Day: December 25, 2014

Christmas Day online shoppers are predicted to set a new spending record splashing out an estimated £636m today. Shoppers are expected to make 142 million visits to retail sites today - a 25% increase on last year. Research by Experian and online retailing trade association IMRG found Britons will spend around £441,000 a minute. "The ease of shopping online via connected devices raises the prospect of a very large amount of shopping activity on Christmas Day itself," said Experian general manager of consumer insight Giles Longhurst. Dominic Trigg, managing director for Europe of digital advertising technology company Rocket Fuel, said: "Shopping online on Christmas Day is now a normal part of UK consumers' holiday experiences every year. "It is clear that UK consumers now see shoppi...

Facebook Inc must face a class action lawsuit accusing it of violating its users' privacy by scanning the content of messages they send to other users for advertising purposes, a US judge has ruled. US District Judge Phyllis Hamilton in Oakland, California, on Tuesday dismissed some state-law claims against the social media company but largely denied Facebook's bid to dismiss the lawsuit. Facebook had argued that the alleged scanning of its users' messages was covered by an exception under the federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act for interceptions by service providers occurring in the ordinary course of business. But Hamilton said Facebook had "not offered a sufficient explanation of how the challenged practice falls within the ordinary course of its business." Neither Faceb...