Consumer Watchdog asked the FTC and Justice Department to investigate whether Apple unfairly dominates the streaming music business, said a CW news release. “Apple’s new streaming music service raises serious antitrust concerns that require the government to put limitations on Apple as it develops its service if consumers are to continue to have access to free streaming music services and so-called ‘freemium’ music,” wrote CW President Jamie Court and Privacy Project Director John Simpson in a letter Wednesday. Apple has credit card information for subscribers and knows its users’ musical preferences, and uses that information to “attempt to rub out free (commercial sponsored) music platforms,” the group said. “Confidential information provided to Consumer Watchdog suggests that Apple is pressing the three remaining music labels to give Apple exclusive rights to artists" -- it has more than 800 million credit cards on file worldwide and can charge those cards following a trial subscription; has inside knowledge of the music preferences of hundreds of millions of consumers and can leverage this information to dominate the subscription music sector regardless of price; and if the music studios don’t comply, Apple will go directly to the artists and cut the music labels out of the business, the letter said. “Apple is utilizing its market power in much the way the company did in setting e-book prices.” Documents showing Apple’s tactics are under seal in an action before the Copyright Royalty Board, under the case citation 14-CRB-0001-WR (2016-2020) (Web IV), the letter said. DOJ and the FTC can issue a subpoena to see the documents, it said. “Given that Apple is both an online platform for music apps, the dominant one in the industry, and now a competitor of streaming music services, Apple is in a position to drive up prices for consumers,” Court and Simpson wrote. DOJ, the FTC and Apple didn't comment.

Amazon and Warner Music Group are among 10 new members joining the Digital Entertainment Group, the group said Wednesday. Other new members are CenturyLink, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, MAI, Outpost Media, Parrot Analytics, Screen Engine, V2Solutions and W2O Group, DEG said. "DEG continues to adjust its agenda to serve the needs of the full home entertainment in order to help support the transformation of the industry,” DEG President Amy Jo Smith said in a statement.

Microsoft released a new reporting Web page enabling individuals to request the removal of nonconsensual pornography or revenge porn images and videos globally from Bing search results, as well as from content shared on Microsoft OneDrive or Xbox Live, Chief Online Safety Officer Jacqueline Beauchere said in a blog post Wednesday. “Removing links in search results to content hosted elsewhere online doesn’t actually remove the content from the Internet,” she said. “Victims still need stronger protections across the Web and around the world,” she said, because revenge porn can damage a person’s relationships, career, social activities, and in severe cases lead to suicide. “Microsoft remains committed to continuing to work with leaders and experts worldwide on this evolving subject, and we expect to learn a great deal as the process moves forward,” Beauchere said. “Our hope is that by helping to address requests and to remove these extremely personal photos and videos from our services, we can better support victims as they work to re-claim their privacy, and help to push just a little further in the fight against this despicable practice.” The reporting Web page is in English. Microsoft will make the site available in other languages in the coming weeks, Beauchere said.

Netflix's TV app is getting its first major upgrade in two years with new functionality, it said Wednesday in a blog post. Video playback is being linked with content selection so when a viewer selects a title, it will start or resume playing while briefly superimposing information about the program on the screen. That new feature began rollout Wednesday and is expected to be worldwide in days, the company said.

The FTC filed documents with the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona Tuesday alleging LifeLock violated a 2010 settlement with the agency and 35 state attorneys general by “continuing to make deceptive claims about its identity theft protection services, and by failing to take steps required to protect its users’ data,” an FTC news release said. The commission asked the court to impose an order requiring LifeLock to provide full redress to all consumers affected by the company’s order violations, it said. “We disagree with the substance of the FTC’s contentions and are prepared to take our case to court,” LifeLock said in an emailed statement. “Security of our systems has always been, and will remain, of primary importance to us.” The 2010 settlement came after the FTC alleged LifeLock used “false claims to promote its identity theft protection services,” the agency release said. Under the settlement, LifeLock was barred from making any further deceptive claims, was required to take more stringent measures to safeguard the personal information it collects from consumers, and LifeLock was required to pay $12 million in consumer refunds, it said. The FTC alleges LifeLock violated the 2010 settlement by failing to establish and maintain a comprehensive information security program to protect users’ sensitive personal data, including credit card, Social Security numbers and bank account numbers; falsely advertised it protected consumers’ sensitive data with the same high-level safeguards as financial institutions; and failed to meet the 2010 order’s record-keeping requirements, it said. Details of the agency’s action against LifeLock were filed under seal, the release said. The court could decide to unseal portions of the case, the FTC said. The vote to file the application for a show cause order was 4-1, with Commissioner Maureen Ohlhausen voting no. Commissioner Ohlhausen declined to comment further on this case at this time, her office said. “Based on the evidence, we do not believe that anything the FTC is alleging has resulted in any member’s data being taken,” LifeLock said. “The FTC is not seeking any relief that would change LifeLock services and products going forward,” but is "raising claims related to past, not current business practices.”

