Sony Sued
A federal class action accuses Sony Interactive Entertainment of targeting children with free games and apps where they can buy game currency with real money, without parental permission.
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Electric Scooters
A federal court in Texas ruled in favor of compelling arbitration in a suit against Lime Scooters brought by a woman who claimed she crashed while riding one of the company’s electric scooters because a software problem caused “sudden excessive braking.” The court found that by signing into the company’s mobile app, the woman agreed to arbitrate such claims.
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Gig Worker Protections Debated in New York High Court
New York’s highest court grappled Tuesday with a trendy and critical question: are food delivery drivers for apps like Postmates considered employees or independent contractors?
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Online Dating Changes Lives — and the Economy
Online dating is not only transforming the way people hook up, it is changing the way single people spend their money and shaping the nature of household spending, according to one investor taking an interest in the emerging sector.
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Dating Apps Face Probe Over Kids, Sex Offenders
A House subcommittee is investigating whether popular dating services such as Tinder and Bumble allow minors and sex offenders to use their services.
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Dating Apps Leak Personal Data, Norwegian Group Says
Dating apps including Grindr, OkCupid and Tinder leak personal information to advertising tech companies in possible violation of European data privacy laws, a Norwegian consumer group said in a report Tuesday.
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Creator Defends Suspected UAE Spying App ToTok
If the popular ToTok video and voice-calling app is a spying tool of the United Arab Emirates, that’s news to its co-creator.
Read moreSuing Apple
Trieu Pham, an App Reviewer, claims Apple fired him illegally because he approved a Guo Media App, (as did at least three other Apple employees), which the Chinese government prohibited, in Santa Clara County Court.
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Sharon Stone Blocked on Dating App
Finding love is never easy, as actress Sharon Stone discovered when she was blocked on dating app Bumble after multiple users reported her account as fake.
Read moreUAE Chat App ToTok Called a Government Spy Tool
A chat app that quickly became popular in the United Arab Emirates for communicating with friends and family is actually a spying tool used by the government to track its users, according to The New York Times.
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Fed Up, SF Requires Permit to Test Tech in Public
Tired of San Francisco streets being used as a testing ground for the latest delivery technology and transportation apps, city leaders are requiring businesses to get permits before trying out new high-tech ideas in public.
Read moreRussia Makes Local Apps Mandatory on Smartphones
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law a requiring all smartphones and computers sold in the country to come pre-installed with Russian software.
Read moreTikTok
A federal class action accuses Bytedance, TikTok, et al. of installing surveillance software in their products to send user data to China.
Read moreSenators Call for Security Probe of Social Media Darling TikTok
Two senior U.S. senators called for the government to study national security risks possibly posed by Chinese-owned video app TikTok, saying it could leave American users vulnerable to Beijing’s spying.
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30 Years After Loma Prieta, California Gets Quake Early-Warning System
Marking the 30th anniversary of the deadly Loma Prieta earthquake and its devastation to buildings, bridges, freeways and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, California officials on Thursday launched a long-awaited statewide warning system that will send cellphone alerts before earthquakes.
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Apple Truckles to China, Removes Hong Kong App
Apple removed a smartphone app that allows Hong Kong residents to report police movements from its online store Thursday after an official Chinese newspaper accused the company of facilitating illegal behavior.
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FTC Claims Match Group Duped Daters Into Buying Subscriptions
The Federal Trade Commission sued dating website operator Match Group on Wednesday, claiming it uses scammers’ phony love interest advertisements to dupe thousands of people into buying paid subscriptions on Match.com.
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New AI App Predicts Climate Change Stress for Farmers in Africa
In the wake of climate warming that threatens to destroy African farmers’ crops, a team of Penn State scientists on Monday unveiled a new artificial intelligence tool in a cellphone app that can predict crop growth and help protect vital food supplies from intensifying heat.
Read moreDon’t Catch ‘Em All
A federal judge signed off on a settlement Friday in which “Pokemon Go” maker Niantic agrees to set up a way for property owners to have targets removed from their properties, in hopes of ending the barrage of game-playing trespassers at cemeteries, Washington’s Holocaust Museum and the Auschwitz concentration camp.
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