Online privacy policies fail

Online privacy policies need to be easier to understand and more conspicuous, because few people now actually read them, said panellists at a US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) workshop on targeted online advertising, reports PC World.

While privacy policies can help users understand what personal information is being collected, they often need "college-level reading skills" to understand them, says Lorrie Faith Cranor, a Carnegie Mellon University computer science professor who has done research on privacy policies.

Cranor suggested FTC action could be necessary to help standardise privacy notices online. "We should look at the whole picture and think: do we need nutrition labels for privacy?" she said.

Finnish technology company Nokia was hit with a major media snub from Warner Music Group when it launched its Internet music store, with the American record label more anxious to protect its music from pirates than to sell it online, says Forbes.

Warner was the only major label not to participate in the launch of Nokia`s online music store on Thursday, part of its new online portal, Ovi.

A source close to the situation said on Friday that there were a number of reasons why, but chose only to highlight one: the unauthorised file-sharing of copyrighted material via the Mosh Web site, owned by Nokia.

Two Californian men are facing 20 years in prison on charges they hacked into a California state university`s PeopleSoft system to change their grades, reports PC World.

In an grand jury indictment, John Escalera, 29, and Gustavo Razo, 28, were charged with using Escalera`s position within California State University, Fresno`s IT help-desk centre to gain access to the university`s grades database.

The men could face 20 years in prison and $250 000 in fines if convicted of the 11 counts on the indictment, which includes charges of unauthorised computer access, identity theft, conspiracy and wire fraud.

The United Nations, Google and Cisco Systems have unveiled a Web site that will track the progress toward decreasing global poverty by 2015, says Computer World.

UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon launched the online project, Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Monitor, to focus attention on the need for people, companies and governments around the world to work together to fight poverty.

The Web site tracks progress toward MDG Monitor goals in a number of categories in nearly every country in the world. It also provides the most current data from multiple sources in areas such as public health and education.