Some of my friends become extremely paranoid when going online. The funny part is they are not shopping online, and they're not having any vital and very secret data to move all over the Internet. They are just occasional Internet surfers, using it at home for one or two hours per week, just to read and send some emails, visit a few Web pages(using Internet Explorer 6!!!), maybe burn one or two DVDs they recorded recently with the video camera in a trip or at a wedding.

Despite all these, they still ask me on a regular basis about how are they tracked by sites visited, about the security of their YM conversations, or about some harmless "Cookie threat" reported by their antivirus. I guess I should tell them about the Google anonymization news I just heard...but there's only one problem - they are probably sleeping now, or taking a walk, so I'll tell you!

Due to regulatory pressure, Google decided to change its data retention policy, now reducing the period before anonymizing IP addresses. <-336x280 Large Rectangle - right->According to them, IP adresses are now made anonymus after 9 months, instead of 18 months, as it was the deal so far. So...how is this affecting the end user sitting in front of the computer in his living room, after all?

Basically, we're talking about increased security of your personal data, but I wouldn't go that far in claiming that your search tasks will become anonymous, because they won't. "Google's search business is offered to the public for free, and is thus inherently superior from a privacy perspective to paid services because it does not require users' real names, billing addresses, credit card numbers or mandatory tax and accounting records. To support this free service, Google primarily relies on being able to serve relevant advertising to its users," wrote Google in a letter to the Article 29 working group.

At last, Google said they are still working on the anonymization algorithm to use, since this is more about making IP addresses "disappear," rather than having to erase additional details.

"We have focused on IP addresses, because we recognize that users cannot control IP addresses in logs. On the other hand, users can control their cookies. When a user clears cookies, s/he will effectively break any link between the cleared cookie and our raw IP logs once those logs hit the 9-month anonymization point. Moreover, we are continuing to focus on ways to help users exert better controls over their cookies."

As long as everything works fine for me as a Google user, I couldn't care less about who's messing with my searches. After all, I don't have anything to hide, and I am sure Google doesn't need to check what I am doing. The problems may appear if third parties get information from Google, but I didn't hear about such a thing, so far.

Most of the time, if you hear "Microsoft" and "OMG" you'd think about what they have done wrong again. After all, what else can it be, rather than
"OMG, Microsoft...?" Well, what about Microsoft and Object Management Group, shortly known as OMG? Obviously, this is exactly what we're going to find out right now!

Tell me OMG, and I will think about the "Oh, my God!" interjection, or about "Online Multiplayer Game," especially since I am not crazy about the IT business standards, enterprise software, and other things that usually are about a bunch of companies united to turn some ideas into standards, as it happens with the Z-Object Management Group (OMG or ZOMG)...

ZOMG, originally aiming to set standards for distributed object-oriented systems, is a consortium founded back in 1989 by no less than 11 companies, including HP, IBM, Apple and American Airlines.<-125x125 Button - right-> In the meantime, they became focused on modeling and model-based standards, and over 800 companies have become members.

Leaving details aside, I will get now to the point by telling you what just happened: Microsoft joined the OMG! With standards that include UML (Unified Modeling Language) and BPMN (Business Process Modeling Notation), OMG is the perfect part to be added to Microsoft's strategy for model-driven software development.

According to Burley Kawaski, director of product management for the Microsoft Connected Systems Division, "We think OMG is important to help contribute to the open industry dialogue. Modeling has been something that has really been viewed as sort of a niche."

What does this whole thing mean for the end user? Well, apart from UML backing, Microsoft also has in mind adding support for BPMN in Oslo and its Visio drawing and modeling tool.

You know what's the funniest part of this? That it took Microsoft 19 years to realize the need for joining such a group in setting industry standards, rather than fighting on its own...but maybe I am missing something here, so feel free to enlighten me, if you know more about the topic!

I don't know if you got bored with all this P2P talks we've had lately, but I think you should pay attention. Why? Well, you could be next! For now, it's not that bad for the end user, especially if he doesn't try to destroy the evidence, and the quantity of shared copyrighted information is not impressive, but what can you do if you're the admin of a large torrent tracker, and you got caught? Well, last guy who found the answer to this question will spend a year and a half in the shadows...

Once upon a time, there was a site called Elite Torrents. To be honest, I had no idea about it, until they started falling down like flies. First, Grant Stanley, now 28 years old, was convicted to five months in jail, five months of house arrest, and three years of probation. Oh, and you can add a $200 assessment to that! Anyway, that was happening 2 years ago, and now, the time has come for another former Elite Torrents admin, namely Daniel Dove.<-336x280 Large Rectangle - right->

P2P, jailed, that's the story, and I am really sad to say it, especially since these guys shouldn't be thrown in jail. They made the mistake of being caught, all right, make them work for the government, but don't send them in prison! Anyway, this is only my opinion, because the judge handling the case decided to sentence Dove to 18 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release (probation), all nicely decorated with a $20,000 fine...

To clear some things out, let me tell you that Elite Torrents had over 100,000 members at its height, sharing about 700 movies, collectively downloaded over a million times, at least according to prosecutors.

The funny part is that, if Dove could share his punishment with all those who took advantage of his work, each of the Elite Torrents users would have to serve a bit over 6 minutes in jail, 13 minutes of probation, and pay a $0.16 fine. Now, that would be much better, don't you think? Unfortunately, reality is completely different...