IN THE NEWS: SUING TO STOP GOOGLE
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A consumer watchdog group wants to keep Google from making sweeping changes to its privacy policies next month. And it's suing the Federal Trade Commission to do it. The planned changes would enable Google to bundle the personal information gathered by its Internet search engine and other services so the company can get a better understanding of its users and potentially sell more advertising. But the Electronic Privacy Information Center says Google's policy switch would violate restrictions in an agreement reached with the FTC last year. Its lawsuit is trying to force FTC to enforce those rules. The complaint also wants a court order to block Google's policy changes from taking effect March 1. European regulators already have asked Google to delay the policy changes.
IN THE NEWS: PATH PRIVACY FIASCO
NEW YORK (AP) -- Path is sorry. The social-sharing app has come under fire for accessing and uploading users' address books without their permission. Path has apologized and the information has now been deleted. Path dubs itself a "personal network," letting its users share photos, videos and updates with close friends. Path prides itself on strict privacy controls. CEO Dave Morin said in a blog post that Path is "deeply sorry" if its users were uncomfortable with the way their phone contacts were used. He says the address books were uploaded to Path's servers over an encrypted connection and were used to improve friend suggestions and tell people when their friends joined the service. A new version only uploads users' contacts only if they choose that option.
ON THE WEB: DOOMSDAY PREPPERS
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Are you ready for doomsday? A new survey finds most American aren't. The report says most Americans are afraid a catastrophe could happen, yet are poorly prepared for it -- with 85 percent of the country not ready for a devastating event. Other results: nearly one-third of those polled believe the Mayan calendar's prediction about a calamitous event in December 2012 will be at least "somewhat true." One in four Americans have done nothing to prepare for a catastrophe, and were doomsday to arrive 39 percent of those surveyed don't think they would last two weeks based on the supplies they have on hand. The survey by National Geographic Channel and Kelton Research was released to coincide with the launch of Nat Geo's new series "Doomsday Preppers."
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Online:
http://tvblogs.nationalgeographic.com/2012/02/07/the-results-are-in-is-it-th e-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it-survey-says/
IN STORES: Top 10 Apps
UNDATED (AP) -- The list of top 10 paid and free apps for iPhone and iPad on the App Store is out. The top paid iPhone app was Where's My Water? In second place was Tank Hero. Temple Run tops the list of free iPhone applications. Second on that list is Ski On Neon. Where's May Water tops the list of paid apps for the iPad, with Kingdom Rush second. Temple Run and Tom's Love Letters are one and two on the list of free iPad apps. The list is for the week ending Feb. 6.
Copyright 2012. The Associated Press.
