Data localization and other constraints on data flows would have negative impacts on the global digital economy and would increase security risks, consequences that need to be addressed, said the Business and Industry Advisory Committee (BIAC) to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in a paper released Monday. It said cross-border data flows will accelerate as roughly 10.2 billion IoT devices come online over the next five years, resulting in nearly 4 billion people -- more than half the world's population -- connected to the Internet. But "forced localization policies" in the manufacturing and services sector "are a disproportionate response and more trade restrictive than necessary" and would reduce global trade by $93 billion annually, the paper said. "Limiting data movement will increase costs, reduce the business competitiveness across the globe and fragment the internet." Companies can work with governments to take "reasonable steps" to protect personal data, with governments providing a "proportionate response" through laws and regulations that strike a balance between fundamental individual rights and cross-border data flow, the paper said. BIAC issued a half dozen recommendations to OECD such as collecting more evidence about the impact of forced localization and other measures on cross-border data flows, documenting the impact of localization policies on trade and investment, and providing guidance on how governments can enforce existing trade rules against the proliferation of data localization.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is urging President Barack Obama to listen to academics, mathematicians, security engineers and his own advisers who say a back door to unlock encrypted data can't be used only by the "good guys." "You can’t put a key under a doormat that only the FBI will ever find," wrote EFF Activism Director Rainey Reitman in a blog post Friday, referring to the legal fight between Apple and the U.S. government over unlocking the iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino, California, mass shooters (see 1603010013). She wrote that it's "not possible" to secure encryption back doors that can be accessed by "the smallest number of people possible," which Obama recommended in a talk at the South by Southwest festival in Austin (see 1603110082). She said "crypto-critics like FBI Director James Comey, the attorney general, and others" don't appreciate the technical consequences of what they're proposing, which could be exploited by hackers, identity thieves, authoritarian governments and corporations, compromising everyone's security. "The public debate we’re having over the security of our devices boils down to a question of math versus politics," she added.

The technology and “business model transitions” are trends that “favor” Jabil Circuit, CEO Mark Mondello said on a Wednesday earnings call. “Consumers demand more and more devices be connected, connected to each other, connected to the cloud and connected to the end user -- automobiles, appliances, meters, home security systems, drones, just to name a few,” said Mondello, whose firm provides contract-manufacturing and supply-chain services to companies like Cisco, HP and Sony Mobile Communications, but counts Apple as its top customer. “This world of massive connectivity assures that more and more data will be generated. This in turn requires more bandwidth, which requires more computing power and more storage.” Mondello thinks mobile devices “are here to stay,” because they “monitor and control an infinite number of connected devices as well as connect all of us in our daily lives,” he said. “Apple remains dominant in this space.” Representatives at Apple didn't comment Thursday.

The FTC issued warning letters Thursday to 12 app developers whose apps appear to the FTC to include the code for Silverpush software that can detect audio signals via a device's microphone as a way of monitoring consumers' TV use. Silverpush software can monitor TV use by detecting “audio beacons” that TVs emit, the FTC said in a news release. App developers can use Silverpush software to produce a detailed log of TV usage habits as a way of targeting specific ads at a consumer, the FTC said. Silverpush has said its software isn't currently in use in the U.S., but app developers should still notify consumers if their apps contain the software, the FTC said. Apps that include Silverpush typically ask consumers for permission to access their microphone without providing a reason and don't warn consumers that the software can be used to monitor TV use, the FTC said. App developer claiming falsely that their apps don't collect information on TV use via the Silverpush software may be in violation of FTC Act Section 5, the FTC said in a sample version of the letters.

Cloud computing and big data firms are expected to drive much of the global threat and vulnerability management (VM) market's predicted expansion over the next four years, which is expected to increase the market's revenue from $5.8 billion in 2015 to $8.6 billion in 2020, ABI Research said Wednesday in a report. Cyberattacks are driving an uptick in the use of VM services, with vulnerability assessments alone netting $2.1 billion revenue in 2020, ABI said. Software security testing should generate $6.9 billion in revenue in 2020, ABI said.

Western European consumers will buy 24.5 million connected fitness trackers and 20.8 million smartwatches in 2020, Parks Associates said in a Tuesday report. “The expansion of mobile device platforms to wearable form factors creates many opportunities for developers to build new services and applications,” it said. “For the smart watch, its location on the body and easy access put it in a great position to act as a remote control for smart home features, a role currently occupied by the smartphone.” Parks estimates that 10 percent of broadband homes in Spain own a smartwatch, followed by 8 percent in the U.K., 7 percent in Germany and 6 percent in France. In the U.S., a third of broadband homes own a digital health and wellness device, and 10 percent plan to buy a smartwatch by midyear 2016, the researcher said.

Amazon’s introduction of its low-cost Fire tablet has sparked “a significant change in the tablet industry’s competitive landscape,” ABI Research said in a Monday report. At $50, the Fire’s price “is significantly lower than the average vendor selling price of $323,” ABI said. “It is a calculated risk that Amazon can afford to take as the company shifts its revenue focus away from solely hardware and toward recurring digital content sales.” ABI Research estimates Amazon sold 5 million units of its various tablet models in Q4 2015, it said. That was enough to rank Amazon third overall for branded tablet shipments in the quarter, behind Apple (16.1 million units) and Samsung (9 million), it said. For calendar 2015, Amazon sold 7.6 million tablets, ranking it fifth behind Apple (49.6 million), Samsung (34.1 million), Lenovo (11.1 million) and Huawei (7.7 million), it said. Most tablet suppliers are taking a “wait-and-see approach” to Amazon’s $50 Fire, ABI said. Going for such a low-ball price is “a path only few can follow, as vendors without content distribution rights and value-added services can only rely on the transaction price of their hardware to stay in business,” it said. “Conversely, content owners may find value in broadening their ecosystems by striking relationships with tablet vendors to get their programming in front of more users.”

Harman completed its buy of cybersecurity company TowerSec (see 1601050057), it said Friday. TowerSec specializes in onboard network protection for connected vehicles. Harman expects the transaction to be dilutive to operational earnings by about 5 cents per share in FY 2016, and it will be reported as part of Harman’s Connected Car division, it said.

SaaS (software as a service) platform Shopgate added Apple TV apps to its roster of shopper channels, joining iPhone, iPad and Android apps, it said Friday. The Apple TV apps were to launch Saturday during Shopgate’s South by Southwest launch party, said Shopgate. The large-format interface for Apple TV apps is customizable with drag and drop widgets, said Shopgate. The company said it simplifies content management by connecting a merchant’s e-commerce store to its Shopgate account and automatically syncing products and orders. Shopgate’s persistent shopping cart allows customers to complete purchases in the Apple TV app or jump among devices without starting over, Shopgate said.

ICANN’s 2017 meetings will be in Copenhagen, Johannesburg and Abu Dhabi, it said Friday. ICANN will meet in Copenhagen March 11-16, 2017, in Johannesburg June 26-29 and Abu Dhabi Oct. 28-Nov. 3. ICANN also confirmed this year's June 27-30 meeting will now be in Helsinki, Finland. It said in February it would move the June 27-30 meeting from Panama City amid concerns about the outbreak of the Zika Virus in Panama and other nations in Latin America (see 1602080015). ICANN will meet Oct. 29-Nov. 4 in San Juan, Puerto Rico.