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Apple, Google, Amazon, smartphone makers sign privacy accord

2012-02-23T21:38:00.000-08:00

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Six of the world's top consumer technology firms have agreed to provide greater privacy disclosures before users download applications in order to protect the personal data of millions of consumers, California's attorney general said on Wednesday.

The agreement binds Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Research In Motion, and Hewlett-Packard -- and developers on their platforms -- to disclose how they use private data before an app may be downloaded, Attorney General Kamala D. Harris said.

"Your personal privacy should not be the cost of using mobile apps, but all too often it is," said Harris.

Currently 22 of the 30 most downloaded apps do not have privacy notices, said Harris. Some downloaded apps also download a consumer's contact book.

Google said in a statement that under the California agreement, Android users will have "even more ways to make informed decisions when it comes to their privacy."

Apple confirmed the agreement but did not elaborate.

Harris was also among U.S. state lawmakers who on Wednesday signed a letter to Google CEO Larry Page to express "serious concerns" over the web giant's recent decision to consolidate its privacy policy.

The policy change would give Google access to user information across its products, such as GMail and Google Plus, without the proper ability for consumers to opt out, said the 36 U.S. attorneys general in their letter.

EU authorities have asked Google to halt the policy change until regulators can investigate the matter.

CAN AND WILL SUE

California's 2004 Online Privacy Protection Act requires privacy disclosures, but Harris said few mobile developers had paid attention to the law in recent years because of confusion over whether it applied to mobile apps.

"Most mobile apps make no effort to inform users about how personal information is used," Harris said at a press conference in San Francisco. "The consumer should be informed of what they are giving up."

The six companies will meet the attorney general in six months to assess compliance among their developers. But Harris acknowledged "there is no clear timeline" to begin enforcement.

The attorney general repeatedly raised the possibility of litigation at some future time under California's unfair competition and false advertising laws if developers continue to publish apps without privacy notices.

"We can sue and we will sue," she said, adding that she hoped the industry would act "in good faith."

There are nearly 600,000 applications for sale in the Apple App Store and 400,000 for sale in Google's Android Market, and consumers have downloaded more than 35 billion, said Harris.

There are also more than 50,000 individual developers who have created the mobile apps currently available for download on the leading platforms, she said.

These figures are expected to grow. She said an estimated 98 billion mobile applications will be downloaded by 2015, and the $6.8 billion market for mobile applications is expected to grow to $25 billion within four years.

(Reporting By Gerry Shih; Editing by Carol Bishopric and Michael Perry)

Bail rules prevent Kim Dotcom from using Internet

2012-02-23T21:33:00.000-08:00

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom made his fortune and even took his name from the Internet, but now he's barred from logging on.

Dotcom, accused by U.S. authorities of facilitating millions of illegal downloads through the file-sharing website, has been ordered not to access the Internet as part of his bail conditions. Another unusual condition: No helicopters can land at his home.

Dotcom was arrested in New Zealand in a high-profile raid Jan. 20 and was released Wednesday. New Zealand court authorities disclosed his bail conditions Thursday after The Associated Press and other media requested the information.

Under the terms of his release, Dotcom may leave his Auckland home only for approved outings such as court appearances and medical appointments. He is banned from contacting three Megaupload colleagues who were also arrested during the New Zealand raid and have also been released on bail pending extradition proceedings.

U.S. authorities have charged Dotcom with racketeering. They say he and his colleagues cheated movie makers and songwriters out of half a billion dollars in copyright revenue while making a fortune for themselves.

Dotcom did not have to post any monetary bond for his bail, a standard policy for New Zealand's district courts. He has an extradition hearing scheduled for August.

Dotcom was born Kim Schmitz in Germany but legally changed his name.

HP slips on concerns of delay in turnaround

2012-02-23T21:28:00.000-08:00

(Reuters) - Shares of Hewlett-Packard Co fell more than 7 percent Thursday, after the world's No. 1 computer maker posted a sharp decline in quarterly earnings and warned it would take several years to turn around its sprawling businesses.

Chief Executive Meg Whitman, who took over the top job in September after the company fired Leo Apothekar, requested investors to keep their patience and said a turnaround the size the company was efforting took considerable time.

J.P. Morgan Securities, however, said secular, macro and company-related risk may delay an appreciable turnaround.

RBC Capital said investors may look past the choppy revenue performance, given the temporary difficulty in procuring hard-disk drives, but added that it expects problems to continue into the second quarter.

On Wednesday, HP, which has been trying to pick itself up from the mess the company found itself last year, reported a decline in sales in three of its key units: personal computers, printers and enterprise equipment.

"Revenue shortfall in PCs and significant quarter-on-quarter margin deterioration in every business raise questions about the competitiveness, cost structure and secular pressures in HP's business segments," Morgan Stanley said in a note to analysts.

Wall Street analysts fear that the multiple pressures that weighed on margins -- including yen strength, competitive hardware pricing and the ongoing HP Services restructuring -- are more than "one-quarter issues," and could continue into coming quarters.

Earlier this week, Dell Inc, the world's No. 3 personal computer maker, also posted fiscal fourth-quarter earnings below analysts' expectations and forecast fiscal first-quarter revenue below estimates, stoking fears the PC industry has not fully emerged from its downturn.

"While Dell did not have a particularly good January earnings call and in our opinion left a great deal of ambiguity in terms of the forces that impacted the January quarter, we believe HP's report, by comparison, was worse," said BMO Capital Markets' analyst Keith Bachman.

Bachman cut his price target on HP's stock to $33 from $35.

Of the 34 analysts covering HP, 18 rate it at "hold," five at "sell," six at "strong buy," and five at "buy," with a mean price target of $30.40, according to Thomson Reuters' StarMine data.

Shares of HP fell to $26.85 in Thursday morning trade. The stock has lost over 40 percent of its value since its 2011 high of $49.38.

Salesforce's 4Q, outlook lifts stock 10 percent

2012-02-23T21:23:00.000-08:00

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — With each passing quarter, Salesforce.com Inc. is proving its once-unorthodox method of providing business software applications over the Internet is becoming a corporate craze.

The latest evidence came late Thursday with the release of Salesforce.com's fourth-quarter performance and initial forecast for this year. The numbers were highlighted by the kind of rapid revenue growth that investors love, lifting the already high-flying stock by nearly 10 percent. If that gain carries over into Friday's regular trading, Salesforce.com will boast a market value of about $20 billion — not bad for a company that was widely mocked when it started in 1999.

Back then, CEO Marc Benioff was among the few evangelists for the notion of selling software as a leasing service that collected a monthly fee from customers who could use applications on any device with an Internet connection. The idea represented a radical change from the more traditional — and expensive — approach of licensing and installing software on computers kept in the corporate customers' own offices.

Gradually, though, companies have become more comfortable with allowing their software needs to be stored on remote servers. The main reason: They have realized it saves money, is more convenient and makes it easier to upgrade to new technology. To adapt, older business software makers such as Oracle Corp. and SAP AG have recently been spending billions to acquire smaller rivals that specialize in selling software as a service.

The concept is becoming so popular that the geeky term used to describe it, "cloud computing," is moving into the mainstream.

Apple Inc., the trend-setting maker of the iPod, iPhone and iPod, jumped on the bandwagon last year with a service called "iCloud" that stores consumer files in its data centers. Internet search leader Google Inc. is widely expected to introduce a similar remote-storage service later this year.

