The new EU-U.S. Privacy Shield that replaces the annulled safe harbor agreement with stronger privacy protections of Europeans' personal data (see 1602020040) "will be a mere political solution to a legal problem" without key surveillance law reforms on both sides of the Atlantic, said Access Now's Estelle Massé, Amie Stepanovich and Drew Mitnick in a long blog post Thursday. They said "robust substantive changes" to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Amendments Act's Section 702, which permits surveillance of non-U.S. persons, and executive order 12333, which governs spying outside the U.S., haven't been implemented. Instead, EU negotiators relied on "written assurances" from the U.S. that "indiscriminate surveillance" of EU citizens would not take place, which the three described as "word games." Even "overbroad" surveillance programs in some EU member states like France and the U.K. need to be changed, they said (see 1512240011). The activists also said more needs to be done to strengthen transparency, oversight and data protection, which can be achieved through enacting baseline privacy legislation such as the proposed consumer privacy bill of rights in the U.S., plus strong data breach notification laws and vulnerability disclosure frameworks on both sides of the Atlantic. If concerns of the European Court of Justice, which invalidated the old safe harbor framework in October, aren't addressed, the new one will likely be nullified, creating more uncertainty (see 1602030001) for companies, they concluded.

"The path is now clear" for the U.S. to "help bring Cuban telecommunications into the [21st century]," said Jamie Barnett, a Venable cybersecurity and telecom lawyer, in an online memo, referring to a recent policy change of the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS). The bureau's policy change regarding Cuba -- from a "case-by-case" review of telecommunications license applications to a "general policy of approval" -- became effective in late January, and coincides with recently announced amendments to the Cuban Asset Control Regulations (CACR) made by the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), Barnett said. OFAC's amendments to the CACR "further relax[ed] the restrictions on the economic activities in, and financing exports to, Cuba," he said. Barnett said OFAC took multiple, incremental steps in 2015 to open up U.S. telecom-based services in Cuba, and its most recent action in January continues that trend. "As both OFAC and BIS have made clear, the purpose of the new rules involving trade with Cuba is to engage the private sector in that country to the largest extent possible while supporting the Cuban government as little as practicable in keeping with this purpose," he said. "In the telecom field, the U.S. government appears to appreciate that major infrastructure projects will be required and that these can be accomplished only by working with the Cuban government." Although providers will need BIS licenses to "bring Cuba telecom into par with the U.S.," and U.S. companies will need to carefully negotiate the remaining OFAC sanctions, "U.S. policy is clearly to promote the modernization of Cuba's telecommunications sector."

Univision Mobile and Ultra Mobile partnered to "bring unlimited international calling and global text to the Univision Mobile base of customers," Univision said in a news release. The partnership began Monday, and during February current Univision Mobile customers "will have their accounts migrated to Ultra management ... at which time all customers will immediately benefit from unlimited talk and text" to up to 40 global areas at no extra charge, Univision said. Univision Mobile will offer three "new" consumer plans starting Feb. 11, including a $20 monthly "entry-level" plan with unlimited domestic talk, global text and international calling, and both $30 and $50 monthly plans "featuring more robust data options" and extended unlimited international calling destinations, it said.

A Department of Commerce rule to facilitate telecom and other exports to Cuba was published in the Federal Register Wednesday. Under the rule, various exports and reexports will be subject to a general policy of license approval by the Bureau of Industry and Security, including: “(i) Telecommunications items that would improve communications to, from, and among the Cuban people; (ii) Commodities and software to human rights organizations or to individuals and non-governmental organizations that promote independent activity intended to strengthen civil society in Cuba; (iii) Commodities and software to U.S. news bureaus in Cuba whose primary purpose is the gathering and dissemination of news to the general public.” The rule was announced Tuesday (see 1601270018).

GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump is wrongheaded in his campaign vow to force Apple to shift its manufacturing from China to the U.S., CTA President Gary Shapiro said Wednesday in a blog post at Medium.com. Trump “gets a pass from some people for saying foolish things,” said Shapiro, who has endorsed Marco Rubio for the presidency (see 1512230039). But “I fear for our nation that a candidate for president would lead in the polls after making so many idiotic statements.” If “we did what Trump wants,” Apple “would then face huge additional costs making iPhones and iPads and would have to raise its prices to the American consumers several-fold,” he said. “We would destroy the two-way nature of international trade and leave our biggest and best exporters, such as Boeing, GM, Ford and IBM vulnerable to Chinese retaliation.” There's no doubt Americans “should be manufacturers, especially in highly skilled manufacturing,” Shapiro said. “But I have been in scores of Chinese factories, and the assembly work consists of redundant, simple, repetitive tasks that many with an education would be unsatisfied doing.” Brazil has “tried what Trump advocates,” he said. Duties there “vary according to the value of a given product, but can reach as high as 55 percent,” he said. “The result is high domestic prices for consumer electronics, often making them inaccessible to average citizens. The result is that upscale Brazilians visit the U.S. with empty suitcases and leave with luggage full of electronics.” Said Shapiro: “So, no, Mr. Trump. The last time the U.S. tried anything as dumb as your China proposal, the Smoot-Hawley Tariff law of 1930 raised U.S. tariffs on more than 20,000 imported goods to record levels. That led to the Great Depression. Your ideas may smartly play to a certain type of voter, but they’re economic suicide for America, its people and our world-leading companies.”

Amazon may be moving toward offering non-vessel operating common-carrier (NVOCC) services, said Flexport, a logistics company, in a post on its blog. "Flexport has obtained information that Amazon China has received a license to operate as an ocean freight forwarder" in the U.S, said Flexport CEO Ryan Petersen. Petersen pointed to the Federal Maritime Commission's directory of Ocean Transportation Intermediaries, which has a listing for "Beijing Century JOYO Courier Service Co. Ltd," with the trade name Amazon China on the license, said Petersen. Amazon bought JOYO in 2004, he said. "By offering ocean freight services, Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) will make it easier for its customers to move goods into the company’s logistics network." An Amazon spokeswoman confirmed to us the accuracy of the FMC filing, declining to comment further.

Zayo completed its $465 million Canadian ($320 million) acquisition of Allstream, Zayo said in a news release Friday. The purchase added "more than 18,000 route miles" to Zayo's fiber network, including 12,500 miles of long-haul fiber and 5,500 route miles of metro fiber network, Zayo said. It said Allstream and its assets will be reorganized into two business units -- Zayo Canada, and a unit maintaining the Allstream name that includes Allstream's voice, unified communications and small enterprise businesses.

The FCC International Bureau removed Cuba from the commission's exclusion list for International Section 214 Authorizations, the FCC said in a news release Friday. Removing Cuba from the exclusion list "opens the door for U.S. telecom carriers to provide facilities-based telephone and Internet service to Cuba without separate approval" from the FCC, said the release. Carriers seeking to provide service to Cuba -- the last remaining country on the exclusion list before the commission's decision -- can now receive approval sooner and can provide service between the U.S. and Cuba without additional authorization, the FCC said. Removing Cuba from the list "benefits the public interest as it will likely alleviate administrative cost burdens on both the applicant and the commission, and will promote competition on the U.S.-Cuba route," the FCC said.

The International Trade Commission opened a Tariff Act Section 337 investigation (No. 337-TA-981) into claims by Saxon Glass that imports of an Apple Watch model are infringing its trademark, the commission said in a Monday announcement. Saxon's Nov. 10 petition alleged the Apple Watch Sport’s ION-X strengthened glass infringes Saxon’s own IONEX mark. Saxon is requesting a limited exclusion order and cease and desist order banning import and sale of the Apple Watch Sport. Apple representatives didn’t comment Wednesday.

U.S. undersea cable capacity grew by about 36 percent per year between 2007 and 2014 and is expected "to grow around 29 percent for 2014-2016," the FCC said Tuesday announcing the release of its first report on U.S. international circuit capacity. The top foreign landing points for U.S. undersea cables are Colombia, Japan, U.K., Panama, Brazil, Venezuela, Mexico and Australia, said the FCC, which added the Atlantic region had a larger fraction of non-activated capacity than the Americas or Pacific regions did. The International Bureau report found new reporting requirements improved the commission's data collection. "Importantly, 94.6 percent of the total available capacity on all U.S. international submarine cables is now captured, compared to 7.1 percent collected under the previous reporting requirements," the commission said.