Facebook to give users say in new policies

Facebook is trying its hand at democracy.

The fast-growing online hangout, whose more than 175 million worldwide users could form the world's sixth-largest country behind Brazil, said Thursday those users will play a "meaningful role" in deciding the site's policies and voting on changes.

Facebook is trying to recover from last week's policy-change blunder, which prompted tens of thousands to join online protests. At issue was who controls the information, like photos, posts and messages, that people share with their friends on the site.  http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/02/27/facebook-terms.html

Windows Vista lawsuit loses class-action status

A lawsuit claiming people were fleeced by the way Microsoft Corp. advertised some Windows XP computers as capable of running the new Vista operating system is no longer a class action, a federal judge has ruled.

The lawsuit, certified last February as a class action, argued that Microsoft's designation of some PCs as "Windows Vista Capable" was misleading because many of those computers were not powerful enough to support all of Vista's features, including the sleeker "Aero" user interface. http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/02/19/windows-vista.html

Facebook backs off changes to terms of service

The founder of Facebook says the social networking website will return to its previous terms of service regarding user data, after critics complained recent changes had eroded user privacy.

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's founder and CEO, wrote early Wednesday morning that move back to the previous terms is temporary, and comes in response to questions and comments the website has received about changes made two weeks ago. http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/02/18/facebook-terms.html

Half of copyright charges dropped against Pirate Bay (Updated)

Swedish authorities have dropped half of the copyright-related charges against the founders of The Pirate Bay, a website that connects BitTorrent networks to allow users to swap music, video or game files. 

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/02/17/pirate-bay.html

More Info here > http://www.thelocal.se/piratebay/

U.S. online tracking ad report falls short, consumer groups say

Privacy groups have criticized the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's new policies on targeting advertising by tracking consumer behaviour online, saying they don't adequately protect the public, including children and people with sensitive medical conditions. http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/02/13/ftc-privacy.html

Conficker Activity Update

http://blogs.technet.com/msrc/archive/2009/02/12/conficker-activity-update.aspx

Conficker Domain Information

http://blogs.technet.com/msrc/archive/2009/02/12/conficker-domain-information.aspx

Microsoft offers $250,000 to nab author of Conficker worm

Microsoft has announced a $250,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of those responsible for an internet worm that has been infecting more than two million computers a day for the past five days.

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/02/12/tech-conficker.html

Facebook appraisal pegs company's value at $3.7B

Facebook Inc. quickly concluded it wasn't worth anywhere near the $15 billion US market value implied in a 2007 investment made by Microsoft Corp., according to confidential information obtained Wednesday from court documents. http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/02/12/facebook-value.html

Facebook paid $65M to settle suit: law firm

A law firm is claiming Palo Alto-based Facebook Inc. paid $65 million to settle a suit accusing Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg of stealing the concept for his social network.

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/02/11/tech-facebook.html