News

• Bill would put mobile app vendors on the hook for privacy

  The mobile industry's efforts to convince lawmakers that self-regulation alone is the best way to address growing concerns over privacy-invading mobile applications appears to be running into some headwind.

• Developers get some tips on mobile app privacy

  Mobile app developers face a huge challenge in keeping up with the fast-changing landscape of data privacy law. They got some tips Wednesday at a conference devoted to the topic in San Francisco.

• Google-led group warns of 'patent privateers'

  Patent trolls are increasingly becoming a weapon some companies can use to harm or harass their competitors, according to public comments jointly submitted today to the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department by lawyers for Google, Red Hat, BlackBerry and EarthLink.

• FTC dumps on scammers who blasted millions of text messages

  The Federal Trade Commission today said it has filed eight court cases to stop companies who have sent over 180 million illegal or deceptive text messages to all manner of mobile users in the past year.

• FTC: Identity theft retains its throne as No.1 worst scourge in Top 10 consumer complaint list

  Identity theft has been the top consumer complaint to the Federal Trade Commission now for 13 years running.

• Google agrees to not abuse mobile patents, search ads, or search results

  To close a federal investigation into possibly anticompetitive business practices, Google agrees to a slew of changes

• FTC hits up 9 data brokers for info on how they collect and use private data

  The Federal Trade Commission today said it orders to nine data brokerage companies to report how they collect and use data about consumers.

• Top 10 tech stories of 2012: a busted IPO, spotlight on workers, titans in transition

  Change in any industry involves conflict. Evolution and revolution in tech this year took place not only in the marketplace but also in the courtroom, the factory, and on the Web. Here are the top news stories of 2012 as selected by the editors of the IDG News Service.

• How to get the FTC's attention: Illegally robocall consumers while spoofing the agency's consumer hotline number

  Seems these folks just wanted the Federal Trade Commission to smack them down. The FTC today said it had a federal court shut down an illegal robocall operation that allegedly impersonated the agency in an attempt to trick consumers into turning over all manner of sensitive personal data.

• FTC throws down robocall gauntlet: $50,000 for best way to stop annoying calls

  It's not clear if the Federal Trade Commission is throwing up its hands at the problem or just wants some new ideas about how to combat it, but the agency is now offering $50,000 to anyone who can create what it calls an innovative way to block illegal commercial robocalls on landlines and mobile phones.

• Facebook goes through corporate reorg

  Facebook confirmed Thursday that it has launched a corporate reorganization around its product development.

• Social networking, ignorance, and apathy

  There's an old joke: What's the difference between ignorance and apathy? Answer: I don't know and I don't care.

• Facebook disables bug used to expose Zuckerberg photos

  A Facebook bug came back to haunt the company's co-founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg.

• Study: Companies using pirated software 'save' $2.9B

  Pirated software saves its users in developing countries more than $2.9 billion annually. So finds a study of manufacturers in Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe and Asia-Pacific commissioned by Microsoft.

• Facebook may be close to privacy deal with FTC

  Facebook is close to reaching a deal with the Federal Trade Commission over charges that the social network engaged in "deceptive behavior" when changing its privacy settings, according to a report Thursday in the Wall Street Journal.