War for Total Control. Google tracks consumers across products, users can’t opt out. Google has already been collecting some of this information.
But for the first time, it is combining data across its Web sites to stitch together a fuller portrait of users. Consumers won’t be able to opt out of the changes, which take effect March 1. » Soros Mouthpiece Calls On Google To Police “Conspiracy Theories” Alex Jones. Stanford scholar wants search engines to flag global warming, vaccine skepticism as thought crimes Paul Joseph Watson Infowars.com Tuesday, January 24, 2012 Former fellow of George Soros’ Open Society and current Stanford University scholar Evgeny Morozov has called on Google and other search engines to become thought crime enforcers, by providing warnings about websites that contain “conspiracy theories” such as the belief, held by a majority of Americans, that global warming is not primarily man-made.
Morozov, whose biography confirms him as a well-connected insider, decries in a Slate piece how the Internet is a useful tool for “People who deny global warming” as well as “the anti-vaccination movement,” calling on Google to provide a “socially responsible curated treatment” that would marginalize such beliefs by amending search results. Morozov describes the potential that such a move will be judged as Google “shilling for Big Pharma or for Al Gore” as “a risk worth taking”. Historic! Anti-vaccine activists, 9/11 deniers, and Google’s social search. Photograph by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images.
In its early days, the Web was often imagined as a global clearinghouse—a new type of library, with the sum total of human knowledge always at our fingertips. That much has happened—but with a twist: In addition to borrowing existing items from its vast collections, we, the patrons, could also deposit our own books, pamphlets and other scribbles—with no or little quality control. Such democratization of information-gathering—when accompanied by smart institutional and technological arrangements—has been tremendously useful, giving us Wikipedia and Twitter. But it has also spawned thousands of sites that undermine scientific consensus, overturn well-established facts, and promote conspiracy theories. Meanwhile, the move toward social search may further insulate regular visitors to such sites; discovering even more links found by their equally paranoid friends will hardly enlighten them.
Copyright Industry Calls For Broad Search Engine Censorship. At a behind-closed-doors meeting facilitated by the UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport, copyright holders have handed out a list of demands to Google, Bing and Yahoo.
To curb the growing piracy problem, Hollywood and the major music labels want the search engines to de-list popular filesharing sites such as The Pirate Bay, and give higher ranking to authorized sites. It’s no secret that the entertainment industries believe search engines are not delivering enough when it comes to protecting copyright works. Google Privacy Changes Raise Major Concerns, Possible Antitrust Complaint. Yesterday afternoon, Alma Whitten, Google's Director of Privacy, posted a blog entry stating that the company is preparing a major overhaul and simplification of its various privacy policies.
According to the entry, Google is planning to condense the current crop of 70 separate policies into a single, easy-to-read agreement. Google says privacy change won't affect government users. News January 26, 2012 05:02 PM ET Computerworld - Google today dismissed concerns by a former senior federal IT official that the company's controversial new privacy policy would create problems for customers of Google Apps for Government (GAFG).
In a statement, Google said the new policy will not change existing contracts that define how it handles and stores data belonging to government users of its cloud services. "Enterprise customers using Google Apps for Government, Business or Education have individual contracts that define how we handle and store their data," Amit Singh, vice president of Google Enterprise said in a statement. Is it all downhill for Torrific? - Blackhat SEO Esrun. September 30, 2011 on 7:12 am | 10 Comments Update: Torrific ceased operations (scroll to bottom for full update).
Let me start by explaining what Torrific is, for those who aren’t familiar with the service. Usually you’d use a bittorrent client like Transmission or uTorrent to download torrents. Torrific takes away the hassle and problems associated with downloading torrents and does the download for you and then gives you a regular HTTP download through your browser. Is RapidShare Next on The Piracy Chopping Block? – Tech Thursday - Q 103 - Albany's #1 Rock Station. Just a little more than 24 hours after the sound thumping that the SOPA and PIPA bills got online and the subsequent tabling of them in Congress, file locker website MegaUpload was shutdown by the U.S.
Department of Justice for alleged piracy of movies and music. The accusers, the same people that helped Congress write the SOPA and PIPA bills, the RIAA and the MPAA. Now RapidShare is thought to be the next take down. RapidShare is a lot like MegaUpload in what they offer. They offer users the ability to upload their files to a remote server, and then access them from anywhere in the world from another computer. RapidShare Attorney: If We're Shut Down Like Megaupload, Then YouTube, Dropbox, Apple's iCloud Are Next. There's been near nuclear fallout from federal prosecutors shuttering of Megaupload, the file-sharing service accused of costing the entertainment industry $500 million in lost revenues.
