The Register: Google halts paid-for Chrome extension updates amid fraud surge: Web Store in lockdown ‘due to the scale of abuse’ . “On Saturday, Google temporarily disabled the ability to publish paid Chrome apps, extensions, and themes in the Chrome Web Store due to a surge in fraud.”
TorrentFreak: Movie & TV Show Database Bombards Google With Bizarre Takedown Notices
TorrentFreak: Movie & TV Show Database Bombards Google With Bizarre Takedown Notices. “Movie and TV show information portal AlloCiné has reportedly sent a wave of DMCA notices to Google to have allegedly-infringing content taken down. Unfortunately, however, the complaints are littered with clearly erroneous URLs that target everything from Netflix and Amazon listings to news reports from sites like Wired, plus content on rival movie portals such as JustWatch and Rotten Tomatoes.”
Washington Post: Tech giants led by Amazon, Facebook and Google spent nearly half a billion on lobbying over the past decade, new data shows
Washington Post: Tech giants led by Amazon, Facebook and Google spent nearly half a billion on lobbying over the past decade, new data shows. “Ten years ago, Google executives rarely spoke to Congress. Amazon employed just two of its own registered lobbyists in Washington. And Facebook had only recently graduated to a real office after running its D.C. operation out of an employee’s living room. Since then, though, these technology companies have evolved into some of the most potent political forces in the nation’s capital, a Washington Post analysis of new federal records reveals, with just seven tech giants accounting for nearly half a billion dollars in lobbying over the past decade.”
Reuters: U.S. state AGs, Justice Dept. officials to meet and coordinate on Google probe – sources
Reuters: U.S. state AGs, Justice Dept. officials to meet and coordinate on Google probe – sources. “Talks will likely include Google’s dominance in online search, possible anticompetitive behaviour in its Android mobile operating system, and the best division of labour as the probes move forward, the paper said, citing some of the people.”
Slate: Grieving With Google Street View
Slate: Grieving With Google Street View. “One Twitter user recently posted that her family never got to say goodbye to her grandpa when he died a few years ago, but when she visited her grandpa’s farm through Street View, there he was, sitting at the end of the road. Thousands of people responded, many with their own stories of finding old Street View shots of their dearly departed grandmas reclining in their front yards or their grandpas getting into their trucks.”
The Verge: How much longer will we trust Google’s search results?
The Verge: How much longer will we trust Google’s search results?. “Recode’s Peter Kafka recently interviewed Buzzfeed CEO Jonah Peretti, and Peretti said something really insightful: what if Google’s ads really aren’t that good? What if Google is just taking credit for clicks on ads just because people would have been searching for that stuff anyway? I’ve been thinking about it all day: what if Google ads actually aren’t that effective and the only reason they make so much is billions of people use Google?”
New York Times: Have a Search Warrant for Data? Google Wants You to Pay
New York Times: Have a Search Warrant for Data? Google Wants You to Pay. “Facing an increasing number of requests for its users’ information, Google began charging law enforcement and other government agencies this month for legal demands seeking data such as emails, location tracking information and search queries.”
