Italy probes Google Street View service - Computerworld

IDG News Service - Italian prosecutors have opened an investigation into Google for allegedly violating the country's privacy laws through the data collected for the Internet company's Street View service, newspapers reported Thursday.

The investigation, being handled by Rome public prosecutor Eugenio Albamonte, was opened at the request of the national Privacy Authority and on the basis of information provided by Google.

Google spokesman Marco Pancini apologized for the privacy breach Wednesday. "The accidental collection of Wi-Fi data by Street View cars was an error for which we are deeply sorry and for which we apologize. We reiterate our willingness to collaborate with the authorities," Pancini said in a statement.

Privacy Authority Chairman Francesco Pizzetti confirmed that the request for the investigation came from his office. "The problem does not so much concern the images taken by the cars as the fact that Google has also captured signals transmitted by wireless networks, including fragments of communications," Pizzetti told the ANSA news agency. It was illegal to intercept data transmissions without authorization, he said.

Google owned up to the privacy breach in a blog posting on its website a week ago. "In May we announced that we had mistakenly collected unencrypted Wi-Fi payload data using our Street View cars. We work hard at Google to earn your trust, and we're acutely aware that we failed badly here," Alan Eustace, senior vice president for engineering and research, admitted in the posting.

Examination of the data revealed that "while most of the data is fragmentary, in some instances entire emails and URLs were captured, as well as passwords," Eustace wrote.

Eustace said the company wanted to delete the data as soon as possible and pledged to improve its internal privacy and security practices.

In an article for an Italian online magazine, legal expert Fulvio Sarzana di S. Ippolito argued that the magistrates should really be investigating illegal interception of communications rather than "illicit interference in private life," as is currently the case. The choice of which possible offense to investigate could have a bearing on how voluntary Google's conduct was deemed to be and influence the outcome of a possible trial, he said.

Earlier this week the Privacy Authority issued detailed instructions on how Google was required to publicize the activities of its Street View cars, taking the lead on the issue in Europe thus far.

The cars' visits were to be announced at least three days in advance, with advertisements in two local newspapers, on the radio and on Google's website. The cars must also be clearly identified, so that citizens can avoid being filmed, the Authority said. Failure to comply could lead to fines of up to €180,000 (US$250,000).

Writing on the La Repubblica.it website, blogger Vittorio Zambardino said Google should be given credit for owning up to the privacy breach.

"The case that is opening in Rome risks introducing a conflict between innovation and the pre-existing culture, between the judiciary and the technology industry, which leads judges to deal with 'borderline issues' and where it is difficult to establish the frontier between sensible laws and interference in technological development," Zambardino wrote. "Given that no one can dispute the beauty and utility of the Street View service."

Reprinted with permission from IDG.net. Story copyright 2010 International Data Group. All rights reserved.

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Texas A&M gunman alert during Bushes' visit called misunderstanding - msnbc.com

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Texas A&M University locked down its main campus Thursday after a report that a suspected gunman had been spotted while the Bush family was on campus.

The incident appeared to be a misunderstanding, NBC News reported.

A member of the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets was walking down the street with his rifle about 2 miles from where the Bush family was, NBC said.

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The university's notification system, called "Code Maroon," sent a message at 5:35 p.m.: “All Clear. Person with replica weapon identified. No danger. Resume normal activity.”

Earlier, a campus bus driver was on his route around 4 p.m. when he reported seeing an individual carrying a weapon, possibly a rifle, near a building next to the student union, according to A&M spokesman Lane Stephenson.

The situation at first raised fears of what happened last month when a student opened fire on the University of Texas campus in Austin before he eventually turned the gun on himself in the library.

A&M's emergency notification system sent texts and e-mails telling students, faculty and staff to remain indoors while police looked for the suspected gunman. Students reported seeing police, including SWAT team members, searched all over campus.

About two hours later, students, faculty and staff were notified that there was no danger and they could resume normal activities.

"University officials believe the basis for the report was an individual who had in his possession a 'dummy' rifle — a replica," according to the A&M statement.

