The social network said it received 9,000 to 10,000 requests for data from American law enforcement authorities in the second half of 2012, but said it could not disclose how many of those were related to national security. … Read More
Facebook Adds Hashtags to Organize Public Conversations
The largest social network is following in the footsteps of Twitter, introducing the # symbol as a way for users to organize posts on a particular subject. … Read More
Google Expands Its Boundaries, Buying Waze for $1 Billion
After weeks of talks Google completed a deal to buy the Israeli social mapping start-up, which uses a combination of GPS tracking and contributions from its users about road conditions to help drivers navigate. Waze will remain a separate service from Google Maps, at least for now. … Read More
Mobile Companies Crave Maps That Live and Breathe With Data
Maps that adapt to conditions like traffic or the time of day are valuable to mobile services, and that helps explain why Google is deep in negotiations to buy Waze, a social mapping service, for more than $1 billion. … Read More
Swedish teen gathers evidence of rapist father
A 14-year-old Swedish girl felt forced to swap her body for DNA, for fear that social services and police would not believe her when she decided to report her father for repeatedly raping her at her home in southern Sweden. … Read More
Social networks part of cyber-war against Russia – Rogozin
Speaking at a lecture in Moscow, the man in charge of the defense industry said social networks allowed specialists to probe users without their consent or even knowledge the fact. “A powerful manipulation of public opinion is being carried through – all sorts of “likes” and other buttons that you press there they instantly include you in certain groups that are later analyzed and systemized,” Rogozin said. According the Deputy PM this allows for work with people who share opposition views by putting them into special sectors that cannot be seen by other users of open social networks. “Through this they increase the number of people who receive special content that is undermining the authority of the state and the values of the established state. We know that this is being actively used,” he elaborated. Rogozin added that the United States’ Department of State had created a special unit for work in social networks and that he had met the head of this unit who works so that the United States could reach their objectives in a non-military way. The Russian official said that for NATO cyber warfare is already a military threat and a military response, and Russia is also watching these processes. … Read More
