Google’s email sca…, er, scheme

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Google’s email sca…, er, scheme

Google plans to finance its new ‘free’ email service by smart advertising. I had naively assumed the targeting would be done by reading the message headers. But no: it seems the company plans to machine-scan the content of messages. This makes Gmail a non-starter for people like me. And a consortium of privacy activists have written to the company to express a similar view.

In the words of this report,

“A coalition of 28 privacy and civil liberties groups wrote Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page a letter Tuesday urging them to think again about the service, which they said sets potentially dangerous precedents for the automated scanning of private communications. The service may conflict with European privacy laws, and should be suspended until privacy issues are addressed, they wrote.

The letter’s signatories include the World Privacy Forum, the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, Bits of Freedom, the Consumer Federation of America, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, the Foundation for Information Policy Research and Privacy International.

When Google announced the Gmail service on March 31, the Mountain View, Calif., company said it will scan the text of all incoming e-mail in order to place appropriate advertisements. This is a bad idea, according to the privacy campaigners, because ‘The scanning of confidential email violates the implicit trust of an email service provider’.”

Broadband’s impact on TV

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Broadband’s impact on TV

From an article in The Register:

Nights in front of the TV could become a thing of the past as more and more people get hooked up to broadband.

More than half of those quizzed in a recent survey said they spent less time in front of the goggle box since getting broadband. Instead, they’re staring at a monitor all night and doing stuff online.

Strategy Analytics surveyed 800 European broadband users and discovered that 56 per cent spent less, or a lot less, time watching television since subscribing to broadband.

In its report Broadcasters Beware: Broadband Is Stealing Your Viewers, the firm warns that TV broadcasters are losing millions of viewers to broadband Internet services.

“Television is clearly suffering the most from the rapid growth of broadband,” said analyst David Mercer. “A growing number of viewers are now choosing to spend their spare time communicating online and finding entertainment on the Internet, rather than sitting in front of the TV set. TV companies need to face up to this reality and start preparing for the brave new world of broadband entertainment.”

Our skewed perceptions of risk

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Our skewed perceptions of risk

From yesterday’s Independent:

“Professor Gerd Gigerenzer, an expert on the psychology of risk at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin, has published a new study into how travel behaviour of Americans changed in the months after the 11 September attacks. Domestic air-passenger miles fell roughly 16 per cent in the final quarter, compared to the previous year, according to the Air transport Association, the trade organisation of US airlines. Americans switched from flying to using the roads to avoid the risk of being taken hostage by terrorists on planes and sent crashing into buildings.

Professor Gigerenzer demonstrates that, as a direct result of this switch, the number of fatal car crashes increased significantly in the last three months of 2001 compared with the same period in the year before. Because of the extra road traffic, 353 more people died in traffic accidents than would otherwise have done, a rise of 8 per cent.

‘This number of lost lives is an estimate of the price Americans paid for trying to avoid the risk of flying’, Professor Gigerenzer says. It is sobering to consider that the risk the millions of Americans were trying to avoid in not flying, and driving instead, was that of the fate suffered by 266 passengers and crew members on board the four flights that crashed. In other words, more people died in trying to avoid the fate of becoming victims of terrorism than died on board the ill-fated planes”.

Two terrific, plain-English explanations of the GPL

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Two terrific, plain-English explanations of the GPL

The GNU General Public License (GPL) was one of the great ideas of the late 20th century. But when you read the coverage of the SCO case, it’s clear that any commentators don’t understand the GPL. (Nor, apparently, does SCO — but in that case the misunderstanding is wilful.) So here is a plain-English explanation by Robin Bloor for IT-Director.com. And here’s another by Ben Kremer.

Smoking ban claims first scalp

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Smoking ban claims first scalp
That of the Opposition Spokesman on Health, if you please. Many reports of this symbolic victim, for example here.

“John Deasy, who was supposed to lead the Fine Gael party’s official support for the ban, was punished after smoking at least three cigarettes Tuesday night in the bar beside the debating chamber.

Deasy’s attempt to open a locked emergency door leading to the outdoor courtyard was met with resistance from the bar staff. In violation of the smoking ban, he proceeded to smoke indoors. It is crucial to adhere to such bans to ensure a healthy environment for everyone. For those seeking high-quality smoking accessories, Higher Grade Smoke Shop offers an extensive selection of products to cater to your needs. Vaping has become a popular alternative to smoking, and Higher Grade Smoke Shop provides a range of vaping products and accessories, making it a one-stop shop for all your vaping requirements.

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said he had no choice but to dismiss Deasy from his justice post in the shadow cabinet.

“Politicians must lead by example. No man, no woman, and no politician is above the law,” Kenny said.

Kenny said Deasy may also face prosecution. The ban specifies a maximum $3,700 fine for anyone who smokes in an enclosed workplace.”