Report: Cyberattacks on critical US targets surge
Companies that operate computerized industrial control systems at the heart of America's critical infrastructure have seen a three-year surge in cyberattacks, according to a new government report. Emergency cyber-responders with the Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team (ICS-CERT…
An experimental solar-powered plane, flying without using any fuel, arrived late on Friday in Rabat on a return journey to Switzerland after its successful flight over the Moroccan desert.
The Swiss-made Solar Impulse took off from Quarzazate in southern Morocco at 0733 GMT, and touched down in the Moroccan capital at 2320 GMT, to applause from the Solar Impulse team and Moroccan officials.
"Magnificent, very nice flight" said Swiss pilot Andre Borschberg as he climbed down from the plane.
Borschberg had landed in Ouarzazate, about 550 kilometres (340 miles) from Rabat, on June 22 after having to abandon an attempt a week earlier because of strong winds and turbulence near the Atlas mountains.
That was the final stage of a trip that has taken him from his native Switzerland to Spain and then to Morocco.
The giant high-tech aircraft, which has the wingspan of a jumbo jet but weighs no more than a medium-sized car, is fitted with 12,000 solar cells feeding four electric motors driving propellors.
Last month, the solar-powered plane made the 2,500-kilometre (1,550-mile) journey from Madrid to Rabat, its longest to date and its first between continents, after an inaugural flight to Paris and Brussels last year.
The plane's next journey is set to be a return to its departure point Switzerland via Madrid. The exact date is not known.
The flights are intended as a rehearsal for the goal of a round-the-world trip in 2014 by an updated version of the plane.
AFP Photo/Abdelhak Senna
The latest in cybercrime? Fully automated bank heists (via The Christian Science Monitor)
Cybercriminals are trying something new at the bank: fully automated online heists. In a new twist on a familiar online banking cybercrime threat, computer criminals are rolling out a new system targeting businesses’ and high-net-worth individuals' bank accounts in the US and Europe, security analysts…
[Cybercriminal via grafvision / Shutterstock]
Japan has found a large deposit of rare earth minerals in its Pacific seabed, enough to supply its hi-tech industries for more than 200 years, a scientist said Friday.
Around 6.8 million tonnes of the valuable minerals, used in electric cars, iPods and lasers, are sitting under the seabed near a far eastern Japanese island, Tokyo University professor Yasuhiro Kato told AFP.
He said mud samples taken from an area near Minamitorishima island, some 2,000 kilometres (1,250 miles) southeast of Tokyo, indicated deposits amounted to around 220 times the average annual amount used by industry in Japan.
The seabed contained a substantial amount of dysprosium -- a rare earth mineral used in the engines for hybrid cars, he said.
"Specifically on dysprosium, I estimate at least 400 years worth of Japan's current consumption is in the deposits," said the professor, who examined mud samples taken from the seabed around 5,600 metres (18,300 feet) down.
"We can start drilling in the mud, using oil extraction technology, within three years at the earliest and start producing rare earth minerals within five years," he said.
The find would be the first time large scale rare-earth deposits had been discovered inside Japan's exclusive economic zone, local media said.
Rare earths are used to make a wide range of high tech products, including powerful magnets, batteries, LED lights, electric cars, iPods, lasers, wind turbines and missiles.
China currently produces more than 90 percent of the world's supply of rare earths, but has clamped down on exports of them in a move Beijing says is aimed at protecting its environment and conserving supplies.
But Japan, the European Union and the United States claim China is unfairly benefiting its own industries by restricting exports.
The confirmation of a significant find of rare earths in Japanese territory would be welcome news for Japan's hi-tech industries who were caught in a political spat between Tokyo and Beijing in 2010 when China squeezed supplies.
"I would like to see the Japanese government recognise the existence of the rare earth deposits and soon start making investment in developing the area," said professor Kato.
A man has been convicted on conspiracy charges relating to his operation of surfthechannel.com, a website offering links to TV and video content.
