Zynga Sues Developers Over Bang with Friends App

Social games giant Zynga has sued the makers of a 'casual sex app' called Bang with Friends, claiming the title infringes on its popular "with friends" trademark.

According to Bloomberg, Zynga filed the complaint yesterday against the developers of the app, which seeks to connect anonymous Facebook users who are "down to bang." The complaint seeks a court order which would bar the company from using the name in relation to any social media apps within the United States.

“Zynga filed a lawsuit to stop blatant infringement of its valuable ‘With Friends’ brand,” said Zynga's deputy general counsel Renee Lawson in a statement. “Zynga is compelled to file suit to prevent further consumer confusion and protect its intellectual property rights against infringement.”

Zynga's been in the news recently due to its dramatic revenue losses and the hire of ex-Microsoft executive Don Mattrick.

Lucy O'Brien is Entertainment Editor at IGN AU. Follow her ramblings on IGN at Luce_IGN_AU,or @Luceobrien on Twitter.

Bits Blog: Twitter Makes New Rules for Developers

image via TwitterTwitter said it is encouraging developers to build apps that fall into the upper-left, lower-left and lower-right areas of the graph above.

The relationship between Twitter and developers who build apps linked to Twitter has been a bit rocky for some time. A year ago, Twitter warned that stricter rules and regulations were coming to people who built apps on the company’s platform.

On Thursday, Twitter finally disclosed — albeit in a very technical and confusing way — how it plans to tighten up those rules.

In a blog post on the company’s developer blog, Michael Sippey, Twitter’s director of product, said the company would specifically begin instrumenting stricter guidelines for its application programming interface, or A.P.I.

From a business standpoint, Twitter’s decision to limit the use of the A.P.I. is an attempt to rationalize and control its business. Last year, Twitter said that there were more than 1 million registered applications using Twitter. Managing and delivering Twitter messages to all of those clients likely costs Twitter millions of dollars in computing costs. It also employs an army of engineers who are responsible for managing the platform.

Developers probably aren’t going to be thrilled with all the new rules. Aaron Levie, the chief executive of Box, tweeted Thursday, “Twitter’s API has more rules than North Korea.”

To start, Twitter will require that any developer using the A.P.I. to be authenticated on the platform. This will be done to “prevent malicious use of the Twitter API and gain an understanding of what types of applications” using the service, Mr. Sippey wrote.

Twitter will also begin limiting how often applications can access the company’s A.P.I. in third-party apps. Until now, Twitter has been offering a “one size fits all” approach to developers.

Twitter also said it was redefining its “Developer Rules of the Road,” and would start enforcing stricter guidelines for new apps that are developed on the platform.

The company said it will give developers six months to switch to the new A.P.I.

Bits Blog: Mobile App Developers Scoop Up Vast Amounts of Data, Reports Say

They can stream music, make restaurant reservations, and offer distractions for ornery children. But few things in life are free – least of all applications.

Two new reports this week reveal how app developers are scooping up enormous amounts of data from mobile devices and serving up ads in unlikely places. Advertising revenues have long been the oil that greases the Internet. Mobile apps are its new frontier. Both reports nudge application developers to adopt standards for data collection and advertising.

The Future of Privacy Forum, an advocacy group, on Wednesday, reported first the good news: Application developers are getting better at writing up privacy policies on both Google and Apple operating systems, the group concluded. But some still don’t take that minimum first step, even when collecting sensitive information, like location; they included a game, Fruit Ninja Plus, and a photo app, Camera+.

A private firm, Lookout Security, found far more invasive practices by the companies that serve up advertisements on behalf of app  developers. Some pushed advertisements to the device notification bar, well beyond the confines of the actual application. Others inserted new icons or shortcuts on the mobile desktop and tweaked bookmarks settings.

The proliferation of applications is staggering. Apple reported earlier this year that 25 billion applications had been downloaded on its iOS platform to date; Google estimated 20 billion had been downloaded on the Android platform.

“Given the pace at which the mobile ecosystem is moving, it’s important that standards are developed to ensure that private user data is accessed and managed appropriately,” Lookout Security said in its report.

It urged app developers to provide opt-out controls for when ads appear outside the walls of the application and provide explicit notification if the ad network intends to collect personal data including a user’s name and phone number.

The Future of Privacy Forum urged app developers to provide “enhanced notice” if the application is collecting information that users might not expect and to give users choice and control over what they share.

Bits Blog: Mobile App Developers Scoop Up Vast Amounts of Data, Reports Say

They can stream music, make restaurant reservations, and offer distractions for ornery children. But few things in life are free – least of all applications.

Two new reports this week reveal how app developers are scooping up enormous amounts of data from mobile devices and serving up ads in unlikely places. Advertising revenues have long been the oil that greases the Internet. Mobile apps are its new frontier. Both reports nudge application developers to adopt standards for data collection and advertising.

The Future of Privacy Forum, an advocacy group, on Wednesday, reported first the good news: Application developers are getting better at writing up privacy policies on both Google and Apple operating systems, the group concluded. But some still don’t take that minimum first step, even when collecting sensitive information, like location; they included a game, Fruit Ninja Plus, and a photo app, Camera+.

A private firm, Lookout Security, found far more invasive practices by the companies that serve up advertisements on behalf of app  developers. Some pushed advertisements to the device notification bar, well beyond the confines of the actual application. Others inserted new icons or shortcuts on the mobile desktop and tweaked bookmarks settings.

The proliferation of applications is staggering. Apple reported earlier this year that 25 billion applications had been downloaded on its iOS platform to date; Google estimated 20 billion had been downloaded on the Android platform.

“Given the pace at which the mobile ecosystem is moving, it’s important that standards are developed to ensure that private user data is accessed and managed appropriately,” Lookout Security said in its report.

It urged app developers to provide opt-out controls for when ads appear outside the walls of the application and provide explicit notification if the ad network intends to collect personal data including a user’s name and phone number.

The Future of Privacy Forum urged app developers to provide “enhanced notice” if the application is collecting information that users might not expect and to give users choice and control over what they share.