The US Federal Trade Commission sued Amazon Thursday for charging parents for what their children spent on online games without parental authorization.

The FTC said Amazon let kids playing online games to spend real money from their parents' accounts on virtual items -- coins, stars and other items used in the game -- without getting the consent of the parents.

It alleged that Amazon, which sold the apps for accessing the games, did not make clear to parents permitting the downloads that the users would be able to continue spending via "in-app charges" without controls.

Meanwhile Apple collected 30 percent of the money spent by the game player, with the charges going to the account of the parents or others.

The FTC suit cites Amazon internal documents from 2011 and 2012 showing the giant online vendor knew of the potential problem but took no action to stop it.

Parents began complaining about hundreds of dollars' worth of unauthorized charges soon after Amazon began collecting in-app payments in November 2011.

Within weeks, complaints from consumers about unauthorized charges by children on Amazon's mobile devices reached what an Amazon Appstore manager described as "near house-on-fire" levels, the court filing said.

Within a month, in an internal document, the project manager for in-app charges acknowledged that "parents are excluded from the buying process for these apps."

"Amazon has received thousands of complaints related to unauthorized in-app charges by children in these and other games, amounting to millions of dollars of charges," the suit said.

The FTC asked the court for unspecified fines and refunds to consumers and for the company to give up any profits it earned from the in-app business.

Microsoft chief tells workers changes are coming
San Francisco (AFP) July 10, 2014 - Microsoft chief Satya Nadella on Thursday called on workers to rise to the challenges of a fast-changing technology world and ready themselves for changes at the company.

In a lengthy email sent to workers less than two weeks ahead of Microsoft releasing its quarterly earnings report, Nadella mixed encouraging words with a vow to shake-up the company and its culture.

"Tired traditions will be questioned," Nadella said in the email, a copy of which was shared with AFP.

"Our priorities will be adjusted."

From how the company is organized to job responsibilities and hires, changes should be expected, according to Nadella.

He again stressed a vision of adapting Microsoft to a "mobile-first, cloud-first world" and said that "nothing was off the table" when it came to achieving that goal.

The Redmond, Washington-based company also foresees mergers and acquisitions.

"If you want to thrive at Microsoft and make a world impact, you and your team must add numerous more changes to this list that you will be enthusiastic about driving," Nadella said in the email.

Microsoft will remain true to Xbox video game consoles as well as Surface tablets and Windows-powered smartphones that have had less success in the market, according to the company chief.

"The combination of many devices and cloud services used for generating and consuming data creates a unique opportunity for us," Nadella said.

"We will reinvent productivity for people who are swimming in a growing sea of devices, apps, data and social networks."

Outlined aims included delivering more natural ways to interact with computers and marketing devices that show off capabilities of the company's software.

Senior team leaders at Microsoft have been asked to come up with ways to innovate processes and simplify operations.

"Culture change means we will do things differently," Nadella said in the company-wide message.

"Often people think that means everyone other than them. In reality, it means all of us taking a new approach and working together."

In February, Nadella replaced Steve Ballmer at the Microsoft helm. He quickly called for the company founded in 1975 to think more like a startup.

Nadella's appointment coincided with Microsoft founder Bill Gates stepping back in as a "technology advisor," giving up his title of chairman.