Voices

Legal Showdown on Cyber Security

When hackers broke into computer systems at Wyndham Worldwide Corp. and several of its hotels, they allegedly stole payment-card numbers for hundreds of thousands of consumer accounts.

Facebook’s General Counsel Ullyot to Depart the Company

The man who stopped the Winklevii leaves the building.
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Feds Urge App Makers, Mobile Operating Systems to Do Better on Privacy

The Federal Trade Commission serves up a list of best practices for those who make mobile operating systems and the creators of apps.
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FTC Chairman: Google Settlement Was a Win for Consumers, Not Search Giant

“The fact that we managed to have both Google and Google’s rivals unhappy, that puts us in the right place substantively.”
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EU Still Wants to Challenge Google “Diverting Traffic” to Its Own Services

Google is abusing its dominance of the search market, according to European Commission competition official Joaquin Almunia.
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Google Agreement Sets a Bad Precedent of Special Treatment, Says FTC Commissioner

“After promising an elephant more than a year ago, the Commission instead has brought forth a couple of mice,” said Commissioner J. Thomas Rosch.
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News Byte

Face-tagram Revisited: Twitter Reportedly Offered $525M to Buy Instagram Prior to Facebook Sale

How much could Instagram have really sold for? That’s the burning question after a report in the New York Times questioned whether there was a fair bidding process for the popular photo-sharing app when Facebook purchased it for $1 billion. Nick Bilton reported today that Instagram executives received a $525 million buyout offer from Twitter, despite Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom’s statement that the company “never received any offers” before Facebook’s. The Federal Trade Commission closed its investigation in August without taking any action.

Voices

Google, FTC Close to a Deal

Google is close to emerging largely unscathed from a two-year federal probe of its Web-search business, people familiar with the matter said, a result likely to disappoint rivals that were hoping the Internet giant would become mired in antitrust litigation.

Voices

FTC Says Kid Apps Industry Needs “To Do a Better Job”

The Federal Trade Commission said Monday that most of the mobile apps aimed at kids collect and transmit data about the device on which they’re used and don’t disclose that practice to parents, in a report that criticized the privacy practices of the fast-growing industry.

FTC Slams Google for Seeking iPhone, iPad Ban

Enough with the patent hold-ups.
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Congressman to FTC: Hands Off Google