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☆ FTC fines cybersecurity company Avast $16.5 million for tracking and selling user data
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-22 | by ( Jennifer Korn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Cybersecurity software company Avast faces a $16.5 million fine from the Federal Trade Commission after the agency filed a complaint Wednesday accusing the company of selling consumer data to third parties. The FTC says Avast, a firm that promises to protect consumer data from online tracking, has done the opposite, collecting and selling user browsing data without knowledge or consent while simultaneously misleading users. Furthermore, the FTC says Avast told users it would only share information in “anonymous and aggregate form,” though this was not the case. “Because it is intrinsically sensitive, browsing data warrants heightened protection.”The FTC says Avast sold data to a range of over 100 clients, including consulting firms, advertising companies and data brokers. On top of the multi-million dollar fine, Avast is being hit with a ban from the FTC to prohibit the company from selling or licensing data for advertising purposes.

Persons: Avast, Lina Khan, “, ” Khan, “ Avast, ” Samuel Levine, ” Avast Organizations: CNN, Federal Trade Commission, FTC, Soviet Bloc, Gen Digital, Avast, Consumer Protection Locations: Czechoslovakia, Tempe , Arizona, Prague, Czech Republic, United Kingdom, Czech, FTC’s

☆ Kansas City shooting: At least half of the victims of Kansas City mass shooting were children
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-16 | by ( Nouran Salahieh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Killed in the Kansas City shooting was radio DJ Lisa Lopez-Galvan, her employer KKFI 90.1 FM said. “You know it happens, but you never expect it to happen to you.”Where the investigation standsCleanup underway at Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri, on Thursday. The boy, who suffered a bullet graze to the leg, tracked down a Kansas City police officer. People hold candles during a vigil in Kansas City on Thursday. Kansas City Chiefs offensive lineman Trey Smith said he took cover in a closet with others at the event when he heard the gunfire, pulling a child to safety with him.

Persons: –, Stacey Graves, ” Graves, Mercy Children’s, Lisa Lopez, Galvan, Lopez, Beto Lopez, CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Graves, Jacob Gooch, CNN’s Erin Burnett, Gooch, he’d, ”, “, ” Gooch, Emmalee Reed, Alayna Gonzalez, ” Gonzalez, it’s, Cash Adams, Chris Jones, I’d, ” Cash, Cash, Samuel Arellano, KSHB, ” Samuel, Trey Smith, —, ’ ” Smith, Smith, ’, L’Jarius Sneed, ESPN’s Hannah Storm, Everything’s Organizations: CNN —, Kansas City Chiefs, Chiefs, CNN, Denver, NBA’s Nuggets, Kansas City, CNN Police, Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, Explosives, KMBC, CNN NFL, NFL, ABC, Wrestling Entertainment, ’ ” Kansas City Chiefs, ESPN Locations: Kansas City , Missouri, Mercy, Kansas City, United States, Kansas, “, ’ ”

Samuel called one Eagles cornerback “trash” and blistered Philly as his “most-hated” team in the NFL. Brock Purdy threw for 314 yards and four touchdowns, Samuel scored three TDs and Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts was checked for a concussion in San Francisco's 42-19 win over Philadelphia. “Talking trash, it’s part of the game,” Samuel said. Purdy put the finishing touches on the win with a 46-yard TD to Samuel. Much like in the NFC championship game, Purdy was pressured early.

Persons: — Deebo Samuel, Samuel, Philly, Brock Purdy, Jalen, Kyle Shanahan, Purdy, — Samuel, James Bradberry, ” Samuel, DeVonta Smith, Dre Greenlaw, Dom DiSandro, Greenlaw, Smith, ” Shanahan, ” Purdy, “, Deebo, pesky, Shanahan, A.J . Brown, Brown, Jake Elliott, ”, we've, Brandon Aiyuk, Christian McCaffrey, “ It's, ___ Organizations: PHILADELPHIA, NFC, 49ers, Eagles, NFL, Philadelphia, ” 49ers, ”, Philly, The Eagles, “, Kansas City —, Shanahan, NEXT San Francisco, Seattle, Sunday Locations: Francisco's, Philly, Purdy, A.J, Dallas

