Australia’s proposed copyright rules could put Australia back in the dark ages of the internet by requiring that search engines procure permission to index and cache webpages before proceeding. Currently Google and other search engines allow you to opt out of being indexed via robots.txt files and other methods. This new law would force search engines to get permission before indexing anything. This is reminiscent of the nutcases in Belgium who are taking a similar stance. I don’t know what these people are thinking, honestly.
Via Search Engine Watch & Yahoo.
Nate Anderson of ARS Technica attempts to answer this question. Apparently there isn’t any hard evidence, but the claims are provocative. Read the stories.
Former Intelligence Agent Says Google In Bed With CIA
A former clandestine services officer for the CIA who also maintains close relationships with top Google representatives says that the company is “in bed with” the intelligence agency and the U.S. government. He has also gone public on his deep suspicions about the official explanation behind 9/11.
Google actively aiding intelligence agencies?
Former intelligence officer Robert David Steele recently appeared on the Alex Jones show to make the provocative claim that Google is currently cooperating with secret elements in the US government, including the CIA.
Steele, who now runs OSS.net and is a proponent of open source intelligence, said that “Google has made a very important strategic mistake in dealing with the secret elements of the U.S. government—that is a huge mistake and I’m hoping they’ll work their way out of it and basically cut that relationship off.” In his view, Google’s attempt earlier this year to avoid turning over information to the Department of Justice was little more than a hypocritical charade.
Google Admits Terror Storm Blackout But claims “error” and not censorship for second successive time as 9/11 film enters top 100.
Following our attempts to get an answer as to why Google was seemingly artificially stifling the viewership numbers for Terror Storm, ensuring the film didn’t enter Google Video’s popular categories, the online giant has admitted the figures were pegged but claims again that the change was due to a technical glitch.
Interesting stories.
Let’s take a look at Google’s Privacy policy:
- Google collects personal information when you register for a Google service or otherwise voluntarily provide such information. We may combine personal information collected from you with information from other Google services or third parties to provide a better user experience, including customizing content for you.
- Google uses cookies and other technologies to enhance your online experience and to learn about how you use Google services in order to improve the quality of our services.
- Google’s servers automatically record information when you visit our website or use some of our products, including the URL, IP address, browser type and language, and the date and time of your request.
Now what does Google do with this information?
- We may use personal information to provide the services you’ve requested, including services that display customized content and advertising.
- We may also use personal information for auditing, research and analysis to operate and improve Google technologies and services.
- We may also share information with third parties in limited circumstances, including when complying with legal process, preventing fraud or imminent harm, and ensuring the security of our network and services.
- Google processes personal information on our servers in the United States of America and in other countries. In some cases, we process personal information on a server outside your own country.
Now let’s move over to another topic. Google Analytics. Over the last ten months or so since Google aquired Urchin and renamed it Google analytics, *a lot* of websites have started using this free, organized, intuitive web statistics program. Google Analytics sets a couple of cookies for tracking and to keep it short, Google is pulling a lot of data about how all of us move about on the internet. Let me explain.
Let’s talk about Joe Blow. He visits wakes up in the morning and starts surfing. He visits 30 sites before he needs to shower and get off to work. I have not stats on how many sites us Google analytics, but if half those sites, do, then Google is collecting and storing a pretty good picture of Joe’s overall surfing habits.
This is fine, right? Google is the good guy, and they’re only going to use the information to serve up the most relevant ads to Joe. Joe’s fine with this, because although Google makes a killing, the ads are less intrusive because they’re things that Joe is interested in.
Now remember, Joe never saw or agreed to Google privacy policy, but Google has the info.
There’s also another factor. The US government could subpoena information that Google has. So even though Google has the best of intentions, they may not have the last word.
It might be a good idea for sites to start looking for alternative statistics programs.
Google has promised to take a hard stance against copyright violations when the $1.65 billion takeover is complete.
Copyrighted videos or TV shows, movies and other material have been one factor in YouTube’s impressive growth. Now that Google along with its billions in cash is at the driver’s wheel, many are predicting a long string of lawsuits against Google.
Via BBC.
