Category Archives: Google

May 7 2012

Google guilty of infringement in Oracle trial; future legal headaches loom

In what could be a major blow to Android, Google’s mobile operating system, a San Francisco jury issued a verdict today that the company broke copyright laws when it used Java APIs to design the system. The ruling is a partial victory for Oracle, which accused Google of violating copyright law.

But the jury couldn’t reach agreement on a second issue—whether Google had a valid “fair use” defense when it used the APIs. Google has asked for a mistrial based on the incomplete verdict, and that issue will be briefed later this week.

The results aren’t clear going forward. Both sides are going to write briefs arguing how to proceed from here, with Google likely arguing the verdict needs to be thrown out, while Oracle somehow tries to hang on to its win on question 1A, the fundamental question about whether Google infringed copyright.

More:
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/05/jury-rules-google-violated-copyright-law-google-moves-for-mistrial.ars

May 7 2012

Leave only footprints: how Google’s ethical ignorance gets it in trouble

Milner’s prior awareness of the privacy and legal issues in lifting data from open WiFi networks implicates him, in one sense: he created tools to do something that was, at best, an ethically gray area for the community out of which he came. But he did first raise questions and seek out advice from his superiors; when it was not forthcoming, he apparently decided to forge ahead. His decision to raise the issue at least partly exonerates him from Google’s initial suggestion that he acted alone and failed to make his superiors aware of what he was doing.

Much more:
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2012/05/googles-street-view-engineer-knew-data-collection-was-questionable.ars

Previously:

Google engineer in Street View probe identifies as a Palo Alto hacker Marius Milner
http://vrritti.com/2012/05/02/google-engineer-in-street-view-probe-identifies-as-a-palo-alto-hacker-marius-milner/

May 4 2012

Microsoft serves subpoenas on Google to disrupt criminal botnet

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/bott/microsoft-serves-subpoenas-on-google-to-disrupt-criminal-botnet/4955

Previously:

Is Microsoft Intentionally Disrupting Criminal Investigations Into Botnets? If So, Why?
http://vrritti.com/2012/05/04/is-microsoft-intentionally-disrupting-criminal-investigations-into-botnets-if-so-why/


Fox-IT Releases Highly Critical Report About Microsoft’s Botnet Takedown Attempts. Microsoft Actually May Have Made Matters Worse
http://vrritti.com/2012/04/12/fox-it-releases-highly-critical-report-about-microsofts-botnet-takedown-attempts-microsoft-actually-may-have-made-matters-worse/

May 2 2012

European privacy police say Google “duped” them over Street View

May have been “duped” by a multitude of data gobblers to whom money is the only truth

In light of the recent FCC report on Google outlining the fact that the company had deliberately captured people’s WiFi payload data with its roaming Street View cars, European privacy regulators now say that they feel misled by Google.

“Well, deceived is a big word—maybe somewhat duped,” wrote Ulrich Kühn, a spokesperson for the Hamburg data protection authority, in an e-mail to Ars. The Hamburg DPA has led the investigation in Germany, since Google’s German corporate headquarters are located there.

“Google always admitted just as much as they were forced to by hard evidence,” Kühn added. (Google did not immediately respond to our request for comment.)

More:
http://arstechnica.com/business/news/2012/05/european-privacy-police-say-google-duped-them-over-street-view.ars

May 2 2012

Google engineer in Street View probe identifies as a Palo Alto hacker Marius Milner

Follow the money hackers

The engineer responsible for writing the code that led to tons of personal and private data being collected from the Google’s Street View cars is found out and called a “GOD in the wireless community.”

Marius Milner is his name and the Times reported that his LinkedIn profile occupation was listed as “hacker” and under the social network’s specialties category his entry said, “I know more than I want to about Wi-Fi.” As of this writing, his LinkedIn profile no longer has these listings but does confirm that he has worked for Google since 2003.

Milner, who lives in Palo Alto, Calif., declined to answer the Times’ questions and referred all questions to his lawyer, Martha Boersch, who also declined to comment.

More:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57425675-93/google-engineer-in-street-view-probe-identifies-as-a-hacker/

May 1 2012

Google was long the major search engine that stood against paid inclusion, even calling out against paid inclusion as part of its 2004 IPO filing

So what’s up with paid inclusion happening at Google, which fought against it before?

http://searchengineland.com/google-comparison-units-get-new-look-change-highlights-paid-inclusion-in-some-vertical-search-areas-119865

May 1 2012

FCC opted to use page-long black redaction boxes — the kind commonly seen in CIA torture memos – to bury those sections of the report, keeping the public from learning about the extent to which Google had lied about its deliberate collection of Wi-Fi content data

The FCC’s redactions led the media to focus on far less important issues, such as the number of seconds that it would take Google to pay off the pathetic $25,000 fine the FCC levied for Google’s reluctance to cooperate in the investigation, and the fact that the still-unnamed engineer invoked his 5th Amendment rights.

The FCC redacted the most incriminating portions of its report on Google’s Wi-Fi sniffing (top). Google wound up releasing the redacted text itself (bottom). Click for full size.
The media didn’t screw up. It was essentially misled by a federal agency, which for some reason found it necessary to shield Google’s reputation.

More:
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/04/opinion-sogohian-google-fcc/

Apr 30 2012

Google’s harvesting of emails, passwords and other sensitive personal information from unsuspecting households in Australia and around the world was neither a mistake nor the work of a rogue engineer, as the company long maintained

…but a program that supervisors knew about, according to new details from the full text of a regulatory report.

The full version [PDF/4.5MB] draws a portrait of a company where an engineer can easily embark on a project to gather personal emails and web searches of potentially hundreds of millions of people as part of his or her unscheduled work time, and where privacy concerns are shrugged off.

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/google-aware-of-data-scoop-20120429-1xsxx.html

Apr 25 2012

A “social network” for former violent extremists and their victims has launched with the backing of a consortium of partners including Google Ideas, the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), the Gen Next Foundation and Rehabstudio

Jonathan Powell, former Downing Street Chief of Staff under Prime Minister Tony Blair, says: “The Against Violent Extremism Network is a groundbreaking initiative which brings together expertise from both the private and think tank sectors to do something governments can’t do by themselves.”

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/04/wiredcouk-nazi-social-net/

Apr 24 2012

Google Drive is here, and you can install it right now

After years of speculation, Google Drive was released today, giving users 5GB of free storage to sync across computers, and finally giving Google a viable competitor to Dropbox, Microsoft’s SkyDrive, Apple’s iCloud, and the like.

http://arstechnica.com/business/news/2012/04/google-drive-is-here-and-you-can-install-it-right-now.ars

Apr 19 2012

“Did Google ever get a license from Sun, or from Oracle, for Java?” – “I don’t think that we did, no.”

“Can you name a single company that uses Java APIs that has not taken a license from Sun or Oracle, except for Google?” asked Boies.

“I’m not an expert on that and I don’t know.”

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/04/google-v-oracle-day-3.ars