Google ordered to fix privacy policy

By Christopher Williams and agencies 12:45PM BST 16 Oct 2012

Privacy watchdogs have said Google's new privacy policy does not comply with European laws and told the web giant to fix it within months or face legal action. "Google has a few months, three or four months, to comply. If it takes no action, we will enter a phase of litigation," said the head of France's CNIL data protection agency, which took a lead role in a European investigation. Google rejected the accusations, saying: "Our new privacy policy shows our continued commitment to protecting our users' data and creating quality products. We are confident that our privacy policies respect European law." Google introduced its new privacy policy in March, allowing it to track users across various services to develop targeted advertising, despite sharp criticism from privacy groups. It pooled data from Gmail, YouTube, Android smartphones, social networks and web search to create a master profile for each individual. At the time Google said the move would make its privacy policies simpler and easier to understand. Users were given the options of either accepting the new regime or deleting their Google accounts. The CNIL led an investigation into the policy by data agencies from all 27 European Union member states, including Britain's Infromation Commissioner, and on Tuesday presented its conclusions at a press conference in Paris. In a joint letter to Google made public ahead of the conference, the agencies wrote that the US firm "provides insufficient information to its users, especially on the purposes and the categories of data being processed. "As a result, a Google user is unable to determine which categories of data are processed in the service he uses, and for which purpose these data are processed," it said. CNIL president Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin said that "we now demand adjustments" to the policy, failing which "authorities in several countries can take action against Google". She added however that such action would be taken on a national and not an EU level. In order to avoid sanctions, CNIL said Google must "reinforce users' consent", such as by asking for permission to combine data from different services and offering a central "opt-out" tool to increase their control over how they are monitored. "Under EU data protection law, such consent must be specific, informed and voluntary," said Philip James, a data protection lawyer at Pitmans. "Since the use of the pool of data is likely to have been outside consumers' expectations when they first signed up to a service, coupled with the 'take it or leave it deal', namely that users must either consent or lose their accounts, means that the consent may be invalid.

"Accordingly, Google may have a regulatory barb in its mouth which may prove difficult to extract." Critics have argued that Google's new policy gave it unprecedented ability to monitor its hundreds of millions of users. The firm said the changes are designed to improve the user experience across the various Google products, and give it a more deeper view of its users' interests to help make advertising more "relevant". Nick Pickles of the privacy campaign group Big Brother Watch said that in pooling data Google had made it harder for consumers to learn how they are monitored online. Its absolutely right that European regulators focus on ensuring people know what data is being collected and how it is being used," he said. "Unless people are aware just how much of their behaviour is being monitored and recorded it is impossible to make an informed choice about using services." This ruling is an important step to putting consumers in control of their personal information and ensuring that companies like Google are not able to easily disregard peoples privacy in pursuit of more information and greater profits. The threat of legal action over its privacy policy means Google is now battling the European Union on two fronts. It also faces an anti-trust investigation over allegations it unlawfully favours its own products, such as Google Shopping, ahead of rivals' in general search results.

Google Street View adds 250,000 miles of roadways

By Doug Gross, CNN October 11, 2012

(CNN) -- With fallout still swirling from Apple's decision to replace Google Maps with its own mobile mapping, Google on Thursday announced the biggest upgrade ever to its Street View tool. The update adds more than 250,000 miles of roadways in 17 countries, said Ulf Spitzer, Google's Street View program manager, in a blog post Thursday. The Street View feature on Google Maps lets users see a real-world, 360-degree view of locations. Showcasing Google's global reach, the new coverage areas include parts of Macau, Singapore, Sweden, Thailand, Taiwan, Italy, Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Canada and the United States. Since launching in 2007, Google Street View had captured 20 petabytes of data in 48 countries. The company uses cars, trikes, snowmobiles and people outfitted with custom cameras to capture 360-degree images around the world. In the new update, Google also added a spate of "special collections" to the feature, providing virtual tours of attractions around the globe. "Street View, as you know, is a useful resource when you're planning a route or looking for a destination, but it can also magically transport you to some of the world's picturesque and culturally significant landmarks," Spitzer said. The new spots include Catherine Palace and Ferapontov Monastery in Russia, Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taiwan and Stanley Park in Vancouver.

