The International Trade Commission ordered a Section 337 investigation into allegations in an AliveCor April 20 complaint that the electrocardiogram functions in three series of the Apple Watch infringe three AliveCor patents on arrhythmia tracking, says Wednesday’s Federal Register. The complaint seeks a limited exclusion order and a cease and desist order on Apple Watch imports. Apple didn’t comment Tuesday.

Google joined the 8K Association,” said the group Monday. Harmonic also is among other new members. The Samsung-originated 8KA added Allion Labs and Telecommunications Technology Associates as interoperability test labs, it said.

Cyberattacks such as SolarWinds and Colonial Pipeline shouldn't become a norm, said European Member of Parliament Eva Maydell, of the European People's Party Group and Bulgaria, Wednesday at a webcast on the European Commission's proposed network and information security directive update (NIS2). Maydell, who's writing the legislative response to the proposal for the Industry, Research and Energy Committee, said Europe needs a clear, robust defense and high cyber-resilience. Cybersecurity requires trans-Atlantic cooperation, she said. Asked what common ground could be explored, Cisco Head-EU Public Policy Chris Gow listed use of internationally recognized standards; investment funding for governments and industry; better cyber skills for employees; and to "go after the bad guys." If cybercrime losses were an economy, they would be No. 3, Gow said. Major incidents made people fully aware of what's at stake, said Jakub Boratynski, head of unit-cybersecurity and digital privacy policy, EC Directorate-General, communications networks, content and technology. EU cybersecurity strategy began slowly when the original NIS became effective in 2013 and it needs improvement, he said. There's a "mismatch" between the regulatory framework at the EU level and what happens on the ground, said European Network and Information Security Executive Director Juhan Lepassaar: NIS2 is an effort to catch up, and it must also capture the future. The proposal is "evolution, not revolution," Gow said: NIS2 could help create more harmonization, and a more consistent overall approach is needed.

Samsung Display sees a future in connectivity devices based on foldable, rollable, slidable and stretchable displays, said CEO Choi Joo-sun in a prerecorded keynote streamed Tuesday during the virtual Display Week 2021. “Many people have been looking forward to the mobility revolution,” dominated by blurrier lines of product-category demarcation, he said. This requires new materials and backplanes, said Choi. In larger screens, “minimizing dead space is key,” he said. He unveiled demonstration samples including a three-way-foldable display that “can be either a smartphone or tablet,” he said. He showed a large-screen tablet that unfolds to become a widescreen portable desktop monitor. Samsung Display is developing “under-panel camera” technology, said Choi. It’s for high-quality front-facing cameras that won’t interfere with a “wide and clear front screen,” he said. “It is by no means an easy technology.”

Facebook should stop “intimidating WhatsApp users to accept extended data collection,” 28 advocacy groups wrote the company Friday. Led by Public Citizen, they claim the platform is manipulating users into accepting weakened privacy policies, which were to have taken effect Saturday (see 2105030058). Electronic Privacy Information Center, Fight for the Future, Access Now and Center for Digital Democracy signed. The intended business model “relies on extended data integration between WhatsApp and Facebook to benefit its own bottom line at the expense of user privacy,” they wrote. Facebook didn't comment.

Google is “disappointed that Sonos has made false claims about our partnership and technology,” said a Google spokesperson Thursday. Sonos Chief Legal Officer Eddie Lazarus told a quarterly call Wednesday that a German court granted Sonos a preliminary patent injunction. The patent enables and controls transfer of media from a smartphone or tablet to playback devices, said Lazarus, a former FCC official. Google appealed, said the spokesperson. “We will continue to work to ensure that our German customers continue to have the best experience.” The order prohibits selling Google's Cast technology in Germany, “some aspects of which implicate the Sonos patent at issue, and encompasses such products as the Pixel 4a smartphone, Nest Audio speakers and the YouTube Music app," Lazarus said. Thursday, he told us it's a “promising milestone in our ongoing effort to defend our innovations and stand up to the unfair practices of Big Tech." Sonos closed up 7.4% at $33.83.

Voice of San Diego settled with the FCC, FAA and Department of Transportation in its Freedom of Information Act legal fight, said a notice (in Pacer, docket 20-cv-00990) issued this week in U.S. District Court in San Diego. The nonprofit media outlet sued last May over not getting records for a defense contractor's proposed drone test flight over San Diego. The FCC had said its Office of Engineering and Technology gave VOSD a link to the agency experimental licensing system where it could retrieve responsive applications, while FAA said it hadn't finished processing the FOIA request.

Any new EU-US data transfer scheme must avoid a "Schrems III" rejection by the European Court of Justice, European Commission Values and Transparency Vice President Vera Jourova told a Tuesday webinar on Privacy Shield. Given her discussions with Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, "I remain pretty much confident" a new data-sharing regime is possible because of new momentum between like-minded partners. Asked what the EU's strategy is, Jourova said it's to achieve a common understanding of pillars on which a new pact might be built. The essential vision is to remake PS for legal certainty, and to work through problematic issues, mostly on the U.S. side. A federal privacy law "would help," said Jourova. Surveillance issues must be addressed by resolving the conflict between national security and privacy principles, and imposing tougher safeguards against mass surveillance, she said. Europeans need more certainty they will get redress for abuse of their personal data. Asked when a new PS might emerge, Jourova said talks have resumed but will take time: Quality is more important than speed. Negotiations are taking place in a different context from when the ECJ annulled safe harbor, said Commerce Department Privacy Shield Director Alex Greenstein: The stakes are higher now because the world has become more digital. He said Schrems II addressed standard contractual clauses (SCCs) and other data transfer mechanisms, so the situation is about all transfers "writ large," resulting in a "significant impact on trans-Atlantic commerce." Asked whether it will be possible to find a new outcome without fundamental changes on the U.S. side, Greenstein said the U.S. issued a white paper about surveillance practices to help companies make the required risk assessment for SCCs, but that's an imperfect solution. U.S. domestic privacy legislation would probably not affect the negotiations because it probably wouldn't address ECJ requirements, which is why talks are focused on surveillance. No one believes a federal privacy bill can address mass surveillance because it's focused on the commercial side, said Bruno Gencarelli, deputy director-head of unit, international data flows and protection, EC Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers. Such a law would strengthen the basis on which any new PS would be grounded, he added.

Some 6% of attempted new seller account registrations passed Amazon’s verification processes, blogged Dharmesh Mehta, vice president-customer trust and partner support. He detailed Sunday how the e-commerce giant uses machine learning and “expert human review.” Amazon prevented more than 6 million attempts to create new selling accounts and blocked more than 10 billion suspected bad listings before they were published. The e-tailer seized and destroyed more than 2 million products sent to its fulfillment centers and detected as being counterfeit.

NTG Release Group, a "massive 'ripping and uploading'" video piracy operation, is voluntarily shutting, the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment said Monday. It said NTG, also known as "Not the Grinch," had operated since 2018 and was responsible for 4,600 pirated releases of movies and TV shows to torrent sites in 2020. ACE members include Amazon, Charter, Comcast, Disney, Netflix, Sony and ViacomCBS.