (http://bit.ly/1mqEX8f). The FBI, Harris and Tacoma police had no immediate comment.

Representatives of Google and Microsoft urged the FCC to adopt technical rules permitting the use of three 801.11af channels in the 600 MHz band following the TV incentive auction, in a series of meetings with commission officials. The companies elaborated on their arguments in an ex parte filing in docket 12-268. The companies urged that the rules allow the operation of Mode 1 and 2 personal/portable unlicensed devices in the duplex gap, the lower guard band and Channel 37, the filing said (http://bit.ly/1uEzbyS). They argued that a database should be allowed to determine unlicensed device operation based on the device’s location-accuracy capabilities so devices with better accuracy can operate in appropriate locations, rather than preserving the current rule, which mandates that all devices establish location within +/- 50 meters. Unlicensed systems should be allowed to determine areas where devices can operate in the broadcast band using both the database and sensing, Google and Microsoft said.

Mobile Future warned the White House against subjecting wireless carriers to the same net neutrality rules imposed on wireline providers, in comments submitted Tuesday to the Obama administration’s Office of Science and Technology Policy and National Economic Council’s request for information on an administration innovation strategy. “Subjecting wireless broadband networks to rules that dictate how wired networks are designed and operated would be a mistake,” Mobile Future said (http://bit.ly/1mqZlWL). “It is imperative that the FCC keep this urgent demand-versus-capacity challenge in mind as it considers adding new net neutrality rules to the books. Everyone supports an open Internet. That’s why -- despite the call for more regulation -- not a single formal net neutrality complaint has been filed with the [FCC] since the adoption of its 2010 Open Internet Order.” Mobile Future blasted the possibility of subjecting “the entire mobile ecosystem to Title II regulations written to micromanage the businesses of local telephone monopolies. One can hardly envision a more anti-innovation approach, and the Administration should flatly and publicly reject these extreme calls.” Mobile Future urged the administration to focus on freeing up more spectrum for an expansion of mobile broadband. The Partnership for American Innovation, with Apple, IBM and Microsoft among members, also commented, highlighting the importance of a strong intellectual property system and a properly functioning patent system. “Heated rhetoric often based on the bad behavior of a few patent assertion entities has fueled an environment where a company is demonized for good faith enforcement of its hard-earned, legitimate property rights,” said the partnership (http://bit.ly/Y2AMEn). “The corresponding policy discussions lead our country away from a balanced IP system that enables collaboration and innovation. If this lopsided model of innovation is adopted, we risk creating a system where foreign competitors gain a competitive advantage by patenting their ideas while copying American IP without consequence.”

The U.S. machine-to-machine (M2M) market is 10 percent of all mobile connections in the automotive and utilities sectors, a GSMA report said (http://bit.ly/1sV4bsb). The U.S. had 35 million connections, or 19 percent of all global M2M connections at the end of 2013, GSMA said in a news release Monday (http://bit.ly/1v04KEw). The U.S. is expected to reach 41 million connections this year, it said, driven by advances in the automotive, utilities, and oil and gas sectors. The U.S. M2M market is still in its early stages of development and needs to address significant challenges to fulfill its potential, GSMA said. The market lacks standardization, and there is little cooperation between the private and public sectors in many parts of the M2M economy, it said.

Though details “are not yet clear” on President Barack Obama’s forthcoming executive order on privacy concerns about commercial drones, it’s expected to “task” the NTIA with convening a multistakeholder process to develop privacy guidelines, “likely either in the form of best practices or a voluntary code of conduct,” said Wiley Rein lawyers Kathleen Kirby and Ari Meltzer in a blog post Friday (http://bit.ly/1poKN4V). “Best practices generally are not enforceable,” they said. “A voluntary code of conduct, however, is legally enforceable against companies that affirmatively commit to follow it. While the decision to adopt a code of conduct is voluntary, a public pledge to follow the code generally would amount to a representation enforceable by the FTC under its consumer protection authority.” There are incentives to adopting voluntary codes of conduct, as NTIA has done in its previous proceedings, they said. “Companies build consumer trust by engaging with consumers and other stakeholders in multi-stakeholder processes and by adopting privacy codes of conduct developed during those discussions,” they said. “Enforceable codes of conduct provide the public clear, understandable baseline protections and offer businesses greater certainty about how agreed upon privacy principles apply to them. Indeed, in any enforcement action based on conduct covered by a code, the FTC likely would consider a company’s adherence to such a code favorably. In the absence of a generally agreed upon code of conduct, the FTC could enforce privacy guidelines on a case-by-case basis, with less predictability and thus greater risk for businesses."

MediaTek launched MediaTek Labs, a global initiative that allows developers “of any background or skill level” to create wearables and Internet of Things devices, the chip maker said Monday (http://bit.ly/1wGFNhL). Its launch will open up “a new world of possibilities for everyone -- from hobbyists and students through to professional developers and designers -- to unleash their creativity and innovation,” the company said. “We believe that the innovation enabled by MediaTek Labs will drive the next wave of consumer gadgets and apps that will connect billions of things and people around the world."

The FCC sought more information from companies involved in AT&T’s proposal to buy AWS-1 licenses, as well as adding customers and related assets, from Plateau Wireless. The small carrier serves New Mexico and West Texas. The FCC sent information requests Monday to AT&T (http://bit.ly/1x2mhiP) and Plateau (http://bit.ly/1siGRu8). Among the questions for Plateau: “Explain in detail the decision made by Plateau Wireless to assign the spectrum, customers and network assets that are the subject of this application to AT&T, including any attempts made to enter into a sale of this wireless business or alternative arrangements with parties other than AT&T.” Plateau indicated in June it plans to exit the wireless business, selling its remaining assets, to concentrate on its wireline business, according to media reports.

Apple’s shortage of the iPhone 6 is good for business on eBay, we found by monitoring various auctions for the four-day-old phones. Apple said Monday it sold more than the available 10 million iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus models in the three days after the phones went on sale in the U.S., Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore and the U.K. “We could have sold many more iPhones with greater supply and we are working hard to fill orders as quickly as possible,” said CEO Tim Cook in a statement (http://bit.ly/1tV4wzg). Business was brisk at eBay Monday, which featured the new Apple phones on its landing page. Our midday search for the iPhone 6 brought up 1,913 results. The lowest price we found was $700 for a 16 GB model of the 4.7-inch version with the disclaimer in the product description, “Long story short I got scammed by a seller. The phone is being financed through tmobile and will eventually be blocked on their network... . It has or will eventually have a BAD IMEI (International Mobile Station Equipment Identity).” The item condition was listed as “for parts or not working” and 17 people were watching the item, which had a day to go in its “buy it now” auction. We saw an auction for a new, unlocked 64 GB 6 Plus silver phone end at $2,550 Monday, surging more than $1,000 in the last 40 minutes of bidding, which began Friday at $400. The phone’s suggested retail price is $399 at the Apple website.

The American Heart Association and American Stroke Association stressed the importance of improving indoor wireless 911 location accuracy, in a Sept. 11 FCC filing posted Monday in docket in 07-114. Time spent searching for a caller is “valuable, lifesaving time not spent treating patients suffering from an acute cardiovascular event,” the groups said (http://bit.ly/1porHM4). The “FCC’s proposed standards will have significant health benefits.” There are almost 424,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests yearly, and “tragically most result in death,” the groups said. “Timely cardiopulmonary resuscitation and defibrillation in these cases, when coupled with early advanced care, can increase long-term survival rates."

The American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) and the American Council of the Blind (ACB) complained to the FCC that makers of wireless devices have a long way to go to make them more readily usable by people with impaired vision. Both groups filed in docket 10-213 offering comments for a biennial FCC report to Congress on implementation of the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA). Both said in comments posted by the FCC Monday that “gaps” remain. “While industry has begun to demonstrate, through both words and actions, that it is largely taking seriously the access obligations of equipment manufacturers and service providers imposed by the Communications Act, many significant gaps remain,” AFB told the commission (http://bit.ly/1r0Vyk4). That few complaints have been filed at the FCC doesn’t mean there are no problems, the group said. Consumers continue to “struggle” to find accessible handsets “and there continues to be a failure at critical points along the sales, marketing and customer service chain to be aware of and communicate accurate information about accessible features and functions,” AFB said. Devices are better than they were but problems remain, ACB said. All features that are part of a phone should be accessible using screen reader and screen magnification programs, ACB said (http://bit.ly/1uSVgvG). “On [A]ndroid, even with the latest operating system, a person who is blind encounters significant challenges in independently enabling TalkBack, Android’s default screen reader,” ACB said. “There is still too much leeway for carriers to customize the [A]ndroid operating system, and in doing so, leaving TalkBack out.” CTIA said the FCC report must reflect the work the wireless industry is doing to comply with the CVAA. CTIA members “have gone further to undertake voluntary collaborative efforts in the spirit of the Act that have contributed to the widespread availability of, and information about, accessible wireless products and services,” the group said (http://bit.ly/1siqVYE).