Airline data breach hits WestJet exposing over 1M passengers
Thursday, October 30, 2025 by Russ Scritchfield
Canada’s second-largest airline, WestJet, disclosed that a data breach earlier this year compromised the personal information of approximately 1.2 million passengers. The airline reported the incident in a filing with Maine’s attorney general, confirming that 240 residents in the state were affected.
Details of the information compromised
The informati...
Apple withdraws ICE tracking apps from App Store including ICEBlock
Friday, October 10, 2025 by Trey Abbe
Apple has removed ICEBlock and similar applications from its App Store following a request from the Trump administration. The move marks a rare instance of a U.S. technology firm complying with a federal demand to take down apps, raising new questions about the balance between public safety, free speech, and corporate responsibility.
What the apps did
ICEBlock and...
Ad tech antitrust trial begins as Google seeks to avoid breakup
Wednesday, October 8, 2025 by Richard Harris
Alphabet’s Google is facing a U.S. antitrust trial in Alexandria, Virginia, that could determine whether the company must sell part of its online advertising business. The Department of Justice (DOJ) and a coalition of states are seeking to limit Google’s control over its ad exchange, AdX, which facilitates automated online advertising auctions for publisher...
Raised H-1B costs may shift tech jobs to U.S. Developers
Monday, October 6, 2025 by Richard Harris
A new requirement imposing a $100,000 annual fee on many H-1B visa petitions has reshaped the debate about how U.S. companies recruit technology talent. The measure applies broadly to employers hiring or renewing foreign workers and significantly increases the financial burden on businesses that depend on this visa category.
What the new rule changes
The fee appli...
Tilting Point lawsuit settles for 500K after violating COPPA and CCPA
Monday, July 22, 2024 by Richard Harris
On June 18, 2024, the California Attorney General and Los Angeles City Attorney settled a case against Tilting Point Media LLC for violating privacy laws related to children's data. The video game developer allegedly breached the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) through their mobile app, &q...
Tailored AI to steal the focus from LLMs in 2024 says Harnik Shukla
Friday, December 8, 2023 by Richard Harris
In 2023, we witnessed an explosive proliferation of Large Language Models (LLMs), including ChatGPT, which made a profound impact on various industries. In less than a year, ChatGPT has garnered an astounding 100 million weekly users, while over 2 million developers have harnessed the ChatGPT API to craft innovative solutions across numerous Fortune 500 companies.
In...
Mobile cramming scheme halted by FTC
Thursday, November 30, 2023 by Richard Harris
The Federal Trade Commission has obtained orders with the four remaining individual defendants and their affiliated companies in a mobile cramming scheme that the agency says bilked consumers out of more than $100 million through bogus charges added to their mobile phone bills.
The proposed settlements with Darcy Michael Wedd and Phwoar, LLC.; Fraser Robert Thompson ...
Warning to app developers from dating app founder
Thursday, May 25, 2023 by Austin Harris
Leading consensual non-monogamy (CNM) app 3Fun, is the victim of an attempted trademark infringement extortion plot that has included the temporary removal of the app from the iOS App Store. This unexpected disruption has greatly impacted 3Fun's business, as it loses new and current iOS users and risks losing its high ranking in the App Store.
The extortion plot ...
25th East Coast Gaming Congress and NexGen Gaming Forum
Friday, June 17, 2022 by Brittany Hainzinger
The 25th East Coast Gaming Congress & NexGen Gaming Forum will take place September 21 - 23, 2022 at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Atlantic City.
The theme of this silver anniversary celebration of the two-day conference is “Gaming Here, Gaming There, Gaming Everywhere.” The conference will feature, for the first time, two industry leaders' ro...
HitPiece facing legal action from RIAA
Wednesday, February 9, 2022 by Richard Harris
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) sent a demand letter to the attorney representing the notorious (and now offline) NFT scam site HitPiece.com and its founders demanding the site stop infringing music creator Intellectual Property (IP) rights, provide a complete listing of site activities and revenues to date and account for all NFTs and artwork ...
GDPR and data security
Friday, September 18, 2020 by Jonathan Weicher
How has the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) affected your firm during the past two years? It has been nearly that long since GDPR went into effect across Europe, applicable for any organizations handling the personal information of European citizens. Since that time, it appears to be performing well up to expectations. Firms of all kinds find themse...
UK parliamentary report says Facebook should be regulated
Monday, February 18, 2019 by Austin Harris
Facebook and its executives have been labeled "digital gangsters" in a UK parliamentary report that calls for the company to be regulated, after an 18-month long investigation. The 180-page document says that Facebook willfully broke data privacy and competition laws.
