Google is again in discussion to buy Yelp.  See this piece by Claire Cain Miller in today’s New York Times.

The GOOG can no longer position itself as a disinterested observer of information.  Its ownership of blogging technology, its interest in reviews, and its increasing appetite for a broadened footprint in what we can call the Opinions Industry confirm that Google owns content like a regular Old Media media company.  It’s not just an observer or lens business any more.  The public imagination might still envision Google as a search engine or aggregator.  But Google is an Owner, not
an Observer.

On the legal side, all of this helps explain why Google has been so adamant about forbidding any change to the CDA 230: if Google owns the stuff (which it does), its fear of liability must be accentuated.

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Ten privacy groups are filing a complaint against Facebook for possible violation of federal laws in light of the recent changes to their privacy policies (which this blog has previously covered here and here.)

Check out this article from the WSJ: http://bit.ly/5IbZAB

Back in the day, MySpace was the main target of law enforcement and interest, when fears of predatory stalking abounded.  Facebook was contrasted with MySpace at the time as the more responsible player.  MySpace later cleaned up its act, and Facebook has meanwhile eclipsed MySpace in size.  Is Facebook now the main subject of interest due to size or due to its recent privacy-related decisions?

At any rate, privacy controls don’t work.  That’s the news.

Michael

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Julia Angwin of the Wall Street Journal says that recent changes in Facebook’s privacy policy (which, net net, make it a lot less private) are prompting her to stop behaving as if Facebook is private at all. In her view, FB and Google are becoming more or less equally public fora:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126084637203791583.html?mod=WSJ_hps_MIDDLEFifthNews

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The future of antivirus is antivirus for your life.  Worms/viruses are now infecting social networks, impersonating users, and ruining their reputations.  See this article from Brad Stone at the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/14/technology/internet/14virus.html?hpw

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Is it me or is the CAPTCHA on Google Maps getting much harder?  I can barely read the squiggly letters any more.

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