Google and Facebook breached French data protection laws on cookies, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertes (CNIL) said Thursday. It fined Google 150 million euros ($170.2 million), Facebook 60 million euros ($68.1 million). The data protection authority said it received "many complaints" from users about the difficulty of refusing cookies on the companies' websites. Investigations found google.fr, youtube.com and facebook.com offered buttons allowing users immediately to accept cookies, but the process for refusing them required several clicks. Making the refusal mechanism more complex discourages cookie refusals and encourages users to opt into them, negatively affecting users' freedom to consent, CNIL said. Google emailed that it understands its responsibility to protect users' trust and is "committing to further changes and active work with the CNIL "in light of the decision. Facebook parent Meta emailed it's reviewing the decision and remains "committed to working with relevant authorities" to improve its cookie controls. Data protection is among key priorities of the EU French Presidency, which took office Jan.1. Its work program for the six-month term includes several digital technology areas, including personal data protection in electronic communications that will complement the general data protection regulation. Other priorities: Development of "human-centred artificial intelligence," boosting cybersecurity, and beginning work on a data act as part of a framework to enable data exchange while ensuring secure sharing mechanisms.

Europe's AI policy should be clearer on what uses are barred, said the Computer & Communications Industry Association Tuesday. The European Commission's proposed Artificial Intelligence Act (see 2108070001) is a "good starting point," but several provisions need tweaking, a CCIA position paper said. Among other concerns is that the definition of AI system is too broad and could encompass almost all modern software systems: "This broad definition, in conjunction with the vague categorization of 'high risk' AI, will overburden companies with compliance measures." Other criticisms included: AI use case prohibitions must be "very targeted" to ensure they don't inadvertently sweep in other uses; and the ban on remote biometric identification systems must clarify that it doesn't cover identity verification technology (facial recognition) used for such things as verifying customers when processing mobile payments. CCIA also criticized the way the draft law predetermines "high-risk" AI uses, saying that could hamper innovation and create a burdensome preapproval process for already heavily regulated systems or processes. Whether an AI use qualifies as high risk should be "based on its foreseeable impact" on people, and its capacity to make final decisions that materially risk their fundamental rights or health and safety, the paper said. It urged the EC to avoid imposing too many mandatory requirements for trustworthy AI on companies seeking to place systems on the European market.

The FCC World Radiocommunication Conference Advisory Committee will meet virtually at 11 a.m. EST Feb. 15, says Tuesday's Federal Register. It's the fifth meeting of the group, which coordinates industry input into U.S. proposals and positions for the 2023 conference.

The FCC Media Bureau granted iHeartMedia’s request for permission to be up to 14.99% foreign-owned, said a declaratory ruling Wednesday in docket 21-141. The Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the U.S. Telecom Services Sector gave iHeart’s request the nod in October. The radio broadcaster’s ownership request was triggered by the discovery that Bahamas and U.K.-based investor Global Media & Entertainment Investment had increased its stake. GMEI asked the FCC to allow it to own an even larger share of iHeart over iHeart’s objections but withdrew that request in November (see 2111040057). That left iHeart’s request unopposed, the Media Bureau said. The approval is subject to conditions requested by the foreign-ownership committee that are standard for broadcasters requesting such approvals, including a requirement to notify DOJ about collection of personal data.

Russia's launch of an anti-satellite missile last month (see 2111160063) was a demo -- not a test -- of its military capabilities, blogged Larry Press, a professor of information systems at California State University, Dominguez Hills, Sunday. The debris from the satellite's destruction won't have cataclysmic effects in orbit, "but it reflects a defiant, irrational attitude that threatens the space commons," he said.

ICANN shortened its ICANN73 virtual community forum to four days "to support better working hours for attendees and encourage greater participation," it announced Friday. Originally slated to begin March 5, it will now run March 7-10. The prep week schedule for the meeting was changed to Feb. 22-24.

The FCC International Bureau rejected China Telecom Americas’ request for a meeting on the “regulatory status” of the company’s non-mobile virtual network operator services. The company “has not provided the detailed and verifiable factual support needed for the Commission to evaluate the claim that all of CTA’s non-MVNO services are provided as private carriage,” the bureau said in a letter, posted Monday in docket 20-109: China Telecom “still has not done so. Accordingly, we do not believe it is appropriate at this late date to accept your request for an in-person or telephonic discussion.” China Telecom sought the meeting last week. A Nov. 2 order gave the company 60 days to end all domestic or international services that it provides pursuant to its Communications Act Section 214 authority.

The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control added several more Chinese tech firms to its investment blacklist, including drone maker DJI, for allegedly helping Beijing track and detain Muslim minorities in Xinjiang. The move, announced Thursday, also banned investments in Cloudwalk Technology, Dawning Information Industry, Leon Technology, Megvii Technology, Netposa Technologies, Xiamen Meiya Pico Information and Yitu. All were already on the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security entity list for export restrictions. The companies, which are now formally designated as having ties to the Chinese military, operate in China’s surveillance technology sector, OFAC said. The agency said DJI, the world’s largest commercial drone producer, supplies drones to the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau, which was added to the entity list in 2019. Technology supplied by the companies helped Xinjiang authorities confine more than a million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in detention centers, OFAC said. The companies “actively support the biometric surveillance and tracking of ethnic and religious minorities in China” through the “installation of thousands of neighborhood police kiosks and ubiquitous placement of surveillance cameras, collection of biometric data for identification purposes, and more intrusive monitoring of internet use,” OFAC said. A DJI spokesperson declined to comment. Megvii, CloudWalk, Xiamen Meiya Pico, Yitu, and NetPosa didn’t respond to requests for comment. Dawning and Leon couldn’t be reached. "The attempt of the U.S. to use Xinjiang to contain China will never succeed," said a Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Friday. "China will take all necessary measures to resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese institutions and companies."

The Bureau of Industry and Security added 34 Chinese organizations to its entity list for actions “contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests” of the U.S., says Friday’s Federal Register. The agency also modified its May 2019 Huawei entity list entry by adding three Huawei “aliases” -- HMN Technologies, Huahai Zhihui Technology and HMN Tech. The Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry didn’t comment.

Democrats want the Biden administration to designate more spyware technology companies for human rights abuses, saying this complements existing export restrictions meant to curb their sales of surveillance technology to authoritarian governments. Wednesday's letter to the Treasury and State Departments sought Magnitsky Act sanctions against United Arab Emirates-based DarkMatter, Israel-based NSO Group and European companies Nexa Technologies and Trovicor. Target the companies and their senior executives, asked House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Gregory Meeks of New York, Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden of Oregon, and 16 others including Sens. Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Hawaii's Brian Schatz and Reps. Anna Eshoo and Ro Khanna, both from California. State and Treasury declined to comment.