Google Maps has been on the minds of many since Apple decided to replace it as the default mapping system on iOS 6, the latest version of its mobile operating system. The update coincided roughly with the release of the iPhone 5, meaning millions saw the new product for the first time after getting their new phones. Early reviews have not been kind. Apple's mapping software has been a spotty mess, missing huge chunks of the globe and, at times, placing notable landmarks in the wrong place, sometimes humorously so. The release was bad enough that Apple CEO Tim Cook issued a rare apology, saying in an open letter that Apple is "extremely sorry for the frustration this has caused" and promising to improve the feature. Google has been officially silent on whether it plans to release a new Google Maps app for iOS 6, which runs on iPhones, iPads and iPods. Reports suggest that it's doing so, but there's no guarantee Apple would approve it. In the past, the company has turned down apps that it deemed compete with its own features. That's a fact Google CEO Eric Schmidt acknowledged Wednesday, speaking at an All Things Digital conference, where he declined to confirm that a new version of maps is in the works for Apple mobile devices. "Apple should have kept our maps," Schmidt said, according to GigaOM.

Hacker finds Chrome vulnerability, closes in on $60K prize

By Jeremy Kirk, IDG News Service Oct 10, 2012 9:05 AM

It appears the hacker known as "Pinkie Pie" produced the first Chrome vulnerability at the Hack In the Box conference on Wednesday, just ahead of the deadline for the competition this afternoon. Google security officials said they are in the process of verifying the vulnerability, which if valid, will net Pinkie Pie $60,000, the top reward for the second Pwnium competition held this year. The reward goes to someone who creates a full Chrome exploit using bugs only in Chrome itself. Google has allotted a total of $2 million in reward money for the second round of Pwnium, the first of which was held in March at the CanSecWest security conference in Vancouver, British Columbia. Pinkie Pie is well known for his skills. He secured $60,000 in the first Pwnium competition for stringing together six vulnerabilities in order to break out of Chrome's sandbox, which is a software boundary designed to quarantine malicious behavior within a browser and not allow it to reach the rest of the computer's software. Pinkie Pie is apparently not at Hack in the Box this week. Instead, a colleague submitted his entry, which was hosted on Google's infrastructure. Google quickly moves to patch problems found with its browser via an auto-update mechanism.

Google is offering such rich rewards for finding vulnerabilities because it has become harder to exploit the browser. It also takes more time to find those vulnerabilities, so Google has allowed security gurus to work on their exploits for two months. The final results will be announced late Thursday afternoon near the end of the conference.

Facebook flooded with complaints after messages 'bug'

By Shane Richmond, Head of technology (editorial) 8:22PM BST 24 Sep 2012

The social network was deluged with complaints from members who claimed their old private messages have been re-published publicly on the social network. Facebook admitted old messages were reappearing on profiles but quickly denied that there had been a privacy breach, as the messages were old public messages. It appeared that members were shown old public "wall" postings that they wrongly believed were private messages. Observers said the outcry showed how the way people use Facebook has changed, as they have become more aware of their privacy online. Facebooks director of engineering, Andrew Bosworth, aimed to calm the panic. "In case there was any concern, these are just wall posts and not personal messages people just forget how we used to use the wall!," he said. Some users had claimed that messages they had sent privately on the social network between 2007 and 2009 were being republished into their public timelines on the site. Though it was not clear how many people were affected, there were complaints from users in Britain, America and in Europe. A Facebook spokesman said: "A small number of users raised concerns after what they mistakenly believed to be private messages appeared on their Timeline. "Our engineers investigated these reports and found that the messages were older wall posts that had always been visible on the users profile pages. Facebook is satisfied that there has been no breach of user privacy." Last week, Facebook added a new feature that shows members of the site their search history and lets them delete searches they do not want Facebook to retain. The feature is part of Facebook's Activity Log, which lets members of the social network see what information Facebook holds on them. Facebook said: 'It's important to remember that no one else can see your Activity Log, including your search activity."