Salesforce.com won more business converts during its fiscal fourth quarter — a span running from November through January.

The company, which is based in San Francisco, sustained a loss of $4.1 million, or 3 cents per share, in the period. That contrasted with earnings of $10.9 million, or 8 cents per share, at the same time last year. Dramatically higher expenses for employee stock compensation dragged down Salesforce in the latest quarter. The difference primarily stemmed from the hiring of nearly 2,500 workers during the past year.

If not for the employee stock compensation and several other accounting items, Salesforce said it would have earned 43 cents per share. That figure was 3 cents above the average estimate among analysts polled by FactSet.

More importantly to Wall Street, Salesforce's revenue growth accelerated during the quarter. The company's revenue totaled, $632 million, up 38 percent from the prior year. That was better than the 36 percent year-over-year revenue increase in the fiscal third quarter. The revenue for the most recent quarter also exceeded the average analyst projection of $624 million.

Salesforce's outlook for its current quarter ending in April calls for revenue of $673 million to $678 million. Analysts had been expecting $664 million. The company foresees adjusted earnings per share of 33 cent or 34 cents, below the average analyst forecast of 36 cents, according to FactSet.

Salesforce shares surged $12.88 to $144.65 in extended trading.

WikiLeaks suspect Manning defers plea, court-martial begins

2012-02-23T21:20:00.000-08:00

FORT MEADE, Maryland (Reuters) - U.S. Army intelligence analyst Bradley Manning, accused of the largest leak of classified documents in U.S. history, deferred a plea in a military court arraignment on Thursday, marking the first step in a court-martial that could land him in prison for life.

In Thursday's procedure, Manning, 24, was formally charged with 22 counts including aiding the enemy, wrongfully causing intelligence to be published on the Internet and theft of public property. Military prosecutors say Manning downloaded more than 700,000 classified or confidential documents and transferred thousands to WikiLeaks, which promotes leaking government and corporate information.

Manning's plea deferral allows his defense team time to strategize and see the outcome of several motions to be heard before the trial begins, which could be as late as August.

"It basically leaves their options open," said a legal expert with the Military District of Washington, the Army command unit for the capital region, who was present at the arraignment. The expert could not be named under rules imposed on media covering the proceedings.

When asked if he understood his rights to counsel, Manning, in a dark green military dress uniform and black-rimmed military glasses, spoke quickly but forcefully. "Yes, your honor," he said.

Manning's attorney, David Coombs, announced that Manning would defer his plea as well as a decision on whether to face trial by a military judge or a panel of military members, made up of senior officers or enlisted members of rank no lower than Manning's.

At the beginning of the arraignment, Manning entered from a back door and walked briskly to the front of the room. During the proceedings, he leaned forward on to a desk, occasionally conferring in whispers with Coombs.

Military prosecutors say Manning, trained on various intelligence systems, was a trusted analyst who knowingly and methodically downloaded thousands of files from the military's Secret Internet Protocol Router Network, or SIPRNet, while serving in Iraq.

They sought to link Manning to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, introducing logs of web chats that an investigator said appeared to show conversations in which the two discuss sending government documents.

Manning's lawyers have cast him as an emotionally troubled young man whose behavioral problems should have prompted superiors to revoke his access to classified information.

Manning has gained a following of supporters who see him as a whistleblower who acted on behalf of his country. At the end of the arraignment one Manning supporter, a protester with the anti-war group Code Pink, stood up and yelled out, "Judge, isn't a soldier required to report a war crime?"

(Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

Summary Box: Obama admin seeks privacy rules

2012-02-23T21:15:00.000-08:00

THE VISION: The Obama administration is calling for stronger privacy protections for consumers who use the Internet, mobile phones and other technologies.

THE DETAILS: Technology companies, consumer groups and others will now convene to jointly craft new protections. Such guidelines will initially be voluntary for companies, but those that agree to abide by them could be subject to sanctions for any violations.

THE REACTION: Consumer and privacy groups welcomed the effort, though some worried that it won't do enough. Legislation would be needed to require all companies to follow such guidelines.

Magazine publishers going for slice of e-commerce pie

2012-02-23T21:12:00.000-08:00

NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) - The line between publisher and retailer is blurring as companies partner up to try and capture more of the e-commerce pie.

Hearst and People magazine have both recently signed deals targeting online shoppers: Hearst aligned with Amazon, and People with Gilt Groupe on a sale inspired by Oscar fashions.

Pam Horan, president of the Online Publishers Association, said that at its recent Annual Summit there was much discussion of the Amazon deal and other e-commerce proposals.

"Consumers are buying more and more stuff online, so there is an opportunity for publishers to provide this comprehensive experience," Horan told TheWrap.

But some question how these partnerships will affect editorial independence. Horan said a renewed look at e-commerce is likely in 2012.

In its deal, Hearst will make in-magazine purchases much easier, providing links to Amazon in the tablet editions of many of its magazines.

People magazine, a Time Inc. title, chose to partner with the Gilt Groupe for its own brand of e-commerce. Its partnership is content only, as some of People.com's editors will curate the items available for Gilt's special Oscars sale. The clothing available is supposed to be inspired by the Oscar red carpet.

Hearst and Time are not the first companies to pursue this new revenue stream, nor will they be the last.

According to ComScore's "Mobile Future in Focus" report released Thursday, mobile devices are the new go-to gadgets for online shopping, browsing and bidding.

More than half of Americans that own smartphones used them to perform retail-related activities while in stores last year. In December, at the height of the holiday shopping period, 28.5 million mobile users accessed online retail content; that's an 87 percent increase over December of 2010.

"The rise of mobile retail has become both an on-screen and in-store phenomenon," the report said. "The retail industry, which already experienced an upheaval with the advent of online shopping, is poised for further disruption as smartphones enter brick-and-mortar stores."

That phenomenon is likely to spread to tablets as well, since the market for those devices is growing even faster than the one for smartphones did.

"In less than two years, nearly 40 million tablets were in use among mobile subscribers in the U.S., outpacing smartphones which took 7 years to achieve the same level of adoption," the study noted.

As the ComScore study notes, consumers are doing research or buying content on their phones and tablets, "Publishers are trying to reduce any kind of friction preventing consumer access to these products."

John Loughlin, general manager of Hearst Magazines, told Adweek's Lucia Moses that there's no editorial interference. Ruth Reichl, the former editor of Gourmet and now the editorial director of the Gilt Groupe's Gilt Taste, contends that there's no conflict of interest if you're vigilant about it.

"More and more you are seeing the blending of commerce and content," Reichl told TheWrap last year. "Where it becomes a conflict is if you're hedging your bets and someone comes in and offers you a lot of money to sell things. Suddenly you're selling things you really don't like."

(Editing By Zorianna Kit)

Ex-McAfee execs start security firm, CrowdStrike

2012-02-23T21:09:00.000-08:00

BOSTON (Reuters) - Two executives who left security software maker McAfee after Intel Corp bought the company last year have started a firm that is developing technology to help corporations and government agencies track down elusive hackers.

Private equity firm Warburg Pincus led the initial Series A funding in the company, dubbed CrowdStrike.

