• Watchdogs Prod FTC To Intervene In Google Privacy Settlement
    Some watchdogs are trying to convince the Federal Trade Commission to intervene in a class-action lawsuit alleging that Google violated users' privacy. Google agreed to settle the case last year for $8.5 million, but opponents call the settlement a "farce" because it doesn't require the company to change its practices.
  • FCC Chair Blasts Verizon For Plan To Throttle Some Users
    Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler isn't happy with Verizon's plan to start throttling some smartphone users who have unlimited data plans. "It is disturbing to me that Verizon Wireless would base its 'network management' on distinctions among its customers' data plans, rather than on network architecture or technology," Wheeler said to Verizon in a letter dated today.
  • Broadcasters Oppose Aereo's Bid To Restart DVR Service
    Aereo suspended its online streaming service days after the Supreme Court ruled against the company. But to the obvious chagrin of broadcasters, the Barry Diller-backed cord-cutting company is obviously hoping to find a way to continue with its business.
  • OkCupid Admits Lying To Users About Matches
    In a surprising admission, dating site OkCupid acknowledged today that it has deliberately lied to users about potential dates. OkCupid co-founder Christian Rudder came clean about the site's experiments in an apparent attempt to defend Facebook, which recently sparked a wave of criticism by revealing that it has conducted psychological tests on users.
  • Verizon Wireless To Slow Down Some 4G Subscribers
    Verizon Wireless said today that it intends to start throttling some of its long-time subscribers who are still on unlimited data plans. The company announced on its corporate Web site that, starting this October, it will subject some 4G LTE users on limited plans to the "network optimization policy." That policy involves slowing down heavy data users -- defined by Verizon as people who use more data than 95% of other subscribers -- when they are "connected to cell sites experiencing heavy demand."
  • State Lawmakers Bash FCC Plan To End Muni-Broadband Restrictions
    An organization representing state lawmakers is protesting Federal Communication Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler's plan to nix laws that restrict municipal broadband. "As you consider your course of action on this matter, we encourage you to heed the principles of federalism and caution you of the numerous decisions by the United States Supreme Court with regard to the relationship between the state and its political subdivisions," the National Conference of State Legislatures says in a letter sent to Wheeler this week.
  • Aereo Asks 10th Circuit To Lift Injunction, Says DVR Service Legal
    Aereo might have been shot down by the Supreme Court, but the startup isn't yet ready to close up shop. Not only is Aereo trying to convince regulators and the courts that it's now a "cable system" -- and therefore entitled to a compulsory license -- but the company is also is arguing that it should be allowed to continue offering its DVR service.
  • Google Can't Shake App Privacy Suit
    Back in March of 2012, Google made international headlines with its controversial decision to revise its privacy policy in a way that allowed it to consolidate information about users. Ever since, a group of consumers have been trying to sue the company for allegedly violating users' privacy. This week, a federal judge ruled that the consumers could proceed with a lawsuit -- but not based on their original claims. Instead, U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Grewal in San Jose, Calif. said that users could continue with allegations that Google wrongly transfers users' names and contact information to app developers.
  • EFF Says Its Anti-Tracking Tool Blocks New Form Of Digital Fingerprinting
    The digital rights organization Electronic Frontier Foundation today unveiled a beta version of Privacy Badger -- a tool aimed at helping people avoid online data collection and behaviorally targeted ads.
  • Microsoft: FCC's Fast-Lane Proposal Could Lead To Billion-Dollar Losses For Business
    Weighing in against the Federal Communications Commission's proposed broadband regulations, Microsoft is warning that the agency's proposal for fast lanes could have a devastating impact on companies that rely on broadband to reach consumers. "Preferential transmission arrangements are incompatible with the fundamental principles of an open Internet," the company says in comments filed today with the FCC.
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