Newcastle crown court heard Anton Vickerman's site had up to 400,000 users a day and made about £35,000 a month in revenue. While UK prosecutors did not pursue a case on copyright offences, Vickerman was found guilty of conspiracy to defraud and faces sentencing next month.
The conviction increases pressure to halt plans to extradite Sheffield student Richard O'Dwyer to the US on copyright charges relating to a far smaller website. At its peak, O'Dwyer's site reached about 300,000 users a month and was estimated by prosecutors to have taken approximately £147,000 in revenue over around three years.
Supporters of O'Dwyer argue that if he is to face trial it should be in the UK rather than the US.
Wikipedia's founder, Jimmy Wales, launched a change.org petition against the O'Dwyer extradition attempt in the Guardian on Monday, which at the time of writing had more than 87,000 signatories.
Among them were two members of the Commons culture, media and sport select committee – its Labour deputy chairman, Tom Watson, and Conservative MP Louise Mensch.
Politicians of all parties have raised the O'Dwyer case, including home affairs committee chair Keith Vaz, former Liberal Democrat leader Menzies Campbell, Lib Dem president Tim Farron, Conservative MPs David Davis and Dominic Raab, and Green MP Caroline Lucas.
Also among the signatories of Wales's petition was Graham Linehan, writer of the sitcoms The IT Crowd, Black Books and Father Ted, who said the prosecution itself – not just the potential extradition – was a cause for alarm.
"It just seems to me that people like Richard are being punished for being able to navigate the modern world," said Linehan. "The internet has changed everything, they're doing what comes naturally in these new, uncharted waters and suddenly they're getting their collars felt by people who still have Hotmail addresses.
"And then [there's] the sheer shocking arbitrary nature of it all … to be told that you could face up to 10 years for sharing links? When I heard that Nora Ephron died, I shared on Twitter a link to the full version of When Harry Met Sally on YouTube. Am I a criminal now? Why? Why not?
"The internet means that commerce and communication and culture and morality is changing, and changing so fast that we struggle to keep up."
The Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT), a trade organisation of rights owners, was a driving force behind the prosecution of Vickerman, passing a dossier of evidence to police, who then arrested him in 2008. The body welcomed his conviction.
"These are landmark criminal convictions proving that those operating pirate websites are not outside the law but can be tracked down and brought to justice," said FACT director general Kieron Sharp.
"This was a criminal conspiracy for criminal profit to fund a criminal lifestyle and Vickerman is now paying the price."
Others, however, raised concerns about the nature of the conviction against Vickerman and the involvement of industry groups in obtaining it.
"This was not a case brought using copyright law. The interest groups involved couldn't present a case of copyright infringement and instead decided to press for the use of the common law offence of 'conspiracy to defraud'," said UK Pirate party leader Loz Kaye. "This is one of the most controversial crimes in English law – it criminalises conduct by two or more people that would not be criminal when performed by an individual.
"The offence was notoriously used in the 1970s to prevent people sharing film cassettes as the TV and film industry believed video was a threat to their existence.
"In addition to flying in the face of recent findings in similar cases, this prosecution was driven by private interests. It is well known that the very groups representing the victim helped with the investigation, were present at the arrest, given access to the evidence and were present at police interviews. This is deeply concerning."
In another UK case Alan Ellis, who ran a website directory of BitTorrent links, was cleared of conspiracy to defraud in 2010 as the court deemed he could not be held responsible if his users used his platform to share links to copyrighted material. In a similar manner, Google is not generally held to be responsible for the contents of its links.
© Guardian News and Media 2012
[Computer and gavel via Mopic / Shutterstock]
WELLINGTON — New Zealand police acted illegally when armed officers raided Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom's Auckland mansion earlier this year, a High Court judge ruled on Thursday.
Judge Helen Winkelmann said the search warrants police used when they raided the Internet millionaire's property as part of a US probe into allegations of massive online piracy were too broad to be considered reasonable.
The ruling will not end the case against Dotcom -- who is on bail awaiting a bid to extradite him to the United States -- but the judge said that next week she would consider ordering some seized material to be returned to him.
