The average U.K. home owns 28 internet-connected devices and is poised to become even more tech-inundated, as 83% of Brits canvassed in a BT Group survey of 1,500 adults said they plan at least one digital device as a holiday gift, said BT Monday. Home internet usage has spiked to record levels since March amid COVID-19 lockdowns and remote-work and learning orders, said BT. Three-quarters of those polled said they have spent more time on the internet as a family during the pandemic, and 36% have been online for 50% longer or more than before the lockdowns, it said: “Daytime traffic across BT's broadband network has more than doubled year-on-year.” The time families spend on their smartphones and browsing social media has soared by more than 150% since March, it said. The average U.K. home now spends 20.8 hours a week on their phones,18.5 hours watching TV or streaming services, 16.5 hours on social media and 13.4 hours videogaming, said BT: Smartphones will be the most popular tech present this holiday, with 36% of Brits set to gift one. Next in line are game consoles (33%), tablets (29%), smart TVs (25%), smartwatches (24%) and smart speakers (19%).

Most observers expect the U.S. Court of International Trade to pick the first-filed Section 301 complaint from HMTX Industries and Jasco Products as the lead case, and to stay the roughly 3,700 other actions while HMTX is litigated, blogged law firm Neville Peterson Thursday. “More than two months after the HMTX case was filed, however, there has been surprisingly little action,” other than “some minor skirmishing from some plaintiffs,” it said. Some litigants favor picking a complaint other than HMTX as the lead case or joining it with other actions that raise constitutional challenges to the Section 301 tariffs, it said. Still others argue HMTX should proceed on its own, since the CIT “will not consider constitutional issues if cases can be decided on non-constitutional grounds,” it said. DOJ’s deadline to file answers to the HMTX action “technically” has lapsed, it said: Though the CIT likely won’t hold DOJ “in default” for failing to respond, “the urgency for establishment of a case management plan is increasing.” Plaintiffs' attorneys on their own have established an “informal” steering committee to manage the case, it said, saying the committee “confers with some regularity.”

President-elect Joe Biden's incoming administration can support advanced manufacturing in the U.S. by “immediately lifting” the Section 301 tariffs on a “targeted list” of information and communications technology components and inputs sourced from China, blogged Alan Kohlscheen, IBM director-import compliance and supply chain security, and Michael DiPaula-Coyle, director-international trade policy. “Limited, early removal” of the most “counterproductive” China tariffs could provide relief for U.S. manufacturing, while leaving the new administration space “to negotiate further tariff changes based on Chinese market access commitments,” said the authors Wednesday. The tariffs have raised IBM’s sourcing costs by “tens of millions of dollars,” they said. “These imports do not represent high-value technology products -- rather, they are necessary inputs into U.S.-made systems and include such items as printed circuit board assemblies, mechanical parts, fans, power distribution units, power supplies, and cables -- largely available only from Chinese sources.” The incoming administration “can give a direct boost to U.S. manufacturing through targeted tariff relief on these sorts of component parts and inputs,” said Kohlscheen and DiPaula-Coyle. “Such a step would provide immediate benefits to U.S. manufacturing while also redirecting U.S. policy toward more international, and coordinated, action to address Chinese market access issues.” The Biden transition team didn’t respond to questions. Biden told New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman Tuesday evening that he won’t make “any immediate moves” on China policy after taking office. “And the same applies to the tariffs,” he said. “I’m not going to prejudice my options.” A “major priority” in the opening weeks of the new administration will be to “try to get us back on the same page with our allies” and develop a “coherent strategy” toward China, he said.

Environmentally friendly 5G, “mainstream” virtual reality and ubiquitous Wi-Fi 6E are among trends ABI Research predicted won't happen in 2021. That global 5G subscriptions are forecast to grow 48.4% to 347 million “will strain the environment as a growing number of consumers will be switching over to 5G devices,” said ABI Tuesday: “The transition will potentially create large amounts of electronic waste.” Stakeholders “have not aligned” to enable mainstream VR adoption, it said. Growth will be strong in 2021, “but the user base will not reach levels once thought probable,” where VR competes for time with TVs and smartphones, it said. COVID-19 further accelerated demand for high-efficiency Wi-Fi networks, said the researcher. But residential broadband adoption of Wi-Fi 6E, an extended Wi-Fi 6 network with 6 GHz spectrum “will be minimal in 2021" because broadband service providers only recently started upgrading infrastructure for Wi-Fi 6, it said.

