Governments should take a precautionary approach to using algorithms and automation, to prevent human rights abuses, the Council of Europe recommended Wednesday. The Committee of Ministers acknowledged that "digital technologies hold significant potential for socially beneficial innovation and economic development." They urged the 47 CoE members to ensure their laws and policies align with the recommended guidelines. Administrations should consult regularly with corporate actors engaged in designing and deploying algorithms, ensure stakeholders pay "particular attention to the needs and voices of vulnerable groups," and consider large-scale digital services' environmental impact.

ICANN is helping the domain industry in the COVID-19 pandemic, blogged Russ Weinstein, senior director-gTLD accounts and services. Registrars can temporarily delay canceling domain name registrations that can't be renewed. Weinstein said Wednesday that it's a situation that highlights the possible need for a policy to protect registrants when they are prevented from renewing their domains by natural disasters or other extraordinary circumstances.

DOJ National Security Division’s Foreign Investment Review Section will represent the attorney general on the newly formed Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the U.S. Telecommunications Services Sector, the department said Tuesday. President Donald Trump formed the committee in a Saturday executive order to formalize the executive branch’s “Team Telecom” process for reviewing foreign takeovers of U.S. communications assets (see 2004060071). The AG will chair the committee, which also includes the secretaries of defense and homeland security. The panel will issue recommendations to the FCC. “In the digital age, our telecommunications networks are more important than ever,” said AG William Barr. “The federal government must be vigilant and ensure that a foreign adversary cannot undermine the networks.” DOJ welcomes “foreign participation in our communications system, but we must ensure that anyone licensed to do business here is a trusted partner,” said Assistant Attorney General John Demers.

U.S. importers sourced 5.81 million Chinese smartphones in February, said Census Bureau data we accessed through the International Trade Commission. It's the lowest since such tracking began in 2007. COVID-19 upended the Chinese supply chain after the virus' first outbreak in Hubei province in January. February smartphone imports to the U.S. from all countries declined 29% from January, to 10.17 million handsets, and were down 25% from February 2019. China made 57% of February smartphone imports to the U.S., 19 points lower than January and eight points below its February 2019 share.

Fitbit asked a federal court for a declaratory judgment that its fitness trackers and smartwatches don’t infringe three Philips patents, as Philips alleged Dec. 10 before the International Trade Commission. Though Fitbit “vigorously denies” the infringement allegations, Philips “nevertheless continues to seek to disrupt Fitbit’s business and keep Fitbit’s health-promoting products from the public based on patents that Fitbit’s products do not infringe,” said a complaint (in Pacer) Thursday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. The ITC opened a Tariff Act Section 337 investigation Jan. 10 (see 2001130047) into the Philips complaint (login required), which seeks limited exclusion and cease and desist orders against the allegedly infringing Fitbit products. Philips also targeted Garmin smartwatches and fitness trackers and the OEMs that make the devices for Fitbit and Garmin. Philips didn’t comment Friday.

The State and Commerce departments clarified Thursday they're abiding by a March court order that blocked the transfer of 3D printing software from the U.S. munitions list to the commerce control list. Exporters “must continue to treat such technical data and software as subject to control on the USML,” State said in the Federal Register. Commerce said all such requests should go to State.

Huawei’s chairman said the U.S. may face retaliation from China if it follows through on plans to increase restrictions on foreign exports to the Chinese telecom giant (see 2002190002). Chairman Eric Xu said at a Tuesday news conference China may respond with restrictions on U.S. companies operating there. “I think the Chinese government will not just stand by, watching Huawei be slaughtered,” Xu said. “I believe the Chinese government may also take some countermeasures.”

Oxford University scientists published a study Tuesday advocating use of smartphone apps for instant digital contact tracing to lessen COVID-19's spread. “Viral spread is too fast to be contained by manual contact tracing, but could be controlled if this process was faster, more efficient and happened at scale,” said the study. “A contact-tracing App which builds a memory of proximity contacts and immediately notifies contacts of positive cases can achieve epidemic control if used by enough people.” The “core functionality is to replace a week’s work of manual contact tracing with instantaneous signals transmitted to and from a central server,” it said.

European network operators are coping well with significant traffic increases during COVID-19, regulators reported to the European Commission Monday. The Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) and the EC said March 19 that more internet traffic hasn't led to general network congestion, but the need for data is growing, and they committed to ensuring an open internet and to enforcing rules again blocking, slow-downs or traffic prioritization. They set up a reporting mechanism to ensure regular monitoring. BEREC's first report showed operators "have been able to cope well with this additional traffic load," and some local or temporary problems with internet access weren't considered out of the ordinary. Telcos "are working around the clock" to ensure networks stay up and service continuity, said the European Telecommunications Network Operators Association. "Members observe networks working well across Europe, with no significant disruption despite strong increases and changing patterns in data traffic."

Inconsistencies abound in the List 4A Section 301 tariff exclusions that the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative granted to Chinese smartwatch imports classified under the 8517.62.00.90 product code. The exclusions are retroactive to Sept. 1 when the tariffs took effect and expire after one year, said a USTR notice Thursday. The exemptions apply to devices “suitable for wearing on the wrist” with “time-display functions” and the ability to link to a “network." USTR granted exclusions to the Apple Watch and a range of Fitbit smartwatches and fitness trackers, but also to Tile for a Bluetooth tracking device that has no wrist-worn or time-display component. The Tile device links to a smartphone app for finding misplaced items like keys or glasses. Sonos also landed exemptions for the wireless mesh network speakers and audio components it imports from China under the same 8517.62.00.90 classification as smartwatches. But exclusion requests for wireless speakers from Bose, Sound United and others remain in a Stage 2 administrative review at USTR, as do smartwatches from Fossil. A wide range of additional 8517.62.00.90 goods also remain in a Stage 2 hold, including Apple AirPods and JLab Bluetooth headphones. USTR didn’t comment Friday.