The FTC’s rule for promoting public participation in the rulemaking process takes effect Friday (see 2109150061), the agency says in that day's Federal Register: The changes provide “increased transparency” and “greater guidance” for the public when filing petitions.

A federal court date for argument on the Texas social media law could change, plaintiff NetChoice's General Counsel Carl Szabo told us Wednesday. U.S. District Court in Austin on Tuesday scheduled for Dec. 10 at 9 a.m. CST argument on NetChoice and the Computer and Communications Industry Association’s preliminary injunction request (case 1:21-cv-00840-RP). The law is to take effect on Dec. 2 (see 2110220064). “With the court’s schedule still in flux, we expect the hearing will be moved up,” Szabo emailed.

Technologies are emerging to combat deepfakes, but rules might be needed, panelists said at a Tuesday webinar hosted by the Convention of National Associations of Electrical Engineers of Europe (EUREL). Deepfake technology enabled some beneficial uses, but it's increasingly difficult to distinguish between real and fake content and people, said Sebastian Hallensleben, chairman of German EUREL member VDE e.V. One common argument is that AI fabrications aren't a problem because we can use other AI systems to detect them. As deepfakes become more sophisticated, there will be more countermeasures, causing a "detection arms race," said Hallensleben. What's needed is a "game-changer" to show what's real online and what isn't, Hallensleben said. He's working on "authentic pseudonyms," identifiers guaranteed to belong to a given physical person and to be singular in a given context. This could be done through restricted identification along the lines of citizens' ID cards; a second route is through self-sovereign identity (SSI). If widely used, authentic pseudonyms would avoid the "authoritarian approach" to deepfakes, Hallensleben said. SSI is a new paradigm for creating digital ID, said Technical University of Berlin professor Axel Kupper. The ID holder (a person) becomes her own identity provider and can decide where to store her identity documents and what services to use. The infrastructure is a decentralized, tamper-proof, distributed ledger. The question is how to use the technology to mitigate the use of automated content creation, Kupper said. Many perspectives besides technology must be considered for cross-border identification infrastructure, including regulation, governance, interoperability and social factors, said Tanja Pavleska, a researcher at the Joef Stefan Institut Laboratory for Open Systems and Networks in Slovenia. Trust applies in all those contexts, she said. Asked whether the proposed EU AI Act should classify deepfakes as high-risk technology, she said such fakes aren't just done by a single player or type of actor, so rules aimed at single points might be difficult. All panelists agreed the EU general data protection regulation should be interpreted to cover voice and facial data.

A court partially granted Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s (R) deadline extension Friday in the tech industry’s lawsuit against the state’s social media law (case 1:21-cv-00840). U.S. District Court in Austin set Paxton’s response deadline for Nov. 22, more than a week before the new law’s Dec. 2 effective date. The Computer & Communications Industry Association and NetChoice accused Texas of delay tactics in the case. The court granted Texas expedited discovery. “It would prejudice Plaintiffs to impose a briefing schedule that goes beyond the effective date when a shorter timeframe for expedited discovery would still provide Defendant with a ‘fair opportunity to oppose the application and to prepare for such opposition,’” the court said.

Growing consumption of streaming video entertainment could upend business models for rural ISPs, Strand Consult said Friday. The infrastructure needed to support streaming video entertainment costs a lot more than work, educational or healthcare applications because streaming video entertainment traffic volume is bigger, and broadband providers are largely absorbing the middle mile capital investment costs, it said.

Akamai completed buying cybersecurity vendor Guardicore for $600 million cash (see 2109290020). Akamai will add Guardicore's “micro-segmentation” products to its portfolio of “zero trust” safeguards against ransomware attacks, it said Thursday.

The Connectivity Standards Alliance partnered with NFC Forum to bridge smart home interoperability gaps, the associations said Thursday. This lets the groups explore ways to use near field communication proximity-based connectivity technology with CSA standards, they said.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau sent orders Thursday to Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, PayPal and Square seeking information on U.S. payment systems. “Big Tech companies are eagerly expanding their empires to gain greater control and insight into our spending habits,” said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra, who recently left the FTC. “We have ordered them to produce information about their business plans and practices.” The orders were issued under CFPB Act Section 1022(c)(4). The agency also plans to examine payment system practices of Chinese companies Alipay and WeChat Pay. The Electronic Transactions Association said in a statement it looks forward to working with Chopra on the effort and “has a good story to tell” about protecting consumer data. “One of the hallmarks of the digital transactions industry is protection of consumer data,” said ETA CEO Jodie Kelley. “From encryption to tokenization, we devote enormous resources to keeping digital transactions secure.”

The National Retail Federation and member companies will meet with senior U.S. and EU officials this week to discuss operational and legal challenges involved with protecting consumer and employee information in trans-Atlantic data flows, the NRF said Wednesday. “Retail is global, and retailers want to be sure consumer and employee data is properly protected when transferred from Europe to the U.S.,” said Senior Policy Counsel Paul Martino. NRF and Brussels-based EuroCommerce were due to hold their fifth annual joint meeting virtually with senior officials of the European Commission and the European Data Protection Board Wednesday and Thursday. On Friday, NRF and U.S. retailers will meet virtually with officials and staff from the U.S. Mission to the European Union and the Commerce Department, it said. Meetings will build on work begun last year after the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield was invalidated by EU’s highest court (see 2007300028).

A third of consumers who reported a business impersonator scam since July 2020 say the scammer pretended to be Amazon, blogged Maria Mayo, acting associate director of the FTC Division of Consumer Response and Operations. Reported losses from over 96,000 people contacted by Amazon impersonators totaled more than $27 million, said the FTC, with a reported median individual loss of $1,000. Some offer to refund consumers for an unauthorized purchase but “accidentally transfer” more, asking the consumers to send back the difference, said Mayo Wednesday. The scammer then moves the victims’ money from one of their accounts to another to make it look like a refund. Others are told hackers accessed their account and the only way to protect it is to buy gift cards and share the card number and PIN. Never call back an unknown number and only use information on Amazon’s website; don't pay with a gift card if asked by an unknown person; and don't give remote access to information to someone who contacts them unexpectedly, Mayo said. Report scams here.