BT agreed to Ofcom requirements to spin off its Openreach network division, the British regulator said in a release Friday. "Openreach will become a distinct company with its own staff and management, together with its own strategy and a legal purpose to serve all of its customers equally," Ofcom said. "BT has agreed to all of the changes needed to address Ofcom’s competition concerns. As a result, Ofcom will no longer need to impose these changes through regulation. The reforms have been designed to begin this year."

Interception and surveillance of EU citizens' personal data sent to the U.S. is allowed by laws in America and subject "to limited, if any, judicial oversight," said the Electronic Privacy Information Center Wednesday in a submission to the Irish High Court. It's hearing a case involving whether Facebook's use of standard contractual clauses (SCCs) provide adequate privacy protections for European citizens (see 1702060029). EPIC is one of several parties selected as amici curiae in the case, which may be referred to the European Court of Justice to decide the validity of SCCs in transferring data. EPIC said U.S. laws don't really provide "adequate safeguards" for such data and effective redress if there are violations. "Many of the privacy safeguards under U.S. law in fact operate to the exclusion of E.U. citizens situated outside the United States," said EPIC. Experts expect the ECJ, which invalidated the safe harbor agreement in October 2015 leading to the creation of Privacy Shield, will hear the case. The office of Irish Data Protection Commissioner Helen Dixon said in a recent update that the Irish court case, which began Feb. 7, may last until mid-March.

The American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Oregon and Electronic Frontier Foundation are asking the full 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to rehear the case of Mohamed Osman Mohamud, a Somali-born, naturalized U.S. citizen, after a three-judge panel in December upheld his conviction for attempting to bomb a Portland, Oregon, ceremony in 2013 (see 1607050073). The 9th Circuit panel ruled that since the government was targeting a foreign national overseas under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, no warrant was required to intercept that person's communications or Mohamud's emails that were incidentally collected in the investigation. Section 702 allows U.S. intelligence agencies to collect information about non-U.S. persons located overseas; but critics say Americans' personal information is swept up (see 1605100001). In Monday's amici filing requesting an en banc hearing, the three groups said the panel "improperly" relied on the "incidental overhear" rule to create a new exception to the warrant requirement, but that rule wasn't recognized as an exception. Such a misreading creates "a dangerous end-run around the warrant requirement -- including in ordinary criminal investigations," the filing said. The groups said the panel held that the third-party doctrine "diminished" Mohamud's expectation of email privacy. The advocacy groups said the panel "inexplicably carved out of its decision" the government practice of intentionally searching the Section 702 databases for Americans' communications.

High-ranking government officials from France and Germany are backing EU legislation that could jeopardize encrypted communications across Europe, said Christian Borggreen, Computer & Communications Industry Association director-international policy, in a blog post Friday. He said German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere and his French counterpart, Bruno Le Roux, sent a letter last week to European Commission officials seeking legislation in October after both countries' general elections. Borggreen said the letter, which is written in French, is a "u-turn" from the EU's prior "strong opposition" to back doors. He also cited a Politico story that reported an EC spokesperson seemed to endorse the proposal. Borggreen said it's unclear how service providers would give law enforcement access to encrypted data. It would "pose serious risks to the overall security and confidentiality of Europeans’ communications, which seems inconsistent with existing legal protections for personal data," he wrote. The EC's justice spokesman and French and German interior ministry offices didn't respond to emails seeking comment.

