The search giant’s admission that it recorded private communications sent over unsecured wireless networks brought an immediate call from the German data protection commissioner, Peter Schaar, for a detailed investigation. 

He alleged in The Financial Times that “one of the largest companies in the world, the market leader on the internet, simply disobeyed normal rules in the development and usage of software.”

In the US, the Federal Trade Commission was believed to be close to announcing its own inquiry into the matter, according to people who spoke to agency officials. 

An inquiry could look at whether the collection of data breached rules on unauthorised access to computers and private communications, according to privacy campaigners. 

“This may be one of the most massive surveillance incidents by a private corporation that has ever occurred”, said Marc Rotenberg, leader of the Electronic Privacy Information Centre in Washington. 

A few days before this revelation, Google had reversed earlier assertions denying that it had monitored and collected data on individuals’ activity. 

It said the data was inadvertently culled as a fleet of camera-equipped Street View vehicles, which take pictures for the group’s imaging services, assembled a database of electronic WiFi addresses intended to enhance its maps and other location services. 

Google said the project leaders ignored that the vehicles were also taking in snippets of activity on the WiFi networks. 

“We didn’t want to collect this data in the first place and we would like to destroy it as soon as possible,” said Google’s spokesman Peter Barron. 

The data in question had never been available to outsiders, the company said. 

Ilse Aigner, the German minister for consumer protection, said the new revelation “is alarming and yet another proof that privacy protection is still alien to Google.” 

The UK Information Commissioner’s Office said that Google appeared to have breached the data protection act. 

But it added that after receiving assurances from Google that it would delete the data “as soon as reasonably possible”, the commissioner would not be taking further action against the company. 

The Google controversy follows a recent uproar over Facebook’s erosion of privacy settings. 

“Both Google and Facebook have given the privacy groups an unsolicited contribution,” said Jeff Chester of the Center for Digital Democracy. 

Royal Mail, the UK's publicly-owned postal delivery service, has launched a new initiative promising to make it easier for businesses to improve their targeting of specific geographical areas which are most likely to buy their products.

The new Royal Mail Insight Tool uses information from the eBay market data programme to offer new insight to UK advertisers, and provides access to more than 140 million UK transactions carried out through the online auction site, giving advertisers and planners unparalleled insight into the purchasing behaviours of postcode areas across the UK (the equivalent of the US zip codes).

The data – which is anonymous and consists of 2.1 million individual postcodes which cover 26 million addresses – provides details of buyers’ purchase history, type of products bought and levels of spend, and is refreshed monthly to give continually updated access to the latest information on purchases around the UK.

“The launch of the tool underlines (Royal Mail’s) determination to be a true media owner by selling unique, bespoke audience insight as well as providing a communications channel to reach and engage with consumers and enhance their brand through the post,” said Royal Mail Head of Media and Development, Antony Miller.

The Royal Mail Insight Tool can provide breakdowns of spending habits regarding new or used purchases, peak purchasing periods, frequency and recency of purchase, age, gender, and the product brands purchased.

Categories covered by the service include baby; car parts and vehicles; clothes, shoes and accessories; computing; consumer electronics; health and beauty; home and garden; mobile and home phones; sporting goods and video games, as well as more than 200 sub-categories.

“It provides insight and audiences based on chosen variables of areas around the UK where certain product types are frequently being purchased, items sold and their average price,” Miller added.

“Based on this insight, campaign planners can identify other similar areas in the UK and deliver comparable audience demographics.

“This information can then be overlaid with Royal Mail data, a brand’s own customer database or a cold list, supplying access to a highly targeted base of prospects.”

A working party looking into the use of images of private property on Google's enhanced Street View service has asked the internet giant to shorten the period of time for which it retains images taken by its camera teams for posting on its website.

The EU justice commission-established group wants to restrict the length of time Google can keep these images to six months, according to a Reuters report. It says that it currently dispenses with them after a year.

Many people have criticised the service as it shows unobscured views of private property, and say Google has set its cameras so that they can see over walls and hedges.

Google’s global legal advisor, Peter Fleischer, was written to by the European Commission, which asked that it should halve the length of time it holds onto these images, to six months.

In its letter, the working group said it “believes that a maximum retention of six months for the unblurred copies of the images would strike the right balance between the protection of privacy and the ability to eliminate false positives.”

European Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding reiterated the EU’s intention to be vigilant in safeguarding the high standards of data protection which she believes the Union sets.

