Seeking Alpha
Seeking Alpha Portfolio App for iPad
Finance
(1)
Market Currents

The FTC issued recommendations on Friday to beef up privacy on mobile devices, including that...

  • Sunday, February 3, 3:47 AM ET
    The FTC issued recommendations on Friday to beef up privacy on mobile devices, including that developers should incorporate do-not-track capabilities in apps and other software. While the proposals aren't binding, they carry the weight of policy for the likes of Apple (AAPL), Google (GOOG) and Microsoft (MSFT). Underscoring the FTC's commitment to privacy, it has fined social-networking app Path $800K for collecting personal information on children.
Track new comments on this story

This news story has 30 comments:

  •  
    Oh no, that means we should sell Google, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, linkedIn....best be safe and sell everything which means Samsung too, as there are so many reports of how Samsung have reached the top spot with selling mobiles.......how come you never mentioned them in your brief........or do they not count when the main here is to manipulate Apple stock again.......!
    3 Feb, 06:17 AM Reply Like
  •  
    Get your paranoid fantasies under control. It's not about handsets; it's about OSs and apps. Those three companies have the main OSs and run the app stores. If there was another companies to be added to the list it would be RIMM.
    3 Feb, 07:13 AM Reply Like
  •  
    BBRY already concerns itself with privacy.
    3 Feb, 07:34 AM Reply Like
  •  
    Thanks. I knew they changed their name but didn't know the ticker was changed also.

    Two of the ways BBRY concerns itself with privacy is shedding customers and suspending e-mail service.

    My intuitiion tells me that Apple, Google and Microsoft were listed because they cover the vast majority of the market. BBRY is most likely not listed because they are not a major player any more. If BBRY was the only one to follow the FTC recommendations, it probably wouldn't even be a story worth printing.
    3 Feb, 08:42 AM Reply Like
  •  
    BBRY (Rimm) is the only one to pass the gov't top security level. They weren't listed due of lack of interest, they weren't listed because their users do not suffer the same issues.

    I would look the spec up and post the link, but it is easily verified with a small amount of effort on your part. After all, it is your data and your life.

    Nick
    3 Feb, 11:20 AM Reply Like
  •  
    gensearch2: BBRY still has ~ 80M users, which is not insignificant.

    Shadow: Microsoft has FIPS ccertification, I believe, so BBRY is not the only OS applicable to DoD usage. Not only that, but your organization has to run their own Blackberry Enterprise Server to really get the security benefits.
    3 Feb, 02:36 PM Reply Like
  •  
    But it is okay for the government to do it. LOL.
    3 Feb, 07:48 AM Reply Like
  •  
    The government doesn't track you. The private sector does. If you move and don't inform the government of where you've gone to, they don't know where you are.

    The people have tossed over their privacy to the private sector for price and convenience. You plug in your ATM card and they have your picture, DTG and location. You go to the grocery and use your membership card to get special deals and they know what products you buy. What does anyone care if Safeway knows you buy condoms? And then they sell the data. Google tracks where you go. .... About the only place you have any shred of privacy left is with the government.
    3 Feb, 08:46 AM Reply Like
  •  
    Actually, you might want to google "NSA Wired Magazine" if you think the government doesn't track you.
    3 Feb, 09:25 AM Reply Like
  •  
    You might want to check the legal restrictions that NSA has to adhere to.
    4 Feb, 08:13 AM Reply Like
  •  
    Legal restrictions don't seem to be stopping them from sweeping up and storing everything.
    10 Feb, 11:27 AM Reply Like
  •  
    Having worked at, and with, NSA for over 20 years in the US and overseas, I'm pretty sure I know better than Wired what NSA does and can do.
    11 Feb, 07:54 AM Reply Like
  •  
    That statement means nothing. Does everyone in the CIA know about everything the CIA is doing? No, so why would it be any different in the NSA?
    17 Feb, 04:00 PM Reply Like
  •  
    Why would you think Wired knows more?
    18 Feb, 08:19 AM Reply Like
  •  
    1984 has just come a little later than the book implies!
    3 Feb, 09:37 AM Reply Like
  •  
    Absolutely! When I read 1984 a few years ago it was a concerning topic. Now, I can see the writing on the wall. Makes me thankful I am a "drone" that the government does not consider a risk. Anyone who has not read 1984 should. It is eye opening in regard to exactly where our economy and political process is headed.
    3 Feb, 05:37 PM Reply Like
  •  
    How can you say the government doesn't track you when it's common knowledge they track every phone call, email, etc. I don't really care as I have nothing to hide. If they get off reading my personal emails to my wife or whomever, let them. It may not make us happy they do this but if they are able to stop a terrorist event (which they have already done) let it be. If you have something to say or share with someone that is so private, take a walk with them and talk. That's how Bin Laden did it and also organized crime. I'm willing to give up some privacy if it might someday save my kids or yours.
    3 Feb, 10:00 AM Reply Like
  •  
    The problem with that is that it's a slippery slope. Give any government or industry a little power, and they will try to get more. With every new terrorist attack (real or alleged), more privacy intrusions will be proposed. The intelligence agencies won't miss the chance to prove how dedicated they are. Just like anyone who receives a paycheck. They are all in a rush to prove how dedicated they are, so they can protect their jobs. So, the intelligence agencies and bureaucrats will keep dreaming up new spying techniques, and justifying it by saying "well you told us to protect America." The more this continues, the closer we'll get to becoming like the old East Germany.
    3 Feb, 11:18 AM Reply Like
  •  
    "My intuitiion tells me that Apple, Google and Microsoft were listed because they cover the vast majority of the market."