The new company's chief executive, George Kurtz, announced the formation of the company on his blog, www.georgekurtz.com.

Kurtz, the former worldwide chief technology offer of McAfee, has been working with Warburg on the project since November, when the private equity firm brought him on as a "executive in residence."

Warburg's executive in residence program is a CEO-in-waiting position in which the private equity firm helps entrepreneurs incubate ideas into companies in which it will eventually invest.

CrowdStrike's other co-founders are Dmitri Alperovitch, former vice president of threat research at McAfee, and Gregg Marston, who worked as chief financial officer of Foundstone Inc, an IT security solutions provider that Kurtz sold to McAfee.

Kurtz said in his blog that his firm is developing technology that will help clients identify who is targeting them, rather than simply identify and remove pieces of malicious software from their networks.

"The industry continues to focus on the malware ... which is akin to focusing on the gun as opposed to the shooter committing the crime," he said. "The person or organization pulling the trigger (or deploying the malware) is the one that you ultimately need to focus on."

Alperovitch told Reuters that the company hopes to release its first products in late 2012.

(Reporting By Jim Finkle; Editing by Gary Hill)

Obama administration seeks online privacy rules

2012-02-23T21:05:00.000-08:00

NEW YORK (AP) — The Obama administration is calling for stronger privacy protections for consumers as mobile gadgets, Internet services and other tools are able to do a better job of tracking what you do and where you go.

Consumer and privacy groups welcomed the effort, though some worried that it won't do enough.

Administration officials outlined a proposed "Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights" on Thursday and urged technology companies, consumer groups and others to jointly craft new protections. Such guidelines will initially be voluntary for companies, but those that agree to abide by them could be subject to sanctions for any violations.

"As the Internet evolves, consumer trust is essential for the continued growth of the digital economy," President Barack Obama said in a statement. "That's why an online privacy Bill of Rights is so important. For businesses to succeed online, consumers must feel secure."

The effort comes as companies have found more sophisticated ways to collect and combine data on your interests and habits. Beginning next week, for instance, Google will start merging data it collects from email, video, social-networking and other services when you're signed in with a Google account.

The growing use of smartphones and tablet computers adds another dimension to the tracking. Location information can give service providers such as Facebook insights into where you spend your time and, if you have friends who use the same services, whom you tend to hang out with in person.

Data collection can help companies improve and personalize services. It can also help advertisers fine-tune messages and reach the people most likely to buy their products and services, often without consumers even realizing it.

That is why the administration is seeking more data protections for consumers in a report issued Thursday.

How strong the protections will be ultimately depends on what rules the different parties involved can agree on. Because legislation to enable traditional regulation would take time, the administration favored an approach that combined input from private companies, advocacy groups, regulators and other parties.

Consumer Watchdog, a nonprofit research and advocacy group in California, said the approach will work only if influential companies don't water down the rules to render them meaningless.

"I am skeptical about the 'multi-stakeholder process,' but am willing to make a good-faith effort to try," said John M. Simpson, the group's privacy project director. He's referring to the various parties with competing interests tasked with making the rules.

Last week, the Federal Trade Commission complained that software companies producing games and other mobile applications aren't telling parents what personal information is being collected from kids and how companies are using it. Depending on how the guidelines are crafted, companies could be required to more prominently disclose when they collect such things as location, call logs and lists of friends — not just from kids, but everyone.

The report is not intended to replace other efforts at offering privacy protections.

Apple, Google, Microsoft and other leading companies in mobile computing agreed Wednesday to require that mobile applications seeking to collect personal information warn users before their services are installed. The guidelines came as part of an agreement with California's attorney general.

Separately, the FTC has recommended the creation of a "Do Not Track" tool to let consumers curb advertisers from studying their online activity to target ads. On Thursday, an alliance representing Google, Yahoo, AOL and other leading ad-delivery companies committed to adopting the Do Not Track technology when it is built into Web browsers, something expected this year. The FTC could punish violators.

Commerce Secretary John Bryson said in a briefing with reporters that the administration's proposal not only protects consumers but also gives businesses better guidance on how to meet consumer expectations.

The proposal expands on widely accepted Fair Information Practice Principles crafted in the 1970s, when the Internet was just an experimental network used primarily by researchers. Those existing guidelines say that consumers should be informed about any data collection and given the option to refuse. They should also be allowed to review and correct data about themselves. The principles have provisions for security and enforcement.

Applying the principles to the Internet era, the administration said data collected in one context should not be used for another, while companies should specify any plans for deleting data or sharing information with outside parties, such as advertisers. Companies also need to be mindful of the age and sophistication of consumers. Disclosures need to be presented when and where they are most useful for consumers.

The idea isn't to give people access to everything a company collects about them, but they should at least be able to review and correct any information that is used to make decisions.

The Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration plans to convene companies, privacy advocates, regulators and other parties in the coming months to craft detailed guidelines that reflect those principles. Enforcement will be left to the FTC under existing laws.

The codes of conduct will be specific to particular types of companies. One might cover social networks, for instance, while another might deal with services on mobile gadgets. A company that offers social-networking features on phones might adopt both. New ones could emerge as technology evolves.

Although officials expect many companies will agree to the new codes, allowing them to use that commitment in marketing materials, the report also called on Congress to pass new laws to require remaining companies to adopt such guidelines. Until then, enforcement will be limited to companies that say they would abide by the codes but fail to do so.

The Center for Democracy and Technology, a Washington group that advocates stronger privacy protections, welcomed the voluntary codes as an interim measure, but said legislation ultimately will be needed to fully protect consumers.

Legislation also will be needed for the FTC to give protections to businesses that follow a checklist of good practices. Known as safe harbor, such protections would exempt companies from sanctions if they inadvertently break a code.

The report comes 14 months after the Commerce Department first proposed a privacy bill of rights. The issue was later elevated to the White House and won its endorsement with the release of Thursday's report.

The administration dropped a proposal in the original report to create a federal privacy office within the Commerce Department. Instead, the task of convening parties to craft guidelines is left to the existing National Telecommunications and Information Administration.

___

Online:

http://1.usa.gov/zp645t

White House unveils 'one click' online privacy plan

2012-02-23T21:01:00.000-08:00

The White House unveiled an online privacy proposal Thursday intended to allow Web users to easily opt out of being tracked on the Internet.

The "Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights" has received the backing of leading Internet companies and online advertising networks and would involve a simple "one click" setting on a Web browser, the White House said.

"American consumers can't wait any longer for clear rules of the road that ensure their personal information is safe online," President Barack Obama said in a statement.

"As the Internet evolves, consumer trust is essential for the continued growth of the digital economy.

"That's why an online privacy Bill of Rights is so important," Obama said. "For businesses to succeed online, consumers must feel secure.

"By following this blueprint, companies, consumer advocates and policymakers can help protect consumers and ensure the Internet remains a platform for innovation and economic growth," he said.

The White House said Internet firms and ad networks were committing to incorporate "Do Not Track" technology in most major Web browsers to make it easier for users to control online tracking.

"Companies that represent the delivery of nearly 90 percent of online behavioral advertisements, including Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft, and AOL have agreed to comply when consumers choose to control online tracking," it said.

The Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights comes on the heels of a number of privacy controversies involving some of the biggest actors on the Web, including Facebook and Google.