NEW YORK (AP) —The Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday said it issued warnings to two food and beverage industry groups, as well as a dozen online influencers, for failing to adequately disclose paid social media posts that promoted a sweetener and sugary products. The warnings follow updated guidelines the agency published this summer requiring influencers to prominently disclose advertisements and paid social media posts that promote products for companies. The FTC said it reviewed posts by health influencers — including registered dieticians — who endorse “sugar-containing products” and appear to be paid by the Canadian Sugar Institute. The agency wrote in the letters to the trade groups that the posts may violate federal law and could cost them up to $50,120 in penalties per violation. The Canadian Sugar Institute did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Persons: influencers, dieticians —, William M, Dermody Jr, dieticians, ” Dermody, “, ” Samuel Levine Organizations: Federal Trade Commission, American Beverage Association, PepsiCo, Canadian Sugar Institute, FTC, Health, American Beverage, Consumer Locations: dietitians, FTC’s

“I hear the screaming, I hear the bikes, and I hear the gunshots.”Aliza Samuel, 24, returned to the site of the deadly Nova festival attack by Hamas militants, in southern Israel, on October 7. “Enjoy,” the Hamas militants said in English, as they laughed, before shooting the three men and one woman at point-blank range, she said. Israel subsequently announced a war against Hamas, the militant group that governs Gaza and launched the coordinated assault. Rebecca Wright/CNNPanicking, the pair sprinted across the open farmland surrounding the festival site and dived into a ditch behind a line of large trees. Rebecca Wright/CNNNow, as Israel wages war across the border, Gensler is following the unfolding humanitarian disaster.

Persons: Israel CNN — Aliza Samuel, ” Samuel, “, ”, ” Aliza Samuel, Rebecca Wright, partygoers, festivalgoers, ‘, Samuel, didn’t, Shlomo Gensler, CNN Panicking, ” “, Dr, ” Gensler, Gensler, you’re, Aliza Organizations: Israel CNN, Nova Music, “, CNN, Hamas, Israel Defense Forces, Palestinian Ministry of Health Locations: Re'im, Israel, Re’im, Gaza, Ramallah, Gensler

☆ Ukrainian Attack Hits Headquarters of Russian Black Sea Fleet in Crimea
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-22 | by ( Ian Austen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Video Ukraine launched a missile attack on the Black Sea Fleet’s headquarters in Sevastopol, Crimea. Russia’s defense ministry said that air defenses had shot down five missiles but that the Black Sea Fleet’s headquarters in the city of Sevastopol had sustained damage. Ukraine’s military said in a brief statement that its forces had struck the Black Sea Fleet headquarters. He noted that, in addition to the Black Sea Fleet, the peninsula also houses attack planes and helicopters, as well as infantry bases. On Wednesday, Ukraine’s military said its missiles took out a command post for the Black Sea Fleet in the village of Verkhnesadovoye, a few miles north of Sevastopol’s city center.

Persons: “, ” Samuel Bendett, Mikhail Razvozhayev, Razvozhayev, Oleg Kryuchkov, Arijeta Lajka Organizations: Ukraine, Agence France, Tass, Ukrainian, Center for Naval, Black, Fleet, The New York Times Locations: Sevastopol, Crimea, Ukraine, Russian, Moscow, Bakhchysarai, Verkhnesadovoye, Sevastopol’s

The Viking Star cruise ship is moored at Greenwich with the City of London financial district in the distance, in London, Britain, August 29, 2023. It is absolutely the time for action over words," Alasdair Haynes, CEO of Aquis Exchange, a share trading platform, and chair of financial industry body TheCityUK's Business Council, told Reuters. The main problem for trade bodies is the vast scope of Britain's financial services industry, with each sub-sector and TheCityUK presenting their own reform priorities and ideas, often overlapping. In the meantime, top financial sector executives running global teams of bankers and traders are increasingly bewildered by Britain's inability to make faster progress on a matter of such economic significance. ELECTION LOOMINGSome senior financial industry sources say politics may hamper the City's reform agenda even further, with a general election expected next year.

Persons: Kevin Coombs, Alasdair Haynes, Jeremy Hunt, Nicholas Lyons, TheCityUK, ” Samuel Gregg, Richard Gardner, Huw Jones, Sinead Cruise, Hugh Lawson Organizations: Viking, City, REUTERS, London’s, Mayor, European Union, Aquis, Business, Reuters, Finance, stoke, of, Arm Holdings, Labour, Conservative, American Institute for Economic Research, Investment Funds Association, EU, Thomson Locations: Greenwich, London, Britain, Europe, Asia, United States, Edinburgh, of London, New York, Amsterdam, City, France

☆ The FTC wants to make it harder to publish fake reviews
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-01 | by ( Ramishah Maruf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

It would ban fake reviews, suppressing negative reviews and paying for positive reviews. Amazon in particular has been dealing with fake reviews on its third-party marketplace for years, suing the administrators of Facebook groups who facilitated the purchase and sale of fake reviews. The commission has taken strong enforcement action in the past on fake reviews, but said it might not be enough without civil penalty authority. Businesses also would not be able to offer any incentives for writing positive reviews and would prohibit company officers and managers from writing reviews without disclosing their roles. They also wouldn’t be able to make company controlled review websites or buy fake followers or views on social media.

