ICANN said it’s extending the deadline to Jan. 28 for parties to submit proposals for an independent examiner to do ICANN’s periodic review of the At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC). The submission deadline was previously Friday. All ICANN advisory committees except the Governmental Advisory Committee, all supporting organizations and the ICANN Nominating Committee go through similar period reviews, ICANN said in a Friday news release. The independent examiner for the ALAC review will assess the extent of ALAC’s implementation of recommendations from the committee’s previous review, along with all components of ICANN’s At-Large Community. The review is to run from April through March 2017, ICANN said.
IBM said it acquired Ustream, which provides cloud-based live and on-demand video streaming services to 80 million viewers every month, for an undisclosed sum. Ustream, whose customers include The Discovery Channel, Facebook, NASA, Nike and Samsung, will become part of IBM's Cloud Video Services unit, the company said in a Thursday news release. IBM said the new unit will target the estimated $105 billion cloud-based video services and software market, which includes webcasts, conference keynotes, training and education, webinars and how-to videos. IBM said it will provide a portfolio of "video services that spans open API [application programming interface] development, digital and visual analytics, simplified management and consistent delivery across global industries."
FTC Commissioner Julie Brill will open the Feb. 9 "Start with Security" event in Seattle, with speakers from Belkin, DocuSign, Facebook, Intel, Microsoft and others, the commission said Thursday. The daylong event will have panels on how startups can build a culture of security within their organizations, integrate security testing and review in their development processes, make a business case for incorporating security, and address security in IoT products and services, said the agenda. It's part of FTC's ongoing initiative to help companies, especially startups and early stage businesses, build security into their products, services and culture. The commission held similar workshops in Austin (see 1511050042) and San Francisco (see 1509090045) last year.
From counterfeit goods to weight loss scams, Google blocked more than 780 million ads in 2015 for violating policies, it said Thursday in a blog post. More than 12.5 million pharmaceutical ads that made misleading claims were blocked, while more than 10,000 websites and 18,000 accounts that pitched counterfeit products like fake designer watches were suspended. More than 30,000 sites that made misleading claims for weight loss through supplements -- a top user complaint, Google said -- were blocked, as were nearly 7,000 phishing sites. The company said it also disabled 10,000-plus sites offering "unwanted" software and slashed unwanted downloads through Google ads by over 99 percent. More than 17 million "trick to click" ads such as those that resemble system warnings from a person's computer were scrapped. Google said it also "stopped showing ads on more than 25,000 mobile apps because the developers didn't follow our policies." For instance, two-thirds of the violators had placed their ads so close to buttons that users accidentally clicked the ads. The company said more than 1.4 million applications from sites and mobile apps that wanted to display Google ads but didn't follow policies were rejected. Users also provided "4+ billion pieces of feedback" through the "mute this ad" functionality telling Google they didn't want to see an ad on a site again. Besides rolling out a new design to help users manage their ads settings last year, the company said it's updating policies on weight loss ads and new protections against malware and bots in 2016.
Spotify bought Cord Project and Soundwave to "further boost [its] existing strengths in developing engaging and innovative music experiences," Spotify said in a news release Wednesday. Both businesses will join Spotify's product development team, said Spotify, which didn't disclose the purchase price of either deal.
Amazon China reportedly registered with the Federal Maritime Commission to be a freight forwarder as Beijing Century Joyo Courier Service Co. (see 1601150033), which shows the company isn't giving up on investments in China, said a report from Credit Suisse research analysts. The report said analysts' conversations with Amazon officials suggested the company "will look to iterate its effort to offer Chinese consumers guaranteed authentic products." The report also suggested the fees Amazon will collect as a freight forwarder could result in savings from lower prices for consumers.
Brother printers, a General Electric dishwasher, Whirlpool smart dishwasher and Gmate Smart blood glucose monitor are among the first devices available for Amazon’s Dash Replenishment program, the retailer said Tuesday. Under Dash Replenishment, connected devices automatically order physical goods from Amazon when supplies are running low, the company said. For device makers and developers, Dash Replenishment Service APIs (application program interfaces) are available for integration into any device that can connect to the Internet, Amazon said. Developers can begin an integration using HTML containers and REST (representational state transfer) API calls, it said.
ICANN’s search for a successor to retiring CEO Fadi Chehadé “is proceeding well,” though little other information on the search is available, ICANN Board Chairman Steve Crocker said in a blog post Monday. Chehadé is to resign from ICANN March 12, after the nonprofit corporation’s planned March 5-10 meeting in Marrakesh, Morocco. “It’s clear Fadi has a full run up to his final day and [the Marrakesh meeting], managing the organization and being its representative in key arenas,” Crocker said.
The NSA released an unclassified report on how it's implementing changes to its phone metadata records collection program as required by the USA Freedom Act, the agency said Thursday in a news release. NSA's Civil Liberties and Privacy Office did the assessment, which helps the agency identify impacts to civil liberties and privacy, describe safeguards applied to a certain activity and support more transparency. The law, which was passed last summer, took effect Nov. 29. The report also detailed data minimization procedures designed to protect privacy. It said the NSA "may process, analyze, disseminate, and retain" call detail records -- meaning the metadata -- only as permitted by the minimization procedures adopted by the U.S. Attorney General's Office and approved by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
The Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability (CCWG-Accountability) is “likely” to adjust its timeline for completing its final proposal on changes to ICANN’s accountability mechanisms based on feedback it receives from ICANN’s six chartering organizations, ICANN said in a blog post Friday. CCWG-Accountability had planned to submit its final proposal to the ICANN board by the end of January, but stakeholders have considered further delays likely given the significant amount of controversy on some aspects of the current proposal (see 1601080054). CCWG-Accountability has sought feedback by Jan. 21 from the six organizations on whether they support the working group’s current proposal. The Country Code Names Supporting Organization, Generic Names Supporting Organization and the Governmental Advisory Committee are preparing comments, ICANN said. “When feedback is received from all six Chartering Organizations, the CCWG-Accountability will be in a better position to judge how much additional work may be needed to finalize the report and will adjust its timeline.” GAC’s feedback has been seen as particularly important given the controversy over how the ICANN board should handle GAC advice following the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority transition.