December 2009 Archives

Rumours are sweeping the web, and indeed Facebook itself, that the social networking site is going to start charging at some point in the future.

Figures suggested include $14.99 per month, which would be quite a stiff fee.

It's already provoked the starting off of facebook groups protesting at the as yet unsubstantiated rumours. (this one has more than 800,000 members)

Google was convicted of breaching copyright over online French books by a Paris court.

A judge ruled Friday that the internet search giant must pay £300,000 in damages and interest to a French publisher with a further £10,000 per day until it removes the extracts from its database.

The company said it will appeal the decision.

Britain's Got Talent runner-up Susan Boyle was the star of the most-watched clip on video website YouTube this year, figures showed today.

The Scottish singer's rendition of I Dreamed A Dream on the television show was watched more than 120 million times by viewers across the world.

She netted more than three times the number of internet hits achieved by the second most-watched video of 2009.

Facebook today urged its users to review and update their privacy settings.

The social network is providing ways of letting people have more control over the information they put on the site.

Elliot Schrage, vice president of communications, public policy and marketing, said: "Facebook is transforming the world's ability to control its information online by empowering more than 350 million people to personalise the audience for each piece of content they share.

The government today announced that children as young as five will be taught how to stay safe on the internet.

This put me in mind of previous attempts by the authorities to educate children about various dangers facing them in everyday life.

Mostly it's been done through information films - remember the fishing beware of overhead power lines one?

Road safety has been a frequent choice - the Green Cross code man, Kevin Keegan, and, of course the daddy of them all - Tufty!

Yes, the road safety squirrel! Remember him? Here's a rather disconcerting pic below to refresh your memories:

Much beloved of 'observational' stand up comedians (The gag goes: Road safety - why use a squirrel? It's the animal most often seen splattered on the tarmac, with tyre tracks across its back), Tufty tried to bring the message home to youngsters via the medium of soft toys (although the picture above is more terrifying than endearing I would contend).

The government's new internet safety plan 'Click Clever, Click Safe' is going to be part of the national curriculum and taught in schools.

But clearly, as Tufty (interesting factoid - surname Fluffytale) shows, to be successful (at it's height there were two million Tufty club members, including me) you've got to somehow appeal to your target audience.

I remember playing a snakes and ladders-style Tufty boardgame - land on a square which says you remembered to look left and right, advance three, run into the road after a ball, go back to the start.

Perhaps we need a fluffy protagonist for the new initiative. Presumably with a silly modern sounding name like iTuft or Tuftpod.

I suspect the stumbling block would be depicting his adversaries - it's hard to imagine how iPaedo or PeadoPod could be visualised.

Ok - bad idea!

The privacy of social networking sites came to the fore again today with the publication of a Press Complaints Commission of a ruling.

A serving police officer complained about comments published in The People newspaper he made on Facebook about the death of Ian Tomlinson during the London G20 protests.

The article reported that the police officer had posted a message which said: "I see my lot have murdered someone again. Oh well, sh*t happens".

The complainant argued that publication of this comment - plus that of comments from two other social networking profiles - intruded into his privacy, as the profiles in question were not publicly accessible.

The newspaper said that the comments had been drawn to its attention by a third party who was an online 'friend' of the complainant, as had one of the newspaper's journalists whom the complainant had briefly accepted as a friend. In addition, it argued, there was a strong public interest in publication, as it showed how serving police officers viewed high-profile incidents such as the death of Mr. Tomlinson. 

The Commission agreed with the newspaper that publication on this occasion could be justified by the public interest.

Given that the death of Mr Tomlinson had been "the subject of considerable media and public scrutiny", there was, it said, a "clear public interest in knowing about police attitudes (whether publicly or privately expressed) towards the incident".

It also highlighted the element of risk that the complainant had taken in posting such comments to people who were "not obliged to keep the information secret".

Google has bowed to pressure from newspaper publishers and agreed to let them limit the number of free news pages users can read per day.

The internet search engine has said that publishers will be able to cap access to their subscription websites to five articles per day, after which they can be redirected to a payment screen.

Its concessions follow claims from some media outlets that Google has profited from its links to online news pages.

British Telecom (BT) has defended the fact that its chairman is the only person in his village with broadband internet access.

Sir Michael Rake's connection is part of a trial which it is hoped could eventually help other residents in Hambleden, near Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire.

A BT spokesman said the telephone exchange the village is connected to has been enabled with broadband, not only by itself but by other companies.

However, the distance to the exchange has made it impossible to provide a reliable broadband service, as broadband speeds deteriorate over long lines.