The Federal Trade Commission has settled with W3 Innovations, which owns children’s app developer Broken Thumbs, for $50,000, after the developer was charged with violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act by collecting information from children under the age of 13 without their parents’ permission. (Several apps produced by Broken Thumbs were downloaded more than 50,000 times.) FTC chairman Jon Liebovitz said in a statement: “The F.T.C.’s COPPA Rule requires parental notice and consent before collecting children’s personal information online, whether through a Web site or a mobile app. Companies must give parents the opportunity to make smart choices when […]
Authors
eNews: IndieBound Partners With BlueFire on eReading Software; Amazon Cracks Down On PLR eBooks; and More
The ABA announced last week that it is working with BlueFire to create a version of the company’s Reader app, which will be called the IndieBound Reader, for IndieCommerce stores selling Google eBooks. The app is scheduled to launch in the next 60 days. The Android version of the app will link back to indie bookstores, while the iOS version will not because of Apple’s rules about in-app purchases and links to outbound e-commerce stores. Users will be able to buy books using their Google ID instead of having to active an account with Adobe Digital Editions (as is the […]
People, Etc.
Brian Ulicky has been named publicity manager for Blue Rider Press, starting September 6. He was most recently at Simon & Schuster, also as a publicity manager. Simon & Schuster Children’s has announced a number of new hires and promotions. Ariel Colletti has moved to the Atheneum imprint, where she will remain an assistant editor, and editorial assistant Dani Young will also oversee the coordinating of all three imprints’ paperback conversions, repackages, as well as managing the back ad library. In addition, Amy Rosenbaum has joined as an editorial assistant, having recently completed the Columbia Publishing Course. Penguin rep Ann […]
An Unblurred Photo Pits Random House Against the CIA
In 2005, Random House Inc. imprint Presidio Press published onetime CIA agent Gary Schroen’s First In: An Insider’s Account of How the CIA Spearheaded the War on Terror in Afghanistan to some fanfare and minimal controversy. For four years, and for three different editions, that’s how things remained. Then the mass market edition unblurred a photo of covert CIA agent John Peppe, who was involved in one of the agency’s Afghanistan missions, that was originally blurred in the hardcover, ebook and trade paper editions. That one change by the publisher set off an odyssey of lawsuits, accusations of invasion of […]
People, Etc.
OverDrive has hired Brian Gurewitz as director of content sales. He was formerly president of library sales for Random House’s Books on Tape. Katie O’Callaghan is joining the Harper as associate director, marketing, working across all of the Harper imprints including Harper, Harper Business, and Broadside Books. She was most recently senior marketing manager at Ballantine Bantam Dell. The Los Angeles Times book review will no longer employ freelance book reviewers or non-staff columnists. LAT spokesperson Nancy Sullivan tells PW, “This was a cost-saving move, strictly related to our budget.” She said “staff writers from outside the book department will take […]
People, Etc.
Maggie Richards has been promoted to deputy publisher at Henry Holt, in addition to her current responsibilities as vp sales and marketing. Simon & Schuster UK senior commissioning editor Francesca Main will move to Picador on September 26 as editorial director, acquiring and publishing commercial literary fiction. RPG game designer Jonathan Tweet [stet] was hired in June by Amazon and is said to be developing a “social game”–indicated on his LinkedIn page, which indicates he is “doing social games with a crack team,” and confirmed by Tweet to IndustryGamers. Amazon purchased a downloadable gaming company Reflexive Entertainment in 2008, but […]