Topic: GOOGLE - on January 25, 2012 at 12:25:00 PM CET
Google To Start Tracking Users Across Services
An announcement was posted yesterday on the official Google blog that indicates that changes are being made to Google’s privacy policies and terms of service. What first looks like a reasonable thing to do is in fact something that will keep privacy advocates up at night. Google will merge their privacy policies, of which about 60 are now available, into one main privacy policy. This on first glance is good from a user perspective, as it improves the privacy policy’s accessibility.
washingtonpost.com FAQ: Google’s new privacy policy ghacks.net usatoday.com
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Topic: Davos - on January 25, 2012 at 12:20:00 PM CET
Davos man weighs future of capitalism
The Occupy movement, which went global after protests against Wall Street last year, is camping in igloos to bring its argument with the super-rich "1 percent" to Davos.
It is a reminder to the leaders of finance and industry at the World Economic Forum of the resentment that is leading to questions about the future direction of capitalism.
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Topic: Davos - on January 25, 2012 at 12:17:00 PM CET
Davos 2012 live: Growth predictions set the scene for a gloomy summit
We'll be taking in the highlights, with help from Guardian writers and editors at the event: Alan Rusbridger, Larry Elliott, Jill Treanor and Jane Martinson.
Orientation first: Larry's Davos A-Z on the summit goes all the way from anti-globalisation to Zoellick. And there's our Davos keyword page for all the latest news articles.
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Topic: COPYRIGHT - on January 24, 2012 at 6:49:00 PM CET
MegaUpload Loses Top Lawyer After ‘Outside’ Pressure
A few days after top lawyer Robert Bennett announced he would defend MegaUpload vigorously in their upcoming trial, he has been forced to withdraw from the case. A source says that this drastic decision was made because the case conflicts with the interests of another client of Bennett’s law firm Hogan Lovells. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to conclude that the pressure most likely came from the entertainment industry.
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Topic: Webwar - on January 24, 2012 at 6:32:00 PM CET
American Defense Operations and Cyberspace
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff - Gen. Martin Dempsey - announced the release of the new American Operational Concept that reinforces the importance of space and cyberspace to military operations.
Operational access is the ability to project military force into an operational area with sufficient freedom of action to accomplish the mission.
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Topic: WEB - on January 24, 2012 at 6:24:00 PM CET
Hackers-for-Hire Are Easy to Find
Sitting in his Los Angeles home, Kuwaiti billionaire Bassam Alghanim received an alarming call from a business associate: Hundreds of his personal emails were posted online for anyone to see.
Mr. Alghanim checked and found it to be true, according to a person familiar with the matter. The emails included information on his personal finances, legal affairs, even his pharmacy bills, this person said.
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Topic: DRUGS - on January 24, 2012 at 5:50:00 PM CET
Sir Richard Branson: 'Don't Jail Drug Users'
Just as prohibition of alcohol failed in the United States in the 1920s, the war on drugs has failed globally. Over the past 50 years, more than $1 trillion has been spent fighting this battle, and all we have to show for it is increased drug use, overflowing jails, billions of pounds and dollars of taxpayers’ money wasted, and thriving crime syndicates. It is time for a new approach.
Too many of our leaders worldwide are ignoring policy reforms that could rapidly reduce violence and organised crime, cut down on theft, improve public health and reduce the use of illicit drugs. They are failing to act because the reforms that are needed centre on decriminalising drug use and treating it as a health problem. They are scared to take a stand that might seem “soft”.
telegraph.co.uk '75% of my children’s generation have smoked cannabis': Richard Branson tells MPs drug issue is health issue, NOT crime problem sky.com video
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Topic: DRUGS - on January 24, 2012 at 5:47:00 PM CET
Magic mushrooms may help treat depression: How?
Feeling blue? Two new studies suggest taking a trip might help - but we're not talking vacations.
Tripping on "magic mushrooms" appears to change the brain in ways similar to antidepressants, the study found.
"We're not saying go out there and eat magic mushrooms," Professor David Nutt, a neuropsychopharmacology researcher at Imperial College London and senior author of both studies, told Reuters. "But...this drug has such a fundamental impact on the brain that it's got to be meaningful - it's got to be telling us something about how the brain works."
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Topic: MAKE - on January 24, 2012 at 5:45:00 PM CET
Kickstarter: eye3, An Affordable Aerial Photography Drone
eye3 is a project to create a professional quality yet affordable flying robotic camera platform, or Drone. Almost anyone attempting to build a platform like the eye3 will be stunned by the complexity involved and the years of hands on experience needed to create a functional, safe device. The incredibly steep learning curve combined with the high cost of failure has kept this powerful tool out of the hands of thousands of creative people. We Can Make Aerial Photography Easy for You
My husband and I have been building, programming and flying these complex machines for many years, giving us the knowledge and experience to produce a high performance flying robot in a low cost kit that practically anyone can assemble. Cinematographers, journalists, scientists, hobbyists: eye3 has the power, stability, automation and precision you need to produce professional results.
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Topic: POLICE REPORT - on January 23, 2012 at 4:51:00 PM CET
Warrants Needed for GPS Monitoring, Supreme Court Rules
The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday the authorities need a probable-cause warrant from a judge to affix a GPS device to a vehicle and monitor its every move.
The decision in what is arguably the biggest Fourth Amendment case in the computer age, rejected the Obama administration’s position that American’s had no privacy in their public movements. The government had told the high court that it could affix GPS devices on the vehicles of all members of the Supreme Court, without a warrant.
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Topic: EU - on January 23, 2012 at 4:48:00 PM CET
EU's Data Protection Proposals Likely to Include 24-Hour Breach Notification
IDG News Service — After weeks of controversy, lobbying and concessions, the European Commission looks set to unveil its new data-protection proposals on Wednesday.
The reform of the 1995 Data Protection Directive is one of 2012's key pieces of legislation and has been dogged by more criticism than usual for a directive reform proposal. But over the weekend the commissioner responsible, Viviane Reding, gave more hints about its content during a speech in Munich.
csoonline.com Europe to Issue Tough Rules Protecting Internet Users’ Data
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Topic: AUSTRIA - on January 23, 2012 at 3:46:00 PM CET
Vienna 2.0 - Austrian banks
EUROPEAN banks have to raise enough capital to reach a 9% core Tier-1 ratio by June 30th. But they are also under pressure to keep providing credit. That puts west European banks with units in central Europe in a quandary: whether to pull back on lending there to concentrate on home markets.
A withdrawal of this sort would hit the region hard. Credit growth in central Europe depends largely on three Austrian banks—Raiffeisen Bank International, Erste Bank and Bank Austria, owned by Italy’s UniCredit—and a handful of other west European banks (see chart). A bevy of multilateral bigwigs descended on Vienna on January 16th to urge against “excessive and disorderly” deleveraging by lenders to the region.
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