“I expect that all companies play according to the rules of the game,” she said in a statement.

Dedicated local pages containing business listings or details of interesting sights in a particular neighbourhood are now available when you search Google Maps.

The project brings together information contained in the maps database with Google business listings and, where available, customer reviews, in what many see as a logical extension of the existing Maps service.

For once, though, Google is playing catch-up with this service, as Bing and Yahoo!’s search results already show something similar, while Ask.com harnesses information from Citysearch to enhance the detail in its business listings.

Google Earth associate project manager Matt Holden explained the new service on his blog, saying: “When I’m exploring my neighbourhood or planning a trip, I often find places I want to know more about. Place Pages (puts) lots of great information about a place on a single page.

“You can see a summary whenever you click on a business or place of interest, and then click a link if you’d like to see more.” Summary information includes a full address, telephone number, and a link to the business or location’s website, if available.

He concluded: “We hope (Google users) enjoy exploring Place Pages and find them a helpful way to learn more about interesting places they see during their virtual browsing.”

Google allows local businesses to update their details on the database through its Local Business Centre.

Fare Savings Poster in Deansgate Train Station

A Hollywood classic, Meet Me in St Louis, is set at the time when it was difficult to sustain a long-distance relationship. It would be hard to commute between St Louis and New York in 1904. There was no Internet then, no mobile phones. It would be appropriate for John Truett to travel to New York to see Esther Smith… but not very good for his wallet.

Flick through to the 21st c., and here is rendeznew: the NEW way “to meet in the middle”. The service has started in 2007 and is the result of the mashed-up Yelp.com and Google Maps APIs. It can be used to meet with friends, clients, buyers from Craig List – or even “with that special someone”. The photo on the right taken at Deansgate train station in Manchester in 2007 could hardly be more appropriate on this occasion.

And here is the result of the search for a bar “between” Manchester, London, and York. The midpoint is located close to Leicester, and the closet bar to meet is Lansdowne.

The point of meeting in the middle is presumably to save all involved some time and money. So, in the name of research I decided to see how much difference meeting in Leicester would make for people based in Manchester, York, and London. Here is what I found with the help of National Rail website. Below are the results for a journey on 30 July, 2009 for 1 adult with no discount train card:

Manchester to Leicester – 2-3 hrs – 1 change – £37.80
York to Leicester – 2 hrs – 1 change – £42.50
London to Leicester – 1 hr – 0 changes – £24.00

Manchester to York – 1.5 hrs – 0 changes – £24.40
London to York – 2 hrs – 0 changes – £72.00

London to Manchester – 2 hrs – 0 changes – £44.00
York to Manchester – 1.5 hrs – 0 changes – £18.00

Manchester to London – 2 hrs – 0 changes – £102.00
York to London – 2 hrs – 0 changes – £84.00

So, there you go. There isn’t really any option that would make everyone’s lives easier, journey shorter, and fares cheaper. But if you’re happy to spend a couple of hours on the train travelling from either Manchester or York to Leicester, then this does sound like the best solution – even if your London friend will still pay and travel less.

Photo credit loscuadernosdejulia.

I was somewhat critical of the changes that occured to FeedBurner since it was completely migrated over to Google. Some features, however, were “tweaked”. There was a chance previously to see the countries and cities that sent visits to the site and feed. The site statistics in FeedBurner has now been disabled, but the feed statistics got a Google Analytics makeover. You’re now being served a Map Overlay of your visitors for the most recent full day, so see screen grab below for an example. Unfortunately, there it ends.

Map Overlay feature in Google FeedBurner

In the world of digital/social mapping, Google Maps seem to be the first choice. In the world of photo sharing, however, Yahoo! Flickr has been holding the reins. Now the two come together, thanks to the recent development from Google Maps.

As Barry Schwarz and Matt McGee reported for Search Engine Land just days ago, this recent innovation appears to be the long-promised move from Google on the way to accumulating all geotagged information out there in Google Maps and Google Earth. It is interesting to note that Panoramio continues supplying the photos for spots on the actual map – but as far as map search results go, this has changed: “api.flickr.com” results now show up on, as well.

This is Google Maps results for Lakestar Media:

You probably already know how to geotag Flickr images, but if not here’s the guide:

Flickr: Putting Images to Maps

Don’t forget: once geotagged, your photos are available to be found via Flickr’s Nearby feature. And can be found in search results in Google Maps, as well. Oh, and more reasons to think about online branding and geotagging.