Federal Trade Commission
04 Feb 2021
Amazon will pay drivers $61.7 million after FTC uncovered fraud
Amazon must pay $61.7 million in settlement for stealing an unspecified portion of customer tips left for its Flex drivers. The decision was announced by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) after concluding its investigation.
16 Jan 2021
Facebook fined $650 million for collecting facial recognition data inappropriately
Facebook has been ordered to pay $650 million as part of a settlement to Illinois residents for collecting facial recognition data without their consent.
14 Jan 2021
Flo reaches settlement with FTC over misuse of period-tracking data
Flo, a popular period tracking app with a user base of over 100 million, was allegedly sharing user data with Facebook and Google discreetly. This was also reported in 2019 by The Wall Street Journal.
23 Aug 2020
#WeeklyRecap: Apple hits $2 trillion, Gmail suffers outage, and more
This week, both Apple and Google made major headlines in the world of tech.
21 Aug 2020
NewsBytes Briefing: Air leak at International Space Station, and more
In the updates since last night, NASA revealed that there has been a small air leak at the International Space Station.
04 Aug 2020
NewsBytes Briefing: Twitter 'error' keeps users from tweeting, and more
In the updates since last night, Twitter drew flak for an error that restricted tweeting.
30 Jul 2020
Big Tech on trial: Key moments from the historic hearing
On Wednesday, Big Tech went on trial as the CEOs of Amazon, Apple, Google, and Facebook appeared before Congress for a hearing on antitrust.
10 Jul 2020
TikTok mulling substantial changes to distance itself from China
Amid criticism from several quarters, the loudest from the United States and India, short-video platform TikTok is mulling changes in its corporate set up to distance itself from its parent company's Chinese links, reports said on Friday.
16 Jun 2020
Amazon Boss Jeff Bezos may finally testify before Congress
E-commerce behemoth Amazon has confirmed that its founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos, is ready to testify before a US Congressional panel this July.
28 May 2020
Google's 'Scam Spotter' will help you dodge online frauds
For years, we have been hearing cases of scammers and fraudsters tricking internet users into giving their money or personal details away.
28 May 2020
Trump to sign executive order targeting social media firms
US President Donald Trump will sign an executive order pertaining to social media, the White House has confirmed.
25 May 2020
Watch out! COVID-19 contact tracing scams are on the rise
The spread of COVID-19 has triggered a wave of scams.
27 Dec 2019
To keep children safe, YouTube once considered screening videos manually
Despite being incredibly successful, YouTube hasn't been able to dodge controversies.
20 Dec 2019
Again! Facebook data of over 26 crore people leaked online
Despite FTC's $5 billion fine for privacy violations and a lot of flak from the general public, Facebook's security issues aren't just coming to an end.
03 Oct 2019
US Presidential candidate Warren, Zuckerberg lock claws over #BreakUpBigTech
2020 US presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren is planning to break up tech giants including Facebook Inc, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg isn't pleased.
25 Aug 2019
First crime committed in space between two women; probe on
As if there weren't enough crimes on Earth already, humans have now taken their nefarious activities to space.
14 Aug 2019
Facebook paid people to listen, transcribe Messenger calls
WhatsApp offers end-to-end encryption to keep messages secured between the sender and receiver.
08 Aug 2019
Instagram's 'preferred marketing partner' tracked location of millions
Even after scandals like Cambridge Analytica and a massive FTC fine, Facebook's privacy woes aren't coming to a halt.
14 Jul 2019
Facebook faces $5 billion fine over privacy violations: Details here
From Cambridge Analytica to data leaks, Facebook has committed a plethora of privacy violations over the last two years.
10 May 2019
Amazon accused of spying on children via Echo Dot Kids
Just last month, Amazon drew major criticism when it was revealed that the company's employees had access to Alexa voice recordings of many users and the power to track their locations.
28 Feb 2019
TikTok illegally collected children's data, slapped with $5.7 million fine
TikTok, one of the most famous video-sharing platforms in India, has been caught collecting personal data of children aged under 13, illegally.
28 Dec 2018
Watch out! Fraudsters targeting Netflix users with phishing emails
Despite being one of the biggest streaming platforms in the world, Netflix has been marred by a wave of phishing scams.
22 Nov 2018
From December 1, spend more for flying out of Delhi
Passengers flying out of Delhi airport will have to spend more as Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) has approved the revision of service charges.
13 Jun 2018
NY: Indian-origin man to pay over $136,000 in India-based tech-support-scam
Paramjit Singh Brar, an Indian-origin man, who had allegedly provided substantial support to an India-based tech-support scam, has agreed to pay over $136,000 and a permanent ban from marketing, promoting or offering tech-support services as part of a settlement with US federal authorities.
08 Jun 2018
Facebook bug made private posts public, affecting 1.4 crore users
Facebook is deep in trouble, yet again. This time for a bug that is estimated to have impacted as many as 1.4cr users.
04 Jun 2018
Facebook giving open-access to user's data; formed data-sharing partnerships: NYT
Weeks after it was revealed that a British political firm Cambridge Analytica accessed millions of user data on Facebook, the social network company is now through another set of allegations by the New York Times.
22 May 2018
4.4mn iPhone users sue Google for unlawfully collecting personal info
4.4 million iPhone users in the UK have filed a lawsuit against Google accusing it of unlawfully collecting users' personal information and violating their privacy from 2011 to 2012.
08 Feb 2018
Pune call center which cheated 11,000 Americans busted
Pune police busted a call center scam in the Koregaon Park area earlier this week and arrested three men running the operations.
22 Nov 2017
Uber paid hackers $100,000; concealed data stolen of 57mn users
Uber is facing another PR nightmare. It has emerged that the company concealed a massive data breach affecting 57mn users/riders for a whole year.
25 Jul 2017
Amazon's Whole Foods deal is facing major flak
It appears that US regulators need more time to okay Amazon's $13.7bn (£10.5b) acquisition of Whole Foods. This delay is due to the anti-trust concerns raised by certain groups.
16 Jul 2017
How Google pays academicians to buy "influence"
With its tentacles spread into everything, way beyond the Internet, Google has become extremely powerful and influential.
15 Jun 2017
Facebook makes GIFs available for comments
To mark the 30th anniversary of the GIF, Facebook has introduced a new feature enabling users to add GIFs to comments.
20 May 2017
US FCC votes to get rid of net neutrality
In the first step towards removing net neutrality, the US Federal Communications Commission voted to end the rules that came into force in 2015.
05 May 2017
Qualcomm seeks to ban iPhone imports into the US
On April 28th, 2017, Apple stopped paying royalties to Qualcomm.
27 Apr 2017
Top US regulator considering rolling back net neutrality
Less than a month after the US allowed internet service providers to release data without consumers' consent, Federal Communications Commission chairman Ajit Pai has suggested rolling back net neutrality.
04 Apr 2017
Internet privacy: US opens doors for exploitation of users' data
US President Donald Trump on April 4 signed into effect a resolution allowing internet service providers to release consumers' web usage data to companies without seeking their consent, revoking recent privacy rules that made it mandatory for them to obtain permission first.
29 Mar 2017
Internet privacy: US opens doors for exploitation of users' data
In an alarming move, the US House of Representatives revoked internet privacy rules approved days before President Donald Trump's election, that made it mandatory for service providers to obtain consent before selling consumers' data.
20 Jan 2017
Uber to pay $20mn to "misled" American drivers
Uber has agreed to pay $20 million to settle allegations that it "misled" drivers with false promises on how much they would earn and pay to finance a car.
