SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Six of the world’s top consumer technology firms have agreed to provide greater privacy disclosures before users download applications in order to protect the personal data of millions of consumers, California’s attorney general said on Wednesday.

The agreement binds Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Research In Motion, and Hewlett-Packard — and developers on their platforms — to disclose how they use private data before an app may be downloaded, Attorney General Kamala D. Harris said.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Living in the world of social networking and mobile smartphones means trading away some of your personal information.

But assessing the price of admission to join the super-networked, digital class is not so simple; even experts on the issue admit that they don’t have a full picture of the way personal information is collected and used on the Internet. But here are some basic guidelines to keep in mind.

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 15 (Reuters) – Under pressure from
U.S. legislators, Apple Inc moved Wednesday to quell a
swelling privacy controversy by saying that it will begin to
require iPhone and iPad apps to seek “explicit approval” in
separate user prompts before accessing users’ address book data.

Apple’s move came shortly after two members of the U.S.
House Energy and Commerce committee requested the company to
provide more information about its privacy policies. Bloggers,
in recent days, have published findings that some of the most
popular software applications in Apple’s App Store have been
able to lift private address book data without user consent.

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 15 (Reuters) – U.S. legislators on
Wednesday sought more information from Apple Inc
regarding its privacy policies, pulling the iPhone manufacturer
into a swelling controversy over how developers on its popular
iOS mobile platform have been able to access users’ private
address book data.

In a letter addressed to Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook,
Representatives Henry Waxman of California and G.K. Butterfield
of North Carolina, both Democrats on the House Energy and
Commerce Committee, asked Apple to clarify its developer
guidelines and the measures taken by the company to screen apps
that are sold on its App Store.

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 9 (Reuters) – A privacy debate
surrounding fledgling social network Path went viral this week,
triggering discussions on blogs and on Twitter about how far
social networks can go in using members’ private data.

Path was sharply criticized in blogs and social media forums
this week after an independent software developer revealed that
Path’s Apple iPhone application uploaded users’ address
book data to its own servers without permission.

By Alistair Barr and Gerry Shih

(Reuters) – Groupon Inc shares slumped Wednesday as the daily deal company’s first quarterly results since it went public stoked concern about limited disclosure and slowing growth.

Groupon reported an unexpected fourth-quarter loss from a huge tax bill, most of which will likely not be repeated.