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Posts with tag european union

Filed under: News, Google

EU says Google may be violating privacy laws

Google anonymous dataThe European Union's data protection advisory group sent a letter to Google this month asking why the company keeps records of user searches for up to two years.

The underlying issue here is whether Google and other search engines are violating users' privacy rights by maintaining search records, even if those records are used to improve the user experience by offering personalized search options. European Union investigators are also looking at the way Yahoo! and Microsoft store data.

Google is well aware that there are privacy concerns associated with its retention of search data, and is taking steps to anonymize data that is kept for more than 18 to 24 months. In other words, for about two years, the company will be able to track a particular user's search results. After that, the data will still be available, but there will be no way to associate it with a specific user.

Filed under: Business, Developer, Text, News, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Office, OpenOffice.org

OpenDocument format finally gets ISO certification

opendocument format gains ISO certificationIt's taken two years for this to happen, but ODF has finally been approved as a standard format by the International Organization for Standardization. The OpenDocument Format is now poised to be readily adopted throughout Europe, as the EU recognizes the formats recognized by the ISO. BetaNews has the story, plus a great quote from ODF Alliance executive Director Mario Marcich, "We believe access to public records and essential services should never be restricted to users of a particular brand of software or computer platform." Word to that.

Filed under: Developer, Windows, Microsoft, Open Source

Microsoft to go Open Source?

microsoft antitrustI know, the devil turned up the thermostat. In fact, this isn't as drastic as it sounds, nor is it "happening" in any real sense. The move is largely to shut up the griping European Union, who say Microsoft hasn't been complying with their antitrust settlement obligations. Funny, there are people in the DOJ here claiming the same thing... Come on, it's only taken 8 years, truckloads of money, and who knows how many hours (I'll figure it out in Excel when I get the chance) to get to this point, what's a little peek at the code between friends? Apparently this peek will still cost ya, a sum that no one is discussing, and add to the additional 12,000 pages of technical docs and 500 hours of tech support "licensees" can already get. One more thing: the source code promised may only include the communications protocols in Windows Workgroup Server and Windows Desktop, not every aspect of the inner workings of the OS. Besides that, the code will not be allowed to become public, which is really a more accurate definition of open source. But just think of what another decade, lots more money, and even more Excel spreadsheets could accomplish? That's right, ogg vorbis-native WMP, oh yeah! More happy brouhaha at Slashdot.

As per request, the image is from WIRED.

Filed under: Internet, Web services, Google

Quaero: The official search engine of the European Union

Jacques
ChiracIn his 2006 New Year's address, French President Jacques Chirac apparently focused on Quaero, a new search engine being built by "some of the top tech labs in France and Germany." The project is ambitious, to say the least, reportedly providing "an array of multimedia tools for identifying and indexing images, sound and text," including "a powerful translating tool which will be able to 'understand' audio as well as text," and available on mobile devices and digital TVs. Beyond that, the article is tantalizingly vague, and includes this less-than-promising passage: "The ambitious project will probably not be available anytime in the near future. Quaero is still in the earliest stages of development, so early that none of the major players have yet ventured a guess as to how much the project might cost. When Quaero does launch, it will have a great deal of catching up to do." Good luck with that, Chirac.

[Via Slashdot]

Featured Time Waster

Forumwarz - a potentially offensive time waster

I pwn UAfter spending the better part of an hour on Forumwarz I still can't decide if it's just sick or if it's kind of fun. It's a bit like a car wreck on the highway. I know I shouldn't be looking but I can't quite turn away.

It's sick, it's twisted, it's the internet on it's worst level and darn it, it's kind of fun. At least for a little while.

Forumwarz is a parody role-playing game that takes place on the internet - or at least the Forumwarz version of it. Your goal is to complete missions that are given to you through a mock up of GoogleTalk called Sentrillion.

Your first "friend" is ShallowEsophagus who begins giving you missions to pwn various forums by being a troll. Depending on the character type you are assigned at start up, you have tools like drooling on the keyboard or bashing your head on the keyboard that you can use to destroy forum threads and eventually, pwn a forum.

Future missions involve buying illegal software from the Russians, pwning more difficult forums and other internet oddness.

Completing missions gives you cash, called Flezz in game, and items that you can pawn or use in other missions. The game is NOT for those easily offended. It's crass, coarse and there are frequent f-bombs in the fake chat sessions.

This is also a game for a more mature audience as it requires you to shop at the Drugs R Fun store to get various concoctions to improve your playing, engage in certain cyber activities to get more Flezz and just generally use a more adult perspective.

If you can get past that, here are the more enjoyable and time-wasting aspects.

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