Reuters

Federal Trade Commissioner Julie Brill expressed concern about the way apps on smartphones and mobile devices are siphoning sensitive health data, and how some of that information may then be shared with third parties.

Commissioner Brill said that many companies now prefer to focus on how data is used, because that is where "the rubber hits the road when it comes to patient harm."

Developers should give consumers more tools and "robust choice mechanisms" before any sensitive data is collected and stored. "We don't know where that information ultimately goes," Commissioner Brill said. "It makes consumers uncomfortable.

US District Judge Paul Grewal rejected Google’s bid to dismiss a privacy lawsuit claiming it commingled user data across different products and disclosed that data to advertisers without permission.

Saying his decision was a close call, Judge Grewal ruled that Google must face breach of contract and fraud claims by users of Android-powered devices who had downloaded at least one Android application through Google Play.

Other parts of the lawsuit were dismissed, including claims brought on behalf of account users who switched to non-Android devices from Android devices after Google changed its privacy policy in 2012 to allow the commingling.

Twenty-First Century Fox's plan to buy Time Warner could create an upheaval in the sports television world, creating the first meaningful challenge to Walt Disney's ESPN.

Time Warner's board has rejected an $80 billion bid, but Fox Chairman Rupert Murdoch is unlikely to walk away quickly. A deal would bring him college basketball's "March Madness" championship tournament, prime time National Basketball Association (NBA) games, and Major League Baseball (MLB) games.

Fox's sports rights include National Football League games, professional baseball games and NASCAR racing. In 2015 it gets the rights to women's World Cup soccer and in 2018 the men's World Cup.

Rep Judy Chu (D-CA) and State Sen Ted Lieu (D-Los Angeles) have called for a host of Fox News Channel's "The Five" program to resign, saying Bob Beckel's use of the term "Chinamen" was racist.

The pundit is facing criticism for using the word on air as well as for suggesting Chinese computer science students come to study in the US only to pose a security threat. Rep Chu said she was deeply offended and that Beckel should go immediately.

State Sen Ted Lieu (D-Los Angeles), who is running for the US House of Representatives, called himself "one of those 'Chinamen' with 'Oriental' eyes" who immigrated to the United States and majored in computer science. I also served on active duty in the United States Air Force and continue to serve my country in the Reserves," State Sen Lieu said. "Mr. Beckel's comments are more than just racist and stupid. His ignorant views are dangerous."

Dish Network said it plans to take part in the Federal Communications Commission's large sale of low-frequency airwaves planned for mid-2015. Dish's Chairman Charlie Ergen and other executives met with the FCC's Chairman Tom Wheeler, four commissioners and numerous wireless officials, giving the most explicit pledge so far by the satellite TV provider to "meaningfully participate" in the so-called "incentive" auction."

The incentive auction offers opportunities for competitive providers and new entrants to bid on and win much-needed lowband spectrum, which will facilitate the deployment of mobile broadband services," wrote Dish Senior Vice President Jeffrey Blum.

Rupert Murdoch will jet into Idaho's Sun Valley for the year's most exclusive tech and media industry gathering, armed with both the money and the appetite for a major deal.

The 83-year-old Twenty-First Century Fox chief executive officer, a regular at investment bank Allen & Co's annual gathering, is in the midst of a deal that would give Fox the firepower to buy a content company.

Fox's 39 percent-owned British Sky Broadcasting Group is negotiating to buy Fox's Sky Italia and its Sky Deutschland subsidiary in a deal that could net Fox as much as $13 billion. Sun Valley will be teeming with CEOs whose companies might fit the bill. Among expected attendees are Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes and Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman.

LightSquared has reached a mediated deal to bring the wireless communications company out of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy, according to a report from the mediator who lashed out at Charles Ergen, a large creditor and satellite TV mogul.

Amazon.com’s Asia unit will provide back-end support in a venture with an Indian private investment firm formed by Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy that aims to help get Indian companies online.

Catamaran Ventures' partnership with Amazon Asia will target small- and medium-sized firms, Arjun Ramegowda Narayanswamy, who heads the private investment company, said.

Access to mobile devices and better-quality broadband has boosted India's online shopping scene, where Amazon is jostling with home-grown companies like Flipkart and Snapdeal for market share.

An official from Amazon's India unit, who did not want to be identified as details of the deal are not public, told Reuters Amazon will support the venture with logistics and technology know-how. The venture, which is already operational, is expected to help offline sellers and small and medium businesses in India to supply to a fast-growing set of online customers in the country, he said.

Fledging cooperation between the United States and China on fighting cybercrime has ground to a halt since the recent US indictment of Chinese military officials on hacking charges, a senior US security official said. At the same time, there has been no decline in Chinese hackers' efforts to break into US networks, the official said. US and Chinese officials had started working together to combat certain types of online crime, including money laundering, child pornography and drug trafficking, the US official said. But that cooperation has stopped.

A US judge said she had concerns about approving a $324.5 million settlement involving Apple, Google and two other tech companies in a lawsuit accusing them of conspiring to avoid poaching each other's workers.

Tech employees filed a class action lawsuit against Apple, Google, Intel and Adobe Systems in 2011.

The case has been closely watched due to the potentially high damages award and the opportunity to peek into the world of Silicon Valley's elite. The four companies agreed to settle with the plaintiffs in April for a total of $324.5 million. The plaintiffs had planned to ask for about $3 billion in damages at trial, which could have tripled to $9 billion under antitrust law.

US District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California must approve the deal.