It's estimated that shutting down Megaupload's family of websites, which are accused of hosting massive amounts of copyrighted files, affected 1% of all Internet traffic. Dutch ISPs Refuse To Block The Pirate Bay. Two large ISPs in the Netherlands have said they will not be blocking subscriber access to The Pirate Bay, as demanded by the Hollywood supported anti-piracy outfit BREIN.
T-Mobile and KPN argue that blocking websites is a threat to the open Internet, and suggest that the entertainment industry focuses on new business models instead. BREIN is now expected to take the ISPs to court. Two weeks ago, the Court of The Hague ruled that Ziggo, the largest ISP in the Netherlands, and competitor XS4ALL have to block access to The Pirate Bay.
The ruling was the first to bring broad censorship to the Netherlands and in a response XS4ALL said they were “bitterly disappointed”, noting that fundamental rights had been traded for “commercial interests.” For BREIN, the Dutch anti-piracy group that started the court case, the verdict wasn’t quite enough. Europe Weighs a Tough Law on Online Privacy and User Data. Tomasz Gzell/European Pressphoto Agency “Companies must be transparent about what they are doing,” said Viviane Reding, the European Commission's vice president for justice. Michael Löwa for The New York Times Malte Spitz, a German advocate for strict data protection. The proposed data protection regulation from the , a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times, could have significant consequences for all Internet companies that trade in personal data, whether it is pictures that people post on social networks or what they buy on retail sites or look for on a search engine.
Thailand Tries Twitter Censorship. Twitter’s recent announcement that it will allow local censorship, a move embraced by Thailand, is troubling. By Joshua Kurlantzick for The Diplomat February 02, 2012. Twitter Boycott Planned To Protest Twitter's Censorship Plan. Twitter news: US bars friends over Twitter joke. Lawmakers accuse Facebook of ducking questions on its privacy practices. Facebook Gives Politico Deep Access to Users' Political Sentiments - Liz Gannes - Social. ACLU criticizes Facebook 'election sentiment' tool. Facebook locks down 45,000 accounts to stop 'worm' spreading.
Facebook Timeline mandatory for all users - with just 7 days to 'clean up' If required by law, Twitter says now ready to censor. Tweeting the word 'drill' could mean your Twitter account is read by government spies. Fake profiles used by Department of Homeland Security, says privacy groupList of keywords flags 'danger' signalDHS may attempt to identify users from their accountsKeywords include 'virus', 'drill' and 'illegal immigrant' By Rob Waugh Updated: 09:59 GMT, 28 December 2011 The Department for Homeland Security announced plans to scan social networks for keywords such as 'human to animal', 'outbreak', 'strain' and 'drill', and then identify users, claims an online privacy group The Department of Homeland Security makes fake Twitter and Facebook profiles for the specific purpose of scanning the networks for 'sensitive' words - and tracking people who use them.
Are You Being Tracked? 8 Ways Your Privacy Is Being Eroded Online and Off. December 28, 2011 | 5 Things You Should Know About the FBI's Massive New Biometric Database. January 8, 2012 | FCC’s Genachowski proposes broadband reform - Post Tech. Posted at 11:38 AM ET, 01/09/2012 Jan 09, 2012 04:38 PM EST TheWashingtonPost In a Monday speech, Federal Communications Chairman Julius Genachowski outlined a draft proposal that would expand a program that provides affordable telephone service for low-income Americans to include broadband Internet service. “The program is outdated, focused on phone service when high-speed Internet has become our vital communications platform,” he said. Leaked Memo Says Apple Provides Backdoor To Governments. Alex Jones: US government spies on everybody. FBI seeking social media monitoring tool. FBI Wants New App to Wiretap the Internet. FDA staffers sue agency over surveillance of personal e-mail.
Peoria police sergeant's photo prompts Secret Service probe. 'Piracy' student Richard O'Dwyer loses extradition case over TVShack website. Homeland Security Is Monitoring The Drudge Report, The New York Times. How to Disappear Completely (From the Internet) Judge: Americans can be forced to decrypt their laptops. Hawaii may keep track of all Web sites visited. Homeland Security Is Reading and Recording Every Keystroke. Here's a list of words Homeland Security searches for when they're monitoring the Internet. Hello, DHS. : conspiracy.