Google blacklists entire internet!

Google placed the internet on a blacklist today after a mistake caused every site in the search engine's result pages to be marked as potentially harmful and dangerous. The problem affected internet pages across the whole planet, and lasted for around 40 minutes before engineeers were able to fix it.

The glitch centred on Google's malware detector, which is designed to keep internet users from visiting sites Google believes may install malicious software when users browse them. Google blamed "human error" when an engineer tried to add one web address to the list of those deemed suspicious, and mistakenly added them all. "We periodically receive updates to that list and received one such update to release on the site this morning. Unfortunately (and here's the human error), the URL of '/' was mistakenly checked in as a value to the file and '/' expands to all URLs. Fortunately, our on-call site reliability team found the problem quickly and reverted the file," Google said in its official blog. The incident occurred at around 2.40pm. Apart from lost advertising revenue – which one expert estimated at $2-3m (£1.4-2m) – the incident is embarrassing for the world's most popular search engine, known for its reliability. Users across the globe were puzzled as all searches were met with the warning: "This site may harm your computer."

A spokesman for Google said: "A lot of people were woken up in California when the problem broke. Clearly Google was labelling every website as malware."
Google's paid search results appeared not to have been affected.

Irish ISP to Block Illegal Music Downloads

In a settlement with record companies, Irish ISP Eircom has agreed to shut down users who illegally download music from the Internet. Irish Internet provider Eircom has agreed to a settlement with the four major record companies—EMI, Universal, Warner, and Sony—that will have the ISP shutting down users who are downloading music illegally from the Internet. Under the agreement, record companies will supply Eircom with the IP addresses of users they believe are illegally distributing music via P2P applications or other services; Eircom will give the users two warnings, and if the actions persist, shut down the accounts. The move may be the beginning of a sea change amongst ISPs, who have historically argued that they just provide connectivity, and aren't responsible for policing customer's actions or monitoring content transferred via their networks. Record companies and other content providers, however, have increasingly been pressuring major ISPs to act as traffic cops, monitoring data flowing to and from users in an effort to clamp down on copyright violations. Eircom's settlement with the record companies is in lieu of the companies' initial demand that Eircom install software on their network that could identify copyrighted content via fingerprinting technology. The case had been at trial eight days before the settlement was announced. As part of the agreement, the record companies have pledged to "take all necessary steps" to put similar agreements in place with every ISP in Ireland. In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) recently abandoned its practice of filing lawsuits against individuals believed to be engaging in illegal file sharing, and is instead working with major ISPs like Comcast and AT&T to reduce piracy.

Estee Lauder Fuschia Now

Time for even more spring summer collections & today its Estee Lauder’s pretty and sophisticated Fuschia Now collection. Products include the Fleur de Lys Shimmer Powder, (far left), which, at €39, offers radiance and a sheer shot of colour for a spring-fresh face. Cleverly, Lauder have developed the range so that it can be tailored for a warm or cool skintone, so ask at the counter for the products that will suit you best. In each category there’s shadow, pencil, lipstick, gloss and polish. What’s that above? It’s for warm skintones & you can see Pure Colour Nail Lacquer in Fuschia, €17, Pure Colour Gloss in Fresh Berry, €22, Signature Lipstick in Rich Berry, €22, and Signature Eyeshadow Duo in Indigo, €27.

Google Earth nabs drug ring

Swiss police reported yesterday they "stumbled across" a sizeable dope plantation which had helpfully been captured on Google Earth, AP reports. The happy find came last year during an investigation into an alleged drug ring. Officers were using Google Earth to find the addresses of a couple of farmers suspected of involvement in the operation, and "quickly spotted" the 7,500 m2 illicit horticultural site in the northeastern canton of Thurgau. Norbert Klossner, the head of Zurich police's narcotics unit, said: "It was an interesting chance discovery." The cops' drug-busting dragnet resulted in the arrest of 16 people and the seizure of 11.1 tonnes of marijuana plus 900,000 Swiss francs ($780,000) in cash and valuables. According to officials, the gang is "alleged to have sold up to seven tonnes of hashish and marijuana between 2004 and 2008, with an annual turnover of 3-10 million francs a year".