IN THE PAPERS
In the papers 25 September
25-09-2007
by Sylvia Leatham
Setanta set for accumulated loss of over EUR100m | Facebook under scrutiny over child safety concerns
The Irish Independent says that broadcaster Setanta is on track to make a loss of more than EUR100 million in the three years to 2007, after reporting a EUR28 million loss in 2005. Richard Brooke, Setanta's director of corporate development, said the losses were "entirely expected" and added that the company was "very pleased" with its recent performance. "When you're launching and expanding, you typically incur the costs before you get any money from your subscriber base and that's what you're seeing here," he said.
The Irish Times reports that the Labour Court has ordered Siemens Ireland to pay EUR12,000 in compensation to a visually impaired man who failed to get a job with the company as an IT support specialist.
The Financial Times reports that social networking site Facebook has come under investigation by Andrew Cuomo, the New York attorney-general, who said the company did not do enough to protect children from sexual predators. In a letter to Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg, Cuomo said investigators from his office posing as under-aged children were targeted by sexual predators on the Facebook site. He complained that Facebook's response to complaints lodged in the wake of the incidents was "slow, sporadic and inconsistent".
The paper also says that sharp divisions have emerged within the European Commission about a plan to intensify competition in the region's telecommunications market by splitting up big companies such as Deutsche Telekom and Telefonica. Neelie Kroes, EU competition chief, and Gunter Verheugen, the industry commissioner, have attacked a proposed overhaul by fellow commissioner Viviane Reding of laws to govern the bloc's electronic communications sector. They warn the proposed review could create more bureaucracy and harm investment.
The same paper reports that the global credit squeeze is unlikely to affect sales of PCs, according to Gianfranco Lanci, president of Taiwan-based PC group Acer. Lanci said a shortage of components is the biggest challenge facing the PC industry today. Lanci said industry-wide sales figures for the third quarter suggested demand for PCs was unaffected by the tougher credit conditions brought on by the subprime mortgage crisis in the US.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Google is considering a Canadian launch of its Street View map feature, which offers street-level close-ups of city centres, but said it would blur people's faces and vehicle licence plates in order to respect Canadian privacy laws. Canada's privacy commissioner said the feature, which offers 360-degree images of nine US cities, could violate Canadian laws if it were introduced without alterations.
Caped Koala Studios has built a virtual world for kids, combining education and social networking 