IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 27 May
27-05-2010
by Sylvia Leatham
Bord Gais stolen laptop still missing | Senator Dan Boyle apologises for tweet
The Irish Times reports that Irish venture capitalists have warned early start-up firms to "use it or lose it". Michael Murphy, managing partner of Dublin-based NCB Ventures, said there is no shortage of money available for the right idea, but entrepreneurs who make big promises need to be prepared to deliver in order to secure finance. Murphy was one of 11 venture capitalists actively seeking new opportunities at InterTradeIreland's ninth annual Venture Capital Conference in Belfast.
The paper also says that a laptop stolen from Bord Gais last year which contained personal data on 93,000 customers has not yet been recovered. Bord Gais chief executive John Mullins told the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Natural Resources that he could not give "100 percent assurance" that the confidential information on the stolen computer will not fall into the wrong hands in the future. There is no evidence that anyone has tried to access the data since the theft.
The Irish Independent reports that Green Party Senator Dan Boyle has apologised for confirming the death of a Seanad colleague on Twitter before it was officially announced. On Tuesday morning, Boyle tweeted: "Sad news. Fianna Fail Senator Kieran Phelan died suddenly this morning. May he rest in peace. The Seanad is being suspended." Boyle removed the message shortly afterwards. A spokesman said Boyle had made a simple error and was sorry.
The Irish Examiner reports that Kerry County Council is using satellite technology in an effort to pinpoint those responsible for starting gorse fires. Thousands of acres have been devastated by illegal fires this year. The council is to pursue those responsible for the cost of fire brigade attendance at fires by using satellite mapping systems to plot the exact origins and courses of fires. Fire personnel will use sat-nav technology on hand-held devices to help them trace the source of fires on land registry maps. The council will impose a charge on the owners of the property, or the beneficial occupiers, to recoup the cost of fire brigade call-outs.
According to the Financial Times, Apple has overtaken Microsoft to become the largest technology company by market value. After more than three decades of rivalry between Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, Apple has taken the lead on the Nasdaq. When the New York markets closed on Wednesday, Apple was worth USD222 billion. Microsoft was valued at USD219 billion.
The paper also says that Facebook has reversed some of the recent controversial changes that have led to more personal data about its users being made public. The concessions from the social networking giant were enough to win grudging support from privacy advocates in the US. However, early reaction in Europe suggests it could face pressure to backtrack further. At an event at Facebook headquarters, Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg admitted that Facebook had not kept up with the ways people were using the site, but said that new controls would offer more privacy. Users will be able to choose among three categories -- friends, friends-of-friends or everyone -- when deciding who should see their information, and that setting will apply to all of users' actions on the site.
The paper also says that European data protection authorities have accused search engines of failing to do enough to protect the anonymity of their users. "A user's search history contains a footprint of users' interests and personal relations. This information can be misused in many ways," the group said in a statement, announcing it had written to Google, Microsoft and Yahoo outlining its concerns. The privacy chiefs have repeatedly asked for users' search history to be deleted after six months, or at least for part of the information to be erased so that it cannot be traced back to the individual who made the search queries.
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