The United States Department of Justice is really putting the squeeze on Apple.

The DOJ, as we know, alleges that Apple engaged in a horizontal price-fixing scheme with regard to eBook prices. But new documents filed by the DOJ reveal that Apple may have played a much bigger role than anyone realized in the conspiracy with publishers to violate antitrust laws and “strip retailers of pricing authority.”

The department’s Antitrust Division filed papers for a trial set to begin June 3 in federal court in Manhattan that included excerpts of e-mails and depositions of Apple executives including the company’s late founder, Steve Jobs, and Senior Vice President Eddy Cue and publishing executives.

Continue Reading

AT&T announced late Tuesday that the company has agreed to pay $18.25 million to settle an investigation by the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau.

The investigation stems back to whether the company improperly billed the Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS) fund for certain IP Relay (Internet-based TRS) calls.

Continue Reading

The White House has reportedly selected Twitter’s legal director, Nicole Wong, to be the administration’s first chief privacy officer.

Prior to joining Twitter in 2012, Wong spent eight years at Google in the capacity of vice president and deputy general counsel to the Internet search giant.

She received her law degree from the University of California at Berkeley before becoming a partner at the Perkins Coie law firm.

Continue Reading

A number of iOS app developers – most of whom wish to conceal their identities for fear of Apple App Store backlash – are coming forward to assert that Apple is cracking down on apps that feature “filtering, bookmarking, searching, or sharing recommendations.”

As it turns out, Apple is allegedly rejecting apps right and left that violate regulation 2.25, which restricts apps that could be confused for other app stores.

It appears Apple has stretched the remit of 2.25 to cover sharing via email or social networks. The ability to search the App Store within third-party apps also now seems to be restricted.

Continue Reading

While the investment community turns it attention to Facebook’s Q1 earnings Wednesday, regular users of the world’s largest social network are turning their attention to an interesting new infographic highlighting critical information about privacy settings and their under-utilization by many.

With Facebook’s Graph Search looming large on the horizon, this new infographic from Marketo is shedding light on critical information that every Facebook user should review.

Check it out after the break below.

Continue Reading

Reports surfaced this week that Path – the photo-powered social network of 10 million users – stands accused of resorting to “spammy tactics” for the presumable purpose of recruiting more members.

Adrianne Jeffries of The Verge says that digital marketer Stephen Kenwright “downloaded the app earlier this week, tried it out, uninstalled it, and went to bed.”

But that seeming conclusion to Kenwright’s relationship with Path wasn’t the end at all.

Continue Reading

Every day in America, millions of consumers fill up their cups of coffee while getting their fill of free WiFi at America’s top coffee shops.

But is that really a safe move given the rise in identity theft and cyber crimes?

Recently, the team at ThreatMetrix – makers of well known and respect cybercrime prevention solutions – published a new infographic that puts the potential dangers of coffee shop WiFi access into focus.

Continue Reading