Facebook asks for your help to help set policy

Facebook is inviting its 150 million users to help decide how the social-networking site is run.

(CNN) — In keeping with the democratic nature of user-generated media, Facebook is inviting its 150 million users to help decide how the online gathering place is run.

A week after a policy-change blunder sparked widespread protests, the Web’s most popular social-networking site announced a new approach Thursday to give users more control over future Facebook rules and practices.

Site managers published the Facebook Principles, a set of 10 values they hope will make Facebook more transparent, along with a proposed statement of rights and responsibilities governing privacy, content ownership and other issues. Users will be able to comment and vote on the wording of the documents.

“As people share more information on services like Facebook, a new relationship is created between Internet companies and the people they serve,” Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, said in a statement. “The past week reminded us that users feel a real sense of ownership over Facebook itself, not just the information they share.”        Breaking News

Windows 7: troubles ahead

Fasten your seat belts. There could be some bumpy nights ahead in the IT department.

When the information technology guys discover how painful it can be to upgrade their current PC hardware to Microsoft’s Windows 7 — the successor to the much-maligned Windows Vista — they may be tempted to switch to Linux or Apple’s Mac OS X.

That’s the conclusion of the product specialists at CRN’s Channel Web — a publication geared more to IT professionals than to the typical Mac user — after running the latest Windows 7 beta through their Test Center.        Breaking News

Sets That Let Couch Potatoes Feel Green

Some Philips TVs save energy with dimming technology.

Amid mounting environmental concerns, TV manufacturers are racing to make energy-efficient sets, with some now launching “eco” branded TVs.

Vizio Inc., Funai Electric Co. and Sharp Corp., for instance, recently unveiled TVs that claim power savings that exceed the U.S. government’s latest “Energy Star” standards for TVs by as much as 29%. Samsung Electronics Co., Sony Corp. and Panasonic Corp., are also launching energy-efficient TVs.

Some of the TVs, such as one model from Vizio’s “EcoHD” models, use fewer or different lamps to illuminate the screen, thereby reducing power use. Funai Electric, which manufactures and distributes Philips-branded flat-panel TVs in the U.S., has two series of eco TVs that save power through a dimming technology that adjusts the brightness of the backlight on the LCD panel based on the ambient light in the room.        Breaking News

New bill proposes ISP’s keep logs for police

(CNET) — Republican politicians on Thursday called for a sweeping new federal law that would require all Internet providers and operators of millions of Wi-Fi access points, even hotels, local coffee shops, and home users, to keep records about users for two years to aid police investigations.

The legislation, which echoes a measure proposed by one of their Democratic colleagues three years ago, would impose unprecedented data retention requirements on a broad swath of Internet access providers and is certain to draw fire from businesses and privacy advocates.

“While the Internet has generated many positive changes in the way we communicate and do business, its limitless nature offers anonymity that has opened the door to criminals looking to harm innocent children,” U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, said at a press conference on Thursday.        Breaking News

Facebook removes 5,500 sex offenders

More than 5,500 removed between May 1, 2008, and Jan. 31, 2009

RALEIGH, North Carolina – Facebook has removed more than 5,500 convicted sex offenders from its social networking Web site since May, Connecticut’s attorney general said Thursday.

Richard Blumenthal said the world’s largest social networking site, which claims to have more than 175 million active members, reported to his office that 5,585 convicted sex offenders were found on the Web site and removed between May 1, 2008, and Jan. 31, 2009.  “The message in this number is Facebook has an equal stake in solving this problem of protecting children,” said Blumenthal, who along with North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper has led an effort remove sex offenders from the social networking Web sites.        Breaking News

Fewer F-22’s needed, says Air Force

The U.S. Air Force is scaling back its request for its most advanced and costly fighter jets, as the service seeks to shift its emphasis from waging large-scale wars to combating insurgencies in places like Afghanistan and Iraq.

The move reflects Defense Secretary Robert Gates’s efforts to reorient the military toward the smaller, drawn-out conflicts that the armed forces expect to be fighting in the future.        Breaking News

Anger escalates as Facebook changes its data policies

Social-networking site claims ability to control user information forever

NEW YORK – Tens of thousands of Facebook users are protesting new policies that they say grant the social-networking site the ability to control their information forever, even after they cancel their accounts.

Facebook’s new terms of use, updated Feb. 4, largely went unnoticed until the popular consumer rights advocacy blog Consumerist.com pointed out the changes Sunday.

That prompted a clarification from Facebook’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg, although the new terms remain in force. Zuckerberg told users in a blog post Monday that “on Facebook, people own their information and control who they share it with.”        Breaking News

Mobile Software Platforms, What’s In Store

The success of Apple Inc.’s App Store is prompting a host of wireless companies, including BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd., Microsoft Corp. and Palm Inc., to open online stores of their own that offer new software for consumers to download directly to Web-enabled cellphones.

There’s so much interest in this field, it’s also attracting some less obvious players, including retailer Best Buy Co., which wants to develop a niche guiding novices through the sometimes intimidating process of buying and loading mobile software.

Right now, most consumers who want to run software applications on their smart phones first need to download the programs to their computer, then connect their phones to the computer with a cable in order to sync the devices. But new application stores cut out the middle step — the computer. Customers can click on an icon on their cellphone that takes them directly to the application store, or they can use their phone’s browser to access a store. They can then wirelessly download the programs they want directly to their devices.        Breaking News

Sprint Official Is Tapped to Shape Telecom Policy

The Obama administration has tapped a Washington executive of Sprint Nextel Corp. to help run an agency that shapes telecommunications policy and will dole out billions of dollars in federal stimulus money to wireless providers.

As a vice president of government affairs for Sprint, Anna Gomez wasn’t registered as a lobbyist and thus isn’t restricted by President Barack Obama’s new ban on hiring lobbyists to oversee the issues they influenced in the private sector.

A separate provision in the administration’s new ethics rules — one that restricts appointees’ work with recent employers — will limit Ms. Gomez’s official duties, preventing her from reviewing contract bids by Sprint for two years. But she could still play a role shaping policies that affect her former employer.        Breaking News

Microsoft to Open Stores, Hires Retail Hand

Microsoft Corp. said it hired a former Wal-Mart Stores Inc. executive to help the company open its own retail stores, a strategy shift that borrows from the playbook of rival Apple Inc.

The Redmond, Wash., company said it hired David Porter, most recently the head of world-wide product distribution at DreamWorks Animation SKG, as corporate vice president of retail stores for Microsoft.

In a statement, Microsoft said the first priority of Mr. Porter, who is also a 25-year veteran of Wal-Mart, will be to define where to place the Microsoft stores and when to open them. A Microsoft spokesman said the company’s current plans are for a “small number” of stores. Breaking News