PCWorld

Privacy campaign group Europe-v-Facebook is inviting Facebook users outside the United States and Canada to join a lawsuit against the company, which it alleges violates privacy laws. Europe-v-Facebook’s Max Schrems filed suit with the commercial court in Vienna, Austria, where he lives.

The suit accuses Facebook of “basic or obvious violations of the law.”

The alleged violations include the company’s privacy policy, its alleged participation in the Prism data collection program run by the US National Security Agency (NSA), its graph search; its tracking of users on third party websites, the use of “big data” systems that spy on users, and the company’s non-compliance with data access requests.

The Irish High Court has referred to a 14-year-old agreement governing the exchange of personal data between the European Union and the US to the EU’s top court.

The referral came in a case over whether the Irish Data Protection Commissioner was right to refuse to investigate Facebook’s alleged involvement with the US government surveillance program Prism.

Europe-v-Facebook, an Austrian group representing some Facebook users, filed a complaint with the Irish DPC over Facebook’s data exportation regime in June 2013. It argued that when Facebook collects user data and exports it to the US it is giving the US National Security Agency (NSA) the opportunity to use the data for massive surveillance of personal information without probable cause -- and by doing so, Facebook is violating European laws. European laws prohibit the transfer of personal data to non-EU countries that do not meet the EU’s standards for data protection.

Google has expanded its Project Loon tests to the Nevada desert and, for the first time, into licensed radio spectrum.

Google declined to comment on the secret trials, but a local official confirmed they are related to Project Loon, and government filings point to several recent balloon launches.

Loon is an ambitious attempt by Google to bring Internet access to vast swathes of the planet that currently have little or no connectivity. The project was unveiled last June, and Google said at the time it was experimenting with balloons flying around 20 kilometers (65,000 feet) above the Earth, using radio links in an unlicensed portion of the spectrum at around 2.4GHz.

Google’s application didn’t say exactly which wireless technology it planned to use, but it did disclose the broad type of signal: a class that includes LTE, WiMax and other point-to-point microwave data transmission systems. That clue, coupled with the use of paired spectrum, points to the likelihood of LTE.

Networking devices that don’t have conventional user interfaces is one of the bigger barriers to realizing the Internet of Things.

To make that process easier, the Wi-Fi Alliance has added support for NFC (near-field communication) technology to its WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup) security standard. Instead of typing characters or pushing buttons, you'll soon be able to add an NFC device to your network by simply tapping it against your router. NFC is becoming ubiquitous in cell phones and tablets, but the Wi-Fi Alliance expects NFC setup to be even more useful for adding simpler devices -- everything from thermostats to household appliances -- to networks.

"You'll see it in handsets now, but what it really enables is devices that don't have a user interface," said Kelly Davis-Felner, vice president of marketing for the Wi-Fi Alliance. Since you can’t drag your refrigerator to your router, Davis-Felner explained that you’ll tap the NFC-capable smartphone you’ve already added to your network against the fridge.

Microsoft is moving Windows to the car, again. Microsoft has been in the automotive space for a very very long time -- probably more than 15 years, according to Steve Teixeira, who works in the developer division at Microsoft.

A good chunk of cars on the road run either Windows CE or Windows Automotive, including BMW, Fiat, Ford, Kia, and Nissan. Now, Microsoft is prepping yet another version, Teixeira revealed at the Build event. The company has already tested its new version of Windows for the car, both in simulators that model eye-tracking, as well as in actual cars in a local Seattle raceway.