The application deadline for candidates to be ICANN’s next CEO is Sept. 20, ICANN’s CEO Search Committee said Monday. The committee formed to find a replacement for outgoing ICANN CEO Fadi Chehadé, who's leaving the nonprofit after its March 5-10 meeting. ICANN needs “a public interest-minded leader with a combination of business, diplomatic and organizational skills to assume the leadership of a successful multi-stakeholder organization,” the committee said. The ICANN committee said it’s seeking candidates with successful records at “respected” public, corporate, academic service, nongovernmental organizations, foundations and other public service institutions.

Twitter unveiled a new Safety Center, designed to be a resource for those looking to report abusive accounts and block accounts and for those looking to learn about online safety, wrote Head-Global Trust & Safety Outreach, Public Policy Patricia Cartes in a blog post Monday. “Online safety is a shared responsibility, and digital citizenship is essential to fostering a safe environment for all,” Cartes said. “As Twitter evolves along with the world of online safety, we will continue to create new materials for the Safety Center.”

The Trustworthy Accountability Group, an advertising initiative fighting criminal activity in the digital advertising supply chain, announced a new program to block illegitimate and nonhuman ad traffic originating from data centers, said a TAG news release Tuesday. “Data center traffic is one of many types of nonhuman or illegitimate ad traffic, and this new program will complement TAG’s recently-announced Fraud Threat List, through which companies share web domains that are sources of fraudulent traffic.” Initially, TAG will use Google’s database of data center IP addresses and “enhance it based upon broader industry intelligence,” the group said. Companies joining TAG in this phase of the project include Dstillery, Facebook, MediaMath, Quantcast, Rubicon Project, The Trade Desk, TubeMogul and Yahoo, it said. “Industry leaders like Google are stepping up to the plate to provide the information and tools we need to block fraudulent and illegitimate ad traffic at its source,” said TAG CEO Mike Zaneis. “Tackling ad fraud will require everyone in the industry to take an active role,” said Google Vice President-Video and Display Advertising Products Neal Mohan.

Sensitive and personal information for some 40 million people was stolen from Avid Life Media, a Toronto-based organization that owns the “world’s leading dating service” for those looking to have an affair, Ashley Madison, which has 37 million users, and hookup sites like Established Men and Cougar Life, KrebsOnSecurity reported Sunday. The company confirmed it had been hacked and was investigating the origin, nature and scope of the incident, in a statement Monday. The hackers identified themselves as the “Impact Team” and left a message instructing Avid Life Media to permanently shut down Ashley Madison and Established Men or the hackers would release the data taken from the company. “We have taken over all systems in your entire office and production domains, all customer information databases, source code repositories, financial records, emails,” Impact Team’s message said. The message singled out Avid Life Media Chief Technology Officer Trevor Stokes, who had noted in an internal document that protecting personal information was his biggest “critical success factor” and that he would “hate to see our systems hacked and/or the leak of personal information.” Impact Team welcomed Stokes to his “worst fucking nightmare.” The hackers demanded Avid Life media permanently shut down Ashley Madison and Established Men, “or we will release all customer records, including profiles with all the customers’ secret sexual fantasies and matching credit card transactions, real names and addresses, and employee documents and emails.” Other Avid Life Media websites were allowed to stay online. Avid Life Media said it secured its sites and closed "the unauthorized access points,” and is working with law enforcement to hold any and all parties responsible.

PayPal modified terms of its user agreement, as promised to the FCC (see 1506290044), to make it clear that it primarily uses autodialed or prerecorded calls and text to help detect, investigate and protect customers from fraud; provide notices to customers about their accounts or account activity; or collect a debt, said in an email to customers last weekend. The new section also clarifies autodialed or prerecorded calls or texts won't be used to contact customers for marketing purposes without prior express written consent; customers can continue to use PayPal products and services without consenting to autodialed or prerecorded calls or texts; and customers can revoke consent to receiving these communications, the email said.