Google Tries To Save You From Swine Flu
November 11, 2009
The media frenzy over swine flu may have died down a little since earlier this year; it's no longer a top headline on every other news site, at least. But people remain extremely concerned about it (anyone care to guess how many tons of hand sanitizer have been sold?), and Google's trying to help out by pointing them towards flu shots.
A post on the Official Google Blog announced this afternoon, "We've been working with [the U.S. Department for Health and Human Services], the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and state and local health agencies to gather information on flu vaccine locations across the country, particularly for the H1N1 flu vaccine . . . . At the moment we have data for locations of flu vaccine directly from 20 states and counting."
The post then added, "We are also continuing to add information from chain pharmacies and other providers in all 50 states; today, you'll find results from chains such as Walgreens, CVS and PDX participants, such as Kmart, Duane Reade, WinnDixie and Giant Eagle."
The new feature seems to work quite well. If you intend to follow through on its suggestions and receive a shot, just call ahead to play it safe. Unless you need to buy some more hand sanitizer, anyway, that is, or perhaps want to pick up a few surgical masks from the corner market.
Have You Read This?
> Google India Closes Office Due To Swine Flu
> YouTube Highlights Global Leaders' Response To Swine Flu
FTC Orders Sears To Destroy Tracking Data
September 15, 2009
The Federal Trade Commission has ordered Sears to end a program that placed spyware on customers' computers that would track their online browsing.
The company, which includes Sears and Kmart, offered online customers $10 in return for installing the tracking software.
The FTC said the software monitored consumers' online secure sessions, including those on third party websites and collected personal information from those sessions, such as the content of shopping carts, online bank statements, prescription drug records, video rental records, library borrowing histories, and the sender, recipient, subject, and size of emails.
According to the Commission, the software also tracked some computer activities that were not related to the Internet. Only in a long user license agreement, available to users at the end of a multi-step registration process, did Sears disclose the full extent of the information the software tracked. The Commission charged that Sears failed to adequately disclose the scope of the tracking software's data collection and it violated the FTC Act.
Sears has been ordered to destroy all information previously collected and if it uses any tracking software in the future it must clearly disclose the types of data it will monitor, record, or transmit.
In addition, the disclosure must be made before installation and separate from any user license agreement. Sears must also disclose if any data will be shared with a third party.