Facebook has recently added a new feature that shows members of the site their search history and lets them delete searches they do not want Facebook to retain. The feature is part of Facebooks Activity Log, which lets members of the social network see what information Facebook holds on them. The greater emphasis on search has been interpreted as a bid by Facebook to take on the might of Google. Zuckerberg said: Facebook is pretty uniquely positioned to answer the questions people have. Facebook agreed to turn off the feature in Europe. The feature has long been controversial and was turned on by default last year, meaning that users who did not want to be identified would have to opt out. Earlier this year, Facebook angered some of its members when it forced them to adopt a new Timeline page, changing the layout of all the photos and messages they had ever posted to the social network. When the feature was first launched, in September last year, it was a voluntary feature but Facebook began making it compulsory in January.

Chrome 23 beta pumps up video support

Katherine Noyes@noyesk Oct 4, 2012 2:00 PM

t was just about a week ago that Google released version 22 of its Chrome browser, but on Tuesday the beta version of Chrome 23 made its debut, complete with a big boost in video support. In recent years, video has taken a central role on the web, wrote Google software engineer Justin Uberti in a blog post announcing the news. Developers are using the latest web technologies to make it easier for users to access, watch, and create video content. Todays Chrome Beta update includes more tools for developers to take video engagement to the next level. Several new features are included in this latest version of the popular browser, in fact. Here's a rundown of a few of them. 1. Real-time audio and video calling At the top of the list of new features in the Chrome 23 beta is the PeerConnection API, which allows developers to create Web apps with real-time audio and video calling without the need for a plug-in. Together, PeerConnection and the getUserMedia API represent the next steps in WebRTC, a new standard which aims to allow high quality video, audio, and data communications on the web, Uberti explained. Both the getUserMedia API and WebRTC figured prominently in Google's Chrome 21release in late July. 2. Video enhancement

Also included in this new Chrome beta version is track support for HTML5 video, offering an easy, standard way to add subtitles, captions, descriptions, chapters, and metadata to videos. It can also be used to make videos accessible or split videos into sections, for example. Track provides developers with a unified, programmatic mechanism for doing all these things in the HTML DOM and Javascript, Uberti pointed out. 3. Adaptive video playback Then, too, there's the MediaSource API, offering a video playback solution that adapts video quality to changing computer and network conditions. The result is that it can prevent excessive buffering and startup delays for videos, allowing them to play silky smooth with no annoying stutters, Uberti said. 4. Pepper Flash Last but not least, though it's not in the official Chrome 23 beta announcement, I was reminded recently of Google's Pepper Flashand think it's worth mentioning because it's gotten relatively little coverage. Based on Google's enhanced PPAPI application programming interface, this new Adobe Flash Player alternative has been part of Chrome for Windows ever since the arrival of Chrome 21 this summer; Linux users, in fact, have had the benefit of PPAPI Flash, also known as Pepper Flash, since Chrome 20. The benefits are many, including a security-enhancing sandbox for Flash, fewer Flash crashes, faster rendering, and smoother scrolling, as Google software engineer Justin Schuh pointed out in an August blog post.

Microsoft to build its own Windows Phone, reports say

Jared Newman Oct 2, 2012 2:10 PM

Rumors of a Microsoft-made phone have resurfaced, with three new reports claiming the Redmond-based company has mobile hardware ambitions. Boy Genius Report and China Timesboth claim that Microsoft is working on its own Windows Phone hardware, but neither publication names any sources. WPCentral also reports that Microsoft has a phone in the making, and cites an unnamed source. The phone is supposedly in testing now, and is unique from all existing Windows Phone 8 hardware.

