A new Web standard proposal authored by Google, Microsoft, and Netflix seeks to bring copy protection mechanisms to the Web
23 02 2012Comments : Comments Off
Categories : Education / Awareness, Google, New Business Models, Privacy / Data Protection
If Google and the ad agencies drain the swamp of piracy by removing their financial incentive – online advertising – then we would have a fertile environment in which paid-for content could flourish
23 02 2012“No-one could imagine how we would survive without Google – most of us use it hundreds of times a day. But it is because they are so effective – and trusted – that Google and other search engines should use their creative energy to help the music industry fight piracy.”
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/02/22/harperson_google_rocket/
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Categories : Copyright, Education / Awareness, Enforcement, File Sharing, Google, Illegal File Sharing, New Business Models, Public Policy
Suing Google For Third-Party Android Apps That ‘Promote Piracy’
23 02 2012Comments : Comments Off
Categories : Education / Awareness, Google, Illegal File Sharing, Litigation
Google: Please Don’t Kill Video on the Web
23 02 2012Earlier today, Microsoft filed a formal competition law complaint with the European Commission (EC) against Motorola Mobility and Google. We have taken this step because Motorola is attempting to block sales of Windows PCs, our Xbox game console and other products. Their offense? These products enable people to view videos on the Web and to connect wirelessly to the Internet using industry standards.
You probably take for granted that you can view videos on your smartphone, tablet, PC, or DVD/Blu-ray player and connect to the Internet without being tied to a cable. That works because the industry came together years ago to define common technical standards that every firm can use to build compatible products for video and Wi-Fi. Motorola and all the other firms that contributed to these standards also made a promise to one another: that if they had any patents essential to the standards, they would make their patents available on fair and reasonable terms, and would not use them to block competitors from shipping their products.
Motorola has broken its promise. Motorola is on a path to use standard essential patents to kill video on the Web, and Google as its new owner doesn’t seem to be willing to change course.
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Categories : Google, New Business Models, Education / Awareness, Litigation
A privacy group suing the Federal Trade Commission said Tuesday in a federal court brief that the agency’s inaction against Google warrants judicial review and failure to do so could cause “irreparable injury” to consumers
22 02 2012Comments : Comments Off
Categories : Education / Awareness, Google, Litigation, Privacy / Data Protection
Scroogle – a not-for-profit search engine that offered users something of a pro-privacy antidote to Google – has been killed off by its creator
21 02 2012“Even if all my DDoS problems had never started in December, Scroogle was already getting squeezed from Google’s throttling, and was already dying. It might have lasted another six months if I hadn’t lost seven servers from DDoS, but that’s about all.”
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Categories : Education / Awareness, Google
Google now facing class-action suit over Safari cookie circumvention
21 02 2012A class-action complaint has now been filed against Google for its circumvention of Safari’s privacy features. The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for Delaware, accuses Google of willfully violating of the Federal Wiretap Act, the Stored Electronic Communication Act, and the Federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
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Categories : Education / Awareness, Google, Litigation
Facebook and many other sites are using an almost identical scheme (to Google’s) to override Internet Explorer’s privacy setting
20 02 2012“Companies have discovered that they can lie in their [P3P policies] and nobody bothers to do anything about it,” the privacy researcher at Carnegie Mellon University writes.
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Categories : Education / Awareness, Google, Privacy / Data Protection, Stats / reports
When the IE team heard that Google had bypassed user privacy settings on Safari, we asked ourselves a simple question: is Google circumventing the privacy preferences of Internet Explorer users too?
20 02 2012We’ve discovered the answer is yes: Google is employing similar methods to get around the default privacy protections in IE and track IE users with cookies.”
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Categories : Education / Awareness, Google, Privacy / Data Protection, Stats / reports
Both Google and Apple have stumbled multiple times in the TV market, and this week highlighted the risks both take to their precious brands when they get too power hungry and seek to extend their control over too many elements of the web ecosystem
19 02 2012Comments : Comments Off
Categories : Education / Awareness, Google
Google Wins Privacy Case In The Netherlands. Need Not Remove Name Of Foundation From Google Maps
19 02 2012The Dutch judge argues that a name of a foundation does not equal “personal details” as defined in the current Dutch data privacy laws. Even though the name of the foundation contains the names of the complainants and Google Maps is also displaying the address information – the location where the complainants actually live – as well as pictures of the premises.
