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Robocalling is considered a plague in the modern phone world, especially during an election year -- and while you likely won't get rid of all the pitches from political candidates anytime soon, most of the commercial calls are outright illegal. The Federal Trade Commission has devised a unique contest to help cut back on those law-breakers without having to chase down every shady debt relief offer. It's offering a $50,000 reward for the cleverest solution to blocking the banned variety of robocalls. The only requirement is that you be an adult US resident: if you can invent a surefire remedy in your basement, the FTC wants to hear from you. Entries will be open between October 25th and January 17th, with word of a winner around April 1st. We're hoping that the champion has a truly effective cure in use before long, because we'll undoubtedly have reached our breaking point on robocalls by... oh, around November 6th.
[Image credit: SarahNW, Flickr]
Filed under: Misc
FTC offers $50,000 prize for stopping illegal robocalls, we could have used this a few months ago originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Oct 2012 13:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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While the financials for Mark Zuckerberg and his minions hasn't been the best of late, Facebook got some good news today when the FTC closed its investigation of the social network's acquisition of Instagram. That means that the merger now has the green light to be completed, and filtered photographs will be joining all those pokes, likes and Spotify songs in Timelines sooner rather than later. You can get the good news straight from the government's mouth at the source below.
FTC closes investigation into Facebook's buyout of Instagram, filtered photo fans rejoice originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Aug 2012 18:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Google recently paid the FTC $22.5 million and Facebook was ordered by the commission to change the way it handles data, but you might be surprised to hear that both companies did nothing wrong. Well, not exactly, but by settling their privacy violation cases, the internet giants are entitled to deny any misconduct. The New York Times reports that J. Thomas Rosch, a commissioner who voted against both settlements, feels that current rules will invite "denials of liability in every case in the future." Rosch wants the policy changed so companies can't deny responsibility when settling, much like the way the SEC handles similar indiscretions. Most of his colleagues weren't in a hurry to back his opinions, but three did say that refining the process could "avoid any possible public misimpression" of how the FTC strikes such deals. The commission is expected to look at the issue in the near future, but until then, we're sure you're more than able to separate the reality from the legalese.
Filed under: Internet
FTC considering new settlement process so companies can't deny wrongdoing originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Aug 2012 20:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Well, Mark Zuckerberg is finally trying to make things right after admitting to a "bunch of mistakes" when dealing with user privacy on his juggernaut of a social network. The FTC and Facebook had agreed to settle the dispute in November, and now the final details of the deal have been ironed out. Noticeably missing from the list of concessions is cash. The government isn't asking Facebook to cough up any dough as part of the settlement -- avoiding the sort of hefty fine that Google recently found itself on the wrong end of. The company will, however, have drastically revamp how it handles user data and subject itself to privacy audits every two years for 20 years. Customers will now be provided with "clear and prominent" warnings any time information is shared. And, before anything can be shared, users must give express consent to for that information to be distributed. Ideally, these measures would have been in place on day one, but we'll take what we can get at this point. For more details, check out the FTC's press release after the break.
Continue reading FTC and Facebook settle privacy dispute, skip the fine
Filed under: Internet
FTC and Facebook settle privacy dispute, skip the fine originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 10 Aug 2012 12:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Google has agreed to pay a $22.5 million penalty to settle its dispute with the FTC, over the company's role in bypassing browser settings in Apple's Safari web browser. Although it stated that it wouldn't use tracking cookies or targeted ads in the web browser, a loophole was discovered, violating a previous privacy settlement between the FTC and Google. According to the commission, the company exploited an exception in the browser's default settings, adding a temporary cookie that could temporarily open up access to all cookies from the DoubleClick domain. While the exploit was patched by Google, for a limited time, it was able to track Safari users that had explicitly opted out. The FTC's full statement is right after the break.
Filed under: Internet
Google to pay $22.5 million to settle FTC charges over tracking cookies in Apple's Safari browser originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 09 Aug 2012 11:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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