Many privacy issues have been raised since the project was launched – an example being that people could be identified on the pictures.

Recently, another “big thing” has happened. Something so severe that I want to publish it here.

The cars used WLAN to actually connect to open networks and copy private data. They logged MAC-adresses, parts of emails, names of the stations (SSID) and other information. For weeks, maybe months. All over the world.

Now, how did Google react when this became public? They apologized and stated they “accidentally” used the “wrong software”!

Of course!! Sorry for hacking into your bank and transferring a couple of million dollars to my private bank account. I used the wrong software. I merely wanted to play Tetris …

The good news: the department of public prosecution in Hamburg has taken this issue to court, and demands from Google to hand over the hard drives with the data, until the 26th of May.

Update, 4th of June 2010:
There seems to be some evidence that it was not an accident.

– Sources: tagesschau.de (1), tagesschau.de (2) FAQ, NDR

“We live in an amazing world that is wasted on the crappiest generation of just spoiled idiots that don’t care …”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r1CZTLk-Gk

1:49 nearly killed me … hilarious!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bI06lujiD7E

-- via ieee.org

And since we all know that there isn’t really anything better than something that is both hilarious and interesting, I feel the obligation to share this with you.

A few results, just as an appetizer:

• If you ask people to name colors long enough, they go totally crazy.
• Colorblind people are more likely than non-colorblind people to type “fuck this” (or some variant) and quit in frustration.
• A couple dozen people embedded SQL ‘drop table’ statements in the color names. Nice try, kids. [If you don't understand, check this webcomic]
• Color names most disproportionately popular among women: 1. Dusty Teal, 2. Blush Pink, 3. Dusty Lavender, 4. Butter Yellow, 5. Dusky Rose
• Color names most disproportionately popular among men: 1. Penis, 2. Gay, 3. WTF, 4. Dunno, 5. Baige
• Nobody can spell “fuchsia”.

They ran a two minutes story about the video Wikileaks released that day:

WikiLeaks has released a classified US military video depicting the indiscriminate slaying of over a dozen people in the Iraqi suburb of New Baghdad — including two Reuters news staff. Reuters has been trying to obtain the video through the Freedom of Information Act, without success since the time of the attack. The video, shot from an Apache helicopter gun-site, clearly shows the unprovoked slaying of a wounded Reuters employee and his rescuers. Two young children involved in the rescue were also seriously wounded. For further information please visit the special project website www.collateralmurder.com.

Finally, Wikileaks has reached the German mass media. I consider it one of the most important democratic tools the internet currently offers, and am very happy that it has been mentioned in the Tagesthemen.

What is Wikileaks?

• Scroll down on their website, and “Click here to make a secure submission.” That’s the main thing about Wikileaks.
• Wikileaks gives people the opportunity to publish documents they think are important for the public – anonymously. We have seen courts all over the world forcing newspapers and other media to disclose their sources in the last years, Wikileaks is trying to fill this gap.
• 10 questions on Wikileaks on CPJ blog (Committee to protect journalists)
• ForeignPolicy wrote an article called “Is This the Future of Journalism? Why Wikileaks matters.”
• A post I wrote a couple of months ago about Wikileaks leaking a document written by the British Ministry of Defence giving advice on how to stop documents leaking onto the internet

WikiLeaks is an organization protecting internal dissidents, whistleblowers, journalists and bloggers who face legal or other threats related to publishing. Our primary interest is in exposing oppressive regimes [...], we are of assistance to people of all nations who wish to reveal unethical behavior in their governments and corporations. We have received over 1.2 million documents so far from dissident communities and anonymous sources. We believe that transparency in government activities leads to reduced corruption, better government and stronger democracies.

If you are going to spend a bit of money on charity projects this year, consider giving $10 to Wikileaks. They accept no other funding than private donations, since they want to stay absolutely incorruptable and transparent.

Um dir die Möglichkeit zu geben, auch außerhalb von Facebook nützliche Erfahrungen im sozialen Bereich machen zu können, sind wir gelegentlich gezwungen, anderen überprüften Webseiten und Anwendungen, die sich auf die Facebook-Plattform stützen, allgemeine Daten über dich zur Verfügung zu stellen, wenn du diese besuchst (wenn du noch bei Facebook angemeldet bist)

Was für eine absurde Formulierung … Neusprech³.

(via Heise)