Google Thursday rebuffed European Commission concerns that the company's Android operating system is hurting competition by skirting antitrust rules and imposing restrictions on device makers and mobile network operators (see 1604200001). In response to the EC's April statement of objections, General Counsel Kent Walker said in a blog post that the free and open source Android expanded competition. He wrote that Android competes with Apple iOS, and Google and hardware makers established a "minimum level of compatibility" for Android devices to minimize fragmentation. "We give phone makers wide latitude to build devices that go above that baseline, which is why you see such a varied universe of Android devices," he wrote. He added that Google's apps account for less than one-third of preloaded apps, which consumers "can swipe away." Hardware makers and carriers can install rival apps. Walker said Google provides free distribution of some products like Google Search and Google Play rather than charge upfront licensing fees. Thomas Vinje, counsel to FairSearch, a group representing Google's competitors, said in a statement that the company is "abusing its dominance to prevent competition and innovation." He said the EC "must pursue its case to a conclusion, and require Google to change its behavior, so consumers can benefit from the resulting innovation emerging from a competitive marketplace for search, browsers, and everything else on a smart phone." Computer & Communications Industry Association Europe Director Jakob Kucharczyk said in a statement that Android has been "fundamentally important" to the development of Europe's mobile economy "spurring competition, innovation and consumer choice." He restated many of Walker's points and added that they are "elements of a highly competitive and balanced environment.”

Cuba's lag behind much of the world in internet access and connectivity “may be changing soon” amid state-run Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba's (ETECSA) deployment of Wi-Fi hot spots, said TechFreedom in an email Tuesday. ETECSA deployed 65 hot spots in 2015 and is projected to deploy an additional 80 by the end of 2016. The approximately $2-per-hour access to Wi-Fi via ETECSA is “highly expensive for most Cubans” but “offers a previously unknown level of access,” TechFreedom said. The thawing of U.S.-Cuba relations is opening up new opportunities with U.S. tech firms to upgrade Cuba's digital infrastructure, which in turn will increase demand for Wi-Fi, said Engage Cuba Coalition Chief of Staff Adelina Bryant during a TechFreedom podcast. ETECSA's deployment of Wi-Fi means Cubans have been “given an inch, and they want a mile,” Bryant said. “The policy needs to change. We should be supporting the Cubans’ right to keep demanding more.”

Fitness wristband makers Fitbit, Garmin, Jawbone and Mio might be collecting and sharing more personal data about users' health, activities and locations than needed, potentially violating privacy-related laws, said Norway's consumer protection agency in a Thursday news release. "We fear that this information can be exploited for direct marketing and price-discrimination purposes, and that basic privacy principles are being neglected," said the Norwegian Consumer Council, or Forbrukerrådet. An NCC report analyzed each product's terms and conditions. The council said it's submitting a formal complaint to the Norwegian Data Protection Authority and Consumer Ombudsman for breaking both European and Norwegian consumer, data protection and marketing laws. Besides collecting more data than needed, NCC said, the companies don't fully explain with whom they might share the data or how long it will be retained. They also don't give proper notice about changes to the terms of service, the agency said. Jawbone said in a statement it's reviewing the report but it gets permission from users to share their data, and they can ask the company to delete it. "We want to reassure our users and let them know that we only share their data if they ask us to -- for example to integrate with a 3rd party app," said Jawbone. Fitbit said in a statement it doesn't sell or share data without user permission and tries to use "clear, non-legalese language in our policies" so users understand data collection and use. Fitbit said it was self-certified under Privacy Shield, the trans-Atlantic data transfer arrangement to protect Europeans' personal information. Although Garmin said it disagrees with some unspecified statements in the NCC report, it's working to make some language clearer in its privacy policy, enhancements that will be released in the coming weeks. It said other NCC suggestions will be integrated into data protection practices and policies that will be made in preparation for the general data protection regulation. The company said it doesn't share or sell data to third parties without explicit consumer consent. Mio didn't comment.

The European Commission's argument that Google favors its own comparison shopping service in search results "just doesn't fit the reality of how most people shop online," said company General Counsel Kent Walker in a Thursday blog post. Last year, the EC filed its case, saying it was concerned online users didn't see most relevant results because Google favored its own comparison shopping product first (see 1508270026). In July's supplementary statement of objections, the EC said it strengthened its case, and the company filed a response Thursday. "Consumers don’t just look for products on a search engine, then click on a price comparison site, and then click again to visit merchant sites," said Walker. "They reach merchant websites in many different ways: via general search engines, specialist search services, merchant platforms, social-media sites, and online ads served by various companies." He said recent German and U.S. studies show online shoppers first go to Amazon, then to search engines like Google's and then to price comparison sites or to retailers. "Ultimately, we can’t agree with a case that lacks evidence and would limit our ability to serve our users, just to satisfy the interests of a small number of websites," he said. Google also filed responses to EC's concerns about Google's AdSense service, which the commission said placed restrictions on third-party sites to show search ads from Google competitors. Walker also said Google plans to file a response to EC's concerns about its Android operating system. Computer & Communications Industry Association Europe Vice President James Waterworth said in a statement that regulators need to look at the market holistically rather than from the perspective of several struggling companies. "The complete picture shows consumers have an increasing choice of products and prices and that investment is booming,” he said. But Thomas Vinje, counsel to FairSearch, a group representing Google's competitors, in a statement that consumers "do not get the best, most relevant results" from Google but rather results from advertisers that pay the search company the most money. He said the EC, not Google, has consumer best interests in mind.

