News Byte

Android Flashlight-App Developer Settles FTC Privacy Complaint

The Federal Trade Commission said on Thursday that GoldenShores Technologies, maker of the Brightest Flashlight Free app for Android, had settled an FTC complaint that its privacy policy failed to disclose the collection and sharing of user data with third parties, such as ad networks. The FTC said the app has been downloaded tens of millions of times.

Voices

FTC Probing Facebook’s New Privacy Policy

The new policy said that by signing up for Facebook, members — including minors — gave Facebook the right to use their personal data.

News Byte

FTC Finalizes Google Standards-Essential Patent Deal

The Federal Trade Commission today finalized its settlement with Google over the company’s alleged misuse of the standards-essential patents it gained as part of its $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility in 2011. The final order requires Google to license those standards-essential patents on fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory (FRAND) terms, and prevents the company from using them as a weapon against rivals by seeking product injunctions and importation bans based on them.

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Lose an Anti-Robocall Contest? One Solution: Annoy the Government.

At stake is a competition held by the Federal Trade Commission to design a better technology to combat telemarketers.

FTC Reviewing Google’s Waze Acquisition

Inevitable.

FTC Plans Patent-Troll Probe

Another important step toward patent reform.

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.

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.

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.”

Congressman to FTC: Hands Off Google