Bigmouthmedia Search Engine News: /legal/

Group sues over Google privacy policy changes

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:25:00 GMT

Activist group the Electronic Privacy Information Centre (EPIC) have filed a lawsuit against the Federal Trade Commission in an effort to prevent Google from updating its privacy policy on 1 March.

By filing suit, EPIC hopes to force the FTC to prevent Google from implementing its new privacy policy, which will give Mountain View the ability to 'combine personal information' across the majority of its services.

"Google's announced changes to business practices will make it possible for advertisers to gain access to personal information which was previously unavailable to them," EPIC said in its filing.

Google entered into a settlement agreement with the FTC in 2011 over similar privacy charges relating to Google Buzz - as a result of the settlement, an independent professional will provide regular reports on Google's privacy practices for the next 20 years.

In response, Google has said EPIC's lawsuit is misinterpreting the facts.

"We take privacy very seriously," a Google representative told CNET. "We're happy to engage in constructive conversation about our updated Privacy Policy, but EPIC is wrong on the facts of the law.

"We're keeping your private information private - we're not changing how personal information is shared outside of Google."

The spokesperson also added Google has "undertaken the most extensive notification effort in Google's history to ensure that users have many opportunities and ample time to learn about our Privacy Policy changes. And we're continuing to offer choice and control over how people use Google services."

EPIC aren't the only ones feeling uncomfortable about the privacy changes - European Union officials asked Google earlier this month to suspend privacy policy changes so they could be analysed, but according to CNET, Google declined saying "delaying the new policy would cause significant confusion."

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Ofcom caps broadband and phone line prices

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 09:12:00 GMT

Talk may be getting cheaper, as Ofcom recently proposed an Openreach price cut.

The telecoms regulator, Ofcom, wants BT Group to cut the prices it charges to internet providers and others who sell services using its lines - calling for an £87.41 price cap on broadband and phone line services and an £11.92 cap on using a broadband line only; dropping the prices from the current £91.50 and £14.70, respectively.

The Ofcom proposals have been submitted to the European Commission for approval, which has one month to comment on the changes. If approved, Ofcom says the new rates could take affect from April.

This is the third time that Ofcom has set the prices BT's wholesale division, Openreach, charges companies for the use of its lines - which Ofcom says it does because the company has a dominant position in the market.

BT, however, isn't overly pleased with the changes this time around. In a statement, the company said: "We disagree with some of the underlying assumptions that they have used to determine these controls.

"Our primary concern throughout this process is to ensure that we are able to achieve a fair rate of return in order to continue our investment in the future of the UK's communications infrastructure.

"We will consider all options available to us, including appealing, after Ofcom confirms its final decisions."

Ofcom has said that the new price cuts were determined in part by an assessment of the costs Openreach incurred running the network of underground ducts used to carry copper lines to properties.

Industry experts also state there was growing pressure from Europe to bring down the cost for alternative operators to access incumbents' networks.

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Apple pulls iPad and iPhones in Germany

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 08:37:00 GMT

Motorola has dealt a double-whammy to Apple in Germany.

Following a December ruling by a German court that Apple failed to license one of Motorola's wireless intellectual properties and the ruling's subsequent patent injunction, the Cupertino-based company has now begun to pull older iPad and iPhone models from it German online store.

In a separate lawsuit, Motorola also won a permanent injunction against the push email service of Apple's iCloud and any devices that can access the services in Germany.

The sales ban relates to a Motorola-owned patent for a "method for performing a countdown function during a mobile-originated transfer for a packet radio system."

The separate push email ban would only come into effect if Motorola decides to enforce the judgement, which deals with a patent relating to two-way communications between pagers and other devices.

Apple isn't taking the news sitting down, however, and has vowed to appeal the rulings and to keep its products available elsewhere for its German customers.

"While some iPad and iPhone models are not available through Apple's online store in Germany right now, customers should have no problem finding them at one of our retail stores or an authorised reseller," Apple said in a statement.

"Apple is appealing the ruling because Motorola refuses to license this patent to Apple on reasonable terms, despite have declared it an industry standard patent seven years ago."

The ruling could also pit Apple against its arch-nemesis, Google, in the near future, as the search giant recently acquired Motorola for its patent portfolio.

The ruling only applies to Germany, but could have implications for other European lawsuits. The European Union allows member-states to reach different legal conclusions,but they must explain why.

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Angry Birds boss doesn't see Piracy as a bad thing

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 07:36:00 GMT

Rovio boss Mikel Hed has said he doesn't necessarily see piracy as a bad thing when it comes to Angry Birds.

Speaking at the Midem conference in Cannes, the Angry Birds maker explained the company sees efforts to pursue pirates in the court system as 'futile' - so long as pirated products are not harmful to the brand or ripping off fans.

"We could learn a lot from the music industry, and the rather terrible ways the music industry has tried to combat piracy.

"We have some issues with piracy, not only in apps, but also especially in the consumer products," he said. "There is tons of merchandise out there, especially in Asia, which is not officially licensed products."

