Google and the Wi-Spy controversy
As previously reported here and elsewhere, Google's Street View data collection practices have been the subject of investigation by the governments of France, Germany, Italy and other European countries. In his article, Google Wi-Spy controversy rages on, raises more questions, published in e-content, Michael LoPresti summarises the rather different response to the story in the US.
Google always claimed it had collected the data inadvertently and further stated that the data was incomplete anyway. The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) accepted this, although some US consumer groups and privacy advocates were not so satisfied. LoPresti's article summarises the debate in the US and describes new developments we should keep an eye on, including the creation of the Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law under the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Rich media
Meanwhile, the ever-entertaining Stephen E. Arnold has been taking a trip down memory lane, revisiting an article he wrote over a decade ago about 'the TV-Web-Net Appliance' and reviewing what he got wrong. His article Mobile and supine couch potatoes, rejoice, featured in Searcher, not only summarises his mis-steps but, rather bravely, makes a further batch of predictions!
In 1999, Stephen's mistakes included underestimating both the advertising imperative and the time it would take to solve some [technical] issues as well as ignoring the fact that, despite decreasing costs, new technnologies and media would remail unaffordable to some sections of society.
Stephen looks at the success of Apple, YouTube and Netflix and what they tell us about the changes in technology and user behaviour since he wrote his original article. He then makes some interesting predictions about devices; content; legal frameworks; organisational structures and demographics.
e-books
And finally, in their article Ebook approval plans, published in Computers in Libraries, Matthew Buckley and Deborah Tritt explore the process of ebook acquisition in academic libraries. Faced with the challenge of integrating ebook approval processes into existing collection development workflows, they explore how a pilot programme developed with a vendor helped test processes.
Image courtesy of Banalities via Flickr.