Privacy

Consumer Advocacy Group, Sen. Al Franken Add To Apple Music Antitrust Clamor

July 22, 2015  ·  Mark Reback

<p><span itemprop="articleBody"><span class="article-leader">Advocacy group Consumer Watchdog leveled antitrust accusations against Apple Music in a letter to the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice on Wednesday, saying Apple is leveraging access to consumer credit cards and user music preferences to tamp down competition. Senator Al Franken shared similar concerns in a separate letter to the same governmental bodies.</span></span><br />  </p>

Consumer Group Is Sour On Apple

July 22, 2015  ·  Mark Reback

<p><strong><span class="brief">Watchdog warns FTC about streaming dominance</span></strong></p>

Apple Music Under Fire: FTC Investigation Reported, Consumer Group Complains

July 22, 2015  ·  Mark Reback

<p>Is Apple playing dirty when it comes to its new music-streaming service?</p>

Tech Giants Keep Spending Big On Lobbying In DC

July 21, 2015  ·  Mark Reback

<div class="copy-paste-block"> <p><span class="dateline">Research Triangle Park, N.C. — </span>Money talks in Washington, D.C., and technology giants keep spreading around the cash as it lobbies for everything from tax breaks to more business. AT&T stepped up its lobbying, for example, as it continues to try to win approval for its DirecTV deal. But the communications giant has plenty of company when it comes to investing in D.C.</p>

Google, Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft Spending On Government Lobbying Revealed

July 21, 2015  ·  Mark Reback

<p class="shortdescrip"><strong>One company doubled its lobbying budget, while Google spent most.</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>Google, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft spent together $11.7 million on lobbying for Q2, according to disclosure forms filed with the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives.</p> <p>Google ranks the highest for the biggest amount spent at $4.69 million, although it was also the company that most trimmed its spending on lobbying by 13%, compared to $5.29 million spent in Q2 2014.</p>

Facebook, Amazon, Apple Pick Up Spending On Lobbying

July 21, 2015  ·  Mark Reback

<div id="drr-container" itemprop="articleBody"> <p>Apple, Facebook and Amazon.com have increased their expenses on trying to influence U.S. politicians and policy at the federal level, but Google still outstrips them in spending though it reduced expenditure in the second quarter.</p>

Parents Fight for “Right To Be Forgotten” After Daughter’s Death

July 20, 2015  ·  Mark Reback

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Surveillance Society: Who Has The Rights to your Face?

July 13, 2015  ·  Mark Reback

<p>Facebook’s handling of your headshot is now the subject of class action lawsuits that pose the question: When someone turns your mug into data, are those digits theirs or yours?</p>

Can Privacy Advocates Force Google to Bring ‘Right to Be Forgotten’ to U.S.?

July 10, 2015  ·  Mark Reback

<p>Google’s refusal to honor U.S. citizens’ requests to remove content they’d rather have hidden is “unfair and deceptive” since the company professes to be concerned about privacy, an advocacy organization charged in a formal complaint filed July 7 with the Federal Trade Commission.</p>

Would You Pay $5 For An Ad-Free Internet?

July 10, 2015  ·  Mark Reback

<p style="">Seeing ads pop up in your Facebook News Feed on a smartphone can be annoying. But is it so disruptive that you’d pay a monthly fee to remove it?</p> <p style="">In a survey of 5,000 U.S. consumers, the answer was a resounding “no,” according to marketing and analytics firm AppLovin. For companies to recoup the amount they could earn through mobile advertising, customers would need to pay roughly $5 on top of their monthly cell phone bill, the firm said.</p>

Google is Facing a Fight Over Americans’ ‘Right To Be Forgotten’

July 8, 2015  ·  Mark Reback

<p>After Europe, it might be America’s turn to enjoy the ‘<a href="http://thenextweb.com/google/2014/06/26/google-now-removing-search-results-following-eu-right-forgotten-ruling/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">right to be forgotten</a>‘. A consumer advocacy group in the US is urging the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate why Google hasn’t extended this option to users in the country.</p>

Google Should Give U.S. Citizens More Privacy Rights, Says Consumer Watchdog

July 8, 2015  ·  Mark Reback

<p>U.S. consumer rights organization, Consumer Watchdog, has lodged a <a href="http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/ltrftcrtbf070715.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">complaint</a> with the FTC that Google is being “unfair and deceptive” by not extending the sorts of individual privacy rights it now offers Europeans — under <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2014/05/13/forget-me-not/">Europe’s May 2014 ‘right to be forgotten’ ruling</a> — to its U.S. users.</p>