As debates about data privacy rage in the United States—the Wikileaks Twitter case is a recent and prominent example—it is important for multinational corporations and other potential litigants (both plaintiffs and defendants) not only to understand the nuances of the markedly different privacy definitions and security standards in the European Union (“EU”), but also to master this legal landscape with the indispensable help of expert local counsel in foreign jurisdictions. These differences are especially important given that U.S. courts engaged in the litigation discovery process routinely expect litigants to be able to produce relevant data through cross-border discovery according to the same standards and restrictions that apply at home. A highly informative webinar hosted by RenewData, a provider of services for the discovery, archiving, and governance of electronically stored information (“ESI”), and featuring Ken Rashbaum of the law firm Rashbaum Associates, discussed these issues and others vital to corporate counsel.
How To Make Sure Your Company’s Data Doesn’t Get Stuck In Europe – Ben Kerschberg – Law & Technology – Forbes
Twitter Expects To Reach 1 Billion Users — Twitter — InformationWeek http://bit.ly/9FtT8Q #ediscovery
Twitter Launches Promoted Accounts, Products for Partners | News & Opinion | PCMag.com
Twitter on Monday officially unveiled its Promoted Accounts program and announced a “promoted products” option that will allow third-party apps to display promoted tweets and trends.
Promoted Accounts will add advertisers to Twitter’s “Who to Follow” suggestions list.
“Promoted Accounts are suggested based on a user’s public list of whom they follow,” Twitter spokeswoman Carolyn Penner wrote in a blog post. “When an advertiser promotes an account, Twitter’s algorithm looks at that account’s followers and determines other accounts that those users tend to follow.”
If, for example, a user follows many gaming-related accounts but does not follow Microsoft’s Xbox feed, Twitter might suggest that that person follow @xbox. If there is no relevant recommendation, Twitter said it will not display a suggestion.
via Twitter Launches Promoted Accounts, Products for Partners | News & Opinion | PCMag.com.
Twitter’s Promoted Tweets Sell for $100K and Up – NYTimes.com
Twitter is now selling its Promoted Tweets for $100,000, according to an article in this morning’s Wall St. Journal. Promoted Tweets, which allow companies to buy the top spot on Twitter’s search results page, is just one of the microblogging network’s new advertising initiatives as of late. The idea behind these digital ads is that the service allows companies to associate themselves with a certain trend or keyword. For example, launch partner Starbucks bought their brand name so that anyone searching Twitter for “starbucks” would see an advertisement for the coffee company at the top of the results page.
But while $100,000 is a lot of money to most, Twitter’s Promoted Tweets and its other initiative, Promoted Trends, are experimental, largely unproven and not worth the investment – at least that’s what several advertisers and marketers cited by the WSJ claimed. Their feelings on that matter, however, may soon change thanks to plans Twitter has in store for its ads service.
via Twitter’s Promoted Tweets Sell for $100K and Up – NYTimes.com.
Twitter worm was unleashed by 17-year-old Australian | Technology | guardian.co.uk
Yesterday’s Twitter-worm fest was kicked off by a 17-year-old Australian called Pearce Delphin, according to AFP.
The teenager had identified the flaw of allowing javascript code to appear in tweets. He posted some code, which was then picked up by hackers and diverted into more malicious ends, including various garbled window messages and a diversion to a Japanese porn site. The virus spread easily because rather than activating by clicking, users only needed to hover over a link to trigger an action.
“I did it merely to see if it could be done … that JavaScript really could be executed within a tweet,” Delphin told AFP. “At the time of posting the tweet, I had no idea it was going to take off how it did. I just hadn’t even considered it.”
via Twitter worm was unleashed by 17-year-old Australian | Technology | guardian.co.uk.
Technolog – University bans Facebook, Twitter for one week
If you pass through Pennsylvania’s Harrisburg University of Science and Technology this week and see some glassy-eyed, numbed and twitching students walking around, they aren’t stressed from an early onslaught of all-nighters.