The person with the replica rifle had apparently walked through Rudder Tower on his way to the western part of campus, where he got into his car and drove home, A&M officials said.

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The university said no actual weapon had been found.

About two miles away from where the suspected gunman was spotted, the university was to hold an event where former President George H.W. Bush and his wife Barbara were hosting former first lady Laura Bush at the George Bush Presidential Library Center. Stephenson said the Bush event was still planned as scheduled.

The A&M campus, which ranks as the nation's sixth-largest university in enrollment with more than 49,000 students, is 95 miles northwest of Houston.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Verizon Deal Ends Inquiry Over Fees - New York Times

WASHINGTON — Verizon Wireless, the nation’s largest mobile phone carrier, will pay $25 million to end an investigation into complaints that it had charged 15 million cellphone customers unauthorized data fees over the last three years, the Federal Communications Commission announced Thursday.

Verizon announced this month that it intended to refund money to its customers for the unauthorized charges. Under a consent decree with the F.C.C. announced Thursday, the company also will pay a minimum of $52.8 million in refunds.

The $25 million settlement is the largest payment under a consent decree in the F.C.C’s history, said Michele Ellison, chief of the agency’s enforcement bureau.

“Today’s settlement requires Verizon Wireless to make meaningful business reforms, prevent future overcharges and provide consumers clear, easy-to-understand information about their choices,” Ms. Ellison said. “I am gratified by the cooperation of the Verizon Wireless team in the face of these issues and pleased they are taking the high road.”

In a statement, Verizon said: “We are a company that listens to its customers and in this case we got to the bottom of a problem and resolved the errors. We have taken this action because it is the right thing to do.”

The long road to the settlement began in November 2007, when customers first started experiencing and then complaining about mysterious $1.99 charges on their monthly phone bills for data sessions that they had not initiated.

The F.C.C. said it started investigating last January after a large number of customer complaints about the charges and after reports in 2009 in The Plain Dealer of Cleveland and The New York Times.

The charges affected customers with a “pay as you go” plan for data or Internet access. Verizon said the “vast majority” of the erroneous charges were incurred when software that was preloaded on some phones automatically contacted Verizon’s data service in what the company called an “acknowledgment” session.

Verizon said that in September 2009 it put in place a feature to limit those inadvertent charges. In addition, the company said it had sometimes accidentally charged customers for access to Web sites through links that were not supposed to lead to data charges. Many customers complained that if they had accidentally hit a wrong button on their flip phones, they would be connected to the Internet and charged a $1.99 fee.

The F.C.C. required and Verizon agreed to take steps to prevent such charges in the future. The company said those steps included software changes to remove automatic acknowledgments between Verizon data centers and phones, and new internal controls that would prevent charges when customers accessed free Web site links. In addition, the company will put in place a data charge task force to monitor and resolve complaints. The task force must report regularly to the F.C.C.

The F.C.C. and Verizon also agreed that the company would initiate customer service improvements, including clearer explanations of its pay-as-you-go data charges and ways for customers to avoid extra charges; an online video tutorial to help consumers understand their bills; and additional training for Verizon customer representatives on pay-as-you-go plans.

Verizon has begun notifying customers eligible for refunds, and it will apply credits or, in the case of former customers, mail checks for the refund amounts in October and November. Most of the credits range from $2 to $6, Verizon said. About 77 million of its customers, or roughly five out of six, are unaffected, the company said.

Customers who do not receive a refund but believe they had unauthorized data charges can appeal and receive a resolution within 30 days, the F.C.C. said.

Julius Genachowski, the F.C.C. chairman, said the settlement “will serve as a significant deterrent to others in the future.”

Mr. Genachowski added: “Today’s consent decree sends a clear message to American consumers — the F.C.C. has got your back. People shouldn’t find mystery fees when they open their phone bills, and they certainly shouldn’t have to pay for services they didn’t want and didn’t use. In these rough economic times, every $1.99 counts.”

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