It has received the backing of the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA), a consortium of Internet, media and marketing trade associations and companies.

"Consumers will have a simple and clear mechanism in their browser to exercise choice," DAA counsel Stuart Ingis said.

"If a consumer elects not to have data collected on them under the principles laid out then that will be honored uniformally across all companies."

Ingis said the DAA will work with browser providers "to develop consistent language across browsers regarding this technology to make choice simple and clear."

White House deputy chief technology officer Daniel Weitzner said the "Do Not Track" option would be a "very easy, one click" setting on a Web browser.

Federal Trade Commission chairman Jon Leibowitz said companies that make a commitment to "Do Not Track" would be subject to Federal Trade Commission enforcement.

"It's great to see that companies are stepping up to our challenge to protect privacy so consumers have greater choice and control over how they are tracked online," Leibowitz said.

"The fact that they're going to honor the Web browser's choice of what we call a 'Do Not Track' header is simply going to give consumers more privacy options and that is critically important," he said.

The White House said the Commerce Department will begin holding talks with companies, privacy and consumer advocates, academics and others to develop privacy policies and practices based on the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights.

"We will be working with Congress to implement this through legislation," Commerce Secretary John Bryson said. "But we're moving forward regardless."

The Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights calls for giving consumers control over what personal data organizations collect from them and how they use it, clear privacy practices and secure and responsible handling of their data.

Consumers should also have a right to access and correct personal data and be able to expect that any information they provide will be used in ways that are consistent with the context in which they provided the data.

A look at how some IPO stocks have fared

2012-02-23T20:56:00.000-08:00

Facebook has filed paperwork for an initial public offering of stock. Its public debut will be the most anticipated tech IPO since Google went public in August 2004.

Below is a look at how the stocks of some recently public companies are faring. The companies are all loosely Internet-related, though their businesses vary widely.

— Zynga Inc., developer of online games, first day of trading on Dec. 16, 2011

Pricing: $10 per share

First-day close: $9.50, down 5 percent from IPO price

Thursday's close: $12.81, up 28 percent from IPO price

Trading range since IPO: $7.97 to $14.55

— Jive Software Inc., creator of tools to run social networks for businesses, first day of trading on Dec. 13

Pricing: $12 per share

First-day close: $15.05, up 25 percent from IPO price

Thursday's close: $20.37, up 70 percent from IPO price

Trading range since IPO: $14.18 to $21.09

— Angie's List Inc., consumer-reviews site, first day of trading on Nov. 17

Pricing: $13 per share

First-day close: $16.26, up 25 percent from IPO price

Thursday's close: $15.47, up 19 percent from IPO price

Trading range since IPO: $10.77 to $18.75

— Groupon Inc., online deals company, first day of trading on Nov. 4

Pricing: $20 per share

First-day close: $26.11, up 31 percent from IPO price

Thursday's close: $19.39, down 3 percent from IPO price.

Trading range since IPO: $14.85 to $31.14

— Pandora Media Inc., Internet radio company, first day of trading on June 15

Pricing: $16 per share

First-day close: $17.42, up 9 percent from IPO price

Thursday's close: $13.02, down 19 percent from IPO price

Trading range since IPO: $9.15 to $26

— LinkedIn Corp., online professional network, first day of trading on May 19

Pricing: $45 per share

First-day close: $94.25, more than double IPO price

Thursday's close: $91.46, more than double IPO price

Trading range since IPO: $55.98 to $122.70

— Demand Media Inc., online content publisher, first day of trading on Jan. 26, 2011

Pricing: $17 per share

First-day close: $22.65, up 33 percent

Thursday's close: $6.95, down 59 percent from IPO price

Trading range since IPO: $5.24 to $27.38

White House privacy push seeks cooperation

2012-02-23T20:53:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House proposed on Thursday a "privacy bill of rights" that would give consumers more control over their data but relies heavily for now on voluntary commitments by Internet companies like Google Inc and Facebook.

The plan comes amid growing consumer concern about their lack of control over the collection and trade in vast amounts of detailed information about their online activities and real-life identities.

As part of the announcement, an online advertising coalition associated with Google Inc, Yahoo Inc and Microsoft Corp said its members agreed to placing "Do Not Track" technology in Web browsers, something the Federal Trade Commission has been advocating since 2010.

But privacy advocates said that commitment was of limited scope and consumers should avoid thinking their Internet activity would be totally shielded.

Various federal agencies, including the FTC and Department of Commerce, have recommended similar privacy rights in the past, but broad legislation has failed to get traction. Privacy laws have been narrowly tailored toward protecting children, or categories of data such as credit reports and health records.

Legislators and privacy advocates said they hoped the White House call for talks with Internet companies, consumer groups and other stakeholders would lead to voluntary adoption of strong protections, which would undercut industry lobbying against legislation in a divided Congress.

"The hope would be that this is a measure that you get all the large advertisers to agree to. Then it gets to be in their interest to get it enforced on the others through legislation," said Christopher Calabrese, lobbyist for the American Civil Liberties Union.

A leading Republican on the issue in the GOP-controlled House, Representative Mary Bono Mack, gave tepid support, saying she would work with the administration but that "any rush-to-judgment could have a chilling effect on our economy and potentially damage, if not cripple, online innovation."

The White House proposed seven basic protections that consumers should expect from companies.

Consumers should have control over the kind of data companies collect, companies must be transparent about data usage plans and respect the context in which it is provided and disclosed. Companies would have to ensure secure and responsible handling of the data and be accountable for strong privacy measures.

The bill of rights also calls for reasonable limits on the personal data that online companies can try to collect and retain, and the ability for consumers to correct their information.

TARGETED AD PROTECTION

The White House said an existing industry-backed system for giving consumers the ability to avoid targeted online ads, that companies can charge more for, had been strengthened.

Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Mozilla's Firefox already allow consumers to indicate that they do not want to be tracked as they surf the Web, but advertisers can ignore those requests. Google said on Thursday that it would add a "Do not track" button to its Chrome browser.

The Digital Advertising Alliance, a self-regulatory body representing media and marketing trade associations said its members would honor consumer requests and it would work with browser companies to give consumers preference tools.

Stu Ingis, the group's general counsel, said he expected within nine months for browsers to include a simple, clear mechanism for consumers to opt-out of data collection.

That opt-out would not end tracking, privacy advocates said.

"It's a bogus sham," said John M. Simpson, privacy director at Consumer Watchdog. "All it does is that advertisers stop serving you targeted ads, but they continue to track. It doesn't go far enough."

Consumers might still receive ads aimed at small groups of people, said Fred Cate, an Indiana University professor and former FTC adviser. And companies would be free to use what they know about individuals for market research and to tailor their products.

Obama's announcement comes as he hones his strategy for winning re-election in November.

"American consumers can't wait any longer for clear rules of the road that ensure their personal information is safe online," President Barack Obama said in a statement.

"As the Internet evolves, consumer trust is essential for the continued growth of the digital economy. That's why an online privacy Bill of Rights is so important."

WORKING WITH INDUSTRY

The Commerce Department now will work with companies and privacy advocates to develop "enforceable" privacy policies based on the bill of rights, said the White House.

FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said a failure to meet privacy commitments, once adopted, could be a deceptive act or practice, warranting FTC fines or other action.