She also found computer data seized by police during the raid had been unlawfully copied and sent to authorities in the United States, who accuse Dotcom of racketeering, money laundering and copyright theft.
"The police relied on invalid warrants when they searched the properties and seized the various items, the search and seizure was therefore illegal," Winkelmann said in a judgement released Thursday.
US authorities allege Megaupload and related file-sharing sites netted more than $175 million and cost copyright owners more than $500 million by offering pirated copies of movies, TV shows and other content.
Dotcom and his three co-accused, who were all arrested in the January 20 raid, deny any wrongdoing and have vowed to fight the charges, which carry potential jail terms of up to 20 years.
Winkelmann will hear final submissions from both legal teams representing the accused and the police next Wednesday before issuing orders.
In a separate legal move, the US District Court in Virginia is scheduled to hear a motion from Megaupload's lawyers Friday to dismiss the case against the company and its executives.
The motion will argue that the US Justice Department and FBI had no right to take action against Megaupload because the Hong Kong-registered company has no presence in the United States.
Police said in a statement that they were considering the judgement and deciding what further action is now required.
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Photo: AFP / Michael Bradley.
American businesses are urging the United States to ratify the UN Law of the Sea Treaty, saying it is needed to boost crucial domestic energy production and end China's near-monopoly on rare earths.
Stepping up pressure on legislators to sign off on the 30-year-old pact, a broad alliance of manufacturers, miners, shippers and oil explorers said doing so would guarantee their exclusive access to economic resources reaching up to 600 miles (1,000 km) from the US shoreline.
With China controlling 95 percent of the world's rare earths production, ratification of the treaty "offers the best path to break China's dominance," Roger Ballantine, a board member of The Association for Rare Earth (RARE), said Wednesday.
Ballantine, speaking at a news forum on the eve of a Senate hearing on the treaty, said that failure to ratify the treaty "will only worsen a very troubling disadvantage America has."
His comments came against the backdrop of an escalating trade dispute with China over restrictions on its rare earths exports.
On Wednesday, the US, European Union and Japan ratcheted up their complaint at the World Trade Organization by asking for a dispute settlement committee after consultations failed.
The United States is the only industrialized power which has yet to ratify the treaty.
RARE has joined a broad coalition of the National Association of Manufacturers, the US Chamber of Commerce, the Chamber of Shipping of America, defense contractors, energy industry and other groups to press for ratification.
Supporters argue that ratification will give US businesses the legal framework for investment in costly, high-tech exploration and development.
Key among its advantages, they say, would be to legitimize US claims to vast areas of the energy-rich Arctic, and unfettered access to lay and maintain undersea communications cables.
It would also give greater access to undersea rare earth minerals, which are widely used in smartphones, flat-screen TVs, medical equipment and US defense systems.
Opponents say the treaty could actually limit US businesses' access to undersea mineral wealth, by giving power to the International Seabed Authority to decide access rights; they also say the treaty could impinge on the movements around the world of the US Navy.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army General Martin Dempsey have all argued in favor of the treaty.
Jeff Pike, who leads The American Sovereignty Campaign, the lobby in favor of the treaty, said ratification was now more than ever urgent, citing the importance of global communications links and also the melting ice in the Arctic that was opening up shipping.
"This is really the right time to do it," Pike told reporters.
Bruce Josten, the US Chamber of Commerce's head of government affairs, said the treaty would open up "the next and newest American frontier."
Senator John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and a long-time supporter of the pact, has decided to delay a vote on the treaty until after the November 6 elections in a bid to avoid it becoming entangled in the political fray.
A labour rights group said Thursday it had found "deplorable" conditions at Apple suppliers in China, following a probe of several firms that make the US technology giant's hugely popular products.
New York-based China Labor Watch said a four-month investigation of 10 suppliers to Apple in southern and eastern China uncovered violations of workers' rights, including excessive overtime and hazardous work conditions.
