Google investing $390 million to expand European data center in Belgium

Jordan Kahn

Google-Data-Center-01

Google isn’t slowing down investing in new data center operations around the world. Back in January we heard that it is expanding its Berkley County data center in South Carolina with an additional $600 million investment bringing the project up to $1.2 billion total. Today, Associated Press reports that Google is set to invest $390 million in a new expansion of its European data center in Belgium.

Internet search giant Google says it is investing 300 million euros ($390 million) to expand its continental European data center. Google Inc. said Wednesday it will upgrade the facility in Belgium to meet growing demand for its online services

Back in October of last year Google opened its data center doors to all with a new project dubbed “Where the internet lives” that gives anyone a unique behind the scenes look at its facilities responsible for handling 20 billion web pages indexed per day, 3 billion daily searches, and free mail to 425 million Gmail users.

Microsoft’s latest Scroogled ad warns against downloading apps on Google Play

Jordan Kahn

If you don’t know by now, since early February Microsoft has been running its “Scroogled” smear campaign spending 7 figures on a series of print and online ads attacking various Google services. The ads originally focused on Gmail and how Google displays ads based on the content of user’s emails, but Microsoft’s latest Scroogled ad (above) takes on another Google app– Google Play.

The ad is currently featured on the front page of Microsoft’s Scroogled website and features a warning that Google passes off personal information about users to app makers without consent from users:

When you buy an Android app from the Google app store, they give the app maker your full name, email address and the neighborhood where you live. This occurs without clear warning every single time you buy an app. If you can’t trust Google’s app store, how can you trust them for anything?

We expect Google will be issuing a response to Microsoft’s claims shortly. Another Scroogled ad claiming Google Play sends personal data to app makers below: Read more

Google updates Transparency Report with government requests for blog post removals and user data

Jordan Kahn

As noted in a recent post on the Official Google Blog, Google recently made changes to the Transparency Report that launched a couple of years ago to report data on “government requests.” The interactive reports, which are available here, already included user data requests from courts and government agencies, real-time and historical traffic from various Google services worldwide, and removal requests from both governments and copyright owners. Google is adding data related to government requests today for user information and the removal of blogs posts and videos made from July 2011 to December 2011:

Today we’re releasing data showing government requests to remove blog posts or videos or hand over user information made from July to December 2011… Unfortunately, what we’ve seen over the past couple years has been troubling, and today is no different. When we started releasing this data in 2010, we also added annotations with some of the more interesting stories behind the numbers. We noticed that government agencies from different countries would sometimes ask us to remove political content that our users had posted on our services. We hoped this was an aberration. But now we know it’s not… For the six months of data we’re releasing today, we complied with an average of 65% of court orders, as opposed to 47% of more informal requests.

An example of some of the requests is outlined by Google’s Senior Policy Analyst Dorothy Chou:
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FTC criticizes poor privacy disclosures in apps for kids, takes aim at Android apps’ permissions rate

E. Betters

The Federal Trade Commission released a report today (PDF) based on a survey that found apps for children do not fully disclose the types of data collected nor do they adequately educate parents about data harvesting, and the report’s spotlight is set on both Android Marketplace and the Apple App Store.

The consumer protection agency scrutinized privacy policies, recommended each developer give comprehensible disclosures on how data is accrued and shared, including whether children’s data is linked to social network apps, and it even mentioned conducting a six-month review on disclosures and using enforcement if needed. The report focused on the two main app stores themselves and requested more be done to tell children and their parents about privacy concerns…

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Screenwise: Google paying Chrome users to give up their personal browsing data

Jordan Kahn

Do you want to be paid to surf the web using the Google Chrome browser? A new Google program called “Screenwise panel” (first reported by SearchEngineLand) is apparently providing users with that exact opportunity. In exchange, Google requests that you give up your privacy and provide your personal browsing data to Google. There has not been an official announcement, but there is already a signup page available here.

A few requirements for users of the service are listed on the signup page. You have to be 13 years of age or older to sign up (for Chrome and a Google account anyway), and —as mentioned before—you will have to give up your browsing data. Participants will get a $5 Amazon gift code after installing a special browser extension, and another $5 Amazon code for every three month period they spend in the program. The signup page noted a maximum payout of $25; however, Google noted in fine print that it would consider giving out additional gifts to users who participate for longer than a year.

Amazon is not actually a partner in the program. Instead, Google has enlisted Knowledge Networks as its “panel management partner.” A Google spokesperson reached out with a brief description and clarification of the program:

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