Internet companies have tried to get ahead of reforms by adopting privacy policies, but have still come under fire from Congress and consumer groups.

In the latest flare-up, a group of 36 state attorneys general sent a letter to Google on Wednesday with concerns about the search giant's plans to begin sharing users' personal information across Google products on March 1 without giving consumers an opt-in option.

"It rings hollow to call their ability to exit the Google products ecosystem a 'choice' in an Internet economy where the clear majority of all Internet users use - and frequently rely on - at least one Google product on a regular basis," the National Association of Attorneys General said in the letter.

Google said it viewed targeted ads and other Internet features that allow users to personalize their Web experience as a good thing. But consumers need choice through product controls that are easy to use, the company's senior vice president of advertising Susan Wojcicki said in a blog post.

Facebook's chief privacy officer-policy, Erin Egan, said the social networking site looked forward to helping develop enforceable codes of conduct that would balance "the public's demand for new ways to interact and share."

Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, called Obama's privacy rights statement "the clearest articulation of the right to privacy by a U.S. president in history.

"But there are real concerns about implementation and enforcement," he added.

(Reporting By Jasmin Melvin in Washington D.C. and Joseph Menn in San Francisco.; Additional reporting by Diane Bartz and Gerry Shih; Editing by Michael Perry and Tim Dobbyn)

What earnings reports have revealed about ads

2012-02-23T20:48:00.000-08:00

Here are highlights of recent quarterly earnings reports from selected Internet and media companies and what they say about the state of spending on advertising:

Jan. 19: Google Inc.'s fourth-quarter earnings report shows that the Internet search leader fetched less money per click on its ubiquitous online ads. That came as an unsettling surprise because investors had assumed a surge in online holiday shopping in the U.S. would enable Google Inc. to charge more for its ads. Instead, the average price decreased by 8 percent from the same time in 2010.

Microsoft Corp. reduces losses in its online services division, which includes the ad-supported Bing search engine. It lost $458 million in the latest quarter, down 18 percent from a loss of $559 million a year earlier. Revenue grew 10 percent to $784 million.

Jan. 24: Yahoo Inc. says that after subtracting advertising commissions, revenue totaled $1.17 billion. That was $20 million below analyst projections. It's the 13th straight quarter that Yahoo's net revenue has declined from the prior year. Yahoo predicted its net revenue in the first quarter will range from $1.02 billion to $1.1 billion. The mid-point of that target works out to $1.06 billion, unchanged from last year's first quarter.

Meredith Corp., which owns women's magazines such as Better Homes and Gardens and local television stations, says quarterly net income and revenue fell in late 2011 because of weaker political advertising.

Jan. 26: Time Warner Cable Inc. says advertising revenue fell 10 percent to $242 million in the latest quarter, primarily because of decreases in political advertising.

Jan. 30: Gannett Co. says revenue in its publishing division fell 5 percent in the latest quarter. The company attributed that to lower advertising amid the economic softness in the U.S. and the U.K. Broadcasting revenue fell 14 percent, mainly from sharply lower political advertising than a year earlier.

Feb. 1: AOL Inc. says its ad revenue rose 10 percent in the latest quarter, its third straight quarter of year-over-year growth. A Web pioneer in the '90s, the Internet company has been shifting its focus to content and advertising as demand for its dial-up Internet access service shrinks.

IAC/InterActiveCorp says search revenue rose 35 percent in the latest quarter. Search accounts for more than half of IAC's revenue and includes money from ads at Ask.com and other sites.

Feb. 2: Viacom Inc. says advertising at its TV networks declined 3 percent.

The New York Times Co. says companywide advertising revenue declined 7 percent. At the company's news business, digital ad revenue grew 5 percent, partly offsetting an 8 percent drop in print ad revenue. That drop was smaller than what the company saw in the third quarter, but larger than the first half of 2011.

Feb. 7: Walt Disney Co. says advertising revenue at ESPN and broadcast network ABC was flat.

McClatchy Co. says advertising revenue declined nearly 6 percent from a year ago, an improvement from a drop of about 10 percent during the first nine months of the year. However, ad revenue in January was down about 8 percent from the same month in 2011.

Feb. 8: Time Warner Inc. says ad revenue at its cable TV channels grew 2 percent, held back by an NBA lockout, which delayed the start of the pro basketball season. Although the company says fan enthusiasm has returned in the current quarter, some advertisers have already shifted their money elsewhere.

News Corp. says growth in its television business resulted partly from stronger ad revenue at the Fox television network, though that was offset partly by declines in political ad revenue at company-owned local TV stations.

TV-station owner Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. reports lower earnings because of a sharp drop in political ad spending in a non-election year. Automotive ad spending jumped 12 percent for the quarter, while grocery and medical ad spending also increased. The biggest drops came in services, media, telecommunications and home products.

Feb. 14: Marketing and corporate communications company Omnicom Group Inc. says revenue rose 7 percent to $3.85 billion in the latest quarter. U.S. revenue rose 5 percent, while international revenue grew 10 percent.

Feb. 15: Comcast Corp. says advertising revenue at its cable networks, including CNBC and Bravo, grew 2 percent, weighed down by fewer advertising days on the calendar and fewer NBC games because of a lockout. Comcast also saw declines in political advertising at NBC-owned local stations.

CBS Corp. says advertising revenue fell 4 percent in the quarter in part because of declines in political advertising at local stations.

Feb. 16: Discovery Communications Inc., which owns cable channels such as Animal Planet and TLC, says advertising revenue in the U.S. grew 13 percent in the quarter. Internationally, it grew 18 percent.

Tuesday: Outdoor advertising company Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings Inc. says revenue in the Americas dropped 1 percent from a year ago to $359 million. Demand was lower for mall displays, posters and other products as retailers kept a lid on their marketing budgets. International revenue rose 6 percent to $457 million on higher demand in China, Sweden, and Australia.

Coming up:

Friday: The Washington Post Co., Interpublic Group of Cos.

March 1: WPP Group PLC

Finally, the Creator of @Horse_ebooks Has Been Unmasked

2012-02-23T20:43:00.000-08:00

Though it's certainly a small subset of the Internet, the roughly 43,000 folks who follow @horse_ebooks are probably pretty interested to know that the creator of their much-loved Twitter spambot has at long last been outed by Adrien Chen at Gawker.

RELATED: What Mattered This Year, According to the Internet

Chen published a 2,172-word post detailing how he came to discover Alexey Kouznetsov, the Russian genius behind the much-riddled over meme, that had follower wondering who was behind the spambot, or even if it was instead some very clever Dadaist art project.

RELATED: In Search of @Horse_ebooks

Chen claims to have ID'd Kouznetsov at the @horse_ebooks mastermind through another Website he hosted, after about a month of Internet sleuthing. And although he wouldn't respond to Chen's several interview requests (we suggest he reconsider!), Chen was able to profile Kouznetsov based on his Internet presence:

Alexey Kouznetsov a 30-something Russian web developer. He looks not unlike a scrawnier Mark Zuckerberg. (He spells his name Alexey on his own sites, so I will too.) Kuznetsov been designing websites since at least 2002, and on his portfolio site, he markets himself with this modest tagline: "If… you want your pages to be more impressive and dynamic than before, contact the author of this site to order elaboration, introduction and development of new graphic effects on your pages."
...
Alexey likes snowboarding and God. He graduated from Tula State University's intriguingly-named "cybernetics" department, which is, as far as I can tell, Russian for computer science. His web design and ebooks pursuits have provided him with enough income to travel widely throughout Europe, judging by numerous vacation albums.

