The details of a long-awaited deal between Google and the EU are finally out. The agreement requires Google to list three competitors in certain types of search listings, and to agree to other, wide-ranging conditions. Read more »
The FTC recommends app makers disclose to users how their personal info is being used, and it wants ad networks and mobile platforms to work together on a mobile version of Do Not Track. Read more »
Path, which got into privacy related hot water in early 2012, found about 3,000 minors (below 13) on its network, purged them and now has reached a settlement with Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to become COPPA compliant. Read more »
Microsoft isn’t getting much — if any — sympathy for its complaints over the Federal Trade Commission’s recent settlement with Google over its business practices. Read more »
After a two-year investigation into Google’s search business, the feds finally issued a decision. The outcome is a clear win for Google — here’s an easy Q&A about what happened and what it means. Read more »
The FTC finally concluded its two-year investigation into whether Google’s treatment of its competitors broke antitrust laws. The result is a minor change to the way Google uses patents but that does little to change the company’s search listings. Read more »
The commission instituted new rules that state app makers have to get parental consent when it comes to sharing the personal information, like photos and location. The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple and Google lobbied heavily to get an app store exemption into the rules. Read more »
The FTC is lighting a fire under the mobile app industry to improve its privacy and disclosure policies for children’s apps. The FTC said that most apps still don’t do basic disclosure about the use of data for advertising and other third-party services. Read more »
Google’s use of its homepage to advertise its own products and display pop-up birthday reminders for its Google+ network on its homepage may seem like just an annoyance, but each step the company takes toward promoting its own offerings raises more red flags for antitrust regulators. Read more »
Federal regulators confirmed a record-breaking fine related to Google’s use of advertising cookies to trick browsers and overcome default privacy settings. Read more »
There was a time when only people with money to hire a detective could dig into someone’s life. Now, dozens of companies have sprung up that will prowl into a person’s past for as little as $2. Read more at paidContent »
The latest criticism of Google as an unfair monopoly, which comes from the CEO of a comparison shopping site called Nextag, is riddled with flawed logic — but the search giant has also invited this kind of charge with some of its recent behavior. Read more »
A former Justice lawyer and antitrust expert says Facebook’s purchase of photo-sharing site Instagram will take between 4 months and one year to clear regulatory hurdles. In the meantime, the deal is effectively on hold. Read more »
The number of junk text messages in the U.S. reportedly rose to 4.5 billion last year. This can create a nasty choice for consumers — pay to be spammed or pay protection money to a carrier. Read more »
In the first quarter of 2012 all eyes were on the screen, both big and small. Apple’s new Retina display pushed video streaming, and broadcast-TV streaming service Aereo’s launch was quickly followed with litigation. These events and more are discussed in a new quarterly report. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Advertising companies like Facebook and Google (NSDQ: GOOG) are usually on the front line of the digital privacy debate. But in a long-await… Read more at paidContent »
As America’s top privacy cop, the Federal Trade Commission is in the thick of balancing tech and privacy issues. In the last year, it has be… Read more at paidContent »
The Federal Trade Commission has reportedly asked Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) to supply information as part of its investigation into whether Google… Read more at paidContent »
Almost a week after the New York Times demonstrated that iOS and Android apps could upload a customer’s photo library to a remote server without their express permission, Sen. Charles Schumer is stating the obvious: they should fix that — and he wants the FTC to investigate. Read more »
A federal judge today declined to order the Federal Trade Commission to take action against Google (NSDQ: GOOG) over impending changes to th… Read more at paidContent »
Devices that treat our face as a fingerprint are one of the more unnerving technologies of the information age. Privacy regulators are start… Read more at paidContent »
A report out today, taking its cue from the new Timeline feature that is now getting rolled out to Facebook’s 800-million-plus users, allege… Read more at paidContent »
Facebook is no stranger to accusations about how it treats users’ privacy — something that has come under increased public scrutiny in the… Read more at paidContent »
The Federal Trade Commission announced today Comcast (NSDQ: CMCSA) CEO Brian L. Roberts has agreed to pay $500,000 to settle charges that he… Read more at paidContent »
Last week brought alarming accounts about how a firm called Carrier IQ may have used key logging technology to record millions of phone mess… Read more at paidContent »
The Federal Trade Commission today released a much-anticipated settlement with Facebook over a series of privacy breaches. The deal has some… Read more at paidContent »
Facebook has settled with the Federal Trade Commission over allegations that it has been deceptive about the amount of privacy users have on the social networking site. The company has also given two executives the title of “Chief Privacy Officer” to oversee its privacy commitments. Read more »
An “upstart competitor” is claiming Google (NSDQ: GOOG) punted it to the farthest reaches of its search results and is now fighting to level… Read more at paidContent »
Irony alert: The Federal Trade Commission may have just saddled Facebook with 20 years of privacy audits, but that’s not stopping it from ta… Read more at paidContent »
Facebook is widely reported to be on the verge of a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission that will force it to tighten up its privac… Read more at paidContent »
Connectivity changes everything. That’s the credo driving just about every corner of our day-to-day lives. As human beings, we are now connected to one another through not just our social networks but also our cars, the books we read, the albums we download and even our own health and wellness habits (to name just a few areas). With that in mind, GigaOM Pro has singled out certain areas in the technology industry where we see this shift to constant connectivity taking place most drastically. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
It’s been obvious for awhile now that Google has a lot riding on the success of its new social network, Google+. But some comments from senior exec Brad Horowitz make it clear that Google’s new platform will become part of everything the web giant touches. Read more »
Another day, another call for a Facebook privacy investigation. Members of Congress and civil liberties groups are making separate requests… Read more at paidContent »
Google’s purchase of Zagat is a small deal, but the ripples it creates could be much larger — the purchase takes Google even further into the area of content ownership, and that could give “search neutrality” advocates and the FTC more ammunition against the company. Read more »
There’s been a lot of sound and fury about Google and its handling of Google+ branded pages, but there is a serious issue underneath the griping, namely that Google can make or break a company’s presence online by virtue of its control over the web-search market. Read more »
If I were a cloud-service provider, I’d consider investing in television advertising. If I didn’t know better, TV, and the media, in general, the cloud is a fairly useless and highly insecure place to store my data. Perhaps worse, I might think it’s a joke. Read more »
According to a news report on Thursday, the Federal Trade Commission is looking into Twitter’s business practices. Although that doesn’t mean Twitter is under official investigation, it means the company’s behavior must have raised enough critical flags to catch the regulator’s attention, which is rarely good. Read more »
Google says it has received a letter from the FTC about an investigation, but maintains in a blog post that it’s just trying to serve users the best way it knows how. Will this Little Orphan Annie act fly with the feds? Unlikely. Read more »
The FTC is said to be close to opening an official antitrust inquiry into Google, which would put the search giant right where Microsoft was in the late 1990s — and even if it ultimately wins, the fight could have long-term effects on its ability to compete. Read more »
As a recent McKinsey Global Institute report on big data points out, finding the appropriate balance between consumer privacy and business innovation will play a key role in ensuring that big data and the overall web advance at the pace required by both business and consumers. Read more »