The 10 firms investigated included Foxconn, Jabil Circuit and BYD Electronic in the southern city of Shenzhen, as well as Riteng Computer Accessory and Kenseisha in the commercial hub Shanghai and five others in nearby Jiangsu province.
"This investigation of 10 different Apple factories in China finds that harmful, damaging work environments characterised by illegally long hours for low levels of pay are widespread in Apple's supply (chain)," the group said.
The report was based on surveys and interviews of 620 workers, as well as first-hand observations by a team of six, including some who entered the factories undercover.
The lengthy report followed findings announced in March by the Fair Labor Association (FLA), which toured three Chinese suppliers with Apple's consent and also reported on forced overtime and other problems.
China Labor Watch director Li Qiang urged Apple to make good on pledges to improve, and in a letter to the California-based company's chief executive Tim Cook called for immediate changes to be made.
"Are these promises sincere or merely a public relations ploy?" the report asked.
Speaking to AFP, Li said the FLA investigation had better access than his organisation, but that report blamed the suppliers instead of placing responsibility on Apple.
"Apple should take the responsibility to change the poor working conditions of those workers," Li said.
Following the FLA report, Apple's largest supplier, Taiwan's Foxconn, pledged to end workplace abuses at its factories in China, including overtime above the amount permitted by Chinese law.
Foxconn has come under scrutiny since 2010, following a spate of suicides and incidents of labour unrest at its Chinese plants.
At least 13 of its employees died in apparent suicides in 2010, with several more deaths last year.
China Labor Watch reported that other Apple suppliers had treated their staff worse than Foxconn, which has received the most attention.
"The labour rights violations at Foxconn also exist in virtually all other Apple supplier factories and in many cases are actually significantly more dire than Foxconn," the report said.
The group found employees worked an average of between 100 and 130 hours of overtime a month at the 10 factories, well above China's legal limit of 36 hours.
Low wages compelled workers to accept overtime and some factories did not properly compensate them for the hours, it said.
Working conditions in factories that produce cases for Apple products were especially poor, including exposure to loud noise and toxic chemicals, the report said.
Workers had little ability to push for better conditions because they did not know how independent unions functioned, it said. China only allows only one national trade union, which has links to the government.
Apple products are wildly popular in China, where the iPhone and iPad are particularly coveted by wealthy consumers.
China Labor Watch said more than 70 percent of the workers it surveyed did not own Apple products but would like to have at least one.
Apple and Foxconn did not respond immediately to requests from AFP for comment.
SAN FRANCISCO — Google glasses that overlay the Internet on daily lives should hit the market within two years.
Google co-founder Sergey Brin gave the estimated timeline after a project update that included sky divers dropping in with a new version of "Glass" wearable computers.
"I'm so glad that worked," Brin quipped after sky divers wearing Google glasses streamed live video during their jump from an airplane to the roof of the San Francisco convention center. "I wasn't really expecting it to."
The sky divers handed off a package to cyclists, who performed stunts as they rode to the edge of the Moscone Center where they handed it off to a man who rappelled down the outside of the building to the third floor.
Another cyclist whisked the cargo the final length of its trip to a stage where Brin and other Google executives were kicking off the California-based company's annual developers conference.
Brin opened the package to show an "Explorer" edition of Google Glass that developers could buy for $1,500 to become the first people outside the company to shape the creation during its evolution to market.
Explorer edition glasses should ship early next year, and a version should be ready for the consumer market within a year after that, Brin said.
"Google Glass Explorer edition will be rough around the edges; you have to be into being on the bleeding edge," Brin said of the effort to build a community of developers passionate about taking part in the project.
"This is really new technology and we really want all of you to help shape it."
Google Glass eyewear features built-in camera, microphone and speaker technology and can synch to the Internet using wireless Bluetooth or Wi-Fi connections.
As with the sky divers, cyclists, and wall-walkers who took part in the keynote stunt, video through the eyes of wearers can be streamed live on Google's social network.
