THE NEWS WRAP: FTC takes Amazon to court over unlawful billing of in-app charges

The US Federal Trade Commission alleges Amazon has unlawfully billed parents for millions of dollars in children’s unauthorized in-app charges.

The FTC filed a complaint in US federal court this week.

The lawsuit seeks a court order requiring refunds to consumers for the unauthorized charges and permanently banning the company from billing parents and other account holders for in-app charges without their consent.

FTC chairwoman Edith Ramirez says Amazon’s in-app system allowed children to incur unlimited charges on their parents’ accounts without permission.

“We are seeking refunds for affected parents and a court order to ensure that Amazon gets parents’ consent for in-app purchases,” Ramirez says.

TaskRabbit pivots, launches on demand service

Task-outsourcing site TaskRabbit has scrapped its task bidding system in favour of a new model – instantly bookable services in four of its most popular categories.

TaskRabbit has brought in fixed hourly rates for tasks, which makes its system speedier and more predictable for both parties involved.

Amazon launches Box and Dropbox competitor

The e-commerce giant is adding another feature that will put it into direct competition with the likes of Box and Dropbox, launching Zocalo in a limited preview from today.

The service is described as a fully managed, secure enterprise storage and sharing service with strong administrative controls and feedback capabilities that let users store, share and gather feedback on documents, spreadsheets, presentations, webpages, images, PDFs or text files – from the device of their choice.

Overnight

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 70.54 to 16,915.07. The Australian dollar is currently trading at US94 cents.