ITU approved 5G terrestrial radio interface specifications: the 3rd Generation Partnership Project's 5G-SRIT and 5G-RIT and the Telecommunications Standards Development Society India's 5Gi. It said those specs are now part of an ITU international mobile telecom 2020 standard being considered by the 193 ITU member nations.

FCC efforts to free up spectrum for 5G will be more meaningful if there's more harmonization regionally, Chairman Ajit Pai told the Mexico 5G Conference, in prepared remarks released Wednesday. He said making the 600 GHz band available for 5G was helped by bilateral agreements with Mexico and Canada. He said there needs to be continued work identifying regional harmonization opportunities elsewhere, especially with Mexico developing plans for auctions for the 2.5 GHz and 3.45 GHz bands. Citing the 2023 World Radiocommunication Conference's agenda item 1.2 on making some bands between 3.3 GHz and 10.5 GHz available for 5G regionally or globally, Pai said "we should seize this opportunity and others." Pai said national security threats posed by some foreign communications equipment providers perhaps can be countered by use of open radio access network technologies.

New rules for data-sharing are needed as an alternative to Big Tech platforms, the European Commission said Wednesday. Its proposed data governance act aims to boost trust in sharing data, because lack of trust is now a "major obstacle" that results in "high costs," it said. The regulation is the first under the EU data strategy approved earlier this year. It's "about creating the right conditions so that if people want to share data, they can do so in a trustful way," said Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager at a briefing. One key element is the creation of trustworthy intermediaries to provide basic infrastructure for data spaces. They must notify relevant authorities of their intention to provide data-sharing services, and ensure that sensitive and confidential data is safeguarded. There will be strict requirements to ensure their neutrality in connecting data holders and users. The framework offers an alternative model to the current data-handling practices offered by Big Tech, said Vestager. The principles will also apply "to us as individuals whenever we wish to share our own personal data, or donate them to serve the general interest." The act doesn't force anyone to share data. "Unjustified data transfer restrictions in themselves do not increase trust" but make it harder to do business with the world, said the Computer and Communications Industry Association. "Businesses need fewer, not more, [such] restrictions." European Digital Rights criticized the proposal for "framing everything in terms of theoretical economic benefits" for companies to the detriment of civil society goals of "moving towards a people-centric internet." The proposal "confirms the many worrying signals that Brussels has decided to pursue policies that are protectionist, discriminatory, and counterproductive," said the Center for Data Innovation. It's "as much an attempt to hobble foreign tech companies as it is an attempt to build up European ones."

The International Trade Commission lifted a limited exclusion order banning imports of Comcast X1 set-top boxes that the agency issued in April, said an ITC notice in Tuesday's Federal Register. Issued during a Tariff Act Section 337 investigation requested by Rovi, limited exclusion and cease and desist orders are no longer necessary because Rovi and Comcast reached a settlement, the ITC said.

Intel denies “each and every” Philips allegation its video processors infringe high-bandwidth digital content protection (HDCP) patents and that it violated 1974 Trade Act Section 337 when it imported the components into the U.S. (see 2011190048), said the chipmaker Friday in docket 337-TA-1224 at the International Trade Commission, responding (login required). The HDCP patents are “unenforceable” due to Philips’ “inequitable conduct,” said Intel. Philips and its “prosecuting agent,” Michael Epstein, published an “open copy protection system” (OCPS) proposal more than a year before filing its first HDCP patent application, it said. The OCPS proposal was “material to the later prosecution and examination” of the patents, said Intel. Philips and Epstein failed to disclose “this material prior art” to the Patent and Trademark Office, it said. “The most reasonable inference is that Philips’ failure to disclose such material prior art during prosecution was an intentional fraud” on the PTO, it said. Philips didn’t respond to questions Monday. Epstein’s LinkedIn profile identifies him as Philips’ director-standardization. Attempts to reach him were unsuccessful.

The European Commission proposed standard contractual clauses for personal data transfers from the EU to third countries, the European Data Protection Board said Friday. This will align SCCs with the EU general data protection regulation and the judgment of the European Court of Justice in "Schrems II" (see 2010190059). They will "better reflect the widespread use of new and more complex processing operations often involving multiple data importers and exporters." The EDPB and European Data Protection Supervisor will vet the draft. SCCs "are not a catch-all solution for data transfers post-Schrems II," said EDPB Chair Andrea Jelinek: They're an important piece of the puzzle but it's up to data exporters to "make the puzzle complete" by bringing the level of protection of data they transfer up to the EU standard of essential equivalence.