FTC Says Facebook Will Need Permission From WhatsAppers To Use Their Data

Facebook will need the “affirmative consent” of WhatsApp users in order to use their data for advertising or anything. The ruling comes from Federal Trade Commission alongside its approval in US for Facebook to acquire WhatsApp. The $19 billion deal announced in February will still have to get past international regulators.

Facebook’s business model is based on mining biographical and interest data from users in order to target them with ads. Facebook users automatically opt into this practice when they sign up. But WhatsApp’s most recent privacy policy from July 7th 2012, states that:

• “WhatsApp does not collect names, emails, addresses or other contact information from its users’ mobile address book or contact lists other than mobile phone numbers”
• “We do not collect location data”
• “The contents of messages that have been delivered by the WhatsApp Service are not copied,
• kept or archived by WhatsApp.”
• “We do not use your mobile phone number or other Personally Identifiable Information to send commercial or marketing messages without your consent”
• “We do not sell or share your Personally Identifiable Information (such as mobile phone number) with other third-party companies for their commercial or marketing use without your consent”

After the acquisition announcement, WhatsApp wrote “Here’s what will change for you, our users: nothing …. And you can still count on absolutely no ads interrupting your communication.” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said “We are absolutely not going to change plans around WhatsApp and the way it uses user data”, and a Facebook spokesperson confirmed Facebook would uphold WhatsApp’s promises to users.

Now the FTC has approved the acquisition in the US. A Facebook spokesperson tells TechCrunch “We’re pleased the FTC has completed its review and cleared our acquisition of WhatsApp. Naturally, both companies will continue to comply with all applicable laws after the transaction closes.” 

But with that approval, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection Jessica Rich wrote a letter (PDF) to Facebook and WhatsApp explaining “Facebook’s purchase of WhatsApp would not nullify [the promises listed above] and WhatsApp and Facebook would continue to be bound by them…any use of WhatsApp’s subscriber information that violates these privacy promises, by either WhatsApp or Facebook, could constitute a deceptive or unfair practice under the FTC Act” section 5.

Here’s an embed of the full letter from the FTC:

If Facebook and WhatsApp want to change what they collect from WhatsApp users or how that data is used, such as to improve Facebook’s News Feed algorithm or improve ad targeting on Facebook for users who are on both services, they’ll need direct permission.

Rich writes “if you choose to use data collected by WhatsApp in a manner that is materially inconsistent with the promises WhatsApp made at the time of collection, you must obtain consumers’ affirmative consent before doing so.” That’s going to make it harder for Facebook to coin off its new international messaging darling.

Finally, Rich says “If you choose to change how you collect, use, and share newly-collected WhatsApp data, we recommend that you offer consumers an opportunity to opt out of such changes or, at least, that you make clear to consumers that they have an opportunity to stop using the WhatsApp service.”

Credit is due to Rich for standing up to Facebook on behalf of users.

While “independently-run” startup might not want to start cluttering its app with ads, there are plenty of other ways the data ir doesn’t collect could aid it and its parent company.

Contact info from address books could help with improving the user aquisition process. Data about the words people write could help Facebook refine ad targeting on its own site and app for users of both services. And Location data could improve engineering infrastructure or help Facebook show hyper-local ads.

Now the question is how Facebook and WhatsApp would go about attaining consent to change WhatsApp’s data use policy. If it simply asked WhatsApp users to opt in to less privacy, they’d probably reject it. But the two companies could play hardball and demand people approve a new privacy policy or stop letting them use the app. Facebook will have to weigh the value of the data it could collect against the users it could lose and backlash it would suffer.

As Instagram’s own attempt to change its policies proved, users aren’t always willing to change their behavior to support their ideals, but they’ll sure kick and scream if you mess with them. People don’t always understand privacy polices, and “you always fear what you don’t understand.”

Rhapsody and Napster subscribers can now send music to their Chromecast

Rhapsody and Napster subscribers on Android can now send music to their TV through Chromecast. Rhapsody and Napster are two more in a long line of apps that have added support for the Google Chromecast since the cast sdk was released in February. And with each new app, users gain a greater bang for their buck from this $35 streaming device.

Napster, now owned by Rhapsody, along with Rhapsody itself, offer users a music catalogue of over 18 million songs for a $10/month subscription fee. Music is streamed to your devices, but can also be downloaded for offline use. Users control what they want to listen to and experience it ad-free.

The addition of Chromecast support continues the ad-free experience on the big screen in your home. In the words of Paul Springer, SVP of Americas and Chief Product Officer, “adding support for Google Chromecast is another example of our commitment to giving music lovers more ways to easily enjoy the music they love in the comfort of their own home without interruption.”

We recently had a debate whether Chromecast was destined to be king of the TV, or if the new Amazon Fire TV was the next big thing. Feel free to go join in that debate, but one thing is for certain, with more and more services like Rhapsody and Napster coming to Chromecast, Google appears to have a bit of a hit device on their hands, and for $35, it is something that most of us can afford to enjoy.

Update Rhapsody in the Play Store app on your Android device, or grab the Rhapsody app from the Google Play Store.

Current Rhapsody and Napster users – is Chromecast support one of the key features you’ve been desperately waiting for? If you’ve been on the fence about using Rhapsody and Napster, is Chromecast support a deciding factor?

