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Search engine providers need to be more transparent about how they utilise users’ data, a government initiative has said.

Get Safe Online, a joint initiative between the government and the Serious Organised Crime Agency, has said internet users should make a decision as to whether to remain with providers who use private information for things such as targeted advertising.

A report released this month by the European Union stated that search engines should not hold on to personal data for a period of more than six months. Google and Yahoo! currently carry a policy of rendering all users’ data anonymous after 18 months.

Managing director of Get Safe Online Tony Neate said: “It’s not always exactly transparent why they [search engine providers] need it [user data] so I’d like to see a bit more clarity in relation to the information that they hold and why.”

A June 2007 report by Privacy International said that Google demonstrated an “aggressive use of invasive or potentially invasive technologies”.

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There is a lot of good work being done by the development team. I have been monitoring the changes using CommitMonitor and also looking at the Wordpress Milestone 2.5. But from what I can see even though all this updates are coming its going to be a tough given that the deadline has been moved twice (once because 2.4 was never released | WordPress 2.5 Delayed a Week) now. Not to mention there are over 400 Active tickets as I am writing this.

I wish the developers good luck in getting it done in the next 6 says. But I am not hopeful that they will be ready for to release it by then.

According to lorelle “Indeed, WordPress 2.4 has now been removed from the WordPress Roadmap, and WordPress 2.5 is still scheduled for March 24, 2008″. Now that seems more positive and reasonable to me.

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Trojans have topped threat lists during the first six months of the year, according to a new report.

Security firm BitDefender Labs says that Trojans were the most popular form of malicious threat in the first half of 2007, along with mass mailers.

The Netsky worm also continued to keep its place in the top ten threat list, with all of the malware in the table accounting for two-thirds of total web viruses.

Viorel Canja, head of BitDefender Labs, called the shift from viruses to Trojans ‘an interesting trend’.

‘Although the popularity of mass mailers is slowly receding, variants are still present and pose a very real risk to computer systems used by consumers and small businesses,’ he added.

A recent report from information security services provider SecureWorks revealed that the number of hackers targeting banking institutions has soared by 81 per cent since 2006, with attackers using the Gozi, Prg and BBB Trojans in particular.

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Search engine providers need to be more transparent about how they utilise users’ data, a government initiative has said.

Get Safe Online, a joint initiative between the government and the Serious Organised Crime Agency, has said internet users should make a decision as to whether to remain with providers who use private information for things such as targeted advertising.

A report released this month by the European Union stated that search engines should not hold on to personal data for a period of more than six months. Google and Yahoo! currently carry a policy of rendering all users’ data anonymous after 18 months.

Managing director of Get Safe Online Tony Neate said: “It’s not always exactly transparent why they [search engine providers] need it [user data] so I’d like to see a bit more clarity in relation to the information that they hold and why.”

A June 2007 report by Privacy International said that Google demonstrated an “aggressive use of invasive or potentially invasive technologies”.

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