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On The Hill: Privacy Behind Bipartisan 'Net Data-Collection Probe

Worried about privacy issues, top House Democrats and Republicans are jointly questioning data collection practices of Internet network operators who tailor Internet advertising based on a consumer's Web surfing activity.

Technology | Hi-tech criminals target Twitter

It was only a matter of time before this happened. Puts the whole issue of 'who do we trust' back in the frame (if it ever left). But will make the Twitterati sit up and think?

Air Force cracks software, carpet bombs DMCA

Last week, a US Court of Appeals upheld a ruling on software piracy. The organization doing the piracy, however, happened to be a branch of the US government, and the decision highlights the significant limits to the application of copyright law to the government charged with enforcing it. Most significantly, perhaps, the court found that because the DMCA is written in a way that targets individual infringers, the government cannot be liable for claims made under the statute.

Google Says Complete Privacy Does Not Exist

In a submission to court, Google is arguing that in the modern world there can be no expectation of privacy. Google is being sued by a Pennsylvania couple after their home appeared on Google's Street View pages. The couple's house is on a private road clearly marked as private property.

After the Election, Will Obama’s Online Army Target Congress?

Eight million list members. One million MyBarackObama members. Nearly two million Facebook/MySpace "friends." A couple of million online donors. By the time November comes around, those numbers will have grown - and Barack Obama is likely to be on his way to the White House. Assuming he wins, what will he do with his online following? Will Congress be next in his sights? Obama will be the first true president of a different media age, the era of networked communications, so will he use the new online tools to shape his millions of supporters into a club to shift votes on Capitol Hill?

The Newest YouTube Stars: Campaign Managers

As of yesterday afternoon, Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama had uploaded 1,410 videos on their YouTube channels -- 224 from McCain and 1,186 from Obama. Surprisingly, some of the more interesting, revealing of these videos were posted by their campaign managers. While they may not have been watched as heavily as others, these four videos tell us about the respective campaigns' differing online strategies.

Perez Hilton Hates Yellow People

Ever wonder how an internet meme gets started? Or, for that matter, how it then spreads and metastasizes until it becomes accepted fact? Over the last week, we've seen one particular meme develop about China: "China Hates Black People" (courtesy of Perez Hilton). His idea didn't, however, originate with Perez Hilton. It started last Friday with a story in Hong Kong's South China Morning Post, "Authorities order bars not to serve black people," which alleged that Chinese government authorities were secretly planning to ban blacks from bars during the Olympic games.

R.N.C. Creates Facebook Parody Site for Obama

The RNC is proving itself consistently willing to mess around online, having some fun and seeing what might work. The question is, are they free to do so having got online organizing nailed down, given that conventional wisdom is that the Bush '04 race demonstrated the GOP's mastery of voter targeting and GOTV? Or is stuff like BarackBook a diversion and waste of resources?

An early glance at the R.N.C. mockup shows Mr. Rezko with his own profile page that lists links to Mr. Obama and other "friends" of the Illinois senator. Other "BarackBook" friends include, Eric Holder, a Washington lawyer and member of Mr. Obama's vice presidential selection team, and William Ayers, one of the founders of the radical group Weather Underground.

Facebook Shuts Down Scrabulous

Facebook has shut down Scrabulous, the Scrabble-like game on its site. If you try to pull up the popular game, you get the following message: "Scrabulous is disabled for U.S. and Canadian users until further notice. If you would like to stay informed about developments in this matter, please click here." If you click, you get a form from the Scrabulous founders asking for your e-mail address so they can keep you posted on further developments.

Free Association: Who Owns Your Privacy?

Viacom lawsuit with YouTube pits business interests against public interests. Last year, media giant Viacom sued Googe-owned YouTube over copyright infringement. At issue were the over 160,000 clips of Viacom-owned programs such as South Park and The Daily Show available on YouTube. Viacom argued that by failing to remove copyrighted clips or prevent them from being posted, YouTube was responsible for copyright infringement.

China: Bloggers take stand against web activist’s arrest

Following his apprehension last month as he was pitching in with the earthquake relief in his native Sichuan province, web activist Huang Qi was this weekend formally arrested for "illegal possession of state secrets".

A dash of lime -- a new twist that may cut CO2 levels back to pre-industrial levels

Scientists say they have found a workable way of reducing CO2 levels in the atmosphere by adding lime to seawater. And they think it has the potential to dramatically reverse CO2 accumulation in the atmosphere, reports Cath O'Driscoll in SCI's Chemistry & Industry magazine published today.

Adding lime to seawater increases alkalinity, boosting seawater's ability to absorb CO2 from air and reducing the tendency to release it back again.

Beware of social networking overload

There's a great scene from "The Brady Bunch" when Marcia - just turned high school freshman - is nervous about fitting in and making friends so she signs up for every club listed on the school bulletin board. This is sort of what I see happening with many of you and all the social networking sites out there.

Advance brings low-cost, bright LED lighting closer to reality

Researchers at Purdue University have figured out how to replace the expensive sapphire substrate of traditional LED lights with a low-cost metal-coated silicon wafer.

Facebook's Beacon is Super Creepy

A couple of hours earlier, I had purchased tickets to see Dark Knight at the Fandango Web site - Fandango.com. Fandango - not associated with Facebook. Yet, Fandango shared the details of my credit card transaction with Facebook. They did this despite the fact that I gave Fandango my personal email address and I'm registered on Facebook with my work address. So, sure - Facebook was giving me a choice as to whether to publish my purchase to my 297 Facebook friends. But despite my awareness of Beacon - and my 13 year history developing Web applications, I was creeped out in a visceral way. But then, even when I thought I told Facebook not to publish the information, it published to my profile anyway.