Hed also explained he believes there is a lesson to be learned from the music industry - namely, approaching customers as fans, rather than users.

"We took something from the music industry, which was to stop treating the customers as users, and start treating them as fans. We do that today: we talk about how many fans we have," he said.

"If we lose our fan base, our business is done, but it we can grow that fan base, our business will grow."

Hed also took the opportunity to discuss new avenues for the popular mobile game, saying the company hasn't ruled out working with musicians in the future.

Rather than just a game, Rovio sees Angry Birds as its own channel - where users are spending as much time in the app as they are with their favourite TV shows.

"Already our apps are becoming channels, and we can use that channel to cross-promote - to sell further content," he said.

"The content itself has transformed into the channel, and the traditional distribution channels are no longer the kingmakers."

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Twitter hushing tweets country-by-country

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 06:25:00 GMT

Twitter tells the little blue bird to hush - but only in certain countries.

In a sharp policy turnaround, Twitter has announced that it will now exercise the ability to withhold tweets depending on the rules and laws of specific countries.

Previously, the social network had held firm to a stance of refusing to censor tweets that may contravene a country's laws. However, until recently, the only way in which Twitter could block a tweet was to delete it across the service globally.

In an official blog post yesterday, Twitter stated: "As we continue to grow internationally, we will enter countries that have different ideas about the contours of freedom of expression. Some differ so much from our ideas that we will not be able to exist there. Others are similar but, for historical or cultural reasons, restrict certain types of content, such as France or Germany, which ban pro-Nazi content.

"Until now, the only way we could take account of those countries' limits was to remove content globally. Starting today, we give ourselves the ability to reactively withhold content from users in a specific country - while keeping it available in the rest of the world. We have also built in a way to communicate transparently to users when content is withheld, and why."

Twitter has become a powerful tool, helping to spur social change across the world. It has been credited for bringing people together during the "Arab Spring" and helping to coordinate the worldwide Occupy movement - although the service has also been blamed for playing a key part in the London riots.

As such, Twitter has begun to receive considerable backlash as a result of its announcement, with critics fearing that tyrannical governments will try to use the new censorship capabilities as a way of cracking down on their citizens.

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EU introducing uniform data protection rules

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 04:36:00 GMT

Data protection may be getting a major overhaul in Europe this week.

In a new European Union bill to be published later in the week, businesses in the 27-nation bloc will be required to adhere to stricter data protection regulations aimed at protecting consumers, reducing bureaucracy and giving European companies a competitive advantage in the world.

"Personal data is the currency of today's digital market," said European Commissioner Viviane Reding at the DLD conference in Munich. "And like any currency, it needs stability and trust. Only if consumers can 'trust' that their data is well protected, will they continue to entrust businesses and authorities with it, buy online, and accept new services."

The new legislation would create a pan-European regulation, replacing the existing compilation of 27 national codes, and would include sweeping new rules for businesses and rights for individuals.

Ms Reding added: "A company will have to comply with one law for the whole of the EU territory. It will only have to deal with one single data protection authority.

"It will be the data protection authority of the member state in which the company has its main establishment. It will not matter anymore which data protection authority deals with a case.

"All data protection authorities in whatever EU country will have the same adequate tools and powers to enforce EU-law."

Additionally, companies would be required to disclose security breaches within 24 hours of their occurrence. Individuals would be granted the "right to be forgotten" - allowing them to request their information be erased. They would also be given the "right to data portability," which would allow individuals to easily transfer their personal information between companies.

Member states would be allowed to fine companies up to 1 per cent of their global revenues for violation EU rules.

The EU data protection bill is expected to be introduced on Wednesday, but it is still subject to the legislative process and can be revised during the first two years.

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YouTube acquires RightsFlow

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 03:00:00 GMT

YouTube has acquired licencing service RightsFlow, it has announced.

The popular video-sharing website will use RightFlow's muscle to help tackle online copyright issues and provide "smart copyright management" to its platform.

"We're excited to announce that we've acquired RightsFlow, a New York-based company that helps songwriters, recording artists, record labels, distributors and online music services manage music rights," product manager David King wrote on the YouTube Blog.

"As new ways of consuming music have emerged, RightsFlow has been at the forefront of solving the complex issues of licensing and royalty payment management.

"By combining RightsFlow's expertise and technology with YouTube's platform, we hope to more rapidly and efficiently license music on YouTube, meaning more music for you all to enjoy, and more money for the talented people producing the music."

As YouTube has evolved, so have licensing agreements and copyright issues. In its earliest form, YouTube came under fire from critics who claimed the video site allowed and encouraged materials to appear on its site that infringed copyright laws.

Both YouTube and its parent company Google have been involved in several legal disputes on the issue - including a class action suit lodged by a group of music publishers accusing YouTube of allowing pirated materials to appear on site.

After reaching a settlement in August, the publishers said in a statement: "As a result of this resolution, music publishers will have the opportunity to enter into a license agreement with YouTube and receive royalties from YouTube for musical works in videos posted on the site."

