US FTC AND FCC INVESTIGATING CARRIER IQ

Federal investigators have launched a probe in order to examine Carrier IQ’s smartphone software, which tracks a range of activity and sends certain data to wireless carriers without users’ knowledge. Carrier IQ executives met with officials from both the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commuission on Tuesday, The Washington Post reports. “We are complying with all investigations at this time as we have nothing to hide,” said Carrier IQ representative Mira Woods. “We have been completely transparent through this process.”

Allegations that the Federal Bureau of Investigation may also be using Carrier IQ software to spy on smartphone users arose on Tuesday when the FBI denied a Freedom of Information Act request for materials related to the Carrier IQ scandal.

US JUSTICE DEPARTMENT INVESTIGATING APPLE AND E-BOOK PUBLISHERS

Hot on the heels of the EU Commission, the U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday confirmed that it is investigating the pricing of electronic books, the latest antitrust watchdog to probe whether there was improper collusion by Apple Inc. and publishers to prevent discounting.
At a congressional hearing, Sharis Pozen, the Justice Department's acting antitrust chief, said: "We are also investigating the electronic book industry, along with the European Commission and the states attorneys general."

The Wall Street Journal and other media have reported that the Justice Department has been investigating the matter since last year.

EUROPEAN COMMISSION INVESTIGATING APPLE AND E-BOOK PUBLISHERS FOR PRICE FIXING

The European Commission this morning announced that it has opened formal antitrust proceedings to investigate whether a number of international ebook publishers have engaged in anti-competitive practices affecting the sale of e-books in Europe, “possibly with the help of Apple.” According to the press release, the opening of proceedings means that the EC will “treat the case as a matter of priority”.

he Commission says it will, in particular, investigate whether the publishers and Apple have engaged in illegal agreements or practices that would “have the object or the effect of restricting competition” in the European Union or in the European Economic Area (EEA). The commission is also looking into “agency agreements” between the publishers and e-book retailers, in collaboration with the UK Office of Fair Trading.

The EC says it is concerned whether some of the publishers’ and Apple’s practices “may breach EU antitrust rules that prohibit cartels and restrictive business practices”. The opening of the proceedings follows unannounced inspections that were carried out by the Commission at the premises of several e-book publishers in March 2011.

US SENATE LOOKING INTO CARRIER IQ PRIVACY ISSUES

Senator Al Franken, chairman of the Senate subcommittee on privacy, technology and law, sent a letter to Carrier IQ on Thursday asking the company to address a number of concerns that have arisen after security expert Trevor Eckhart revealed the software might allow wireless carriers to spy on customers. “I am very concerned by recent reports that your company’s software — preinstalled on smartphones used by millions of Americans — is logging and may be transmitting extraordinarily sensitive information from consumers’ phones,” Senator Franken wrote in his letter. Read on for more.

Franken noted that Carrier IQ has been accused of be keeping track of when users turn their phones on and off, what numbers users dial, message contents and more. He said he understands that carriers need to collect data to run diagnostics but that “it appears Carrier IQ’s software captures a broad swath of extremely sensitive information from users that would appear to have nothing to do with diagnostics.”

Sprint admitted to The Verge on Thursday that it, and other carriers, “use the data to understand device performance so [it] can figure out when issues are occurring,” and that it doesn’t sell the data and can not look at messages, personal photos or other private information.

BARNES AND NOBLE ASKS US GOVERNMENT TO INVESTIGATE MICROSOFT FOR MOBILE DOMINATION

Barnes & Noble Inc. (BKS) asked U.S. regulators to investigate whether Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) seeks to monopolize the mobile-device market by demanding patent royalties on electronics running on Google Inc.’s Android operating system. “Microsoft is embarking on a campaign of asserting trivial and outmoded patents against manufacturers of Android devices,” Barnes & Noble said in an Oct. 17 letter to Gene Kimmelman, the Justice Department’s chief counsel for competition policy. “Microsoft is attempting to raise its rivals’ costs in order to drive out competition and to deter innovation in mobile devices.”

The world’s largest software maker accused New York-based Barnes & Noble of infringing five patents and filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington, seeking to block imports of the Nook readers. Barnes & Noble made public four letters and a presentation to the Justice Department in a filing with the commission yesterday.
Microsoft, based in Redmond, Washington, contends it owns patented inventions that are used in the Android operating system, and has struck licensing deals with companies including Samsung Electronics Co. and HTC Corp. (2498), two of the biggest makers of Android phones.

“All modern operating systems include many patented technologies,” Microsoft said in a statement. “Microsoft has taken licenses to patents for Windows and we make our patents available on reasonable terms for other operating systems, like Android. We would be pleased to extend a license to Barnes & Noble.”

NINE PRIVACY GROUPS ASK FTC TO INVESTIGATE FACEBOOK

The American Civil Liberties Union, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and seven other privacy groups have contacted the U.S. Federal Trade Commission asking it to investigate Facebook for “secretly tracking users after they logged off of Facebook’s webpage.” A 34-page complaint filed by EPIC asks for an injunction, investigation and “other relief” from the social network. EPIC said Facebook is home to more than 60 billion photographs and alleges it developed its “tag suggestions” feature to collect data on Facebook users “without knowledge of consent in order to develop facial recognition technology.” The complaint specifically states:

Given these extraordinary circumstances, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, The Center for Digital Democracy, Consumer Watchdog, and the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, urge the Commission to investigate Facebook, determine the extent of the harm to consumer privacy and safety, require Facebook to cease collection and use of users’ biometric data without their affirmative opt-in consent, require Facebook to give users meaningful control over their personal information, establish appropriate security safeguards, limit the disclosure of user information to third parties, and seek appropriate injunctive and compensatory relief.