Sentinel Labs, SpyChatter and Vir2us settled separate but similar FTC allegations that they allegedly deceived consumers about their participation in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation's (APEC) voluntary data-transfer system, said the commission in a Wednesday news release. Commissioners voted 2-0 to accept the three proposed consent orders, which will be published in the Federal Register soon, for comment through March 24. The commission will then decide whether to make the agreements final. The FTC alleged the companies said in their online privacy policies that they participated in the APEC Cross-Border Privacy Rules system when they didn't. The system "facilitates privacy-respecting data transfers between APEC member economies through a voluntary, enforceable mechanism, which certifies companies as being compliant with ... program requirements," said the FTC. The agency also said security company Sentinel Labs, which also does business as SentinelOne, "falsely" claimed participation in TRUSTe's privacy program. SpyChatter provides a secure messaging app while Vir2us is a cybersecurity company. The settlements bar the companies "from misrepresenting their participation, membership or certification in any privacy or security program sponsored by a government or self-regulatory or standard-setting organization." The companies didn't comment.

IBM launched an ecosystem initiative around its Watson IoT business in Munich, it said in a Thursday announcement. Calling the effort the first “cognitive collaboratories,” IBM said development teams from Avnet, BNP Paribas, Capgemini and Tech Mahindra will collocate development teams at the IBM center, which will also act as innovation space for European IoT standards organization EEBus. IoT innovation has reached a “tipping point,” said Harriet Green, general manager, IBM Watson IoT, cognitive engagement and education, who pegged the number of clients and partners wanting to co-innovate on the IoT ecosystem at 6,000.

Sony is delaying by three months the targeted closing date of the 17.5 billion yen ($153.2 million) sale of its battery business to Murata (see 1610310044), the company said in a Wednesday announcement. Murata and Sony “are continuing the necessary procedures” to complete the sale, but “in light of the current review status of the required regulatory approvals,” the new goal is to close the deal by early July, Sony said. “The rescheduled target closing date remains subject to the receipt of the required regulatory approvals and other conditions.”

The International Trade Commission will undertake the first of three reviews on business-to-business and business-to-consumer digital technologies, including on digital exports that might encounter trade barriers overseas, the agency said in a Friday notice. As part of its first of three planned investigations, the ITC scheduled a hearing April 4. The commission will accept requests to appear at the hearing through March 21, pre-hearing briefs and statements through March 23, post-hearing briefs and statements through April 11, "all other written submissions for the first report" through April 21, and will submit the first of three digital trade reports to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative on Aug. 29, the commission said. Pursuant to a Jan. 13 request to the ITC by then-U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman (see 1701180032), the agency anticipates releasing the second report by Oct. 28, 2018, and the third report by March 29, 2019.

Income-based approaches to consumer marketing strategies are outdated, and internet using “connected spenders” is a better indicator of consumers “ready and able to spend on goods and services,” reported the Demand Institute, a nonprofit think tank operated by The Conference Board and Nielsen. Connected spenders will generate 46 percent of the world’s consumer spending over the next decade, when 2.3 billion more consumers will get internet access, said Wednesday's report.

Global Q4 smartphone sales reached 391 million units, up 6 percent year on year, GfK reported Wednesday. Western Europe was the only region to see negative growth with unit sales down 4 percent year on year to 38.6 million and dollar sales off by a percentage point to $16.2 billion. North American unit sales rose 3 percent to 58 million and dollar sales advanced 5 percent to $22.9 billion, it said. Following a dip in Q3 last year, North America experienced a turnaround in demand in Q4, driving by operator promotions and flagship device launches during the holiday season, said the research company. It forecasts that tough competition among North American carriers will drive marginal growth in smartphone demand of 1 percent year on year to 193.4 million units in 2017. Central and Eastern Europe had the steepest rise in the quarter, at 16 percent, posting unit sales of 24.2 million, for $5.6 billion in revenue. China led all smartphone sales with 118.9 million, up 12 percent, grossing $36.9 billion, it said. Smartphone demand is expected to remain stable even in saturated markets this year, said analyst Arndt Polifke, citing their relevance in developed markets for innovations such as virtual reality, artificial intelligence, smart home functionality, mobile payments and mobile health. Polifke said that developing regions such as the Middle East/Africa and emerging Asia “have yet to mature and as such still have significant potential for growth, leading to a solid growth outlook for smartphone demand in 2017."