A summary of the UK parliamentary report finds
Compulsory Code of Ethics for te...
Perspective on the Microsoft v. US Supreme Court decision
Saturday, April 21, 2018 by Richard Harris
The U.S. Supreme Court has recently decided on a ruling for the Microsoft v. U.S. Supreme Court case. Because of the very important implications that this decision could have on the technology industry, we thought it best to get a legal opinion on what the ruling could mean in the future.Geoffrey Sant is a Partner at the international law firm Dorsey & Whitney LLP a...
Enterprises need a software security program
Tuesday, January 30, 2018 by Sammy Migues
The answer to the “why” enterprises need a software security program question is pretty straightforward. There are no circumstances under which any but the smallest firms can expect a collection of independent activities - a pen test here, an hour of training there, some free tools that may or may not work as advertised - will consistently result in appropriately secure...
App naming best practices
Friday, January 26, 2018 by Grant Polachek
Choosing an intriguing and sticky name for your app at times can be the hardest part of the whole development process. You want it to call out to potential users, be unique, yet timeless. When someone is looking in your category for an app, you want it to standout as the best app name amongst the rest. Here are a few recommended dos and don'ts when naming your...
Blockchain tech to help digitize Dutch government legislation
Wednesday, December 20, 2017 by Austin Harris
Dutch software company LegalThings has kicked off with the digitization of Dutch legislation on the blockchain. LegalThings launched its LegalThings One platform, an Ethereum-like platform that decentralizes contracts and laws on the blockchain. The Ministry of Justice aims to run the first legislation in the blockchain by the end of 2018.The Dutch government wants to b...
A guide for protecting your app with a patent, trademark, or copyright
Tuesday, December 12, 2017 by Bryan Wheelock
Perhaps the only thing harder than taking your idea for a great app from concept to successful reality is watching someone else take your idea for a great app to successful reality. Fortunately, intellectual property law - particularly patent, trademark, and copyright law - provides robust protection for apps, or at least for developers who plan ahead.
Utility Patent...
How app developers can avoid costly IP mistakes
Tuesday, August 29, 2017 by Chinh Pham
In the early stages of product development, app developers often pour time and resources into building a viable business, development, and marketing. And while most app developers certainly take intellectual property (IP) protection into consideration, the unfortunate reality is that many underestimate just how integral a strong IP strategy is to commercial success and ...
VidAngel is now open for business after intense legal battles
Thursday, June 15, 2017 by Richard Harris
VidAngel, an entertainment platform that lets their users to filter language, nudity, violence, and other content from movies and TV shows, is engaged in a high-profile legal battle with Disney, Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, and Lucasfilm. These Hollywood studios have taken legal action in an effort to remove the 2005 Family Movie Act and prevent VidAngel from allowin...
DocuSign talks about embedding eSigning into your app
Monday, June 12, 2017 by Richard Harris
DocuSign, an eSignature startup, has a reported $3 billion valuation, more than 100+ million users, and a client roster that includes Microsoft, Salesforce, LinkedIn and SAP. Here Marie Huwe, the VP of Developer Programs and Evangelism at DocuSign, tells us about their API and how developers have influenced their growth and success to date. ADM: What is your role at Doc...
How the new US administration will effect Internet privacy
Thursday, February 2, 2017 by Austin Harris
NordVPN has observed a notable increase in inquiries immediately after the U.S. election and a stable growth of interest from Americans ever since.As the new U.S. President starts his four-year term, many wonder what will be the new policy on government surveillance of ordinary citizens. President Donald Trump, while being vague on his views concerning Internet privacy,...
The hackers religion of open source: A manifesto (kind of)
Friday, January 27, 2017 by Pavel Cherkashin
Religion sucks. But people still need to believe in something to have motivation in life. Over the last 20 years, religions have reported incredible decreases in numbers. Many scholars attribute that to the growth of technology, connectivity and to the exposure it gives people to different religions. There are more people now that identity as “spiritual” than ever befor...
Salesforce Trailhead turned this future lawyer into a citizen developer
Tuesday, January 17, 2017 by Richard Harris
This week, we spoke with Krystal Carter, President, Chief Cloud Enthusiast, Danny Kay Cloud, about how she went from aspirations to being an attorney to owning her own cloud consulting company, and her advice for others looking to kick-start their career in the digital economy. Prior to working in tech what did you do for a living? What made you want to switch care...
Seven Keys to Obtaining Meaningful Patent Protection for Your Mobile App
Friday, September 16, 2016 by Mark Lezama
You’ve come up with a brilliant idea for a mobile app that will deliver disruptive technology. You’ve sketched out a rough storyboard of your user interface and user experience. You’ve outlined the algorithms and architecture you need to implement your idea and satisfied yourself that your app is technically feasible. You are ready to finalize you...
