NEWS IN BRIEF
Daily Digest 24 February
24-02-2010
by Sylvia Leatham
Google execs convicted of privacy invasion | KLM Airlines moves into the cloud
Three Google executives have been found guilty by an Italian court of violating the privacy of an Italian boy with Down's syndrome after a video of him being bullied was posted on one of the company's websites. The three men -- David Drummond, senior vice president and chief legal officer; George Reyes, former chief financial officer; and Peter Fleischer, chief privacy counsel -- were sentenced to six months in prison, although they are not expected to serve time because sentences under three years are commuted in Italy for those without a criminal record. The video appeared on Google Video for about two months in 2006. It was taken down after Vivi Down Association, an advocacy group for people with Downs syndrome, complained to the authorities about it. Google said in court that it had acted within the law by taking down the video when requested to do so, and pointed out that European law does not hold intermediary companies responsible for what is posted on their sites. Google said in a blog post it plans to "appeal this astonishing decision because the Google employees on trial had nothing to do with the video in question."
In other news of Google, the internet giant has announced that KLM Royal Dutch Airlines has switched 11,200 of its crew members to Gmail, as part of a rollout of Google Apps Premier Edition across the company. The adoption of web-based e-mail marks KLM's first move into cloud computing. Additional features for KLM staff include Google Talk (an instant messenger program) and Message Translation, which allows users to translate e-mails from and into 42 different languages. Google Calendar and Google Docs are also part of the rollout.
Irish-based music video site Muzu.tv has just launched a new feature called 'Jukebox', which it describes as a kind of 'Spotify for video'. Free to use, hitting the Jukebox button on the site's homepage after entering an artist's name enables the user to create music video playlists. The playlist can then be rearranged into any order, and if you click a feature called 'Jam', you can also see a list of recommended videos based on your artist selection, which you can then add to your playlist.
Fastrack to IT (FIT) has announced the details of EU e-Skills Week 2010, due to run from 1 to 5 March. A series of events during the week aims to raise awareness of the importance of ICT skills for the future of the European economy. Minister for Science, Technology, Innovation and Natural Resources Conor Lenihan will open e-Skills week at an event called 'Smart Futures' on 1 March. Engineers and ICT professionals will attend this event in preparation for visiting schools to encourage students to learn about careers in ICT. On 5 March a seminar entitled 'e-Skills for Lifelong Learning' will be addressed by Minister for Lifelong Learning Sean Haughey. For more information on EU e-Skills Week, visit www.fit.ie.
Labour MEP Alan Kelly could be in line for a Digital Media Award this Thursday. The song produced for Kelly's European election campaign -- a rap titled 'Don't Make the Wrong Choice - Vote Alan Kelly' -- has been shortlisted in the Best Viral Event category. Kelly is a former recipient of an IIA Net Visionary award in the eGovernment category. Listen to the song on YouTube, where the video currently has over 19,000 views. For the shortlist of Digital Media Awards nominees, visit www.digitalmedia.ie.
Nearly three-quarters of internet users across Europe go online six or seven days a week, according to a study of 32,000 people in 16 markets by IAB Europe, a collection of Interactive Advertising Bureaus. Northern Europeans go online more frequently, but Eastern Europeans spend longer in an average session, with one-third spending three hours or more per session. Over half of all European internet users have purchased a product or service online in the last 12 months, and almost three-quarters say they research information on products and services online at least once a week. The appetite for online entertainment is huge in Eastern Europe: 49 percent of those surveyed in Hungary, Poland and Romania watch TV or video content online, 44 percent listen to the radio in real time, 31 percent download music and 27 percent play games and gamble. Ireland was not included in the study.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 