This isn't the first talk of a Windows Phone from Microsoft. In June, Nomura analyst Rick Sherlund, citing industry sources, wrote in a note to clients that Microsoft was working with a contract manufacturer to develop their own handset. A Microsoft-made Windows Phone isnt unreasonable. It might have seemed unthinkable a year ago, when the world was still waiting for Microsoft and Nokia to launch the first fruits of their collaboration. However, that partnership no longer seems ironclad, now that Microsoft is treating HTC's Windows Phone 8X and 8S like flagship devices. Might Microsoft burn Nokia (again) by creating its own Windows Phone? Possibly. Microsofts own Windows 8 Surface tablet proves the company isnt afraid to challenge its own hardware partners for the good of the platform. If anything, Windows Phone needs more help right now than does Windows 8, since its failed to gain traction after two years on the market. The question is what Microsoft stands to gain by making its own phone. A few possibilities come to mind. For example, Microsoft may have some hardware innovation in mind, similar to the Surfaces keyboard dock and integrated kickstand, and it may not trust its existing hardware partners to implement such an innovation. Pricing may also be a factor if Microsoft is willing to undercut its partners to promote the platform. Finally, Microsoft may want to have a device upon which its own brand name is prominently featured even more so than it currently is on HTC phones. Officially, Microsoft gave ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley the same non-denial that it did a few months ago: We are big believers in our hardware partners and together were focused on bringing Windows Phone 8 to market with them. My guess is that Microsoft is quietly putting together its own hardware in case those partners don't pull through. There's speculation that Microsoft did the same thing with Surface, and only decided to announce the tablets after seeing PC makers' uninspired designs. Depending on how Surface performs, Microsoft may see fit to deploy the nuclear option for Windows Phone as well.

Users: Apple iOS 6 maps are a mess

By Rory Anderson and Brandon Griggs, CNN September 21, 2012

( CNN) -- The Washington Monument towers above the National Mall in Washington, directly between the U.S. Capitol to the east and the Lincoln Memorial to the west. But Apple seems to think it lies several hundred yards to the south, near the Potomac River. The mistake appears to be one of many in Apple's new mobile maps, which replaced Google Maps as the default map application in iOS 6, the new operating system for iPhones, iPads and iPod Touches. Apple

has faced a chorus of complaints since iOS 6 was made available for download Wednesday, and the griping will likely grow louder as people get their hands Friday on new iPhone 5s. 5 big changes in iOS 6 "What Apple has done with #iOS6 maps is like planning a mission to outer space and NOT TALKING TO NASA," tweeted tech-loving comedian Baratunde Thurston, a former digital director for The Onion. Apple announced earlier this year it was replacing its mobile map software from Google with a new Apple-designed system. All iPhone and iPad users are now forced to use the new map system when they update their software or buy the iPhone 5, which will come pre-loaded with the maps. But within minutes of the new software launch on Wednesday, iPhone users began to point out that a number of landmarks had been misplaced on Apple maps, incorrectly named and lost entirely. Screenshots posted online appear to show a museum located underneath a river, while the map service seems to deny the existence of the English town Stratford-upon-Avon, where Shakespeare was born. Other users say a search for London directed them to London, Ontario, in Canada, instead of the British capital. Many customers say they are upset that Apple has removed mentions of public transportation routes or stations from its new map service, a popular feature on the Google system which allowed users to see bus and train schedules at individual stations. Ireland's Minister for Justice expressed concern that the new Apple maps identify a working farm in a residential area of suburban Dublin as an airport, a potential hazard for pilots. The Apple's maps have already inspired a Tumblr feed, the ironically named "The Amazing iOS 6 Maps," filled with examples of mangled mapping. And some Twitter users pointed out the irony in that the new map system was unable to pinpoint an Apple store in Sydney, Australia, which it placed on the wrong side of the road. Tech blogger and entrepreneur Anil Dash was especially critical of the new maps, which he called "pretty but dumb," and of Apple for releasing what he said was a flawed product. "Apple made this maps change despite its shortcomings because they put their own priorities for corporate strategy ahead of user experience," he wrote. "That's a huge change for Apple in the post-iPod era, where they've built so much of their value by doing the hard work as a company so that things could be easy for users." iPhone 5: The wait is over Apple is preaching patience. Apple spokesperson Trudy Muller told CNN, "Customers around the world are upgrading to iOS 6 with over 200 new features including Apple Maps, our first map service. We are excited to offer this service with innovative new features like Flyover and Siri integration, and free turn by turn navigation. We launched this new map service knowing that it is a major initiative and we are just getting started with it. We are continuously improving it, and as Maps is a cloud-based solution, the more people use it, the better it will get. We're also working with developers to integrate some of the amazing transit apps in the App Store into iOS Maps. We appreciate all of the customer feedback and are working hard to make the customer experience even better." Some tech bloggers on Thursday were advising owners of older iPhones not to upgrade to iOS 6 because of the maps. Meanwhile, Dutch satellite navigation company TomTom, which provided the data for the new map system, told CNN it is not responsible for the way the maps work. The poor reception for Apple's maps don't appear to have dented the popularity of the iPhone 5, however. Apple announced on Monday that pre-orders of the phone topped 2 million in just 24 hours and that its initial supply batch for the phone sold out in just an hour.