ATTO Technology Announces New SAN Upgrade Kits
Saturday, May 28, 2016 by Stuart Parkerson
ATTO Technology has announced the availability of a range of Fibre Channel SAN Kits providing the components needed to update existing direct-attached storage to a high-performance, low-latency storage area network providing the opportunity to centrally locate storage and improve overall performance by adding a storage area network (SAN) solution.The ATTO Fibre Channel ...
Protecting Your Mobile App from Imposters
Thursday, March 3, 2016 by AJ Tibbetts
Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but in an app context it will lead to lost users and ad imprints. This may seriously impact a bottom line and may even affect exit strategies such as prospects for acquisition. Worse, copying of mobile apps is widespread, to the point that Apple has introduced a web interface for reporting duplicates in an effort to clean...
Creating Apps for Kids What It Means to be COPPA Compliant
Wednesday, January 27, 2016 by Gai Havkin
A cute little interface and amazing content is often thought to be the right recipe for a killer app for kids. No doubt these are the main ingredients, but in order to have an app that’ll truly make it in the long run, a developer must be very thoughtful regarding the app’s monetization strategy AND genuine kid-friendliness - not only in interface and content - but also...
Incorporating Sustainability to Move Brilliant App Concepts Beyond a Challenge Weekend
Thursday, March 5, 2015 by Andrew Cole
Data. The infrastructure of the digital age. Civic hackathons across the country are acting like megaphones to those who manage data in government: The public data you manage is ours. And here’s how we’ll use it to make our communities and business environments better.Want to participate in a civic hackathon? No problem, you can most definitely find one near you. You’ve...
O Brother, Where Art Thou How New Laws Are Governing the Collection and Use of Geolocation Information Inside Apps
Saturday, September 20, 2014 by Adam Grant
Trying to find out where someone is located is valuable information for businesses and attorneys, but there are new laws winding their way through Congress which directly impact how this information is obtained. In 2000, George Clooney appeared in the Joel and Ethan Coen comedy titled O Brother, Where Art Thou? The Coen brothers’ movie created the story as a modern...
IoT meets VR: The Next Concern Over Mobile Privacy
Wednesday, April 23, 2014 by Adam Grant
In the beginning of this year at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, it seemed as if every sponsor and vendor was introducing a product that demonstrated a deep commitment to mobile technology and its interaction with the “Internet of Things.” Clearly, 2014 appeared to be the year mobile technology would move from a consumer’s interaction only with th...
App Law and Which Way I Ought To Go From Here
Tuesday, April 1, 2014 by Adam Grant
On March 21, the FTC issued a press release that caused me
to reflect on a certain piece of famous literature I read as a child. As I read
the press release, I thought about Lewis Carroll’s timeless classic, Alice in Wonderland, and how it could
provide guidance to mobile app developer’s when considering how the law
regulates a child’s use of an app. Lewis
wrote t...
FTC Questions Just How Much Light Flashlight App Sheds on Amount of Information Obtained from Users
Monday, December 9, 2013 by Adam Grant
On Friday, December 5, 2013, the FTC announced it settled charges against Goldenshores Technologies, LLC, the company behind the “Brightest Flashlight Free” App. According to the release, the app has been downloaded tens of millions of times by users of the Android operating system. The FTC claimed the company’s privacy policy failed to tell users the app collected th...
From Lemonade and Lucy to COPPA and Cookies
Sunday, December 8, 2013 by Adam Grant
On July 1, 2013, the Child Online Privacy Protection Policy
(“COPPA”) dramatically altered how we think about cookies
Growing up as children in the US, our first taste of
commerce involved selling lemonade in front of our house on a sweltering summer
day, or wondering what justified the hefty price of 5 cents Lucy charged
Charlie Brown for psychiatr...
AT&T, Sprint, T Mobile, Verizon To End Most Premium Text Service Billing
Friday, November 22, 2013 by Richard Harris
Premium text message billing on the four largest carriers will soon be ending, hopefully putting an end to such services that have become a significant gateway for fraud, mostly in the Android market.45 states have been looking into the issue known as "cramming" for a long time now and are happy that the carriers have finally decided to help stomp out the problem.“While...
The October 2013 Issue Is Here!
Thursday, October 10, 2013 by Richard Harris
We are proud to announce the arrival of the latest issue of App Developer magazine....finally!Sorry for the delay in publishing everyone, I could rattle off a few reasons for the delay but I would rather get to what matters - it's here!Inside the October issue, Peach Pellen tells us what not to name your app, a reader tip on why ASO isn't the only choice ...