Kouznetsov sounds more or less like your average Internet nerd. In any case, we just appreciate Chen's longform dive into this particular rabbit hole.

RELATED: How One Retweet from a New York Times Reporter Launched a Hall & Oates Meme

Read his entire piece here.

Taiwan's Foxconn raises wages for Chinese workers

2012-02-23T20:40:00.000-08:00

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan's Foxconn Technology Group said Saturday that it has raised wages by up to 25 percent in the second major salary hike in less than two years, as the world's largest electronics contract manufacturer comes under intensive scrutiny after a spate of suicides.

Foxconn employs about 1 million workers at its massive plants in China that are run with military-like discipline. The workers assemble iPhones and iPads for Apple Inc., Xbox video game consoles for Microsoft Corp. and computers for Dell and Hewlett-Packard.

Chinese workers at Foxconn now receive between 1,800-2,500 yuan ($285-$400) per month following the raises that became effective Feb. 1, the company said.

Foxconn is also taking measures to limit workers' total work hours, and the raises come as a compensation for their reduced overtime, company spokesman Simon Hsing said in a statement.

The announcement came as the U.S. Fair Labor Association is inspecting Apple's Chinese suppliers for their labor practices.

Foxconn said it is cooperating with the U.S. inspectors, pledging again to provide workers "a safe and fair work environment."

In 2010, a spate of worker suicides at an enormous Foxconn complex in the southern boomtown of Shenzhen drew attention to the stress many young workers faced working in some factories.

The company denied allegations that it ran excessively fast assembly lines and demanded too much overtime, but it soon announced two pay hikes that more than doubled basic worker salaries to up to 2,000 yuan per month.

Last month, dozens of workers assembling video game consoles climbed to a Foxconn factory dormitory roof in the central Chinese city of Wuhan and some threatened to jump to their deaths amid a dispute over job transfers that was later defused.

How the video games industry is faring

2012-02-23T20:35:00.000-08:00

A look at results from selected companies in the video games business:

Jan. 9: GameStop Corp., the world's largest video game retailer, reports nearly flat sales for a nine-week holiday period that ended on Dec. 31. Sales of game software rose but sales of game consoles and other hardware slid. The company backed its fourth-quarter and full-year earnings guidance.

Jan. 19: Microsoft Corp. says revenue from Xbox 360 products and services grew 9 percent to $322 million, led by increases in consoles sold and higher revenue from the Xbox Live service. That was partly offset by reductions in sales of stand-alone Kinect sensors. Microsoft says it shipped 8.2 million Xbox 360 consoles during the latest quarter, up from 6.3 million a year earlier.

Jan. 26: Nintendo Co. reports a loss during the last nine months of 2011 (it didn't break out quarterly figures). Factors included a price cut for its 3DS handheld, a strong yen that erodes overseas earnings and competition from mobile devices such as the iPhone, which offer games-on-the-go. Nintendo lowers its forecast for 3DS unit sales, despite a price cut in August. It says it will have Wii U, the successor to the Wii, ready in time for the year-end holiday season. No prices were announced.

Jan. 27: Nintendo vows the company will be better prepared when it introduces the Wii U during the 2012 year-end shopping season. Without giving specifics, the company says the Wii U will come with a strong game lineup at the launch as well as secure and safe Internet services that will offer players individual accounts. The 3DS has lacked a strong lineup of attractive software games.

Feb. 1: Video game publisher Electronic Arts Inc. says it cut its losses in the final three months of 2011 without restructuring costs that brought down earnings a year earlier. The company says the holiday quarter was strong, led by game titles such as "Battlefield 3" and "Star Wars: The Old Republic."

Feb. 2: Sony Corp. says sales in the consumer products and services unit, which includes video games, fell 24 percent. It reports a loss for the unit in the latest quarter, compared with a profit in the same period of 2010. Sony partly blames lower revenue from PlayStation 3 because of a price cut and higher marketing costs for its networked gaming platforms.

Video game publisher Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. says its net income dropped by 65 percent as the NBA lockout affected sales of the company's new "NBA 2K12" game. Take-Two also cut its outlook for the fiscal year because it's delaying the release of its "Max Payne 3" game.

THQ Inc. says "Saints Row: The Third" and "WWE 12" performed at or better than the company expected. But the company saw weakness in its uDraw Game Tablet, related software and other kids, family and casual titles. THQ has said it will stop developing traditional licensed video games for kids and will stop making the uDraw hardware. The stock fell sharply after the results came out.

Feb. 7: The Walt Disney Co. says interactive media revenue declined as the company moved away from expensive console games and focused on cheaper-to-make social games.

Feb. 8: Time Warner Inc. gives partial credit to its video games slate for a strong quarter. "Batman: Arkham City" came out during the quarter.

Feb. 9: Video game publisher Activision Blizzard Inc. reports a fourth-quarter profit, reversing a loss from a year earlier. Activision beat Wall Street's expectations thanks to blockbuster sales of its latest "Call of Duty" game and strong demand for other titles. Activision says its kids' game "Skylanders Spyro's Adventure" is "on track to become an important and sustainable franchise."

Market researcher NPD Group says U.S. retail sales of video game hardware, software and accessories fell 34 percent in January from a year earlier to $751 million because of the lack of new game titles. NPD analyst Liam Callahan says the dearth of new games likely resulted in fewer people going to stores and buying other recent releases on impulse.

Coming up:

Unknown: GameStop Corp. (quarterly earnings).

How consumer-electronics makers are faring

2012-02-23T20:30:00.000-08:00

A look at how selected makers of phones and other consumer-electronic gadgets are faring:

Jan. 19: Microsoft Corp. says it shipped 8.2 million Xbox 360 video game consoles in the latest quarter, compared with 6.3 million a year earlier.

Jan. 24: Apple Inc. says it sold 37 million iPhones in the latest quarter, double the figure of the previous quarter and more than twice as many as it sold in the holiday quarter of 2010. The iPhone 4S launched during the quarter, and Sprint Nextel Corp. joined as an iPhone carrier in the U.S. Apple shipped 15.4 million iPads in the quarter, again more than doubling sales from a year earlier. Apple sold 5.2 million Macs during the quarter, up 26 percent from a year earlier. The company sold 21 percent fewer iPods, at 15.4 million.

Jan. 26: Nokia Corp. says it sold 19.6 million smartphones in the quarter, down from 28 million a year earlier. That includes more than 1 million Lumia devices running Microsoft's Windows software. The Lumia 800 and Lumia 710 hit stores in Europe and Asia in November, while T-Mobile started offering the 710 in the U.S. in January.

Nintendo Co. says worldwide sales of the 3DS handheld totaled 11.43 million in the last nine months of 2011. The company is now forecasting sales of 14 million machines for the fiscal year through March 2012, down from an earlier 16 million, despite an August price cut. Nintendo sold 9 million Wii machines during the nine-month period. It is now expecting to sell 10 million Wii machines in the year ending March, down from an initial estimate of 13 million, which was revised lower to 12 million in July. The company did not provide quarterly breakdowns.

Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. says it shipped 10.5 million mobile devices in the quarter, including 5.3 million smartphones and 200,000 tablet computers. A year earlier, the company shipped 11.3 million devices, including 4.9 million smartphones.

Jan. 27: Samsung Electronics Co., maker of the Galaxy line of phones and tablet computers, doesn't disclose the number of smartphones it sells, but it says shipments rose by about 30 percent in the latest quarter, compared with the third quarter. No comparison to the previous year was given.

Feb. 2: Sony Corp. says it sold 6.5 million PlayStation 3 units, on par with the 6.3 million in the 2010 holiday quarter. Sales of the PlayStation Portable declined to 2.4 million, from 3.6 million a year earlier.

Feb. 6: HTC Corp. says several newly introduced 4G and other high-end smartphones disappointed as competition grew more intense from Apple and Samsung. It predicts its revenue will drop further in the current quarter, but will return to normal after that with the introduction of several new models. HTC doesn't disclose the number of devices it sold, citing competitive reasons.

Feb. 9: Lenovo Group Ltd. says it shipped 14 million PCs, up from 10.2 million a year earlier.

Wednesday: Garmin Ltd. says it sold 6.1 million devices during the quarter, roughly the same as the year before. Higher volumes in outdoor, fitness and marine devices helped offset declines in auto navigation devices.

Coming up:

March 29: Research in Motion Ltd.

Timeline: Key moments in HP's past

2012-02-23T20:26:00.000-08:00

Here's a timeline of some key events in Hewlett-Packard Co.'s recent history:

— Sept. 3, 2001: HP announces it is buying fellow computer maker Compaq Computer in a deal that would create a formidable rival to IBM.

— May 3, 2002: HP and Compaq combine businesses following a contentious road to the acquisition, which was opposed by former director Walter Hewlett, the son of HP co-founder William Hewlett. The final acquisition price was $19 billion. HP added the letter Q to its ticker symbol to create "HPQ."

— Feb. 9, 2005: CEO Carly Fiorina steps down amid upheaval about the company's performance following her contested decision to buy Compaq.

— March 29, 2005: Mark Hurd named as new CEO. Starts job in April.

— May 1: IBM sells its personal computer division to Chinese computer maker Lenovo Group for $1.75 billion. IBM now focuses on consulting and software, outsourcing much of its manufacturing.

— July 19: HP announces plans to cut 14,500 jobs, Hurd's first big act as CEO.

— Sept. 22, 2006: HP Chairwoman Patricia Dunn is forced from the board over a disastrous investigation into boardroom leaks to the media that included spying on reporters' and directors' phone records.

— Aug. 26, 2008: HP buys Electronic Data Systems, which sells technology services, for $13.9 billion.

— Nov. 11, 2009: HP agrees to buy networking software and equipment maker 3Com Corp. in a $2.7 billion deal.

— April 28, 2010: HP agrees to buy struggling smartphone maker Palm Inc. for nearly $1 billion in cash. It says Palm's webOS operating system will help boost its participation in the mobile market.

— Aug. 6: Hurd resigns as CEO after investigation into a sexual harassment claim finds expense reports that were allegedly falsified to conceal a relationship with an HP marketing contractor.

— Sept. 30: HP names Leo Apotheker CEO. Apotheker was the chief of German business software maker SAP AG, which did not renew his contract after financial performance faltered. HP names Ray Lane, another CEO candidate, non-executive chairman. Lane is a partner at Kleiner, Perkins Caufield & Byers, a renowned venture capital firm.

— Dec. 20: The Securities and Exchange Commission launches investigation into the circumstances of Hurd's forced resignation, which triggered a $9 billion drop in HP's market value. The Wall Street Journal reports the SEC is looking into Hurd's expense reports and his accuser's claim that he told her about the EDS acquisition in advance, among other things.

— Jan. 14, 2011: HP says in a filing in a federal court in San Jose, Calif., that it will investigate the circumstances of Hurd's departure and his severance package, in response to a shareholder's demands.

— Jan. 20: HP shakes up board, replacing four of its members.

— May 3: Leaked memo from Apotheker shows the CEO warning of "another tough quarter" for the company, sending HP's shares sharply lower. The memo says management needs to "watch every penny and minimize all hiring."

— Aug. 18: HP announces it will discontinue its tablet computer and smartphone products and may sell or spin off its PC division.

— Sept. 23: HP fires Apotheker after just 11 months and replaces him with billionaire businesswoman and political aspirant Meg Whitman, who accelerates an internal review on the fate of the PC division.

— Oct. 27: HP says it will keep the PC division after all, saying that keeping it is right for the company, its customers, shareholders and business partners.

— Dec. 9: HP says that instead of selling its webOS mobile system or killing it off, it's making it available as open-source software that anyone can use and modify freely. HP says it still plans to develop and support webOS. In offering it to the open-source community, the company is hoping more mobile apps will be developed under webOS.

— Wednesday: Whitman urges investors to be patient and talks of a "multiyear journey" for a turnaround. She says she has a good sense of what the company needs to do, but it will take time to fix HP's internal operations and make investments to grow in areas such as security services, information management and Internet-based systems known as cloud computing.

— Thursday: Investors respond by sending HP's stock down 6.5 percent. Richard Gardner, an analyst at Citi Investment Research, describes HP's road to recovery as "not a journey for the faint of heart."

Facebook Limits Apps that Can ‘Listen’ [VIDEO]

2012-02-23T20:21:00.000-08:00

One new Facebook music app is not allowed to use the word "listen" and the creator isn't happy. Colin Costello, the disgruntled app creator of MusicsTalk.com, was told his app should use "play" to be an approved Facebook app.

[More from Mashable: 38 Million Americans Visit Social Networks on Mobile Devices ‘Near Daily’ [STUDY]]

Facebook music app developers who list "play" instead of "listen" have a better chance of getting their app onto the social media site.

To use "listen" in an app, Facebook says the developer must have a relationship with the rights owners, All Facebook was told in an email. Using the word "play," requires no rights relationship between rights owner and app developer.

[More from Mashable: Film Startup Prescreen Adds Facebook Integration]

Facebook, it seems, is only allowing major partners to use the word "listen." Some music apps, such as Rdio and Spotify — Facebook's most popular music listening apps — can use the word.

Facebook's Listen With app, which lets users DJ a playlist for friends, is also approved to "listen."

"I wonder how many (other) actions are being reserved for their partners... If it’s a rights issue then why are developers allowed to use “play” without them checking to see if the appropriate relationships are in place with the rights owners? You’d think if the developer didn’t have the correct rights in place, Facebook would reject their action whether it was “listen,” “play” or “whatever," Costello told All Facebook.

Watch the video to learn more about Facebook's app and "listen" policy. Do you think its current policy is fair? Tell us what you think in the comments below.

This story originally published on Mashable here.

A look at tech companies with IPOs this year

2012-02-23T20:16:00.000-08:00

Here's a look at how some companies that had initial public offerings of stock this year are faring. The companies are all loosely Internet-related, though their businesses vary widely.

Feb. 7: Jive Software Inc., which makes Facebook-style social networks for businesses, reports a wider fourth-quarter net loss, weighed by higher expenses even as its revenue grew sharply. Excluding one-time items, Jive reports a loss of 28 cents per share in the latest quarter, surpassing Wall Street's expectations. Jive's first day of trading was on Dec. 13.