They’re probably dealing with withdrawal from a week-long ban on Facebook, Twitter and IM’s imposed campus-wide by Provost Eric Darr, who is conducting the experiment as an exercise that will culminate in a survey and students writing essays about their experience. Faculty and staff won’t have access either, at least not through the campus system.
One thing is for sure: the experiment is inspiring a lot of chatter on those networks. It’s already burning up on Twitter.
In an interview this morning, Darr told me that this experiment is not a criticism of social media, but about observing habits and behaviors in the way we use technology.
via Technolog – University bans Facebook, Twitter for one week.
Google Realtime Search Challenges Bing, Twitter – Search Engines from eWeek
Google rolled out its Google Realtime Search page, which returns Twitter conversations and other real-time results in response to search queries. Google and Microsoft’s Bing have spent months exploring real-time search features.
Google’s latest move in real-time search, the launch of a dedicated page that aggregates of-the-moment information from Twitter and other sources, represents yet another escalation in the search-engine giant’s competition against Microsoft’s Bing.
With Google Realtime Search, typing in a term like “Halo: Reach” will result in a scroll of real-time Tweets about the game, alongside related “Top links” from YouTube and other Websites. A timeline at the top of the page allows you to follow those real-time updates into the past, in minute-by-minute increments. Tweets are organized from oldest to newest, helping users trace a Twitter conversation to its source.
Other real-time tools include the ability to narrow a search term by geography. “You can use geographic refinements to find updates and news near you, or in a region you specify,” Dylan Casey, a product manager for Google, wrote in an Aug. 26 posting on the Official Google Blog. “So if you’re traveling to Los Angeles this summer, you can check out tweets from Angelenos to get ideas for activities happening right where you are.”
via Google Realtime Search Challenges Bing, Twitter – Search Engines from eWeek.
Twitter Blows Past 20-Billionth Tweet | News & Opinion | PCMag.com
A graphic designer in Tokyo has unlocked a fairly significant accomplishment on Twitter—posting the service’s 20-billionth message since the site’s inception in July of 2006. It’s somewhat difficult to translate exactly what user “GGGGGGo_Lets_Go” was saying in the official tweet. However, his translated response to the news is far clearer:
“It looks like I posted the 20 billionth tweet. I’m getting replies from people all over the world. It’s scary. What are the chances? Maybe I’m going to die. Is it more amazing than winning the lottery? I thought it was a joke,” he wrote, as reported and translated by Computerworld.
via Twitter Blows Past 20-Billionth Tweet | News & Opinion | PCMag.com.
Vopium Raises US$ 16.5 Million, Skype Gets Competition
A Danish VoIP technology company called Vopium just banked US $16.5 million in funding, and has a specific aim to gatecrash Skype’s party.
Introducing Vopium
Vopium’s angle is — surprise, surprise! — an inexpensive one. The mobile application allows users to make international calls or send SMS messages for a fraction of what traditional phone companies would charge (they claim their application can save you up to 90%). And, they don’t require users to change their current operator or SIM-card. The price of your local calls will be up to your provider, while any international calls placed will go to Vopium.
The app also supports instant messaging (MSN, Yahoo!, Skype, Google Talk, AIM, ICQ) for Android, Apple devices, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, and there is additional support for Twitter.
Bing gets social with Facebook and Twitter | Microsoft – CNET News
Bing will now pull up the latest updates from Facebook and Twitter on your search terms.
On Wednesday, Microsoft‘s search engine officially launched its social site, which taps into public and shared updates from Facebook and the latest tweets from Twitter to display real-time results for your search topics.
The social search engine works just like Bing’s regular search engine. Simply enter your keyword, and you’ll see a list of current and recent posts from the two social networks. Each post offers a link to a Web site–anything from a static page to a YouTube video–where you can view more on a topic.
Bing’s new social site.
(Credit: Microsoft)
Sensitive to privacy concerns related to Facebook, Microsoft said in its blog that Bing grabs updates only from Facebook fan pages and shared links from nonfan pages in which the status is set to share content with everyone. Even then, no names, photos, or other identifying information will show up in the feed.
via Bing gets social with Facebook and Twitter | Microsoft – CNET News.
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