The International Herald Tribune has an interesting article today on the negative consequences of Internet outages in an age when “

[c]ompanies like Google want us to store not just e-mail online but also spreadsheets, photo albums, sales data and nearly every other piece of personal and professional information.”

The Seattle Times reveals that “Microsoft is reinventing itself, and it’s looking to One Memorial Drive in Cambridge for a dose of innovation.  That will be the home of Microsoft’s Boston Concept Development Center, a first-of-its-kind research unit that’s assembling dozens of engineers and designers and sniffing out technologies with the aim of incubating new Internet businesses within the company.”

The Register reports that “France has suggested an amendment to the pan-European Telecoms Package, which would bar broadband access to anyone who persists in illegally downloading music or films.  Last month, the government of Nicolas Sarkozy insisted on a similar ‘three-strikes-and-you’re-out’ scheme for France. Under a cross-industry agreement, ISPs would have to cut off access for up to a year for third-time offenders. Sarko believes ‘there is no reason that the internet should be a lawless zone.’  […]  Now Sarkozy, who took over the European presidency this week, is trying to stretch the measure across Europe through amendments (pdf) to the Telecoms Package, a review of European telecoms law currently in the European Parliament.”

According to another Register article, “Google’s Street View cars, which grab real photographs of streets and the people in them for the search giant’s Maps service, have come under fire from privacy campaigners.  The spycar has been spotted in London, Edinburgh and Cardiff. A Reg reader was kind enough to send us a snap of the snapper-car in London. The pictures the car takes subsequently get loaded into Google Maps.  Privacy International has complained to the Information Commissioner’s Office.  A spokeswoman for the ICO told the Reg:  ‘Yes, we have received a complaint about this and we are looking into it. We are contacting Google to get more details of the scheme.’”

The Matasano Chargen blog today has a great post by former malware analyst Wes Brown discussing the “internationalization of malware.”