Feb. 8: Groupon Inc., reporting for the first time since public trading of its stock began Nov. 4, says its fourth-quarter revenue nearly tripled, but it lost money and its shares fell sharply after hours. Groupon says an unusually high international tax rate hurt the quarter's adjusted results.

Feb. 9: LinkedIn Corp., which began trading publicly on May 19, had a strong fourth quarter, as its income and revenue beat Wall Street's expectations. The online professional-networking service added 14 million members during the quarter, and the results provide further evidence of online networking's popularity and moneymaking potential.

Feb. 14: Online game maker Zynga Inc. reports a net loss in the last three months of 2011, weighed by hefty stock-compensation expenses and other costs. Its adjusted earnings and revenue skidded past Wall Street's expectations, but that wasn't enough to lift the stock of the company. Zynga's first day of trading was on Dec. 16.

Car-sharing service Zipcar Inc. says it posted a $3.9 million fourth-quarter profit, reversing a loss in the same quarter last year. But the company warned that it expects to post a loss and lower-than-expected revenue for the current quarter. Zipcar shares fell. Zipcar began trading publicly on April 14.

Feb. 16: Demand Media Inc., which began trading publicly on Jan. 26, 2011, reports fourth-quarter earnings and outlook for this year that gave investors hope that it is starting to recover from diminished traffic that had stemmed from changes to Google's Internet search formula. The stock jumps 31 percent on the next trading day.

Wednesday: Angie's List Inc., which began trading publicly on Nov. 17, reports a smaller loss in the fourth quarter as its membership and revenue grew.

Coming up:

March 6: Pandora Media Inc. (first day of trading was on June 15)

Summary Box: Deutsche Telekom reports Q4 loss

2012-02-23T20:13:00.000-08:00

THE RESULTS: Telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom reports a loss of €1.34 billion ($1.77 billion) in the fourth quarter. That's more than double the losses from a year ago.

THE CULPRIT: Writeoffs for the fallen value of its U.S. and Greek businesses. Those writedowns more than wiped out a cash payment from AT&T because its deal to buy T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom fell through.

IN THE U.S.: The U.S. business lost 800,000 customers in the fourth quarter and suffered from the launch of the new Apple iPhone model by three major national competitors in October.

Summary Box: Tough times for HP ahead

2012-02-23T20:10:00.000-08:00

PATIENCE: Hewlett-Packard Co. plans to spend years turning itself around as it addresses internal problems and battles broader threats from smartphones and tablet computers.

REWARDS: Investors willing to wait could see a payoff. HP's market value is half of what it was about a year ago, and HP could start to improve in the second half of 2012.

TOUGH TIMES: It won't be easy. Richard Gardner, an analyst at Citi Investment Research, described HP's road to recovery as "not a journey for the faint of heart."

Serious Facebook hack lands UK student in prison

2012-02-23T20:06:00.000-08:00

LONDON (AP) — A British student who stole sensitive information from Facebook's internal network was sentenced to eight months in prison Friday in what prosecutors described as the most serious case of social media hacking ever brought before the country's courts.

Prosecutor Sandip Patel said that Glenn Mangham, 26, had hacked into the social networking giant's computers from his bedroom in the northern England city of York and stole what was described as "invaluable" intellectual property.

"He acted with determination, undoubted ingenuity and it was sophisticated, it was calculating," Patel told London's Southwark Crown Court ahead of sentencing Friday. He added later: "This represents the most extensive and grave incident of social media hacking to be brought before the British courts."

London Chief Prosecutor Alison Saunders echoed Patel's description, saying in a statement that Mangham's actions were "extensive and flagrant." It was not immediately clear exactly what he stole, although Saunders said that no personal user data had been compromised.

Scotland Yard said in a statement that the breach had occurred "over a short period of time" in April of last year. The court was told that Mangham had obtained the information after hacking into the account of a Facebook employee while the staff member was on vacation.

The police statement said that Facebook Inc. discovered the breach in May and alerted the FBI, who traced the source of the attack back to Britain. Scotland Yard's e-crimes unit raided Mangham's home on June 2.

The software development student pleaded guilty on Dec. 13. His lawyer, Tony Ventham, described Mangham as an "ethical hacker" who saw the stunt as a challenge — and stressed that his client had never tried to sell the stolen data or pass it on to anyone else.

"This is someone who in previous times would have thrown everything aside to seek the source of the Nile," Ventham said. "He was in his own world, his own bedroom, his own mind, his own project and certainly his intention throughout was to contact Facebook in due course when he had rectified their problems."

But while Judge Alistair McCreath accepted that Mangham had not tried to profit from his crime, he said that the defendant's actions still had "very serious potential consequences" which could have been "utterly disastrous" for Facebook.

"This was not just a bit of harmless experimentation," McCreath told Mangham. "You accessed the very heart of the system of an international business of massive size, so this was not just fiddling about in the business records of some tiny business of no great importance."

The Palo Alto, California-based Facebook said in a statement that it applauded police and prosecutors' efforts in the case, adding: "We take any attempt to gain unauthorized access to our network very seriously."

The company, which boasts some 845 million users worldwide, recently filed papers for its initial public offering at the beginning of this month, putting it on track to price its stock in May or June.

Facebook is expected to be valued at $75 billion to $100 billion.

___

Online:

Raphael Satter can be reached at: http://twitter.com/razhael

Summary Box: Singer settles phone hack claim

2012-02-23T20:02:00.000-08:00

SETTLEMENT: Singer Charlotte Church has settled her phone-hacking lawsuit against the publisher of the News of the World tabloid. It comes before the case was due to go to court.

BIGGER PICTURE: News Corp.'s U.K. arm has tried hard to keep phone-hacking cases from going to trial. It has launched its own compensation program, overseen by a judge, and has paid out millions in out-of-court settlements for about 60 cases.

SINGER'S COMPLAINTS: Church testified before Britain's media ethics committee in December, complaining bitterly about how the company's tabloids had used illegal means to pry into her private life.

Ex-Google CEO Schmidt to sell up to 2.4M shares

2012-02-23T19:59:00.000-08:00

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt plans to sell up to 2.4 million shares of stock currently worth nearly $1.5 billion.

Schmidt, now Google's executive chairman, intends to stagger the sales of the stock over a one-year period. Google disclosed Schmidt's plans in a Friday regulatory filing. The company said Schmidt, 56, is trying to raise some money and diversify his investment portfolio.

If all 2.4 million shares of stock are sold, that will reduce Schmidt's stake in Google Inc. from 2.8 percent to 2.1 percent.

Schmidt's decision to sell some of his shares comes 10 months after he ended his 10-year stint as Google's CEO and turned the job over to one of the Internet search leader's co-founders, Larry Page.

Page and co-founder Sergey Brin filed plans to sell 5 million Google shares apiece in 2010. Those sales are scheduled to be completed in 2015.

Together, Page, Brin and Schmidt hold the majority of shareholder voting power at Google. They will retain that control even after they reduce their stakes. All three have been billionaires since Google went public in 2004.

Google shares fell $1.88 Friday to close at $604.64. The company disclosed Schmidt's plans to lower his holdings after the stock market closed. The shares fell 44 cents after hours.