Europe Blog
Our views on the Internet and society
Debating public safety while preserving personal freedom
Thursday, March 14, 2013
It’s a tricky balance. Governments need to be effective in fighting crime, and while theft, trafficking and terrorism have existed for centuries, the Internet has accelerated the speed and volume at which crime can be conducted. At the same time, the Internet has become a powerful force in promoting free speech and personal freedom. What is the right balance between public safety and personal freedom? How much access should police have to user emails and other information on the Net?
We’ve asked a number of experts to debate this theme of freedom and security on the Internet today at the
Big Tent in Stockholm
. Along with the
Civil Rights Defenders
,
Europol
,
Privacy International
, and
Transparency International
, we’ll be hosting members of the intelligence and research communities, law enforcement and civil society. All will share their observations and thoughts about how governments and companies should prosecute crime and guarantee rights to free expression and privacy in the information age.
We’re especially pleased that
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt
will be joining us for this conversation. Sweden has one of the world’s oldest traditions of freedom of speech, and its government is a leader in using Internet tools to support democracy and freedom.
Every government has a responsibility to keep its citizens safe. Without data and analysis, it’s hard to tell if officials have the right tools to effectively investigate and stop crime online. We hope that this discussion will present hard facts on issues such as expanding lawful access provisions, prioritizing funds to keep up with rapidly advancing technology, and greater government transparency so that citizens can hold officials accountable for how they exercise policing powers.
For a preview of Thursday’s conversation, check out this Google+ Hangout that I did yesterday with former Index on Censorship chairman John Kampfner.
Posted by Ross LaJeunesse, Global Head of Free Expression and International Relations
Sharing stories of Bletchley Park: home of the code-breakers
Thursday, March 14, 2013
For decades, the World War II codebreaking centre at Bletchley Park was one of the U.K.’s most closely guarded secrets. Today, it’s a poignant place to visit and reflect on the achievements of those who worked there. Their outstanding feats of intellect, coupled with breakthrough engineering and dogged determination, were crucial to the Allied victory—and in parallel, helped kickstart the computing age.
We’ve long been keen to help
preserve
and
promote
the importance of Bletchley Park. Today we’re announcing two new initiatives that we hope will bring its story to a wider online audience.
First, we’re welcoming the
Bletchley Park Trust
as the latest partner to join
Google’s Cultural Institute
. Their
digital exhibit
features material from Bletchley’s archives, providing a vivid snapshot of the work that went on cracking secret messages and the role this played in shortening the war. Included are
images of the Bombe machines
that helped crack the
Enigma code
; and of
Colossus
, the
world’s first programmable electronic computer
, used to crack the German High Command code—including
this message
showing the Germans had been successfully duped about the location for the D-Day invasion.
Second, as a followup to
our film about Colossus
, we’re pleased to share a personal story of
the Bombe
, as told by one of its original operators,
Jean Valentine
. Women like Jean made up the majority of Bletchley Park’s personnel—ranging from cryptographers, to machine operators, to clerks. In her role operating the Bombe, Jean directly helped to decipher messages encoded by Enigma. In this film Jean gives us a firsthand account of life at Bletchley Park during the war, and demonstrates how the Bombe worked using a replica machine now on show at the museum.
We hope you enjoy learning more about Bletchley Park and its fundamental wartime role and legacy. For more glimpses of history, explore the Cultural Institute’s other exhibitions on
www.google.com/culturalinstitute
.
Posted by Marzia Niccolai, Technical Program Manager, Google Cultural Institute
Final call for summer policy fellowship applications
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
This Friday is the last day to apply for the 2013
Google Policy Fellowship
-- all applications must be submitted by March 15, 2013 at midnight Pacific Standard Time. Please visit the
website
for application and program details. Available positions in Europe and Africa were described in this previous
blogpost
.
The Google Policy Fellowship supports students and organizations working on the critical technology policy issues of our time. Fellows will have the opportunity to work at public interest organizations at the forefront of debates on broadband and access policy, content regulation, copyright and trademark reform, consumer privacy, open government, and more. The Google Policy Fellowship is open to students of all levels and disciplines.
Good luck on your application!
Posted by Kate Sheerin, Policy Analyst
A new free expression dialogue with European telecoms
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
We wake up every day at Google asking ourselves: how can we get more information to more people around the world? Unfortunately, officials in too many governments wake up every day asking themselves: how can we stop our people from getting more information?
Those opposing questions lay at the heart of our
decision
back in 2008 to be a founding member company of the
Global Network Initiative
(GNI). The GNI is a group of companies, human rights groups and NGOs, socially responsible investors and academics that works to protect and advance freedom of expression and privacy in the ICT sector.
From the beginning, we hoped that the GNI would find common ground with other companies and groups around the world. And today we’re happy to report that the GNI is
entering into a two-year collaboration
with a group of eight European telecommunications firms to “find a shared and practical approach to promoting freedom of expression and privacy rights around the world.”
The eight firms — Alcatel-Lucent, France Telecom-Orange, Millicom, Nokia Siemens Networks, Telefonica, Telenor, TeliaSonera, and Vodafone — provide services and equipment in scores of countries.
The firms, known collectively as the
Telecommunications Industry Dialogue
, have been meeting among themselves since 2011 to discuss freedom of expression and privacy rights in their sector, and have developed a set of guiding principles. Under the new partnership, they are not joining GNI — but the GNI will house the Industry Dialogue’s work and provide a place where members of both groups can learn from each other, develop new ideas, and collaborate in protecting and advancing user privacy and freedom of expression.
For the Industry Dialogue, we hope the arrangement will give the eight companies the chance to see the advantages we’ve found in an alliance that goes beyond industry and includes NGOs and others. For the GNI — a group born of the conviction that there is strength in numbers and a diverse membership — the arrangement marks a concrete step to building a broader and more global platform to help protect user rights.
