This week’s 4cast:
1. Viacom to Google: This YouTube Thing’s Gonna Cost Ya
When Google purchased YouTube late last year, there was some speculation that big-time copyright-infringement lawsuits would soon follow. Viacom, the entertainment giant that owns a number of networks aimed at younger audiences, has decided to start small – one billion dollars.
- Viacom Sues YouTube Over Copyrights (Wired News)
- Viacom will sue YouTube for $1bn (BBC)
- Viacom vs. YouTube – Whose Side Are You On? (Slashdot)
- Viacom: privacy-hating hypocrites (Boing Boing)
2. No One Needs to Know What You Googled Years Ago
Perhaps looking to stave off more potential lawsuits (or government subpoenas), Google has revised their privacy policy, promising users that they will obfuscate search data after 18 to 24 months, so that users will no longer be easily matched up with their search requests.
- Google adding search privacy protections (CNET News)
- Google’s New Plan to “Anonymize” Search Logs: A Good First Step, But More Is Needed (Electronic Frontier Foundation)
- Google To Anonymize Data — Updated (27B Stroke 6)
- Google, Privacy, Records Management and Archives (Spellbound Blog)
3. Search, Frown, Edit, Repeat, Smile
The creator of Wikipedia has a new project underway called Search Wikia – a search engine that will allow users to freely edit and (in theory) improve its results.
- Wikia plans editable Web search engine (Inside Bay Area)
- Giving Search a Human Touch (Wired News)
- Search engine coming from Wikia (LibrarianInBlack)
- Blog Insights: Do we really need another search engine? (ITworld)
4. What Are You Doing? How About Now? Now? Still There? Now?
Everybody’s twitterin’ about Twitter. In fact, few recent trends have divided the library world so starkly.
- Twitter Me This (the goblin in the library)
- Twitter Explained for Librarians, or 10 ways to use Twitter (David Lee King)
- Is Twitter TOO good? (Creating Passionate Users)
- why twitter matters (mamamusings)