If you havn’t already seen it, open Google Earth and turn on the “2006 US Election Guide” layer. It will put small stars on the US map , one for each Congressional district. Click on the patriotic star for your congressional district and it will open up a list of useful voting-related links. You can click to register to vote. You can follow links to pictures, news items and searches for the specifica canditate in your district.
Google’s being patriotic, you can be too. Register to vote, and then vote in November.
Via GoogleBlog.
Is Google siding with the GOP? It looks like Google is starting to move over into politics and is trying to buy some lobbying power. Google’s NetPAC has given $1000 contributions to 3 congressional candidates. Can this help support net neutrality?
Via Huffington Post.
Apparently Microsoft wants to set search.msn.com as the default search site in their new version of Internet Explorer. Although this appears fairly logical to me, Google is up in arms about it, taking the case to the Justice Department. Microsoft’s new browser will have a search box that defaults to their search engine (MSN). This seems a bit hypocritical on Google’s part, since the popular open-source browser Firefox ships this Google as the default search engine in it’s built-in search box.
An article in the New York Times has some more information:
The new browser [Internet Explorer 7] includes a search box in the upper-right corner that is typically set up to send users to Microsoft’s MSN search service. Google contends that this puts Microsoft in a position to unfairly grab Web traffic and advertising dollars from its competitors.
The move, Google claims, limits consumer choice and is reminiscent of the tactics that got Microsoft into antitrust trouble in the late 1990’s.
Read the rest of this article in the New York Times.
Apparently there is come controversy about the satellite images available via Google Earth and Google Maps. India’s former defence minister George Fernandes is quoted as saying
“It is dangerous. There is a reason to worry. This will affect our national security. I will look into it and express my concerns to the government,”
With Google maps, anyone with an internet connection can view many sites around the world, including potentially sensitive images of military sites, nuclear plants, airports etc. These images are not in real time, but could reveal information that some people wouldn’t want public. South Korea and other nations have also expressed similar concerns.
If you want to read some more, there are lots of news stories available. Rediff - United Press Int’l - News 24 - MSN - The Tribune
This is really old news, but it’s still current because the ramifications won’t play out until July of 2006. This is the story of how Cnet got snubbed by Google.
“You can’t see this video in your country” according to Google video ?! What is this? Censorship?
Detonation of Improvised Explosive Device used against Coalition forces. We found this one before they could use it against us.
Google is standing firm and won’t reveal data from searches and web crawls to the US government even though the government has stated that Microsoft and Yahoo already gave in an turned over the documents that they wanted.
Google called the Bush administration’s request for data on Web searches as “so uninformed as to be nonsensical” in papers filed in San Jose federal court Friday, arguing that turning over the information would expose its trade secrets and violate the privacy of its users.
Read more at the Mecury News.
On January 24th and 25th a lot of controversy broke out concerning Google’s descision to censor their search results for the Chinese market. I’ve read *tons* of stuff about this now, and here I’ll just give you some links to some of the best resources to make your own decision on this issue. I feel kind of embarrased with Google’s decision, I just hope that they secretly have a plan up their sleeve to turn the tables on the Chinese government and give the Chinese people the real story about their government.
Background on internet censorship in China
Here are some of the words/concepts that are currently blocked by Chinese gov’t:
- democracy
- human rights
- dictatorship
- anti-communist
- communist bandits
- selling out one’s country
- massacre
- genocide
- oppression
But interestingly enough, some other words that you’d think *would* be blocked, aren’t:
- freedom
- reform
- elections
- fascism
- counterrevolutionary
- treason
- traitor
- overthrow
- coup
This blocking apparently only applies to mainland China- Hong Kong is not subject to mainland China’s laws. In addition to these blocked keywords, China also blocks certain websites such as BBC, Wikepedia, and some well-known proxy servers (used to circumvent blocking). Apparently keyword/website blocking is rather haphazard and if you try hard enough, you can get the information you want even if you’re in mainland China.
Now, the issue with Google’s www.google.cn search portal
Some of the controversy/opinions surrounding this issue
What should Google do at this point?
EDIT: Here’s Google’s official write-up about the decision to go ahead with the Chinese site. Google in China.
Internet giant Google Inc. infringed copyright rules by posting thumbnail-size photos from other websites on its search results pages, a US judge said in a ruling issued.
