Facebook deals with Chinese firm draw ire from U.S. lawmakers

Facebook drew fresh criticism from U.S. lawmakers following revelations that it allowed Chinese smartphone makers, including one deemed a national security threat, access to user data.

The world's largest social network confirmed late Tuesday that China-based Huawei -- which has been banned by the U.S. military and a lightning rod for cyberespionage concerns -- was among device makers authorized to see user data.

Facebook has claimed the agreements with some 60 device makers dating from a decade ago were designed to help the social media giant get more services into the mobile ecosystem.

Nonetheless, lawmakers expressed outrage that Chinese firms were given access to user data at a time when officials were trying to block their access to the U.S. market over national security concerns.

Senator Ed Markey‏ said Facebook's chief executive has some more explaining to do following these revelations.

"Mark Zuckerberg needs to return to Congress and testify why @facebook shared Americans' private information with questionable Chinese companies," the Massachusetts Democrat said on Twitter.

"Our privacy and national security cannot be the cost of doing business."

Other lawmakers zeroed in on the concerns about Huawei's ties to the Chinese government, even though the company has denied the allegations.

"This could be a very big problem," tweeted Senator Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican.

"If @Facebook granted Huawei special access to social data of Americans this might as well have given it directly to the government of #China."

Representative Debbie Dingell called the latest news on Huawei "outrageous" and urged a new congressional probe.

"Why does Huawei, a company that our intelligence community said is a national security threat, have access to our personal information?" said Dingell, a Michigan Democrat, on Twitter.

"With over 184 million daily Facebook users in U.S. & Canada, the potential impact on our privacy & national security is huge."

'Approved experiences'

Facebook, which has been blocked in China since 2009, also had data-access deals with Chinese companies Lenovo, OPPO and TCL, according to the company, which had similar arrangements with dozens of other devices makers.

Huawei, which has claimed national security fears are unfounded, said in an emailed statement its access was the same as other device makers.

"Like all leading smartphone providers, Huawei worked with Facebook to make Facebook's service more convenient for users. Huawei has never collected or stored any Facebook user data."

The revelations come weeks after Zuckerberg was grilled in Congress about the hijacking of personal data on some 87 million Facebook users by Cambridge Analytica, a consultancy working on Donald Trump's 2016 campaign.

Facebook said its contracts with phone makers placed tight limits on what could be done with data, and "approved experiences" were reviewed by engineers and managers before being deployed, according to the social network.

Any data obtained by Huawei "was stored on the device, not on Huawei's servers," according to Facebook mobile partnerships chief Francisco Varela.

Facebook said it does not know of any privacy abuse by cellphone makers who years ago were able to gain access to personal data on users and their friends.

It has argued the data-sharing with smartphone makers was different from the leak of data to Cambridge Analytica, which obtained private user data from a personality quiz designed by an academic researcher who violated Facebook's rules.

Facebook is winding up the interface arrangements with device makers as the company's smartphone apps now dominate the service. The integration partnership with Huawei will terminate by the end of this week, according to the social network.

The news comes following U.S. sanctions on another Chinese smartphone maker, ZTE -- which was not on the Facebook list -- for violating export restrictions to Iran.

The ZTE sanctions limiting access to U.S. components could bankrupt the manufacturer, but Trump has said he is willing to help rescue the firm, despite objections from US lawmakers.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Samsung asks appeals court to toss out $930M award to Apple

WASHINGTON - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd asked a U.S. appeals court on Thursday to toss out an order that it pay Apple Inc $930 million for infringing on iPhone patents to make its Galaxy line of smartphones and tablets.

The hearing at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit was the latest fight between the two smartphone makers, which have been litigating around the world for three years, each accusing the other of infringing patents in making smartphones and other mobile devices.

They have essentially fought to a draw in about a dozen countries, but in August announced that they had agreed to withdraw all patent lawsuits against each other except in the United States.

In this case, Samsung asked the court to throw out a decision from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California which had found that Samsung infringed Apple patents and ordered it to pay the iPhone and iPad maker $930 million, a reduction from an earlier award of $1 billion.

Kathleen Sullivan, a lawyer with Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP who represents Samsung, argued that the lower court erred in deciding that the design and trade dress patents were infringed because the Samsung phones did not carry an Apple logo, did not have a "home" button like an iPhone and had speaker slots in different places than the Apple phones.