The judge then switches to an interesting philosophy, moving away from the situation at hand by arguing that:
- names of foundations typically do not match names of the people working for it
- addresses of foundations typically do not match names of the people working for it, AND Google is not making known that the addresses of the complainants and the addresses of the foundation are one and the same
- Google has rightfully requested the address information at the Dutch Chamber of Commerce
- potential use of Google Maps by burglars is only “speculative”
One wonders how this judge would feel about any presumed link between IP addresses and personal details…
Dutch language news article:
http://tweakers.net/nieuws/80133/google-nederland-wint-privacyzaak-maps-dienst.html
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Categories : Education / Awareness, Google, Jurisprudence, Privacy / Data Protection
Google’s Privacy Invasion: It’s Your Fault
18 02 2012If we really wanted privacy, we would turn off JavaScript, block ads, and browse in privacy mode through an anonymous proxy. But we would rather have free services
http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/privacy/232601119
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Categories : Education / Awareness, Google, Privacy / Data Protection
Privacy bouhaha reveals Google’s split personality
18 02 2012http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-57380673-245/privacy-bouhaha-reveals-googles-split-personality/
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Categories : Education / Awareness, Google, Privacy / Data Protection
MegaUpload Hit ‘Home’: The Dutch Government is proposing to make it easier to use copyrighted material without infringing copyright owners’ rights and plans to do this ‘unilaterally’ of the EU
17 02 2012“If you look at the motion picture industry, you see that they continue to enjoy very healthy revenues. On the other hand the music industry has struggled somewhat. But in the end there are more opportunities being created by these new technologies than ever before. There are more bands, using more different technologies to reach more fans than ever before. So there is certainly no crisis of creativity. There’s more music, more video, more writing going on today than ever before,” Von Lohmann, chief copyright counsel for Google, said.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/02/17/dutch_government_to_further_liberalise_copyright/
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Categories : Copyright, Education / Awareness, Google, Legislation, Public Policy
Microsoft Explains How To Browse Without Being Browsed (By Google)
17 02 2012Comments : Comments Off
Categories : Education / Awareness, Google, Privacy / Data Protection
Google and other ad companies used special code to get around Safari’s privacy controls in order to track users on computers and mobile devices
17 02 2012Comments : Comments Off
Categories : Education / Awareness, Google, Privacy / Data Protection, Stats / reports
Music Industry Mulls Suing Google Over “Pirate” Search Results
16 02 2012The recording industry considers filing a lawsuit against Google for allegedly abusing its dominant market position to distort the market for online music. Industry groups including IFPI and the RIAA want Google to degrade links to “pirate” websites in its search results. IFPI has obtained a “highly confidential and preliminary legal opinion” to see if they can force Google to step up its anti-piracy efforts though a lawsuit.
http://torrentfreak.com/music-industry-mulls-suing-google-over-pirate-search-results-120216/
Previously:
UPDATE (Thank you!) – RapidShare Responds To Megaupload Comparisons: Only 5% Of Our Files Are Pirated & Provider Should Participate In Fight Against Piracy
http://vrritti.com/2012/01/26/update-dont-be-evil-rapidshare-responds-to-megaupload-comparisons-only-5-of-our-files-are-pirated-provider-should-participate-in-fight-against-piracy/
MediaFire CEO Derek Labian: ‘We don’t have a business built on copyright infringement’ (MegaUpload)
http://vrritti.com/2012/01/23/mediafire-ceo-derek-labian-we-dont-have-a-business-built-on-copyright-infringement-megaupload/
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Categories : Education / Awareness, Google, Litigation
Towards flexible copyright in the Netherlands, Google and YouTube deserve it
14 02 2012Fitting European copyright law into modern technology is one of the hot topics being discussed in Europe. For example, the Dutch government wants copyright law to be more flexible so new media users, such as YouTube users, can continue to make “creative remixes” of copyright protected content. This subject was discussed on 10 February 2012 at the conference “Towards Flexible Copyright” in The Hague, the Netherlands.
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Categories : Copyright, Education / Awareness, Google, Public Policy
Is Google planning to offer IP video to Kansas City?
13 02 2012Comments : Comments Off
Categories : Education / Awareness, Google, New Business Models
Google Wallet Hacked Again – Now You Should Panic
11 02 2012Comments : Comments Off
Categories : Education / Awareness, Google
On December 6th 2011 the MPAA served a subpoena on Google to obtain access to Hotfile’s Google Analytics account
11 02 2012Google said that absent Hotfile’s consent, it would not supply the data to the MPAA. In turn, Hotfile refused to give consent or hand over the data now since the discovery date deadline, December 23rd 2011, has now passed.
http://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-demands-hotfile-data-from-google-search-engine-refuses-120210/
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Categories : Copyright, Education / Awareness, Google, Illegal File Sharing, Litigation, Stats / reports
Google dominated U.S. searches in January
10 02 2012Comments : Comments Off
Categories : Education / Awareness, Google, Stats / reports
‘Big bad Google’ accused of shaping UK copyright policy
10 02 2012Comments : Comments Off
Categories : Copyright, Education / Awareness, Google, Public Policy
Google building ‘home entertainment system’ for wireless music streaming
10 02 2012Comments : Comments Off
Categories : Education / Awareness, Google
Google expands security bug bounty program to Chrome OS
10 02 2012Comments : Comments Off
Categories : Education / Awareness, Google