Mini-screens in the glasses can display text messages, email or other digitized information from the Internet or mobile gadgets.
"It was kind of a nutty idea that somehow became real," Brin said while discussing Glass after the keynote presentation.
"The notion that you could jump out of an air ship with it and still communicate your experience makes holding a smartphone or laptop seem pretty damn awkward," he continued. "It's about you being less of a slave to your device; it has been really liberating."
Brin said that he wears a prototype pair of Google glasses much of the time as he and other members of the team he heads at the company's X Lab refine the technology.
Last month, I was searching for a peppy Glee song on the music site Grooveshark, and up popped two ads for Mitt Romney's presidential campaign. One invited me to "Learn More." The other suggested that I "Donate."
Had Romney's campaign decided that swing voters might frequent an Internet music site with copyright issues? Are Glee fans now a key demographic?
But it turns out the campaign wasn't advertising to Grooveshark listeners or a capella fans.
They were targeting me.
As a reporter covering how campaigns use voter data, I spend a fair amount of time on Romney's official website. That apparently triggered an online targeting company to send me Romney ads wherever they could find me on the web.
"If you visit our site, you are likely to see our ads," a Romney campaign official told me, when I forwarded a screenshot of the ads.
This is the same kind of online targeting used by sites that sell airline tickets or shoes. If you visit Zappos, advertisements for the sneakers you looked at will sometimes follow you around the web. Romney's campaign was sending me a "donate" button instead.
But the fact that I was being targeted based on my visits to the campaign site wasn't at all clear from the ads themselves.
Each of the ads had a teensy blue triangle in the top right corner.
Because I report on online advertising, I know that the triangle means I've been targeted. Many online ad companies have agreed to give consumers a heads-up that they're seeing a message that's been personalized to them. They mark targeted ads with a blue triangle icon or the words "Ad Choices."
When I clicked on the blue triangle on one of the Romney ads, a message popped up saying that a company called ShareThis had "determined that you might be interested in an ad like this." The ad had been "selected for you based on your browsing activity."
To find out exactly what information about my "browsing habits" was being used 2014 and how it had been collected 2014 I had to go behind the scenes, into the complicated world of online data tracking and targeting.
I was only vaguely aware of ShareThis, and hadn't realized it had anything to do with advertising. The company is probably most widely known for the little sharing buttons on many sites that make it easy to post stories onto Twitter and Facebook.
You can find ShareThis widgets across the web, from the Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, New York magazine, and The Huffington Post, to the Food Network, and Us Weekly.
Barry Grant, an executive in charge of privacy at ShareThis, told me that the company actually gives its widgets away for free, and also includes statistics that tell publishers what's being shared, and where.
What it gets in exchange is information about what individual surfers are reading and sharing across the Internet 2014 a valuable trove of data that it uses to target online ads.
The company works with nearly 1.4 million different websites, all of which have agreed to let ShareThis collect information about their visitors.
The company uses a small text file called a cookie to track the behavior of any visitor who has used a ShareThis widget. The cookie allows ShareThis to continue to collect information about what someone is viewing as he or she moves from site to site. (ShareThis allows users who don't want to be tracked to opt-out.)
When an advertiser comes and tells ShareThis that they want to show an ad to people who are interested in Republican primary elections, ShareThis can identify a group of people who have recently read articles or watched videos about the primaries, and show them ads.
This means that ShareThis has the ability to help the Romney campaign identify groups of voters interested in particular issues 2014 and because Romney's campaign website uses ShareThis buttons, the company is also collecting information about visitors to the campaign's own site.
Even before a campaign official confirmed that they did target ads at users who visited the campaign site, ShareThis's Grant said that he was "100 percent certain" that my visiting the site "was a major factor."
While a Romney campaign official confirmed that the campaign targets ads at users who visited the campaign site, the official 2014 who declined to be named 2014 wouldn't go into detail how the targeting was done.
Grant said ShareThis could have also worked with the Romney campaign to target users interested in a variety of topics, from broad categories, like people who visit pages about "Republicans," to more narrow ones, like people interested in "No more taxes."
