Google Street View launches in Canada Canadian Press
As of today, residents in several Canadian cities can check out their streets, homes and neighbourhoods on Google Street View. The Google Maps feature was rolled out today displaying images on the Internet from a street-level perspective. The service is now available in Toronto, Calgary, Montreal, Quebec City, Halifax, Vancouver, Squamish, B.C., Whistler, B.C., Ottawa, Kitchener, Ont., and Waterloo, Ont. Once on a Google map, the user clicks and drags the image of a small yellow figure on a left-side scale and places it on the map. A photo of the street, including a 360-degree view, then appears. In response to privacy concerns, Google has said it would blur the faces of people captured in the photos used in Street View.

Thugs attack two transvestites … who turn out to be cage fighters wearing fancy dress Daily Mail
Two thugs who attacked what they thought were a pair of transvestites picked on the wrong men – when their intended victims turned out to be cage fighters on a night out in fancy dress. Dean Gardener, 19, and Jason Fender, 22, singled out the two men walking along a street in wigs, short skirts and high heels. Bare-chested Gardener was caught on CCTV confronting one of the men in a pink wig, black skirt and boob tube – then seen swinging a punch, a court heard.

Music biz still in need of “radical overhaul” to thrive Ars Technica
The music industry is stuck in a rut and it needs to make some radical changes if it wants to stop bleeding money, according to Forrester. The firm has several suggestions for how to overhaul music products and insists that they must be consumer-friendly, not business-oriented.

Google Should Use Extra Time to Add Privacy Into Google Book Search Deep Links
… EFF along with the ACLU and the privacy authors and publishers they represent, the American Library Association, the Association of Research Libraries and the Association of College and Research Libraries, CDT, EPIC, SFLC, Professor James Grimmelman sent a joint letter to Google urging it to include privacy protections along with its reconsidered Google Book Search Settlement. The Court considering the Google Book Search case granted the parties more time to renegotiate the settlement. The Court had received approximately 435 submissions about the settlement by both class members and amici. The American Library Association did a helpful analysis that estimates that 390 of the submissions object to the settlement and another 8 submissions support the settlement but with significant reservations. Shortly thereafter, the Department of Justice weighed in with serious reservations as well, leading the plaintiffs to seek the extension. The Court will still meet with the parties for a status conference on October 7. The joint letter asks Google to take this time to implement the privacy suggestions made by EFF and others, noting author Jonathan Lethem’s statement: “now is the moment to make sure that Google Book Search is as private as the world of physical books. If future readers know that they are leaving a digital trail for others to follow, they may shy away from important but eccentric intellectual journeys.”

EU consults on Microsoft pledges BBC
Microsoft agreed to support other browsers on its operating system. The European Union has begun an investigation to determine whether Microsoft is upholding pledges to curb anti-competitive practices. It is consulting PC makers, software firms and consumers on Microsoft’s offer to allow users to pick different browsers when they install Windows. The bloc ruled in 2004 that Microsoft had abused its dominant market position by freezing out rivals. It said Microsoft must let rivals’ products run on its operating system.

Online ads: Big Brother or customer service? Reuters
U.S. marketers and consumer advocates are preparing for battle over the rules governing online advertising tailored to individual browsing habits, often tracked and collected without notice or permission. The U.S. Congress is due to intervene in the issue in the coming weeks, with a bill in the House of Representatives that would oblige websites to state explicitly how they use the information and allow those using the site to opt out. A billion-dollar industry and consumer privacy are at stake. Advertisers and popular websites say visitors prefer ads that are targeted to their interests and must accept advertising as a necessary condition to obtain free content. But 75 percent of Americans said in a recent survey they were opposed to tailored advertising if it meant their behavior surfing the Internet was being tracked. “People want the benefits of the Web but don’t know about the surveillance aspect,” said Stephen Baker, author of “The Numerati,” about the extent of online data collection. “And when they hear about it, they get the heebie-jeebies.” Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Pennsylvania who surveyed 1,000 Americans from June 18 to July 2 concluded there was a deep concern that tracking Internet habits for tailoring ads was wrong.

Facebook habit gobbles up net time Australian IT
Australia’s Facebook habit soaks up about a quarter of all the time we spend on the internet, according to Nielsen Online. Analytics director Mark Higginson said Australians spent about 6 1/2 of an average 26 1/2 hours online each week visiting Facebook. “On average, one quarter of all internet use in Australia is on Facebook,” Mr Higginson said. Facebook was the fourth most-visited site by Australians last month, behind Google, Ninemsn and Microsoft. Australians visited social networking sites more frequently than they visited their bank or credit union’s internet site to access essential financial services, Mr Higginson said. About 9.6 million people visited financial sites but 10.1 million went to social networking sites or some other kind of online community, the analyst said. “We’re more interested in the internet to connect with each other than we are to look after our finances,” Mr Higginson said.

Roman Polanski To Remain In Swiss Jail IMDb
The Swiss Justice Ministry has rejected an appeal by Roman Polanski that he be released on bail pending his hearing on extradition to the U.S. “In our view, there is still a very high risk that he will flee and that a release on bail or other measures after a release cannot guarantee Polanski’s presence in the extradition procedure,” a Swiss government spokesman said today (Tuesday).

Eolas sues internet aristocracy over embedded application patents OUT-LAW.com
A company which once won a $565 million patent settlement from Microsoft is now suing 23 other companies on the same patent and another one that it claims is “a continuation” of it. Eolas is suing some of the internet’s biggest names, including Google, Yahoo!, YouTube, Sun Microsystems, Apple, eBay and Amazon over its claims that those companies violate its patents. The patents in question enable the operation of interactive technologies that are embedded in web pages, according to a statement from Eolas.

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October, 2009

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