If your face was captured by Google's Street View cameras in recent weeks, your mug is in the company's image database -- but it won't be for long, the head of Google Canada said. "We'll be permanently blurring them and permanently anonymizing them, so there's no imagery in there that's identifiable," said Jonathan Lister, managing director and head of Google Canada, about two hours before he was to answer questions from the Commons ethics committee about Street View.
Google Agrees to Street View Changes in Germany
Google is willing to concede to German demands the company erase photos for its panoramic mapping service after they have been processed, a data protection official said. Johannes Caspar, head of the Hamburg regional office for data protection, said Google had agreed to erase the raw footage of faces, house numbers, license plates and individuals in Germany who have told authorities they do not want their information used in the service.
Iranians Find Ways to Bypass Internet Restrictions
A new generation of Iranians has found ways to bypass the country's notoriously censorial Internet restrictions and disseminate details about Iran's internal turmoil in the wake of the recent election. In technical circles, at least, Iran is well-known for erecting one of the world's most restrictive Internet blockades, second only to China in its scope.
Malware Attacks Affect 10 Million People Per Year
Legitimate websites are a growing frontier for malware attacks with over ten million pages affected every year. Security start-up Dasient claimed the threat has risen as more people create their own websites and blogs without proper built-in security protocols.
Facebook's New Addresses Highlight Trademark Fights
Since Facebook started giving out customized Web addresses like facebook.com/yourname, some 9.5 million people have rushed to grab their top choice. Staking out and protecting their names and trademarks on the Internet has become a seemingly never-ending battle.
NSA Criticized for Intercepting Phone Calls, E-mail
The National Security Agency is facing renewed scrutiny over the extent of its domestic surveillance program, with critics in Congress saying its recent intercepts of the private telephone calls and e-mail messages of Americans are broader than previously acknowledged, current and former officials said.
W3C Looking Into Apple Patent on Software Updates
The World Wide Web Consortium is opening the possibility of pushing back against an Apple patent on software updates that Apple had refused to license royalty-free for use in a proposed Web standard. The patent, which Apple applied for in 1995 and was granted in 1998, involves this scenario: "a software program running on a computer automatically replaces itself with a newer version in a completely automated fashion, without interruption of its primary function, and in a manner that is completely transparent to the user of the computer."
State Department Helps Social Sites Amid Iranian Drama
Senior officials say the State Department is working with Twitter and other social networking sites to ensure Iranians are able to continue to communicate to each other and the outside world. By necessity, the U.S. is staying hands off of the election drama playing out in Iran, and officials say they are not providing messages to Iranians or "quarterbacking" the disputed election process.
U.K. Government Announces New Antipiracy Plans
Hoping to cut down on rampant online theft of music and movies, the British government plans to ratchet up pressure on suspected pirates with measures that would ultimately restrict the Internet access of repeat offenders. The U.K. government announced new antipiracy measures based on coordinated action by Internet service providers, entertainment companies and Ofcom, Britain's broadcasting regulator.
FDA Reports Drop in Swine Flu Scams Online
Concerned over the surge of phony swine flu treatments hawked on the Internet, the Food and Drug Administration has ordered dozens of Web site operators to stop making fraudulent claims, leading to a drop in the number of scams. In the six weeks since FDA's campaign began, nearly three-quarters have pulled down sites or removed illegal claims, and the number of new sites selling fake swine flu treatments and protective devices has plummeted, FDA officials said.
Microsoft Sues Three People for Committing "Click Fraud"
Microsoft Corp. filed a lawsuit against three people that it alleges committed a form of "click fraud" by improperly manipulating Microsoft's online advertising service for profit. The suit seeks at least $750,000 in damages for an alleged scheme last year to drive up advertising costs for legitimate Microsoft advertisers while creating an advantage for the defendants' own businesses.
Verizon, AT&T Deny Colluding to Set Texting Prices
U.S. wireless carriers Verizon Communications and AT&T took issue with assertions that they colluded in setting prices for text messages, saying that prices for most customers had fallen and the market was competitive. Sen. Herb Kohl, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee's antitrust subcommittee, said he was concerned that the four largest cell phone companies doubled their text message rates from 10 cents in 2006 to 20 cents in 2008.
China Orders Fixes to Mandatory Censorship Software
A designer of censorship software that the Chinese government requires to be preinstalled on computers sold in China has been ordered to fix potential security breaches in the software, the newspaper China Daily reported. The report was an indication that the government still supports use of the software despite heated debate over it.
Security Experts Find More Malware in Web Ads
Web security experts say they have seen an uptick in the number of ads harboring malware as the economy has soured and publishers, needing to boost their ad revenues, outsource more of their ad-space sales. A number of such attacks have occurred this year, as perpetrators exploit the complex structure of business relationships in the online advertising, with its numerous middlemen and resellers.
U.K.'s Virgin Media, Universal to Offer Free Music
British cable TV operator Virgin Media is to launch an unlimited music download subscription service through a partnership with the world's largest music company, Universal. The music industry has been desperate to boost digital sales in recent years to overcome online piracy, and the agreement comes a day before a British report sets out how the creative and telecoms industries should tackle the problem.
Apple Wants to Force Psystar to Defend Itself in Court
Apple filed a motion asking the court to modify a stay of proceedings and to compel Mac clone-maker Psystar to show up in court in November as previously scheduled. Psystar got an automatic stay of proceedings when it filed for bankruptcy in May, but Apple doesn't think the company should be able to use the bankruptcy laws to do so.
Amazon.com to Pay Toys R Us $51 Million Settlement
Amazon.com will pay Toys R Us $51 million to settle a five-year-old lawsuit, the Seattle-based Internet retailer disclosed in a regulatory filing. Toysrus.com, a division of Wayne, N.J.-based Toys R Us, sued Amazon in 2004, accusing it of violating an exclusivity agreement by letting other merchants sell toys, games and baby products on the Amazon Web site.
U.S., Italy Arrest Hackers for Stealing from Phone Companies
U.S. and Italian authorities said they arrested a group of hackers and conspirators who allegedly stole from phone companies around the world. The illegal profits funded terrorist activities, Italian officials alleged. A federal grand jury in New Jersey indicted three people, including one man who has been linked to al Qaeda.
Pentagon Cybercommand Raises New Privacy Concerns
A plan to create a new Pentagon cybercommand is raising significant privacy and diplomatic concerns, as the Obama administration moves ahead on efforts to protect the nation from cyberattack and to prepare for possible offensive operations against adversaries' computer networks. Senior Pentagon and military officials say that Mr. Obama's privacy assurances may be challenging to guarantee in practice, particularly in trying to monitor the thousands of daily attacks on security systems in the United States that have set off a race to develop better cyberweapons.
Spam King Could Face Criminal Charges from Facebook Action
In a move that could land Sanford Wallace in jail if convicted, a federal judge referred a lawsuit Facebook filed against the "spam king" to the U.S. Attorney's office for possible criminal proceedings. The action came at a hearing on a Facebook motion that Wallace be found in criminal contempt for allegedly continuing to send spam on Facebook.
