Facebook's website lists the number of content restrictions the company has complied with for countries including Brazil, India, Israel and Turkey, but the amount of content Facebook blocks in the U.S. is unknown, wrote Electronic Frontier Foundation Investigative Researcher Dave Maass in a blog post Thursday. That this information is missing in the U.S. is “odd, considering that Facebook has been suspending the accounts of inmates for at least four years at the behest of prison officials,” he said. EFF’s issue isn’t about prisoner accounts removed from Facebook, but EFF is concerned if the company isn’t reporting these takedown requests that it's censoring other information as well, Maass said. In California and South Carolina alone, more than 700 takedowns were requested for accounts belonging to prisoners, he said. Even if EFF or another outlet filed a public records request in all 50 states, the true number of prisoner takedowns Facebook complied with may not be known because “Facebook’s system allowed prisons to file these requests without creating a paper trail,” Maass said. In EFF’s annual scorecard evaluating how companies handle government requests, Google and Twitter transparency efforts were applauded, he said. While EFF was preparing its 2015 report, “we gave Facebook multiple opportunities to come clean about government requests to suppress content,” he said. Facebook “did overhaul its inmate takedown process,” but “refuses to release top line numbers for the United States,” Maass said. He urged Facebook to “publish the data and show U.S. government agencies that censorship shouldn’t happen in the dark.” The company didn't comment.

About 30 percent of broadband households in the U.S. own a connected health device and 12 percent own more than one, said research released Thursday by Parks Associates. It said that more than half of all broadband households nationally use an online health tool to talk with a doctor, fill a prescription or access personal health information.

The California Department of Motor Vehicles said it will release accident reports for crashes involving self-driving cars being tested on public roads, after requests from consumer advocacy groups (see 1505120034), a Consumer Watchdog news release said Thursday. “DMV initially declined to release these reports based on Vehicle Code provisions that require accident reports concerning traffic injuries or fatalities to remain confidential,” said DMV Senior Staff Counsel Roger Sato. “After further review, DMV has determined that it is possible to release the factual information related to the autonomous vehicle reports, so long as the personal information of the drivers involved in the accidents and other information not disclosable by law is kept confidential,” Sato said. Personal information including the driver's’ name, the car’s vehicle identification number and insurer will be redacted, the release said. “It took too long, but the DMV is now getting right,” said Consumer Watchdog Privacy Project Director John Simpson. “The robot cars are being tested on public roads and people have a right to know as much as possible about what goes wrong,” Simpson said.

Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla., wrote Google CEO Larry Page Wednesday asking the company for details about complaints (see 1505190015) its YouTube Kids app contains content inappropriate for children, a news release said. Nelson asked Page to detail, among other things, how Google selects content for the app and what steps it takes to ensure kids aren't exposed to unsuitable content. “As parents seek out safe and appropriate online venues for their children, it is critical that services designed and marketed for children are, in fact, appropriate for the kids who will undoubtedly use them," Nelson wrote. Google had no immediate comment Wednesday.

The wider availability of services on a fast-growing connected-device base “has led to a vastly improved viewing experience for many in the online video sector, encouraging consumers to pay for premium content,” said a Futuresource Consulting report Tuesday. It described a “perfect storm” in which Netflix has been able to capitalize “on the growing trend to access content via IP.” Netflix has used its low-priced subscription VOD business model to increase its global customer base to 60 million, of which 40 million are in the U.S., it said. Futuresource estimates the global total will reach at least 80 million by the end of 2016, it said. This would make Netflix “approximately twice as big” as any other pay-TV content provider except HBO, which is available in 114 million homes worldwide, it said. For Netflix, “international expansion has been a huge success, with most countries it has launched in exceeding expectations,” it said, citing the recent Netflix debut in Australia. “However, uptake in Germany and France has been slower, with some resistance to the service, whilst Japan could be its toughest and potentially most expensive launch yet, with language, culture and content in Japan all very different to Netflix's previous experiences of international launches.” Netflix representatives didn’t comment.

U.S. Chief Information Officer Tony Scott ordered federal agencies to begin a 30-day “cybersecurity sprint” to review and improve their cybersecurity policies, the White House said Friday. Obama administration officials said the effort to strengthen federal cyber defenses was unrelated to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) data breach announced earlier this month (see 1506050042). But the White House noted in a fact sheet distributed to reporters that “recent events underscore the need to accelerate the Administration’s cyber strategy and confront” hackers. The White House has generally had a “laser-like focus” on cybersecurity issues but "it’s hard not to see how this 30-day sprint isn’t connected to the OPM data breach,” said Norma Krayem, co-leader of Squire Patton’s cybersecurity practice. The OPM data breach is to be the subject of two House briefings Tuesday and a House Homeland Security Cybersecurity Subcommittee hearing next week. Tuesdays’ OPM briefings include a 10 a.m. House Oversight Committee hearing in 2154 Rayburn and a 1 p.m. closed all-House briefing that’s to include Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson. A “Cybersecurity Sprint Team” is leading a 30-day review of all federal agencies’ cybersecurity policies as part of the cyber policy push, with members of the team coming from the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, OMB’s E-Gov Cyber and National Security Unit and the National Security Council Cybersecurity Directorate, the White House said. The U.S. CIO’s office will recommend a federal civilian cybersecurity strategy based on the review team’s findings and will issue action plans to further address critical cyber issues, the White House said. The U.S. CIO’s office is requiring federal agencies to use DHS-provided cyberthreat indicators on their networks and report any malicious activity, the White House said. Federal agencies will also be required to immediately patch critical cyber vulnerabilities, accelerate adoption of multifactor authentication and tighten which network users have “privileged” access.

