Brian Womack reports: Google Inc., owner of the world’s most popular search engine, is nearing an agreement to pay $22.5 million to settle a U.S. Federal Trade Commission probe over claims it violated user privacy on Apple Inc.’s Internet browser, a person familiar with the matter said. The settlement would resolve an investigation over how Google used…
Category: Govt
German Government Slammed over Controversial Data Law
Following hefty criticism from nearly every corner, the German government is backing away from a controversial bill passed last month that would allow local government registration offices to sell citizens’ private information to marketing firms and other interested companies. The government now believes that the legislation will be changed via parliamentary procedures, government spokesman Steffen…
Privacy self-regulation efforts are working, senators told
Grant Gross reports: The online industry doesn’t need new privacy legislation because it is doing a good job of protecting users’ privacy, an executive of an advertising trade group told U.S. lawmakers Thursday. Even as Senator John “Jay” Rockefeller, chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, promised to push for new privacy legislation,…
Government slates meetings on mobile privacy standards
Jaikumar Vijayan reports: The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is set to host the first of several meetings seeking input for its effort to develop new codes of conduct for handling private consumer date on the Internet and mobile networks. The meeting, scheduled for July 12 at the U.S. Department of Commerce building in…