The DOJ and FTC are seeking comment on proposed revisions to 1995 antitrust guidance to businesses engaged in international activities related to the agencies' enforcement policy. In a Tuesday news release, the agencies said the revisions add a chapter on international cooperation, including its legal basis, investigative tools, confidentiality protections, types of information exchanged, waivers of confidentiality, remedies and special considerations in criminal investigations. The revisions provide "illustrative examples" of common issues encountered, and address application of U.S. antitrust law to conduct involving foreign commerce, sovereign immunity and other related matters. FTC members voted 3-0 to issue the proposed revisions for comment, due Dec. 1.

WhatsApp said it's working with EU regulators to respond to their concerns about changes to the messaging service's privacy policy and terms of service that will permit sharing of some user account information with parent Facebook (see 1608250027). Last week, the Article 29 Working Party, made up of EU's data protection commissioners, sent a letter to WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum seeking answers about what information is being collected and shared (see 1610280039). “We’re working with data protection authorities to address their questions," emailed a WhatsApp spokesman Friday. "We’ve had constructive conversations, including before our update, and we remain committed to respecting applicable law.”

The U.S. and other nations with high internet connectivity would lose at least 1.9 percent of their gross domestic product each day that internet services are disconnected, the Global Network Initiative reported Thursday. It was based on a Facebook-funded study conducted by Deloitte, GNI said. The Deloitte study said countries with medium-level connectivity would lose about 1 percent of their daily gross domestic product in an internet shutdown, and a low-connectivity country would lose 0.4 percent of its daily GDP, GNI said. The report noted an earlier Brookings Institution study saying that 81 government-led internet shutdowns between July 2015 and June 2016 cost the affected countries a total of about $2.4 billion. Countries affected in those shutdowns included Brazil, Ethiopia, India, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, GNI said. “Shutting down the internet undermines economic activity and chills free expression,” said GNI Executive Director Judith Lichtenberg in a news release. “The economic and human rights harms of network shutdowns reinforce each other, and are of particular concern in developing countries, emerging and fragile democracies, and jurisdictions with weak rule of law.”

NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling admonished critics of the recently completed Internet Assigned Numbers Authority transition, in a speech Wednesday. ICANN implemented the move earlier this month after NTIA allowed its contract with the organization to administer the IANA functions to expire (see 1610030042). Strickling noted "some last-minute attempts to derail the transition" during an Internet Governance Project event. “You do not show respect for the multistakeholder process when you wait until the process is over and the community has reached consensus and then propose major changes in the plan without ever asking the community to consider such an option," Strickling said. "You do not show respect for the multistakeholder process when you do not participate for two years and then afterward say you object to the outcome.” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, led GOP congressional opposition to the transition, with some senators unsuccessfully attempting to delay its implementation via the short-term continuing resolution to fund the government through Dec. 9 (see 1609220067 and 1609270054). A coalition of four GOP state attorneys general unsuccessfully tried to delay the switch via a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Galveston, Texas (see 1609300065). Strickling said it's fortunate those attempts to scuttle the transition “did not succeed” and NTIA was able to fulfill its promise to spin off its oversight of the IANA functions to the ICANN community. “I believe without a doubt we were” correct to seek a multistakeholder process to plan for the switchover, as it turned into a "most compelling" demonstration of the strengths of multistakeholder internet governance, Strickling said.

Sony will split out its digital imaging businesses into a separate subsidiary when the next fiscal year starts April 1, the company said in a Wednesday SEC filing. Sony Imaging Products & Solutions will handle the camera businesses for the consumer, broadcast and professional and medical markets and is expected to name Shigeki Ishizuka, the corporate executive officer currently in charge of those businesses, as president of the subsidiary, Sony said. The move is part of Sony’s long-term strategy to sequentially split out the business units within Sony to form new subsidiary companies to promote “clearly attributable accountability and responsibility” to shareholders and to speed “decision-making processes and reinforcement of business competitiveness,” Sony said.

Thirty mostly European civil society groups and individuals are urging EU officials to reject clauses in trade agreements, including the proposed Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA), that the groups say would infringe on the "fundamental rights to data protection and privacy." In a letter released Monday and dated Friday, the groups, including Access Now, European Digital Rights and Privacy International and U.S.-based Electronic Frontier Foundation, said "trade negotiations are not suitable for shaping rules affecting fundamental rights and the rule of law in a democratic society." They said the rules will be interpreted by trade dispute settlement bodies whose aim is to liberalize trade, not protect human rights. But negotiating parties could use a "general exception clause" instead, the groups wrote. Such a clause could: ensure parties to the agreement "can condition the transfer and processing of personal data" on its protection; allow the EU or another party to suspend personal data flows if fundamental rights aren't respected; make sure privacy and data protection rights aren't subject to challenge in a trade agreement; and guarantee parties to the agreement shouldn't apply or adopt the "least restrictive privacy or data protection measures," the letter said. EFF blogged about the issue, calling TiSA a "secretive" trade agreement that uses many provisions of the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement.