Policy

Why Google 'vertical' search shouldn't face antitrust action

It's likely we'll finally see the U.S. Federal Trade Commission make a decision on whether to take antitrust action against Google in the coming days. Among the charges is the idea that Google somehow is being unfair to competitors with "vertical" search. That has been, and remains largely to me, a laughable argument.

If the FTC did take action on this issue, it would be punishing Google for doing exactly what a good search engine should do.

Make no mistake. There are issues where Google deserves some antitrust attention. But vertical search isn't one … Read more

Google's former head of patents moves to U.S. Patent Office

Michelle Lee, Google's former head of patents and patent strategy and a vocal critic of a system she feels is too welcoming of frivolous patent lawsuits, is joining the public sector as the head of a new Silicon Valley patent office.

The news first got tweeted by Santa Clara University School of Law professor Eric Goldman

This should make for some interesting discussion. Lee, who until May was in charge of Google's patent strategy, is on record criticizing the ease with which patent trolls have been able to file patent lawsuits. She has argued that the system is … Read more

Government surveillance continues to rise, Google says

Here's an item unlikely to surprise anyone who has followed how David Petraeus was brought down by a Gmail account: Google is getting more government requests for user data than ever before.

For the first half of this year, Google received 20,938 official requests for user data from governments around the world, affecting 34,614 accounts. That's up 67 percent from the second half of 2009, the first period in which Google reported the information publicly.

The United States led the way, making 209 requests during the reporting period. Germany, Brazil, Turkey, and France also made scores … Read more

New Twitter policy notes copyright take-down requests

If Twitter receives a complaint that a tweet has breached copyright, the site will now transparently display a notice explaining why the tweet was pulled instead of just yanking the infringing tweet.

A policy shift will now see infringing tweets replaced with a warning, such as: "This Tweet from [username] has been withheld in response to a report from the copyright holder," along with a link to Twitter's copyright policy and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Other Twitter users will also be made aware that the tweet was withdrawn and can reply to the withdrawn tweet notice … Read more

Anonymous hacking spree hits PayPal, Symantec

The press arm for Anonymous has announced that it has begun its hacking spree for the 5th of November -- Guy Fawkes Day -- and claims to have dumped user and employee account information on accounts from PayPal, Symantec, Australian government Web sites and much more.

Monday's main focus seems to be an anti-surveillance protest -- as with the recent Anonymous October 20 protest -- with November 5th intent aimed at surveillance systems such as TrapWire and INDECT.

Trapwire and INDECT's opponents believe that the surveillance systems to be direct threats to privacy and certain civil … Read more

How tech is changing the road to the White House (video)

We've come a long way since the iconic 1964 "Daisy Girl" political ad. These days, candidates are turning to complex data sets to help pinpoint potential supporters.

So exactly what kind of information are political parties getting about you? According to a New York Times article, callers will know if you have homes in foreclosure, what kind of beer you drink, or the type of vacations you enjoy.

But technology works both ways.

Keep the facts straight with apps like Super PAC and Ad Hawk. These free apps "listen" to political advertisements on television and … Read more

Zynga CEO takes blame for poor quarter

Give Mark Pincus credit not trying to weasel out when it came to explaining why Zynga posted a lousy third quarter. Instead of blaming an uncertain economy, wandering consumer tastes, or a weird alignment between Jupiter and Mars, the CEO's message to Wall Street was clear: Blame us.

Of course, he was preaching to the converted. Investors have been blaming Zynga for most of the year, driving down the stock to an all-time low today before the company reported a $52.7 million loss during its September quarter.

But as he discussed the results with analysts on a conference … Read more

EU charges Microsoft over breach of 'browser ballot' commitments

European antitrust regulators have sent Microsoft a list of objections, charging the software giant with breaching its previous commitment to offer Windows users a choice of Internet browsers.

The formal statement of objections sent to Microsoft today outlines how the company failed to offer a "browser choice" screen to millions of Windows users, which it had agreed to do under a legally binding 2009 settlement with the European Commission.

The Commission said in a statement that it "takes the preliminary view that Microsoft has failed to roll out the browser choice screen with its Windows 7 Service … Read more

More 'pirate' sites face U.K. ISP blocks

The U.K.'s top broadband providers have been asked by a British music trade association to stop their customers from accessing three file-sharing sites, months after a court order forced the same ISPs to block access to The Pirate Bay.

The British Phonographic Industry (BPI), which acts on behalf of the music industry in the U.K., has asked ISPs to block their subscribers' access to Fenopy, H33t, and Kickass Torrents -- sites which act in a similar way to Magnet link sharing site The Pirate Bay.

BT, Sky Broadband, Virgin Media, O2 Broadband, EE -- formerly known as … Read more