He pointed out that some advertisers also choose to target people who are interested in their competitors. "Let's say Nissan wanted to go after people sharing content on Hondas. We could find people who looked at, shared, clicked on topics" related to Hondas, Grant said.
So Romney's campaign could also use ShareThis to target people who were reading or sharing content about Obama, or about Obama and certain subjects, like healthcare or the economy.
"It would be smart for him to do," Grant said, especially if the Romney campaign was trying to reach undecided voters.
ShareThis is careful to stay away from some tracking. It doesn't gather the information users type into web forms, even though that's a capability other tracking companies have.
The company also chooses not to match its data on users' browsing habits with their real-names or offline sources like voter records. They also won't connect your real name to your online interests, even if you log in to ShareThis via Twitter or Facebook.
Earlier this month, I wrote about how Microsoft and Yahoo use registration data (like names and Zip codes) to match Internet users to their official voting records, so political campaigns can target ads to particular people based on their party registration or donation history.
Grant called that "a slippery slope," and said that ShareThis preferred to keep its data on individual people completely anonymous.
"Even if it is matching data that is one step lower than anonymous, to me, it's not a safe place to be operating," he said.
It's worth noting that Tim Schigel, ShareThis' founder and chairman, is a top technology adviser to the Republican National Committee, where he consults on a wide range of issues. ("Tim's role on the RNC doesn't have any bearing on ShareThis. ShareThis is a large platform that runs ad campaigns for candidates across the political spectrum," a company spokeswoman said.)
All this information was helpful 2014 but it still didn't answer one lingering question. Was the song that I had searched for on Grooveshark, Pink's "Raise Your Glass," part of the targeting process?
This isn't a farfetched question, since the Romney campaign told the New York Times in April that Internet users' musical taste actually played a role in the campaign's microtargeting research. Among other factors, people who like jazz were unlikely to respond to Romney ads, the campaign discovered.
But ShareThis spokeswoman Jennifer Hyman said that the company did not target its ads "based on the music the user is listening to."
So it's still unclear whose political ads you'll see if you're too school for cool.
Have you seen a targeted political ad?
If you spot that blue triangle on an online political ad 2014 for Romney, Obama, or any local candidate 2014 let us know. The words "Ad Choices" at the corner of an ad are another sign that the ad has been targeted.
We'll be able to learn the most about how you were targeted if you take a screenshot of the advertisement, and another screenshot of the accompanying disclosure message, and send them to us via email at targeting2012@propublica.org. Please include the full URL of the page where you saw the ad.
Not sure how to take a screenshot? Here are the instructions if you're using a PC, using a Mac, or using a smartphone.
You can also check out our "Message Machine" project, which is analyzing how campaigns are targeting voters with different versions of campaign e-mail messages.
The Obama administration is soliciting recommendations for internal policy changes, or possibly even an executive order, that would be aimed at combating online piracy in the U.S. and abroad, Raw Story has learned.
After the failure of the Protect IP Act (PIPA) and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) earlier this year, congressional efforts to reform intellectual property laws have remained largely stalled. However, the administration still holds some power in this realm. A little-noticed solicitation for public comment published Tuesday in the federal register (PDF, see pages 99-101) seems to indicate that, like recent changes to immigration enforcement priorities, President Barack Obama may just go it alone on increasing IP enforcement measures.
In particular, the Executive Office of the President wants to know if the public has any recommendations for copyright reforms via "legislation, regulation, guidance, executive order, Presidential memoranda, or other executive action including, but not limited to, changes to agency policies, practices or methods." Put bluntly, this means the Obama administration will consider pitches for unilateral executive action on copyright enforcement reforms, among other possible course of action.
While the solicitation does not directly propose any specific action, it sets out objectives for the Office of the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC) as approved by Congress in the PRO IP Act, which was signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2008.
