Congress Should Grill the FCC Over Redacted Google Wi-Fi Snooping Report
Chris Soghoian, for Wired:
However, even if the FCC lacked the legal authority punish Google, nothing prevented the agency from alerting the public, the media, and Congress to the full extent of Google’s sins. Instead, the agency opted to keep the public in the dark.
The FCC has yet to reveal the reasons why it opted to so heavily redact the most damning portions of the Google WiFi report. Congress should not wait for the FCC to volunteer an explanation. It should demand answers.
DARPA Director Bolts Pentagon for Google
Wired:
Darpa director Regina Dugan will soon be stepping down from her position atop the Pentagon’s premiere research shop to take a job with Google. Dugan, whose controversial tenure at the agency lasted just under three years, was “offered and accepted at senior executive position” with the internet giant, according to Darpa spokesman Eric Mazzacone. She felt she couldn’t say no to such an “innovative company,” he adds.
Google to Announce Venture With Belgian Museum - NYTimes.com
New York Times:
Google, which organizes the world’s information digitally, is linking up with a precursor that aimed to do something similar, on paper.
It plans to announce Tuesday that it is forming a partnership with a museum in Mons, Belgium, dedicated to a long-ago venture to compile and index knowledge in a giant, library-style card catalog with millions of entries — an analog-era equivalent of a search engine or Wikipedia.
Google Begins to Scale Back Its Scanning of Books From University Libraries
The Chronicle of Higher Ed:
Google has been quietly slowing down its book-scanning work with partner libraries, according to librarians involved with the vast Google Books digitization project. But what that means for the company’s long-term investment in the work remains unclear.
Google Privacy policies
A Gmail user says Google deleted MP3s from his email because of copyright.
The Brilliant "Don't Be Evil" Bookmarklet
There has been a lot of back and forth in recent weeks over Google’s new Search+ functionality — about how “fair” it is, and whether or not it should lead to antitrust inquiries. But the bottom line is this:
Search+ makes Google worse. It replaces relevancy with Google’s own agenda to pump up Google+.
Source: parislemon
Why You Shouldn’t Listen to Facebook or Google When They Come Out Against SOPA
Beta Beat:
Just don’t forget: Facebook’s only against this piracy bill because it could affect them in a not-nice way, not because of how it might effect you. If that were the case, they’d be advocating for your rights while policing their own biggest problem, privacy.
The same is true for Google, Wikipedia, and Tumblr.
Google's Social Move Attracts Critics
Criticism of Google’s announcement today of Search Plus Your World:
Google is adding a feature it calls Search Plus Your World, where Google searches will turn up Google posts from friends. Of course, these Google results will stand higher on the page than information from other social networks. Searching someone’s name, for example, will put their Google page directly at the top of the Google search box. James Grimmelmann, an associate professor at New York Law School who specializes in Internet law, wrote on Twitter, “Today is a good day to turn off Google and delete your Google Profile. I just did.”
