Facebook to face renewed privacy lawsuit over user tracking

A federal appeals court on Thursday revived nationwide litigation accusing Facebook Inc of violating users' privacy rights by tracking their internet activity even after they logged out of the social media website.

The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said Facebook users could pursue several claims under federal and California privacy and wiretapping laws.

A spokeswoman for Facebook said the proposed class action was without merit, and the Menlo Park, California-based company will continue defending itself.

Facebook users had accused the company of quietly storing cookies on their browsers that tracked when they visited outside websites containing "like" buttons, and then selling personal profiles based on their browsing histories to advertisers.

US District Judge Edward Davila in San Jose, California had dismissed the lawsuit in 2017, including claims under the federal Wiretap Act, and said the users lacked legal standing to pursue economic damages claims.

But in Thursday’s decision, Chief Judge Sidney Thomas wrote for a 3-judge panel that users had a reasonable expectation of privacy, and had sufficiently alleged a "clear invasion" of their right to privacy.


The panel also said California law recognized a right to recoup unjustly earned profits, regardless of whether a defendant's conduct directly caused economic harm.

"Facebook's user profiles would allegedly reveal an individual's likes, dislikes, interests, and habits over a significant amount of time, without affording users meaningful opportunity to control or prevent the unauthorized exploration of their private lives," Thomas wrote.

Citing Facebook’s data use policy, he also said the plaintiffs "plausibly alleged that Facebook set an expectation that logged-out user data would not be collected, but then collected it anyway."

-Reuters-

Yahoo rakes in profits as it prepares for Verizon deal

SAN FRANCISCO - Yahoo's quarterly profits shot up by more than double to $163 million even as it prepares for a takeover by Verizon.

"We remain very confident, not only in the value of our business, but also in the value Yahoo products bring to our users' lives," the company's chief executive Marissa Mayer said in the earnings release, which beat expectations despite only a slight rise in revenue.

Yahoo skipped its usual quarterly earnings call with analysts due to the pending takeover by the US telecommunication company, for which Mayer said Yahoo is busy preparing despite recent revelations about a major data breach that may affect the deal.

Shares were up 1.3 percent to $42.22 in after-market trades following the earnings report release, reflecting confidence the breach is not prompting a significant number of users to abandon Yahoo.

Revenue for the quarter that ended on Sept. 30 came to $1.3 billion, up from the $1.2 billion in the same period a year earlier.

Mobile revenue during the quarter reached $396 million, up from $271 million the previous year.

"We launched several new products and showed solid financial performance across the board," Mayer said.

The internet pioneer agreed in July to sell its core assets to Verizon for $4.8 billion, ending a 20-year run as an independent company.

The deal would separate the Yahoo internet assets from its more valuable stake in the Chinese online giant Alibaba.

However, Verizon said last week that a recently revealed hack affecting 500 million Yahoo customers worldwide could have a "material" effect on the $4.8 billion deal.

The comments from Verizon general counsel Craig Silliman suggest the telecom company could seek to reduce the purchase price or walk away from the deal.

Although the hack took place in late 2014, Yahoo announced it only last month, dealing the faded internet star a fresh blow.

The attack was probably "state sponsored," the company said, although some analysts have questioned the source.

"We're working hard to retain their trust," Mayer said of Yahoo's users, "and are heartened by their continued loyalty as seen in our user engagement trends."

The beleaguered company has made several attempts to refocus after falling behind Google and Facebook in key segments of online advertising.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Why Google CFO is trading spreadsheets for backpack

Google Inc's finance chief said on Tuesday that he plans to retire, the latest in a series of changes in the company's upper ranks but a move that some analysts said was unlikely to cause major disruptions.

Patrick Pichette is leaving Google to go backpacking, the 52-year-old French Canadian announced in a lengthy post on his personal Google+ Web page on Tuesday.

Google, which dominates the online advertising business, expects to find a replacement for Pichette within six months, the company said in a regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Pichette's retirement date has not been set and Google said Pichette intends to help find a successor.

Shares of Google closed down 2.4 percent at $555.01 and were unchanged after hours.

Pichette's decision to retire, which he said caps about 30 years of "nearly nonstop work," came as a surprise to investors, although Wall Street took the news in stride.

Pichette's decision to travel after seven years at Google, appears reasonable, said Hudson Square Research analyst Daniel Ernst.

While Google is a massive company which analysts expect to generate roughly $76 billion in revenue this year, the business is relatively straightforward, said Ernst.

"Any experienced CFO could slot in there and see how it all works," he said.

A former telecom industry executive who joined Google in 2008, Pichette is credited by some on Wall Street for maintaining spending discipline even as Google has embarked on ambitious "moon shot" projects including self-driving cars, satellites and healthcare.

For Google, Pichette's exit marks the latest change in its upper ranks.

Last year, Google Chief Business Officer Nikesh Arora left unexpectedly to become vice chairman of Japan's SoftBank Corp. Vic Gundotra, the head of Google's social networking services, left in April 2014.

Google Chief Executive Officer Larry Page in October turned over day-to-day management of major products and services to Senior Vice President Sundar Pichai, freeing him up to focus on bigger-picture issues.

Pichette said in his blog post that he decided to retire after a recent trip climbing Africa's Mount Kilimanjaro when his wife suggested they continue traveling.

"I could not find a good argument to tell Tamar we should wait any longer for us to grab our backpacks and hit the road," Pichette wrote, referring to his wife.

In a separate post on Google+, CEO Page wished Pichette well, describing his "unconventional" farewell note as "well worth reading."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com