Electronic Privacy Information Center

Google is getting plenty of backlash from privacy advocates. Just a week after the search giant launched Google Buzz social features in its Gmail service, the Federal Trade Commission is receiving accusations about violations of federal consumer-protection laws.

Microsoft has taken a step toward getting the federal government to pay attention to cloud-computing services. The Redmond, Wash.-based company is asking for a cloud-computing law.

Microsoft's senior vice president and top legal counsel, Brad Smith, has proposed that Congress institute the Cloud Computing Advancement Act to help foster trust in cloud-computing services and address privacy concerns.

In response to requests, Facebook on Wednesday asked its 350 million users to update their privacy settings. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company has rolled out new privacy settings to give users more control over the content they share.

There have always been questions about the reliability of data stored in the cloud, and now the cloud has become darker after the personal data of T-Mobile Sidekick users disappeared last weekend. Much of that data has since been restored.

The concept behind cloud computing is to make computer resources scalable with applications and data on third-party servers accessible on the web. In the Sidekick case, Microsoft's Danger subsidiary hosted the data.

Nearly two months after being sued for removing electronic books from Kindle owners' devices without their knowledge, Amazon has agreed to a settlement. The Internet retailer will pony up $150,000 to settle the class-action suit.

The first complaint filed against Amazon came from 17-year-old Justin Gawronski. The high-school student from Michigan sued after Amazon erased copies of author George Orwell's Animal Farm and 1984 along with notes on the book from his Kindle in July.

The impetus to regulate online marketing may be gathering steam. On June 18 a House of Representatives subcommittee held a hearing to take a closer look at how advertisers gather and use information on consumers' Web-surfing habits.

China is defending its directive forcing manufacturers to include blocking software in all personal computers sold there by July 1. The order from China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is to filter out unhealthy content, including pornography and violence, according to ministry spokesperson Qin Gang.

Personal computers sold in China will have to include blocking software, beginning July 1. The directive from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in Beijing has gone to manufacturers, but hasn't been made public.

The directive aims to block users from specific sites and content, including pornography, according to Jinhui Computer Systems Engineering, the software maker. But foreign industry officials who viewed the software told The Wall Street Journal the move will give the Chinese government even more control over what users are viewing on the Internet.

Personal computers sold in China will have to include blocking software, beginning July 1. The directive from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in Beijing has gone to manufacturers, but hasn't been made public.

The directive aims to block users from specific sites and content, including pornography, according to Jinhui Computer Systems Engineering, the software maker. But foreign industry officials who viewed the software told The Wall Street Journal the move will give the Chinese government even more control over what users are viewing on the Internet.

The Federal Trade Commission is being asked to investigate Internet search giant Google for a lack of security in its cloud-computing services, a framework of software and services in which applications and data reside on third-party servers that provide remote access through Web-based devices.

The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), a Washington, D.C.-based public-interest group, filed the complaint and is asking for an injunction by the FTC to stop Google from offering any of its cloud services until the FTC has investigated Google's safeguarding of consumers' information.