PROTECT IP Act could censor anything, including search engines. The controversial PROTECT IP Act unanimously passed the Senate Judiciary Committee today. When the PROTECT IP Act becomes law U.S. authorities and copyright holders will have the power to seize domains, block websites and censor search engines to prevent copyright infringements. Introduced just two weeks ago, the bill now heads over to... 

Some phones have “kill switches” built into them that allow the companies to remotely delete software. When you buy a video game from Best Buy, you don’t give the retailer the right to barge into your house whenever it wants. So why do we give that permission to software companies? Most popular smartphone operating systems and other electronic gadgets include what security researchers... 

Google is positioned to be a major investor in a proposed transmission line for offshore wind farms on the Atlantic seaboard, a bold plan that could radically reshape the electrical grid in the region. The proposed Atlantic Wind Connection, which would cost $5 billion in all, would run from New Jersey to Norfolk, VA, collecting energy from offshore windfarms and redistributing it among mid-Atlantic... 

Google’s project to design driverless vehicles raised several questions about the future of driving. But it also raised a more topical question: Are Google’s heavily-modified driverless vehicle prototypes even legal? We found out. Researchers have been working on driverless vehicles since the late 1970s; European governments spent nearly $1 billion in the 1980s and ’90s on automated... 

The Texas attorney general has opened an antitrust investigation into how Google ranks search results, the first United States case to strike at the heart of the company’s main search business. The issue at hand, referred to as search neutrality, is whether Google manipulates results to thwart competitors and advance its own businesses. Some companies worry that Google has the power to discriminate... 

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski was as clear as he always is on net neutrality today in response to a potential Google/Verizon deal. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have the power to enforce this, which is what instigated the deal originally. [Reuters]  Read More »

In 2006, Google co-founder Sergey Brin traveled to DC, urging Congress to support net neutrality. The New York Times reported this morning that Google and Verizon are conspiring to create tiered internet service. (UPDATING: Google denies, WSJ affirms NYT.) If the NYT report is true (see updates below), it would be an about face that redefines “do no evil” as “do the exact thing... 

Google Spying on People German prosecutors have begun a criminal probe into whether Google broke any laws when its mobile units collected private Wi-Fi data while recording images for Google Street View. The Hamburg Prosecutor’s Office said it is at an early stage of investigation, and is at least two weeks away from deciding if criminal charges will be pursued. German authorities have demanded... 

Eyes everywhere: One of Google's Street View cars, which have collected snippets of people's online activities Google was rapped by the privacy watchdog yesterday after it admitted spying on the internet habits of Britons ‘by mistake’. In an astonishing invasion of privacy, Google’s Street View cars – which have roamed the UK in the last two years taking pictures of... 

Dutch police have arrested two brothers on suspicion of robbery after their alleged victim spotted a picture of them following him on Google’s Street View. The boy, 14, was mugged last September after two men dragged him of his bike in Groningen, 110 miles north-east of Amsterdam. His attackers got away with around £140 and his mobile phone. Police were at first unable to track down the suspects. But... 

The European Union’s competition watchdog has appoved the use of €99m (£76m) of French state aid for a consortium attempting to build an internet search engine to take on Google. A lack of funding has meant the project – which is Latin for “I seek” – is still in the concept stage, but will now be able to get up and running thanks to support from France, which has championed...