Persons: ” Samuel Levine Organizations: New, New York CNN, Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Protection, Google, Facebook, FTC, Bountiful Locations: New York, FTC’s

☆ UK economy limps along as high inflation hits spending
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Anna Cooban | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

“Sky-high inflation, negative real wage growth and general cost of living pressures are weighing on the consumer, and in turn the services industry which is typically a key growth engine for the UK economy,” she added in a note. The Bank of England raised interest rates for the 12th consecutive time Thursday in its battle with double-digit inflation. The central bank expects the UK economy to grow by 0.25% this year and by 0.75% in 2024 — a much more positive assessment than in February, when it forecast contractions of 0.5% and 0.25%, respectively. Inflation still highConsumer price inflation in the UK remains stubbornly high, holding above 10% in the year to March. “With inflation still in double digits, it feels depressingly like a re-run of the 1970s.”The Bank of England expects inflation to fall sharply over the coming months.

Catalonia, Spain CNN —Standing in his field of stunted, withered maize, Santi Caudevilla is very worried. It’s becoming increasingly hard to make ends meet as crops shrivel through lack of water – or cannot be planted at all. “This is the worst period that we have had for the last 100 years,” Samuel Reyes, director of the Catalan Water Agency, told CNN. Allison Nussbaum/NASA Allison Nussbaum/NASA These two images show shrinking water reservoirs in the Catalonia region of Spain. In April, Spain requested emergency funding from the European Union to help farmers cope with the impacts of the drought.

☆ ‘The Odyssey of Phillis Wheatley’ Review: A Poet’s Emancipation
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( Randall Fuller | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

A 1773 edition of Phlllis Wheatley’s ‘Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral.’Leading up to the American Revolution, England possessed one advantage in the heated propaganda war with its wayward colonies: American patriots, so preoccupied with their own liberty, were among the largest buyers and sellers of humans in the world. The hypocrisy was self-evident. As one English writer noted, even as Bostonians claimed that officials in London were “forging infernal chains,” they themselves “actually have in town two thousand Negroe slaves, who neither by themselves in person, nor by representatives of their own free election ever gave consent to their present state of bondage.” Samuel Johnson put it more tartly: “How is it we hear the loudest yelps for liberty from the drivers of Negroes?”So effective was this line of attack that many revolutionaries considered slavery in the colonies the greatest obstacle to their own rights. Responses ranged from a defensive justification of slavery on grounds of racial inferiority to full-throated calls for the end of the practice altogether.

☆ In Peru, protesters pour from remote Andean regions, demand president resign
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

LIMA, Peru — People poured into Peru’s coastal capital, many from remote Andean regions, for a protest Thursday against President Dina Boluarte and in support of her predecessor, whose ouster last month launched deadly unrest and cast the nation into political chaos. The concentration of protesters in Lima also reflects how the capital has started to see more antigovernment demonstrations in recent days. Many protesters say that no dialogue is possible with a government that they say has unleashed so much violence against its citizens. “I think this will only keep growing.”Analysts warn that a failure to listen to demands from protesters could have tragic consequences. “We have to start to think what we want to do with Peru, otherwise this could all blow up,” Cardenas said.

The maker of the popular online video game "Fortnite" has agreed to pay a record settlement to resolve charges it violated children's privacy, exposed children and teenagers to potential harassment, and duped players of all ages into making unwanted in-game purchases. The Federal Trade Commission announced Monday that North Carolina-based Epic Games will pay a total of $520 million to settle allegations that it collected personal data from children without first obtaining the consent of their parent or guardian. "The video game industry is a place of fast-moving innovation, where player expectations are high and new ideas are paramount. We accepted this agreement because we want Epic to be at the forefront of consumer protection and provide the best experience for our players." According to The Wall Street Journal, Epic was most recently valued at $32 billion.

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