Posted by Bob Boorstin, Director, Public Policy, and Lewis Segall, Senior Ethics and Compliance Counsel
Online voters choose Vietnamese blogger Netizen of the Year
Friday, March 8, 2013
Internet users from around the world turned out to vote for people who defend Internet freedom. More than 40,000 visited a
Reporters Without Borders’ YouTube Channel
to choose a “Netizen of the Year” from among nine nominees of bloggers or Internet journalists. The winner,
announced this week
, is Huynh Ngoc Chenh from Vietnam.
This represents the fourth year that we have supported the Netizen of the Year project and the first that Internet users picked the winner. Reporters Without Borders chose the nominees based on reports from its 150 correspondents around the world. According to the Reporters, Chenh’s
blog
attracts about 15,000 visitors per day, even though readers must use software to circumvent censorship to gain access. He focuses on democracy, human rights and the territorial disputes between Vietnam and China.
Today, 42 countries are engaged in some form of Internet filtering, reports the
Open Net Institute
. At Google, our products ‐‐ from search and Blogger to YouTube and Google Docs ‐‐ have been blocked in more than 30 of the approximately 150 countries where we offer our services. We were the first company to publish a
Transparency Report
that shows interruptions to the flow of information from our tools and services. Google also is a founding member of the
Global Network Initiative
, a multi-stakeholder organization -- including human rights and press freedom groups, investors, academics, and companies -- whose members commit to protect online free expression.
We’re proud to support Reporters Without Borders with this important prize that highlights the pressure many governments around the globe are putting on the Internet.
Posted by Florian Maganza, Policy Analyst, Paris
Expanding Street View in Europe
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Cross-posted with the Google Maps Blog
Today we’re announcing a major expansion of Street View to make our maps of Europe more comprehensive and usable. For the first time, people all over the world can see Street View imagery of Bulgaria. They’ll also have access to panoramas of almost 200 new towns and cities in Russia, and thousands of miles of refreshed imagery of the UK.
Bulgaria: from the mountains to the beaches
Nestled in the southeastern corner of Europe, Bulgaria is the 48th country for which immersive, street-level imagery is now available on Google Maps. This Bulgarian launch covers not only major economic centers such as
Sofia,
Plovdiv
and
Varn
a, but also historical and beloved towns like
Veliko Turnovo
and
Koprvishtitsa
.
Vizualizare hartă mărită
Nessebar is one of the most attractive tourist destinations on the Bulgarian seaside
Users around the world can also virtually experience the beautiful ski resorts of
Borovets
,
Bansko
and
Pamporovo,
and the stunning
Architectural and Museum Reserve Tsarevets
that sits on Tsarevets Hill in the old part of of Veliko Tarnovo. And of course, people can check out the
Black Sea coast line
, which is the heart of summer tourism in the country.
Vizualizare hartă mărită
The Architectural and Museum Reserve Tsarevets is a popular tourist site in Bulgaria
From Russia with love
Last February, the first Street View images of Moscow and Saint Petersburg – the major cultural and economic centers in Russia – became available on Google Maps. Now we’re thrilled to add Street View images of nearly 200 more Russian cities to Google Maps. Get familiar with
Sochi
, the venue for the 2014 Winter Olympics, or learn more about Buddhist culture by visiting the
Golden Abode of Buddha Shakyamuni
, the largest Buddhist temple in the Republic of Kalmykia.
Просмотреть увеличенную карту
The Golden Abode of Buddha Shakyamuni is a popular Russian Buddhist destination
Просмотреть увеличенную карту
Sochi: Enjoy the sea and the mountains in one place
Mind the Gap
In the UK we’re refreshing some imagery in major cities like London, Manchester, Glasgow and Cardiff, as well as filling in some of the gaps where we had no Street View coverage. For example, we’ve added brand new images to parts of the Scottish coastline, in pockets of East Anglia and parts of South Wales.
We hope this new and updated imagery makes it easier than ever to explore Europe, and we look forward to more additions in the future. And you can also check out Street View on your mobile device with the Google Maps app for
Android
and
iPhone
.
Posted by Ulf Spitzer, Street View Program Manager
Gaming to fight cancer
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Update, June 20, 2013
: Want to see what a vigilante granny looks like? Check out this short film released today about the Game Jam contest.
Gaming is not always just for fun. We’ve teamed up with the charity
Cancer Research UK
and other technology companies to help design and develop a mobile game to accelerate cures for cancer. Our goal is ambitious: to allow anyone with a smart phone and five minutes to spare to play an enjoyable game that will simultaneously investigate vital scientific data.
More than 50 ‘hackers’ – computer programmers, gamers, graphic designers and other specialists – joined with six Cancer Research Scientists last weekend in a ‘GameJam’ to turn Cancer Research UK’s raw gene data into a game format, and to identify new, engaging and scientifically robust ways for the public to help analyse gene data. An agency will use the hackathon’s results to build the game, tentatively titled GeneRun, for launch in the summer of 2013.
Cancer Research UK is investing in studies to discover the genetic faults driving cancer. This research produces colossal amounts of data. We believe the collective power of hundreds of thousands of people across the globe helping our scientists to analyse this data could drastically speed up research – hopefully saving lives faster. Citizen science is a new way of including the public in scientific research outside the laboratory.
This is the charity’s second collaboration with the Citizen Science Alliance. The first game,
Cell Slider,
launched as a Beta test in October 2012 to analyse archived cancer tissue samples.
It's encouraging to see how technology and the collective power of people across the globe can help to find new ways to accelerate cures for cancer. Let’s hope GeneRun provides a lot of fun - and inspiring treatments.
Posted by Theo Bertram, Policy Manager, UK
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