Google mobile chief attacks Chinese version of Android

By Christopher Williams, Technology Correspondent 2:28PM BST 17 Sep 2012

The head of Googles mobile division has attacked a Chinese rival, accusing it of pirating apps and violating rules designed to discourage incompatible versions of Android. The intervention by Andy Rubin, Googles senior vice president of mobile and digital content, follows a bizarre incident last week when Acer, the Taiwanese manufacturer, invited journalists to a news conference to demonstrate a new smartphone for the booming Chinese market, only to tell them the event been blocked by Google. The handset was due to be the first to run Aliyun, a mobile operating system developed by Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce giant. It emerged that Acer pulled out when Google threatened to revoke its membership of the Open Handset Alliance, the group of Android manufacturers that guides development of the worlds most popular mobile operating system. Although Android is free and open source, allowing anyone to copy and adapt it, a condition of membership of the OHA is that handsets based on elements of the software must be cross-compatible and able to run the same apps. If Acer was kicked out, its future products could not carry the Android logo and would not have access to the Google Play app store. While Android remains free for anyone to use as they would like, only Android compatible devices benefit from the full Android ecosystem, Google said. In a blog post addressed to John Spelich, an Alibaba executive who complained publicly about Googles action, Mr Rubin said Aliyun would have created an incompatible operating system based on Android. The fact is, Aliyun uses the Android runtime, framework and tools, he said. Industry observers also saw the blog post as a defence against claims that Google acted to crush potential competition. And your app store contains Android apps (including pirated Google apps)," Mr Rubin continued. "So there's really no disputing that Aliyun is based on the Android platform and takes advantage of all the hard work that's gone into that platform by the OHA. Incompatible versions of Android are known as forks; Amazons Kindle Fire operating system is the best-known example. Mr Spelich had denied that Aliyun was fork and insisted it was built from the ground up on Linux, the open source operating system that also serves as the foundation of Android.

So if you want to benefit from the Android ecosystem, then make the choice to be compatible, Mr Rubin told him. Its easy, free, and we'll even help you out. But if you don't want to be compatible, then don't expect help from OHA members that are all working to support and build a unified Android ecosystem. The row has highlighted the high stakes in the Chinese smartphone market, which research firm IDC expects to overtake the American market this year. Alibaba had expressed ambitions to become the Android of China, but Googles move against its collaboration with Acer makes that unlikely, given almost all the big name smartphone manufacturers are members of the OHA.