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Judge approves $650M Facebook privacy lawsuit settlement

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ??" A federal judge on Friday approved a $650 million settlement of a privacy lawsuit against Facebook for allegedly using photo face-tagging and other biometric data without the permission of its users.

U.S. District Judge James Donato approved the deal in a class-action lawsuit that was filed in Illlinois in 2015. Nearly 1.6 million Facebook users in Illinois who submitted claims will be affected.

Donato called it one of the largest settlements ever for a privacy violation.

"It will put at least $345 into the hands of every class member... Read More

Facebook signs pay deals with 3 Australian news publishers

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) ??" Facebook announced on Friday preliminary agreements with three Australian publishers, a day after the Parliament passed a law that would make the digital giants pay for news.

Facebook said letters of intent had been signed with independent news organizations Private Media, Schwartz Media and Solstice Media.

The commercial agreements are subject to the signing of full agreements within the next 60 days, a Facebook statement said.

"These agreements will bring a new slate of premium journalism, including some previously paywalled... Read More

TikTok owner ByteDance to pay $92M in US privacy settlement

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ??" TikTok's Chinese parent company ByteDance has agreed to pay $92 million in a settlement to U.S. users who are part of a class-action lawsuit alleging that the video-sharing app failed to get their consent to collect data in violation of a strict Illinois privacy law.

The federal lawsuit alleged that TikTok broke the Illinois biometric privacy law, which allows suits against companies that harvest consumer data without consent, including via facial and fingerprint scanning. Illinois is the only state with a law that allows people to seek monetary damages for... Read More

AT&T spinning off DirecTV after losing millions of customers

AT&T is spinning off its DirecTV into a new company for a fraction of the $48.5 billion it paid for the satellite TV service in 2015. DirecTV has lost millions of customers on AT&T's watch, and is valued in the deal at just $16.25 billion, including debt.

Private equity firm TPG will own 30% of the business, while AT&T holds the rest. The telecom company will receive $7.8 billion in cash, including $1.8 billion from TPG and and $5.8 billion from the new DirecTV firm, which is borrowing that sum. The new DirecTV will also take on $200 million in debt from AT&T.

AT&T... Read More

Southern exposure: Cold wreaks havoc on aging waterworks

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) ??" The sunshine is back, and the ice has melted. But more than a week after a deep freeze across the South, many communities are still grappling with getting clean water to their residents.

Families stood in lines for hours to get drinking water. They boiled it to make it safe to drink or brush their teeth. They scooped up snow and melted it in their bathtubs. Hospitals collected buckets of water to flush toilets.

"You don't realize how much you use water until you don't have it," said Brian Crawford, chief administrative officer for the... Read More

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Judge approves $650M Facebook privacy lawsuit settlement

Facebook signs pay deals with 3 Australian news publishers

TikTok owner ByteDance to pay $92M in US privacy settlement

AT&T spinning off DirecTV after losing millions of customers

Southern exposure: Cold wreaks havoc on aging waterworks

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