Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eCampus News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

Google says Buzz privacy complaints are false, settles for cash anyway

When Google released Google Buzz in February, there was a backlash. The backlash became, in turn, a lawsuit. That lawsuit has now been settled. In a note to users, Google explained the settlement, reports ReadWriteWeb.

“The settlement acknowledges that we quickly changed the service to address users’ concerns. In addition, Google has committed $8.5 million to an independent fund, most of which will support organizations promoting privacy education and policy on the web.”

The backlash and subsquent lawsuit centered on Google’s default signing up of every Google user for the service without permission. We described the complaints in our February post.…Read More

Judge delays Google book ruling

Google's book deal is promising, but antitrust concerns remain, says the DOJ.
Google's book deal is promising, but antitrust concerns remain, says the DOJ.

As educators and researchers await a landmark decision with enormous implications for schools and colleges, a Manhattan judge says it will take some time to decide whether Google can legally build the world’s biggest digital library.

Google’s effort to create the world’s largest library by scanning millions of books for use on the internet faces a courtroom fight as authors, foreign governments, corporate rivals, and even the U.S. Department of Justice line up to challenge it.

Judge Denny Chin heard oral arguments on Feb. 18 and said he already had read more than 500 written submissions about Google’s $125 million deal with authors and publishers, which was aimed at ending a pair of 2005 lawsuits and clearing legal obstacles to a gigantic online home for digital books. (See “Google rebuts DOJ objections to digital book deal.”)…Read More