Editor’s Note: Related tickers: Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)
Google trying to evade UK privacy laws, campaigners claim (TheGuardian)
Privacy campaigners have slammed Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) for claiming that UK laws don’t apply to it, after British users claimed the search giant illicitly tracked their web browsing. In a response to legal documents filed by a group of British users seeking to sue Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), the company has said that the case should be served in California, where it has its world headquarters, and refused to accept the lawsuit in the UK. It also aims to contest the right of British users to bring a case in the country where they live and use Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s services.
Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s Internet traffic plunged 40% with estimated cost of $500,000 (eFinanceHub)
According to web analytics experts, the internet traffic has plunged worldwide by almost 40% as Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) services have undergone a complete shutdown. The search giant said that it has faced block out of its services from Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) Search to Gmail to YouTube to Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) Drive for between one to five minutes last night. The cause for the blockage is not known yet as Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) has denied giving any further explanation regarding the issue when contacted by Sky News Online. The web analytics firm GoSquared reported that during the block out global internet traffic has dropped by almost 40%, indicating the massive grip of Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) on the web. GoSquared developer Simon Tabor said that our reliance on Google.com is huge regarding the internet users.
Google user info remains accessible (The-Japan-News)
Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) has changed the default privacy setting of Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) Groups, its on-line mail sharing service, so that only members in the same group can read e-mails, but the new setting applies only to new users, leaving information of many users easily available to the public, it was learned Saturday. Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s decision to change the default setting came after it was revealed a month ago that a large amount of official information from central government entities was freely accessible through Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) Groups.
Google Responds to British Lawsuit: UK Privacy Laws Don’t Apply (Infosecurity-Magazine)
There have been two new developments in the British lawsuit against Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) for allegedly overriding Safari privacy settings to track users’ internet habits: firstly the High Court granted permission to serve on Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), putting the papers into the public domain; and secondly Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) responded by claiming it does not have to answer to the UK courts. Lawyers acting for the claimants – Olswang LLC – issued a statement saying that “Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) has told British consumers taking legal action against it for privacy breaches that it does not have to answer to the English courts and that UK privacy laws don’t apply.”