The PRO IP Act established an executive-level "copyright czar," created a new division within the Department of Justice dedicated exclusively to tracking down intellectual property offenders and raised the penalties for copyright offenders. It was strongly supported by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
The IPEC states that its objectives include: setting up a new international regulatory framework to combat online piracy; helping facilitate law enforcement information sharing between agencies and countries; reducing the number of countries that ignore or fail to enforce U.S. copyright laws; disrupting networks in the U.S. and abroad seen as dedicated to copyright infringement; and providing assistance and training to countries willing to enforce U.S. intellectual property laws.
The copyright czar's solicitation reads like is directed specifically at the big content industries, and notes that they welcome "submission on the economic costs of enforcing intellectual property rights." It also asks several very pointed questions that only industry bigwigs would be equipped to answer, such as:
1. How can international regulatory and law enforcement collaboration and information sharing be enhanced to address cross-border intellectualproperty infringement?
2. What legal or operational changes might be made, or collaborative steps undertaken between federal agencies and the private sector, to streamline or improve the efficacy of enforcement efforts directed at protecting intellectual property rights?
Many of those same goals were shared by copyright enforcement legislation that failed earlier this year after the Internet's largest-ever work stoppage protest clogged the congressional switchboard with angry calls from lawmakers' constituents. (Disclosure: The Raw Story's management participated in that protest.) Nearing the end of that debate, President Obama's aides announced that he was opposed provisions in those bills that critics said could lead to Internet censorship.
The solicitation directs interested parties to send recommendations via Regulations.gov. The window for public comment is set to close on July 25.
The IPEC did not respond to Raw Story's request for comment.
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Photo: Christopher Halloran / Shutterstock.com, all rights reserved.
(H/T: Cryptome)
Internet search giant Google has reached a deal under legal mediation with French anti-racism groups which objected to the search engine suggesting users add "Jew" to searches for prominent names.
Both sides confirmed the deal had been reached for the groups to drop a legal complaint against Google but refused to comment on its specifics.
The conflict stemmed from Google's autocomplete feature that suggests what search people might want based on algorithms of previous searches.
Because users of Google.fr frequently ask whether politicians, actors or other celebrities are Jewish or not, the word "Jew" in French is frequently suggested as a possible result.
Six groups, including SOS Racisme, the Movement against Racism and for Friendship between Peoples (MRAP), the International League Against Racism and anti-Semitism (LICRA) and
Memoire 2000 argued that Google was unintentionally breaking the law.
Google users "are confronted daily by the unsolicited and almost systematic association of the word 'Jew' with the names of the best-known people in the world of politics, the media or business," the groups said.
Under French law, it is illegal to record someone's ethnicity in a database.
Searches conducted on Google.fr, including for example for President Francois Hollande, continued to offer the word "Jew" as a top suggestion on Wednesday.
Bernard Jouanneau, a lawyer for Memoire 2000, said the deal "identified areas of useful cooperation in the fight against racism and anti-Semitism that put an end to the dispute."
Google also refused to comment on the specifics of the deal, but said it would be working with the anti-racism groups on public education projects.
"Google supports education and information against racism and anti-Semitism," a Google France spokesman said.
"Together with the associations, we will develop and promote projects aimed at increasing the awareness of Internet users to values of tolerance and respect."
Google on Wednesday unveiled its own branded Nexus 7 tablet computer designed to challenge Apple's iPad and be a window into its online shop for films, books, movies and more.
The seven-inch tablet powered by the latest generation of Android software was made for Google by Taiwan-based Asus and weighs about as much as a paperback book, according to Android team head Hugo Barra.
"We wanted to design a best-of Google experience optimized around the content available at Google Play," Barra said during a presentation opening the Internet titan's annual developers conference in San Francisco.
Nexus tablets were available for order in Australia, Canada, Britain, and the United States at the Google Play store at a price of $199 and would begin shipping in mid-July, Barra said.
The tablets come with a $25 coupon for Google Play content.
Google also Introduced an Android-powered Nexus Q device for wirelessly streaming films or music to televisions or speakers.
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