YouTube has since worked to shake any pirated content out of its site with a filter system, and by adding RightsFlow to its arsenal the web's most popular video-sharing service will conceivably be in a better position to help artists and groups tackle issues regards rights and distribution.

"YouTube has had a longstanding commitment to solving the really tough challenges around online copyright - how to manage content rights in a quickly evolving technology world," the company said in a statement.

"We've already invested tens of millions of dollars in content management technology such as Content ID and, with over 3,000 major media companies using it, we've come a long way in just a few years. But we want to keep pushing things forward."

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Samsung wins right to sell Galaxy in US, despite Apple

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 01:01:00 GMT

Samsung has secured a win against rival Apple, and is now free to sell Galaxy devices in the US.

The South Korean multinational conglomerate corporation has come up trumps in the latest courtroom battle with long term foe Apple, after the Cupertino capers attempted to halt sales of the Galaxy - claiming the product was too similar to its own products.

Apple's injunction - based on patent infringements - was rejected, and Samsung is now free to flog Galaxy products to the lucrative US market. Following the ruling, Samsung's shares also rose by more than 2 per cent.

"At this point in the proceedings, although Apple has established a likelihood of success on the merits at trial, there remain close questions regarding the infringement of the accused devices, and Samsung has raised substantial questions regarding the validity of the D'087 patent," the court ruled, according to The Register.

"Moreover, Apple has not yet established a likelihood of irreparable harm, and the balance of the equities weigh in favour of Samsung."

The battle may be won, but the war is far from over - this is merely a small victory for Samsung, since when the case goes to trial in July next year, Apple may still hold a chance of winning if it can prove patents have been infringed.

Elsewhere the two companies continue to lock horns in ten other countries and have filed at least 30 suits against one another this year alone. Apple have accused Samsung of 'slavishly' following its own designs, such as that of the iPad, while Samsung claim Apple have infringed its 3G patents.

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Spotify loses support of 200 labels

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 04:37:00 GMT

Spotify suffered a blow last week as more than 200 labels pulled the plug on the music-streaming service.

Small, independent labels in particular are rejecting the music streaming service, arguing their artists stand to lose, rather than gain, from making their music available online.

"As a distributor we have to do what is best for our labels," distributor ST Holdings said in a statement.

"The majority of which do not want their music on such services. They provide poor revenue and have a detrimental [effect] on sales. Add to that, the feeling that their music loses its specialness by its exploitation as a low value/free commodity."

While Spotify retains the support of the four major labels - giving users access to mainstream top 40-hits - the fact that more and more labels are jumping ship is not good news.

To add insult to injury, Coldplay and Tom Waits have both decided not to distribute their new albums on Spotify - which could start a dangerous trend for the service.

According to CNET a report released by NPD group and the National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM) studying digital music sales spurred small labels to conclude streaming services - like Spotify - were hurting sales and potential growth for small artists.

In response, Spotify said it respected ST Holdings' decision but hoped it would reconsider - also citing that Spotify has driven $150 million (£95.5 million) in revenue to rights holders in the three years since launching.

"Right now we have already convinced millions of consumers to pay for music again, to move away from downloading illegally and therefore generate real revenue for the music business," Spotify said in a statement.

"Artists can - and do - receive very substantial revenues from Spotify, and as Spotify grows, these revenue streams will naturally continue to grow."

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Renaming Wi-Fi networks stops Google snooping

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 02:13:00 GMT

Users who want their Wi-Fi hotspot locations ignored by Google now have that option.

Google recently announced a way for owners of Wi-Fi networks to be removed from Google's crowdsourced geolocation database. To opt out, users must visit their access point's settings and change the wireless network name (or SSID) so that it ends with "_nomap."

For example, if the SSID is "HeyGetOffMyNetwork," it would need to be changed to "HeyGetOffMyNetwork_nomap."

"As we explored different approaches for opting-out access points from the Google Location Server, we found that a method based on wireless network names provides the right balance of simplicity as well as protection against abuse," Peter Fleischer, Google's global privacy counsel, wrote on the Google blog.

"Specifically, this approach helps protect against others opting out your access point without your permission."

The opt-out scheme is meant to address privacy issues raised by Google's location tracking as part of their Street View services. When Google's camera-cars were sent out to take photographs they also logged the location of every Wi-Fi hotspot they passed. That data was used as part of the search company's location-based services for mobile devices.

The controversial program that didn't just map Wi-Fi networks, however, but also gathered personal information transmitted over those networks. Since the practice was made known, Google has faced mounting pressure, particularly from European officials, to either kill the mapping service or let people opt out.

The Dutch Data Protection Authority ruled in August that "Google is obliged to offer uses the option to opt-out, so they can effectively object to the processing of data on their Wi-Fi routers at all time and free of charge."

Google proposed the "_nomap" strategy at the time, according the Dutch government. The company now hopes its official announcement will lead to other location providers using the appendage.

Fleischer added: "Because other location providers will also be able to observe these opt-outs, we hope that over time the "_nomap" string will be adopted universally. This would help benefit all users by providing everyone with a unified opt-out process regardless of location provider."

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