EPIC’s letter also details how the social network violates its own terms of service and shows how hard it is for a user who has been tagged in a photo to delete the original image which, in most cases, is owned by somebody else. EPIC wants Facebook to create a detailed privacy program and to immediately suspend its face-tagging feature.

APPLE ACCUSED OF IMPERSONATING POLICE DURING SEARCH FOR MISSING iPHONE PROTOTYPE

According to SF Weekly, six investigators claiming to be members of the San Francisco police department descended upon one Bernal Heights, San Francisco man’s home in search of a lost iPhone 5 prototype that CNEToriginally reported had been left in a bar. The scary part? The SFPD confirmed the investigators weren’t police officers at all. Instead, it appears as though they may have actually been members of Apple’s security team allegedly impersonating police officers. The officers in question claimed that they had traced the iPhone 5 to the man’s house using the device’s GPS feature. “They threatened me,” Sergio Calderon, the 22 year old man whose house was searched, said. “We don’t know anything about it, still, to this day,” he toldSF Weekly. “They made it seem like they were on the phone with the owner of the phone, and they said ‘The person’s not pressing charges, they just want it back. They’ll give you $300,” he added. Reportedly, the police force that did investigate Calderon offered him a number to call if he found any more information on the device. SF Weekly called the number and Anthony Colon, an Apple employee answered the call. Colon is currently employed by Apple as a “senior investigator,” and he once worked for the San Jose police department. Earlier on Friday, it was reported that San Francisco’s police department did not currently have an open investigation into a lost iPhone prototype, despite CNET’sclaims to the contrary. ”This is something that’s going to need to be investigated now,” Lieutenant Troy Dangerfield of the San Francisco police department told SF Weekly. “If this guy is saying that the people said they were SFPD, that’s a big deal.” It’s unclear where the story will turn from here, but it sounds like Apple certainly played a role in the incident. The San Francisco Police Department stated that it would only launch an investigation into the matter if Calderon decides to speak with them directly. UPDATE: The SFPD is now saying they did "assist" Apple in the search, however it is still no clear if the Apple investigators portrayed themselves as police officers.

GOOGLE FACING FTC INVESTIGATION

Google's drawn the ire of the Federal Trade Commission before for failing to follow its own privacy policies. Now, however, the Mountain View crew is apparently facing a formal inquiry from the FTC as it seeks information about Google's search and advertising business. The civil investigative demands are set to be sent out within the next five days, according to the Wall Street Journal, and the commission will be looking into whether Google's search engine illegally routs all those internet eyeballs scanning its site to its own services instead of those offered by competitors. Sound familiar? It should, because Google's under investigation for similar anticompetitive accusations made in Europe.

EUROPEAN UNION TO INVESTIGATE NET NEUTRALITY

The EU has commissioned an investigation into how European ISPs handle traffic and manage their networks, in a move that could lead to new legislation on net neutrality. The investigation, to be conducted by the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC), will cover both mobile and fixed Internet providers, with particularly close attention paid to any barriers consumers may face when changing operators.

BEREC will also consult with consumers and corporations to determine whether or not ISPs are being completely transparent about their traffic management practices, or advertised connection speeds. In a speech delivered yesterday, Neelie Kroes, the European Commission's Vice President for the Digital Agenda, admitted that some ISPs need to restrict some bandwidth-heavy services in order to protect their networks, but promised to publicly name and take action against any operators found to be stifling competition or consumer choice:

"Mark my words: if measures to enhance competition are not enough to bring Internet providers to offer real consumer choice, I am ready to prohibit the blocking of lawful services or applications. It's not OK for Skype and other such services to be throttled. That is anti-competitive. It's not OK to rip off consumers on connection speeds."

It's unlikely, however, that the EU will implement legislation as pointed as the net neutrality rules the FCC unveiled in the US, nor as expansive as the law that Chile introduced last summer. In a report issued yesterday, the EU affirmed that "operators should be allowed to determine their own business models and commercial arrangements" -- words that no doubt delighted many in Europe's ISP community. The results of BEREC's investigation are due to be published by the end of the year.

APPLE INVESTIGATING VERIZON iPAD 2 3G ISSUES

Having trouble hooking up your iPad 2 to Verizon's 3G network? Turns out you're not alone, and thankfully, Apple's well aware of this. In a statement to All Things Digital, Cupertino said it's investigating this CDMA connectivity issue as reported by "a small number of iPad 2 customers," and word has it that a software patch will be available soon.

EU TO FORMALLY INVESTIGATE GOOGLE FOR DOWNGRADING SEARCH COMPETITORS

Way back in February, the European Union announced its intention to look into allegations made against Google that the search leader wasn't ranking its competitors fairly in the results it delivered. Well, that fact-finding mission seems to have unearthed at least some hint of impropriety on Google's part, as it's now shed the "preliminary" label and has become a full-on antitrust probe. The original complaints came from EJustice.fr, Foundem.co.uk, and Microsoft's price comparison service Ciao, and they're still the basis of the investigation, though secondary issues, such as Google's conditions for advertisers and the way it tracks ad campaign data, will also be looked at. Let's not forget, however, that we're still dealing with allegations here, and it's going to be quite tricky to show any misdoing without delving into Google's famed algorithms and internal practices. [Engadget]

APPLE GETS GOOD NEWS FROM THE EU

Apple received some good news about the European Unions investigation into Apple decision earlier this year to  block third party developer tools and ads.  The EU has dropped the investigation citing Apple's recent relaxation of those rules and allowing third party developers tools to be used.  It is still undetermined if the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission  will drop their investigation for the same issues, but it is expected they will as well. [Engadget]