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Does Google-Motorola Pose Anti-Competitive Danger?

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15. August 2011

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Does Google-Motorola Pose Anti-Competitive Danger?

What if Google, the master of the cloud computing universe and the Internet’s information monopolist, were to buy Intel, Apple, or IBM? Would we want the company that controls information outside of our computers all along the Internet to also have control over a principal computer hardware maker and its patents?

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We need a right to be forgotten

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12. August 2011

We need a right to be forgotten

I remember as a young newspaper reporter going to different jurisdictions where public records were kept and putting together background information on an individual. I had to have a compelling reason to do it, because although the records were public, it  took considerable effort to gather the information.  With the Internet and the advent of [...]

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Is Google adding a default security setting?

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9. August 2011

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Is Google adding a default security setting?

One of the dangers of using public Wi-Fi networks at coffee shops and the like is that anybody else on the network can read your email, Facebook postings, search requests and easily hack into your account unless the data is encrypted. The most common is SSL encryption using the HTTPS protocol.  If you use it, [...]

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Should you believe what Eric Schmidt says or what Google does?

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25. July 2011

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Should you believe what Eric Schmidt says or what Google does?

Actions speak louder than words. That’s why I’m not putting much stock in what Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt says anymore.

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Google: Just another corporation …

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22. July 2011

Google: Just another corporation …

Part of Google’s appeal has been the way its executives have been able to portray the Internet giant as not a typical corporateering behemoth simply focused on fattening the bottom line. I’ve argued that despite the self-serving attempt to portray their company as something different, Google is in fact like the rest. Google executives’ acts and words this week show I’m right.

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Google and Facebook lobby expense reports likely to set new records Wednesday

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18. July 2011

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Google and Facebook  lobby expense reports likely to set new records Wednesday

Lobbying expenditure reports are due to be filed with the the Senate Office of Public Records Wednesday and you can expect record expenditures from both Facebook and Google.

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FTC targets Google for antitrust probe

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23. June 2011

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FTC targets Google for antitrust probe

Since April when Bloomberg News reported that the Federal Trade Commission was contemplating a full-blown antitrust investigation of Google, people who follow the Internet giant have been waiting for the other shoe to drop. It did on Thursday with the report in the Wall Street Journal that the five-member Commission is about to serve Google with civil subpoenas — known as Civil Investigative Demands — about its business practices.

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Google’s Do Not Track answer doesn’t track

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3. June 2011

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Google’s Do Not Track answer doesn’t track

If you follow a company closely, like I follow Google, there is no better place to remind its executives of your continued interest than the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting. It keeps them on their toes. I own a couple of shares of Google stock, so I headed up to Mountain View Thursday to attend the [...]

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Google claims it doesn’t understand what Do Not Track means

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23. May 2011

Google claims it doesn’t understand what Do Not Track  means

I’ve just seen what has to be the lamest excuse ever to come out of the Googleplex. Apparently Google hasn’t implemented a Do Not Track mechanism on its Chrome browser, because, according to one of the Internet Giant’s top privacy lawyers, Keith Enright, the geeks in Mountain View “need more granularity and a more reasonable [...]

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Senate “tussle” is good for privacy

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19. May 2011

Senate “tussle” is good for privacy

There can’t be anything better than having legislators compete to answer popular demand for better privacy protection. Hauling tech executives in and asking them to explain themselves never hurts. Twice in two weeks is even better.

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Sen. Blumenthal demands answers on Wi-Fi privacy

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18. May 2011

Sen. Blumenthal demands answers on Wi-Fi privacy

The forty-state probe by attorneys general slowed after then Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal was elected to the U.S. Senate, but he clearly hasn’t dropped his concerns. In a letter this week to the chief executives of Microsoft, Google, Apple, Research in Motion, Skyhook Wireless and Nokia, Blumenthal writes that widespread use of smartphones “raises [...]

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Google got away with Wi-Spy, why can’t I?

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18. May 2011

Google got away with Wi-Spy, why can’t I?

The Senate Commerce committee has called Google and other technology execs to testify tomorrow on mobile privacy. What Google was collecting with its street view cars has every relevance to what they’re doing now, and I hope Senators finally grill them on the topic under oath. (More questions Google should have to answer here.)

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Do-Not-Track-Online One Step Closer To Being National Right

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9. May 2011

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Do-Not-Track-Online One Step Closer To Being National Right

A poll by Consumer Watchdog found that 90 percent of Americans want legislation to protect their online privacy, and 80 percent support a Do Not Track mechanism. Another 86 percent want a single-click button on their browsers that makes them anonymous when they search online.

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