• The Wall Street Journal, Tuesday, April 5, 2011 11:45 AM

Federal prosecutors are reportedly investigating whether certain smartphone applications, including Pandora, illegally obtained or transmitted information about users without their knowledge. On Monday, the online music service said it received a subpoena related to a federal grand-jury investigation of information-sharing practices by smartphone applications.

In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Pandora said it had been informed it is "not a specific target of the investigation." Beyond Pandora, "The criminal investigation is examining whether the app makers fully described to users the types of data they collected and why they needed the information -- such as a user's location or a unique identifier for the phone," reports The Wall Street Journal, citing a single source.

As The Journal notes, collecting information about a user without proper notice or authorization could violate a federal computer-fraud law.

Read the whole story at The Wall Street Journal »