consent

Playdom Settles FTC Charges Over Children's Data

Matt Jarzemsky, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in News on May 12, 2011 at 12:49 pm PT

Playdom Inc., an operator of online social games, has agreed to pay $3 million to settle Federal Trade Commission charges it collected and disclosed children’s personal information without parents’ consent, the agency said.

Playdom Settles FTC Charges Over Children’s Data

Matt Jarzemsky, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in News on May 12, 2011 at 12:49 pm PT

EU Chews on Web Cookies

Paul Sonne and John W. Miller, Reporters, The Wall Street Journal in News on November 22, 2010 at 5:00 am PT

Europe’s effort to regulate online “cookies” is crumbling, exposing how tough it is to curb the practice of tracking Internet users’ movements on the Web. Seeking to be a leader in protecting online privacy, the European Union last year passed a law requiring companies to obtain consent from Web users when tracking files such as cookies are placed on users’ computers. Enactment awaits action by member countries.

News Byte

Android Apps Transmitting Private Data

Beth Callaghan in News on September 30, 2010 at 10:55 am PT

A new study shows that many popular Android apps transmit private user data to advertising networks without the user’s consent or knowledge. Researchers from Duke, Penn State and Intel Labs developed an application called TaintDroid, which detects such transmissions, and tested 30 apps from the Android Market–half of which were found to be sending GPS coordinates to remote servers. The developers of the TaintDroid application plan to make it available to the public to enable user awareness of data collection.

Buzz Kill: FTC Urged to Investigate Google Privacy Flap

John Paczkowski in Social on March 30, 2010 at 4:39 am PT

This is obviously not to the sort of buzz Google was hoping for when it launched its new social networking service. A group of eleven U.S. lawmakers from the House Energy and Commerce Committee is calling upon the FTC to investigate Buzz for breaches in consumer privacy.

EPIC FAIL: Electronic Privacy Information Center Files FTC Complaint Over Google Buzz

John Paczkowski in Social on February 16, 2010 at 3:25 pm PT

While well-intentioned, Google’s “sorry, we didn’t get everything quite right” apology hasn’t absolved the company of the bungled launch of Buzz, its new social networking service. On Tuesday afternoon, the Electronic Privacy Information Center filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission claiming Buzz violates federal consumer protection law.

DOJ on Google Book Settlement: Get Me Another Rewrite

John Paczkowski in News on February 5, 2010 at 5:05 am PT

The Department of Justice still isn’t sold on the Google Books settlement agreement. In a brief filed late Thursday, the DOJ said that significant legal problems remain despite the considerable changes Google, publishers and authors have made to it.

News Corp.: Conan’s Not Coming to Fox Just Yet; Amazon’s Ready to Bend on E-Book Pricing

Peter Kafka in Media on February 2, 2010 at 2:41 pm PT

Amazon caved to Macmillan’s demands on e-book pricing, and now the online retailer is set to give News Corp.’s HarperCollins a new deal too, says Rupert Murdoch. Meanwhile, don’t hold your breath waiting for Conan O’Brien on Fox.

Google to Create World’s Largest Searchable Archive of Arguments Against Google Books

John Paczkowski in News on September 11, 2009 at 8:07 am PT

Add another name to the list of opponents of the Google Book Search Settlement: Marybeth Peters, U.S. Register of Copyrights. In testimony before the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee Thursday, Peters tarred the deal as “fundamentally at odds with the law” and villainized Google, saying the company is making a “mockery” of the copyright protections in the U.S. Constitution.

Twitter Gives Spam Apps a Thumbs Down, Ads a “Maybe”

Peter Kafka in Media on September 11, 2009 at 3:00 am PT

It’s one of those mysteries that are so deep, so mysterious, they may never be solved: When Twitter co-founder Biz Stone says the company would “like to leave the door open for advertising,” what exactly does he mean? My guess: Twitter would like to leave the door open for advertising. Meanwhile, the company cracks down, a bit, on spammy apps.

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