Pirated Android apps three sites seized, DOJ says

                                                      The Justice Department's site warning.

                                                        (Credit: U.S. Department of Justice)

The U.S. Department of Justice has taken aim at three sites that allegedly pirated Android apps.

According to the Justice Department, it seized three Web sites -- applanet.net, appbucket.net, and snappzmarket.com -- that were allegedly offering copies of copyrighted Android apps. It marked the first time that sites were seized over allegedly pirating copyrighted mobile apps.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted the sting operation by downloading "thousands of copies of popularity copyright apps" from the sites, the Justice Department said. The agency didn't specify the apps, but the servers hosting them were based overseas, leading the FBI to call on international law-enforcement partners for help.

Facebook settlement over ad feature rejected by Judge

A U.S. judge rejected Facebook Inc's proposed legal settlement to resolve allegations that the social networking company violated its members' rights through the its 'Sponsored Stories' advertising feature.

In an order on Friday, U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg in San Francisco listed several concerns with the proposed settlement, including a request for more information on why the agreement does not award any money to members.

Seeborg said the company and attorneys for the plaintiffs could try to modify their agreement to address his concerns.

"We continue to believe the settlement is fair, reasonable, and adequate," a Facebook spokesman said in a statement. "We appreciate the court's guidance and look forward to addressing the questions raised in the order."

Representatives for the plaintiffs could not immediately be reached for comment.

Google will pay record $22.5 million over Safari tracking

After being charged by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) with misleading consumers by breaking Apple's user privacy settings in the Safari browser, Google will pay a record $22.5 million to settle the allegations.

This is considered the largest penalty imposed on a single company by the FTC, which has increased its efforts in protecting privacy online.

Google placed special tracking cookies on Safari, Apple's browser, which monitored activity and allowed it to serve targeted ads to users on its DoubleClick advertising network. But, this violated a previous privacy settlement between Google and the FTC, according to a news release by the agency.

A previous Google-FTC settlement, reached last October, blocked the company from distorting the way in which consumers could gain control over the collection of their information. The settlement was related to privacy missteps Google faced during the launch of its now defunct social networking and messaging tool, Buzz.

“No matter how big or small, all companies must abide by an FTC order against them and keep their privacy promises to consumers, or they will end up paying many times what it would have cost to comply in the first place,” FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said in the release.

FTC commissioner J. Thomas Rosch was the lone dissenter on the 4-1 vote to approve the settlement. He said that the fine is too small considering the size of Google's annual profit and revenue.

“There is nothing to prevent future respondents with fewer resources than Google and with lower profiles than Google…from denying liability in the future too,” he wrote. Source-ScMagazine

Marcos Colon August 09, 2012