A coalition of civil rights and privacy organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union and TechFreedom, sent a letter to House leadership Monday in support of an amendment to the Intelligence Authorization Act co-sponsored by Reps. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, and Jim Himes, D-Conn., that would remove Section 306 from the proposed bill, a TechFreedom news release said. Section 306 “would allow executive agencies to withhold from the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) any information related to covert action, which is defined in the National Security Act of 1947 as ‘any activity or activities of the United States Government to influence political, economic, or military conditions abroad, where it is intended that the role of the United States Government will not be apparent or acknowledged publicly,’” the release said. “PCLOB can’t be expected to do its job if executive agencies are given broad license to withhold key information,” said TechFreedom Policy Fellow Mark Potkewitz. “The Section 306 carve-out for ‘covert’ action is so broad that agencies could claim this exception to preclude PCLOB access to information on virtually anything -- including the intrusive surveillance programs that are in dire need of more oversight,” Potkewitz said. “Rep. Gabbard’s amendment is crucial for the continued oversight of surveillance programs.”

The Direct Marketing Association is disappointed that Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., reintroduced his Do Not Track Kids Act (see 1506110015), a DMA news release said Friday, “citing robust existing protections for children in the online environment.” Do Not Track isn't necessary because protection for children is “already effectively provided through self-regulation,” said DMA Vice President-Government Affairs Rachel Nyswander Thomas. “Ironically, in order to enact the proposals put forth in Senator Markey’s bill, such as a ‘do not track’ button or an ‘eraser button,’ companies would have to collect more information -- not less -- about children online,” Thomas said. “Robust self-regulation is the best and most appropriate way to address privacy concerns, providing flexible, adaptive frameworks that keep pace with ever-changing technology,” she said. “DMA encourages Senator Markey and his Senate colleagues to bear in mind that children are growing up in a digital world, and increasingly their success in this global economy will depend on their ability to navigate online platforms and emerging technologies,” Thomas said. “Congressional action to unnecessarily inhibit growth in new areas of Internet innovation would be a disservice to children who benefit from richer data-driven learning experiences as they grow up in an increasingly data-driven world.” In 1998, DMA supported passage of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, participated in the FTC’s most recent update of COPPA, and continues to “support and enforce mechanisms that provide children with safe, engaging online resources,” the release said.

While app usage has transitioned from a novelty to an essential part of the mobile user experience, the number of apps used is staying the same, said a Nielsen study. Millions of apps are available, with more rolled out every day, but more than 70 percent of total app usage is coming from the top 200 apps, said Nielsen. App developers and marketers need to position apps effectively to stand out in an increasingly competitive market, it said. While there’s an app for “everyone, regardless of age, race or interest,” consumers have shown a threshold for the number of apps they use actively per month, it said. On average, smartphone users accessed 26.7 apps per month in Q4, roughly flat with Q4 2012. But the time they spend engaging with those apps has increased by 14 minutes per month, Nielsen said. Average time per month spent on apps per person has grown from 23:02 (hours and minutes) in Q4 2012 to 37:28 in Q4 2014, said Nielsen. The entertainment category -- covering a broad swath of content from weather forecasts to sports scores -- has contributed to the increase in app usage, driving a 13 percent year-on-year increase in Q4, as users spent nearly three hours more on apps during the period, Nielsen said. On smartphones, gaming is the biggest subcategory, with 76 percent of entertainment app users (115 million) reporting they played at least one game in Q4, followed by music and then movies/videos. Men’s monthly app usage averaged 27.2 versus 26.3 for women, but women spend more time per app at 38:02 minutes versus 36:51 for men, it said. African-Americans use the most apps per month (30.3) and spend nearly 43 hours per month on them, while Hispanics follow at 41:31 across an average 27.9 apps per month, it said. Asian-Americans average 37:14 per month on apps, while white non-Hispanic users spend 35:25 per month, it said.

Two items topping the agenda for Thursday’s NTIA facial recognition multistakeholder meeting are whether a facial recognition software code should include an exception from user consent or withdrawal requirements for facial recognition technology that involve anti-fraud, loss prevention and related goals, and the importance of deciding on a “default condition” for user control requirements, NTIA Director-Privacy Initiatives John Verdi emailed stakeholders Tuesday. The matters were raised at NTIA’s facial recognition meeting in December (see 1412150064), but weren't resolved, Verdi said. “If the group can reach consensus on an approach to these issues, I’ve set aside time to discuss issues related to access, accuracy and audit trails.” Questions stakeholders will consider include: whether users have the right to audit how an entity uses facial recognition data and whether they can access the type and accuracy of that data; whether an entity should track how facial recognition data is used; how individuals can correct false negatives or false positives; how individuals can seek corrections from commercial entities; who's responsible for handling such matters; and whether the purpose of the technology is being used should be a factor in determining if an individual has access to the data, said the agenda. “The group will draft text concerning these issues if possible, and identify drafters to wordsmith text if drafting with the full group proves unwieldy,” Verdi said. “We will close with a brief discussion of logistics for future work and meetings” in July, September, October and November, he said. The meeting is 1-5 p.m. at the American Institute of Architects, 1735 New York Ave. NW. The meeting will also be webcast.