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Microsoft And Nokia Now Expect Their Massive $7.2B Deal To Close In April

Nokia has informed the world this evening that it now expects its behemoth deal with Microsoft to close in April of this year, as opposed to the first calendar quarter, a timeframe that was reiterated earlier this year.

The deal, worth $7.2 billion, has wound through most of the regulatory bodies of the world that an agreement of its scale must. Microsoft published a blog post on the current situation, claiming to be “nearing the final stages of our global regulatory approval process.” Close, no cigar, and so forth.

What is causing the delay? Here’s Nokia: “[T]he transaction is pending approvals from certain antitrust authorities in Asia which are still conducting their reviews.”

The companies failed to reach the mark in time. This will cause analysts to revamp their models, Microsoft to wait to absorb the division, and force Stephen Elop to wait before assuming his post atop Microsoft’s now larger hardware division. Also, Nokia’s big payday is now a non-first quarter affair.

A blow for both companies, given that slipping into a new quarter wasn’t in their planning, but here they are. Both firms are still saying publicly that the deal will close.

My theory that the lingering tax issue regarding Nokia’s failure to secure and appeal in India, which has frozen a factory that is supposed to be part of the asset transfer was shot down by Nokia:

Nokia reiterates that ongoing tax proceedings in India have no bearing on the timing of the closing or the material deal terms of the anticipated transaction between Nokia and Microsoft.

Given that, we should see this beast locked down inside the next 30 days.  

 

Deal With Getty Images Means Quality EyeEm Photos Make Cash For Their Owners

EyeEm, the Berlin-based startup which focuses on high quality photo-sharing, has signed a partnership with Getty Images to license EyeEm images across its platforms, including on iStock by Getty Images and a bespoke collection where they are royalty-free and rights-managed. The EyeEm collection will be populated with images from its community.

It’s worth pointing out that this is a pure distribution deal – Getty is not investing in the startup. But clearly this is going to mean decent revenues of for the company which to date has raised $6 million from Passion Capital, Wellington Partners and Earlybird Venture Capital.

The marketplace is opt-in for the users themselves, but EyeEm maintains control of who gets to join, helping to keep the quality of photos high. Those users, many of whom are professional photographers b day taking casual snaps with the smartphone, add their best snaps work to the marketplace. These smartphone photographers then get repeat revenues, because of the deal with Getty. The upside for the users is that they hold all rights and can leave the marketplace at any time.

This arrangement between EyEem and Getty effectively competes with ShutterStock and Fotolia (the France-based image service).

The key thing here of course is that Eyeeme is very different, in that these are real-world ‘authentic’ photographs from real people, not your average image stock stuff.

Samsung teases a new website to show off their design principles

Without a doubt, careful design considerations can greatly influence the success of modern mobile technology. Samsung wants you to know the efforts they have taken in designing their latest hardware and will be showing it all off on a new website dedicated to the task.

www.design.samsung.com will go live next week, but the Korean tech giant has put out a little teaser video to get you in the mood.

Samsung is set to begin sales of a handful of devices in the next few weeks, including their flagship smartphone the Galaxy S5 and the Gear 2 smartwatch. The Galaxy S5 in particular takes on a different materials design than we’re accustomed to seeing from Samsung products. The back cover has a perforated leather steering wheel look to it that reminds me of my original Nexus 7 tablet. If the materials comparison with the Nexus 7 goes beyond looks, the dimpled backing should provide the Galaxy S5 a comfortable feel with solid non-slip performance.

I, for one, am interested in learning if Samsung’s design philosophy is as a classic Italian sports car sculptor, prioritizing style and sex appeal over form and function, or, if as modern German engineers, they let the wind tunnel dictate the design. What I really mean is, does the S5 have a 5.1-inch display because Samsung thinks it will fit our hands the best, or is its size just for the sex appeal?

The site goes live on March 27 – are you excited to dive a little deeper into what makes Samsung tick?

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Sony puts their new Xperia Z2 Tablet up for sale in the UK

The Xperia Z2 Tablet is up for sale on Sony’s UK website. UK customers can order now, choosing the 16GB WiFi only unit for £399, upgrade to the 32GB model for £449 or grab up the 16GB LTE version for £499.

For those with slippery fingers, order before March 24 straight from the Sony online store and they’ll give you a 3 year warranty for just 1 pence more.

The Xperia Z2 Tablet is what we might call the big brother of the Xperia Z2 smartphone, which is expected to be in customers’ hands in April. The tablet is powered by Android 4.4 KitKat and comes with a quad-core 2.3GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor, 3GB RAM and an 8.1MP camera. Both devices were announced at MWC in February where we took the water resistant, 10.1-inch Full HD TILUMINOUS display tablet for a test run, see what we had to say about it.

We have seen a lot of positive hype about the Xperia Z2 smartphone, a lot of which is focused on the 20.7MP camera with the ability to shoot 4K video. The Xperia Z2 Tablet, as might be expected of a tablet, does not come with the same powerhouse of a camera sensor, but their 8.1MP camera with Exmor RS™ for mobile will still let you snap Full HD images and video. Aside from the camera sensor difference, and the screen size, obviously, the phone and tablet share a lot of specifications, and as the phone represents Sony’s latest and greatest, so should we expect of the tablet.

Seeing that this is Sony’s flagship tablet for the year, our choice for best tablet at MWC, and chalk full of high-end goodness, it necessarily comes with what you may consider a steep price tag. Are you interested enough in this tablet to dish over the equivalent of US$658 – US$825?

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