BackChannel
Google Books recently won a lengthy legal battle, but "lost its drive and ambition" during the 10-year court fight with the Authors Guild. "You’d think a Supreme Court victory would have meant a renewal of energy for Google Books: Rev up the scanners--full speed ahead! By all the evidence, that has not been the case," journalist Scott Rosenberg writes.
The St. Louis Record
Charter customers in Missouri have sued the company for allegedly violating their privacy by selling their personally identifiable information. The complaint alleges that the company violated the state's Merchandising Practices Act between 2011 and 2013 by selling subscribers' names and addresses without their consent.
Reuters
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has charged 27 defendants with misleading investors by publicly touting stocks on financial sites, including Seeking Alpha, Benzinga and Wall Street Cheat Sheet. The defendants, including a Hollywood actress, were secretly paid for to write the positive posts, Reuters reports.
The Verge
More than 70% of Americans want their local city or town to create a broadband network if the incumbent providers offer service that's expensive or slow, according to the Pew Research Center. "The results show an overwhelming support for municipal broadband -- networks that are at least somewhat run by local governments -- at a time when encouraging broadband buildout is a top federal priority," writes The Verge.
Re/code
Roku has hired two Republican lobbyists to focus on net neutrality, the company disclosed in a federal ethics report filed this week. The move comes as Roku is mulling a new over-the-top paid service, Recode reports.
Consumerist
A jury ordered man who works in a jewelry store to pay $34,500 for posting a fake review on Yelp about a competitor. The man who posted the review worked for his father's business.
Arstechnica
Lawmakers in the House and Senate unveiled a bill that would require federal customs agents to obtain a warrant from a judge before searching cell phones and other devices of citizens. "By requiring a warrant to search Americans’ devices and prohibiting unreasonable delay, this bill makes sure that border agents are focused on criminals and terrorists instead of wasting their time thumbing through innocent Americans’ personal photos and other data," Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) stated.
FierceWireless
Former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler suggested that the IoT could face obstacles if net neutrality rules are rolled back, or if network operators can use consumer' data. "If networks aren’t open then those who own the networks will control what happens on them, including IoT," he said in an interview with FierceWireless. "If the information going over the network isn’t private, then networks will be able to purloin the data of someone else for their own purposes, thus diminishing the value of that data to its creator."
Arstechnica
The startup Garadget bricked a customer's Web-connected garage door opener after he gave the product bad reviews on the Garadget message boards and Amazon. The company responded by denying a server connection to the customer.
New York Post
Senate Democrats are asking President Donald Trump to veto a bill that revokes the FCC's privacy rules. “If President Trump signs this resolution into law consumers will be stripped of critical privacy protections in a New York minute,” Sen. Chuck Schumer said.
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