    I think it's far more likely that they were listed because they're American companies and the others are not.
    3 Feb, 11:49 AM Reply Like
  •  
    Possibly. But Blackberry has to comply with the FTC.

    Let's not lose track about how this tangeant started. Mortonk thought there was something conspiratorial in the pick of companies.

    Apple, Google and Microsoft do cover that large majority of the market and the FTC recommendations are geared at the companies that make the OSs or the companies that make the apps {the later being too numerous to mention}

    We're now theorizing on why Blackberry wasn't mentioned. You have a reasonable theory. But we don't know and will never know without an explanation from the author of his/her reason .... Which could just as easily be ... "I didn't. But there was no particular reason for it. .... It's not a big deal people. There's no deep meaning. Get a grip."
    4 Feb, 09:58 AM Reply Like
  •  
    Does it mean (BBRY) RIMM, NOK is not even considered as a major player?
    I have invested good amount in RIMM and kicking my leg not to come out when it was in the $14's and $16's.
    Slowly starting to doubt if it will even hit 14 anytime soon. Will next week be rough like last week again driving the stock towards lower 12's? Anyone any comments and also suggest if I should come out if it goes to 13.50 again like Fri. My average is 14.75.
    Any suggestions are appreciated.
    3 Feb, 11:56 AM Reply Like
  •  
    Well, like you said, you should've sold when there was still "rumor" and not yet news (i.e. buy the rumor, sell the news). At this point, the only thing that will help BBRY's share price is turning in solid financial results demonstrating their product has traction in the market. So, if you trade with short time-horizons (i.e. measured in weeks), cut your losses and get out. If you trade with long-term time-horizons (i.e. measured in years), go to a store on the day of release and check out BB10 to make sure it is usable, and sell or hold based on your conclusion.

    The biggest mistake most people make is not learning to take their losses and move on. My advice is to get out of these consumer-type equities and find some good mining or energy related equities to hold, but I am biased (obviously).
    3 Feb, 02:50 PM Reply Like
  •  
    If you believe in bbry, buy more at bargain prices. If you stopped believing, sell right away. Simple? Yes, but the only possible answer to your dilemma!!!
    3 Feb, 03:11 PM Reply Like
  •  
    Consider what some major institutions are doing who hold Blackberry stock. Prem Watsa of Fairfax holds 52 million shares or so with an average purchase price in the high $18's. So your average price is below his. Do you think a Billionaire like Premt Watsa is going to dump half his holdings when Blackberry hits $19-$22 territory? Pretty doubtful.

    Blackberry's next reporting quarter will probably still show a loss, but then Analysts already know this is going to happen. If by some fluke they show even a penny of positive earnings per share, the stock price will most likely see a $2+ jump in 1-2 days after reporting that figure.

    I think you really need to wait till the USA gets the phones and give it at least 4 weeks after that to get an idea of how it is going.

    You have seen the movement in the stock and therefore you should know it can go either way on just a little bit of news.

    Peter Misek of Jefferies thinks the sum of parts in Blackberry is actually worth $30ish/share. Other Analysts have said sum of parts is in the $11-$17 area.
    3 Feb, 06:57 PM Reply Like
  •  
    Kishoren - Also I got to play with the Blackberry Z10 at my local Futureshop in Canada and the digital keyboard is probably the best digital keyboard I have ever used. I have played with the iPhone5 keyboard and also an Android on an HTC cell phone and on the Z10 it took me about 2 minutes to get used to the flicking gestures to add complete words to messages. It was SLICK with a FLICK!

    The Blackberry Superbowl commercial should also give more exposure to the new phones.
    3 Feb, 07:11 PM Reply Like
  •  
    I'm in the same boat as you are.Next week is going to be very dicey.
    4 Feb, 10:45 AM Reply Like
  •  
    If your tracked your hacked....and lucky if it is only a company and not a hacker after your passwords, personal identity and financial data. Get yourself a new Z-10 Blackberry.
    3 Feb, 12:03 PM Reply Like
  •  
    If this helps Kishoren, I must have bought at about the same time as you, days after Thorsten Heins became CEO, I paid around 13.50 per share. My broker told me I was nuts, of course he had to carry a BlackBerry Curve for his job, along side of his iPhone and didn't seem to get why.
    I told him that it was a long term investment, I didn't think in the instant gratification mode of younger investors. Also, remember that most of the analysts know nothing about what they write. And they seem to think that the world ends at the U.S. Border.
    I'm very impressed with my BlackBerry PlayBook and it's only a preview of BB 10. I have tried Apple and Android tablets and they can't touch it. Look at the terrible reviews it got, I believe it is the number 1 tablet in Great Britain ( don't quote me, I didn't have time to read-check that.)
    Just hang in there, this is a winner.
    3 Feb, 05:52 PM Reply Like
  •  
    everyone of us longs should ask for our BBRY stock certificates back from our brokers and then the squeeze can begin. I am. After all BBRY is a long-term investment.
    4 Feb, 10:24 AM Reply Like
  •  
    I think your correct tonyrenier.
    4 Feb, 10:24 AM Reply Like
LATEST|
TODAY SO FAR|
YESTERDAY
Other date
DJIA (DIA) S&P 500 (SPY)

TECH ETFs IN FOCUS

Latest Tech Articles
More Latest Articles »