"Apple was awarded Samsung's total profits on those (Samsung) phones, which was absurd," she said, arguing that it was akin to awarding entire profits on a car because of an infringing cup holder.

Arguing for Apple, William Lee of the law firm Wilmer Hale disagreed. "This is not the cup holder," he said.

He argued that the $930 million verdict was the right decision.

"What Samsung is actually asking you to do ... is to substitute yourself for Judge Koh and the jury," he said.

The three judges on the panel did not indicate which side they supported, and did not indicate when they would rule.

Apple and companies that make phones using Google's Android software, such as Samsung's top-selling Galaxy, have filed dozens of infringement lawsuits against one another around the world to protect their technology. Apple and Google Inc's Motorola Mobility unit, which has since been purchased by Lenovo, agreed in May to settle all smartphone patent litigation between them.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

A look at Google's Nexus 5 smartphone

SAN FRANCISCO - Google on Thursday unveiled its Nexus 5 smartphone, putting its premium brand on a device intended to champion the latest version of its Android operating system.

The hotly anticipated addition to Google's Nexus line is powered by a new "KitKat" version of Android, which was redesigned to work across the wide range of handsets built with the Internet titan's free software inside.

"Now you have one version of the Android operating system that can ship across all versions of smartphones in 2014," Sundar Pichai, head of the Android and Chrome teams, said while providing a look at the new software and Nexus 5.

"As we get on our way to reach the next billion people, we want to do it with the latest version of Android."

The move aims to solve the problem that the wide variety of Android systems used around the world make it challenging for makers of fun, functional or hip smartphone or tablet apps to design programs that work on all devices.

Being stuck with old versions of Android also means that users don't get access to upgrades or improvements cranked out by Google.

Apple executives routinely boast about how most users of its iPhones, iPads and iPod touches are on the latest version of the iOS operating system while many Android users are stuck with old versions.

Changes in KitKat included fine tuning it to work with the limited memory capacities of Android smartphones priced for markets in developing countries or other places where buyers are on tight budgets.

"It is important to us to get the same version of Android to scale across all versions of devices," Pichai said.

Google partnered with South Korean consumer electronics giant LG to make the Nexus 5 smartphone to showcase the prowess of KitKat.

The Nexus 5 was available for purchase in 10 countries through Google's online Play shop, priced at $349 for a 16-gigabyte model and $399 for a version with 32 gigabytes of memory.

KitKat was released to handset makers to begin building their own smartphones using the software, according to Pichai.

"It is a cutting-edge operating system meant to run on cutting-edge phones, but it can run on older phones as well," Pichai said.

It is up to Android smartphone makers whether to push KitKat updates to people using their devices running on old versions of the operating system.

"The idea is to finally unify all of the Android operating systems to the point where they stop fragmenting," said analyst Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies in Silicon Valley.

"Vendors have every reason to keep their customer bases happy."

KitKat improves the smartphone user interface with richer and more immersive graphics while tapping into Google data centers for features such as anticipating what smartphone users wants to see before being asked.

For example, a KitKat-powered smartphone can recognize when you are near a movie theater and automatically pop up film times.

KitKat also takes into account what most people do at a certain spot to predict what a smartphone user might want, Pichai explained.

If the software noticed a person was by Old Faithful geyser in Yellowstone National Park it would automatically display information about when it was due to spout.

If an incoming telephone call is from a business, information from its website will be displayed as the handset rings.

"Our vision is that every time you pick up the phone, the information you want is right there in front of you," Pichai said.

"This is the kind of thing we really get excited about doing; bringing the power of Google smarts to the device."

Making KitKat the one Android operating system to rule them all will help Google's position in smartphones, according to Bajarin.

Google is both a rival and an ally to Android smartphone makers.

While Google has worked with partners to make Nexus brand smartphones for several years, its acquisition of Motorola Mobility last year has made it a competitor in handset hardware.

Leading Android smartphone maker Samsung this week held its first developers conference to encourage creation of apps for its devices, particularly those powered by the South Korean consumer electronics giant's own Tizen software.

"Samsung is very much at odds with Google," Bajarin said.

"Samsung is only going to continue to win if they control their own destiny," he continued. "If they have to rely on Google their future is limited."

Google, Apple and Microsoft each control smartphone hardware and software to lure fans with mobile device "ecosystems" and Samsung likely intends to follow suit, according to the analyst.

"Samsung will be in a tough place if they don't end up controlling the operating system themselves," Bajarin said. "Right now, they are beholden to Google."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com