Author: JT

Google and Facebook are leading the group from the tech industry that is seeking changes to government spying.

A group of the largest and most powerful tech companies in the world have come together in an effort to improve mobile surveillance security for their users, who now know that they are being watched by certain government agencies, particularly in the United States.

These industry leaders are seeking to encourage wide scale changes to the American government’s Big Brother activities.

The companies have called themselves the Reform Government Surveillance group. They are seeking to make massive mobile surveillance security changes to the way that the American government has been watching people in the country and around the world. Much of this action is the result of the revelations made by whistleblower Edward Snowden, who revealed – among other things – that the NSA has been watching millions upon millions of people every day, around the globe, gathering information such as location data from their mobile devices.

The group has said that it should be possible for individuals and businesses to have greater mobile surveillance security.

The Reform Government Surveillance group is made up of Google, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, Yahoo!, Twitter, AOL, and LinkedIn. This alliance was created in order to move ahead their communal belief that “it is time for the world’s governments to address the practices and laws regulating government surveillance of individuals and access to their information.”

The organization has placed its backing behind widespread new reforms that federal politicians have proposed. The group’s website has suggested five different core elements that require changes. They are:

• Accountability and oversight
• A limit to the authority of the government for user data collection
• Government demand transparency
• Avoidance of government related conflicts
• Respecting a more free flow of information

An open letter from the group to the American government has urged them to “take the lead and make reforms that ensure that government surveillance efforts are clearly restricted by law, proportionate to the risks, transparent and subject to independent oversight.” The goal is to boost mobile surveillance security and privacy for users of the standard and mobile web.

Cyber Monday becomes the most successful online retail day ever

Cyber Monday has come and gone in the U.S. and the mobile sector experienced impressive growth on what is widely considered to be the most important day in electronics retail. IBM has released a new report concerning Cyber Monday of 2013, suggesting that it has become the largest online shopping day in history. Mobile commerce played a major role in the success of Cyber Monday and consumers have shown their strong interest in shopping for products online using their mobile devices.

Consumers show favor for mobile shopping

Mobile commerce has become a major interest to the retail industry. Many retailers were encouraged to take the mobile sector more seriously after the holiday shopping seasons of 2011 and 2012. Over the past two years, consumers have shown that they are not only willing to shop online with their mobile device but are quite eager to do so because of the convenience that it represents.

Online sales reach new heights

According to the report from IBM, online shoppers in the U.S. spent more than $2 billion on Cyber Monday. A significant portion of this spending came from mobile devices. The report shows that online sales grew by 20% over what they had been on Cyber Monday in 2012. Consumers had reported that mobile shopping helped them avoid lines at physical stores and purchase products without having to worry about limited supplies.

Retailers show more interest in mobile commerce

Economic research firm IHS Global Insight released a report last week highlighting the growth of online sales during the 2013 holiday season. The report estimates that online sales for the whole of the holiday season will reach $81 billion by the end of this year. This represents a 12.5% increase in sales over what had been reported during the 2012 holiday season. Mobile commerce is expected to play a large role during the holiday season, especially as more consumers begin growing comfortable with the concept of purchasing products online with their mobile devices.