Harvesting solar power from space
Power plants on the ground may one day be replaced by massive sun-gathering satellites in orbits 22,000 miles up in the sky. Since they would be unaffected by the earth's shadow virtually 365 days a year, the floating power plants could provide round-the-clock clean, renewable electricity all year round.(cnn.com)WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Government officials are not confirming a report that Chinese officials may have secretly copied the contents of a government laptop computer during a December visit to China by Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez.
Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez's visit to China has raised security questions.
The Associated Press said an investigation into the suspected incident also involved whether China used the information to try to hack into Commerce computers.
The AP cited officials and industry experts as sources for the story, which said the surreptitious copying is believed to have occurred when a laptop belonging to someone in the U.S. trade delegation was left unattended.
When asked whether the Commerce Department is looking into the matter, spokesman Richard Mills said, "We take security seriously, and as we learn of concerns about security, we look into them."
The AP account says that when it asked the Commerce secretary about this alleged breach, he said, "because there is an investigation going on, I would rather not comment on that. To the extent that there is an investigation going on, those are the things being looked at; those are the questions being asked. I don't think I should provide any speculative answers."
The Commerce spokesman said this comment was taken out of context but would not elaborate.
The FBI does not confirm or deny investigations, but a government official said the agency is not conducting one.
Don't Miss
Department of Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said, "It's unclear to me who the AP is citing as conducting an investigation. The DHS at this time is not undertaking an investigation. There is nothing to substantiate an actual compromise at this time."
Knocke said that US-CERT, a DHS entity charged with analyzing and reducing cyberthreats and vulnerabilities, has visited the Commerce Department "roughly eight times" since Guttierez's December trip but that the visits had "nothing to do with laptops or these allegations." At some agencies, laptops and other electronic devices officials take abroad are routinely "scrubbed" upon return.
CNN also tried to reach the Chinese Embassy and the Consulate General of the People's Republic(cnn.com)
TUCSON, Arizona (AP) -- The Phoenix lander is getting ready to flex its muscles on Mars.
Preparations are now under way to partially flex the arm.
After scientists test the arm's joints at different temperatures over the next several days, they will tell Phoenix to use the camera on the arm to look at the lander's underbelly and take a picture of the terrain beneath it.
Researchers want to make sure the lander is stable so it won't tilt once the arm is fully extended, said Matt Robinson of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.
Phoenix landed near the north pole of Mars on Sunday, and scientists are spending the first week or more testing different parts of the spacecraft before the real work begins.(cnn.com)
(AOL Autos) -- Well, it was bound to happen. The high-tech arms race has escalated once again. No, we're not talking about military weaponry.
It all started with the radar guns used by police officers to detect speeders.
We're talking about the tech-driven cat-and-mouse game between law-enforcement agencies and motorists when it comes to setting and avoiding speed traps.
It all started, of course, with the radar guns used by police officers to detect speeders. Then came radar detectors used by motorists who wanted to skedaddle faster than posted speed limits.
Then police began using laser units which are more effective and more accurate than radar guns and so on and so on.
Now, the latest "upgrade" in this ongoing game of high-tech one-upmanship: Trapster. Trapster is a service developed and run by Pete Tenereillo of Carlsbad, California, and is essentially a cell-phone social network that allows motorists to hook up with one another for the purpose of issuing real-time alerts about the location of speed traps.
Trapster works like this: Go to the Web site, and sign up for a free membership. Then download the Trapster software to your cell phone or PDA. Tenereillo said that most current-generation cell phones, Blackberries and other PDA's can accommodate the Trapster software.
Then, you're ready to hit the road. And once you're tooling down the highway, if you spot a state trooper or city cop lying in wait with a radar gun or laser unit, you just need to punch in "pound one" on your cell phone -- or dial a toll-free number. Other users are then alerted on their cell phones or PDA when they approach the same speed trap.
"One great thing about that is that it's hands-free," says Tenereillo. "You don't have to be looking at the phone or even be holding it to be notified of the speed trap -- which, of course, is safer, because you don't have to take your eyes off the road to be notified of the trap."
The more sophisticated cell phones/PDAs can also display a map that displays the exact location of the speed trap. "But obviously, people should pull over if they're going to look at the map," Tenereillo added.
Trapster was launched in April, and while Tenereillo declined to comment on the exact number of subscribers, he did say the site is booming. "We're going crazy, we've had so many people sign up that it's been hard to keep up with," he said. "We initially had some capacity issues as a result, so we had to re-do some of the architecture."
Tenereillo said one thing that surprised him is that "about half of our initial subscribers were soccer moms. But, when you think about it, that makes sense, they're in the car the most, and they take a lot of short trips, driving their kids to and from school, soccer practice, music lessons, etcetera -- so they're the ones getting the worst tickets, like for driving 53 [mph] in a 35 [mph] zone. Those are worse tickets than the ones you get out on the highway because judges show no mercy when it comes to speeding in residential neighborhoods or adjacent surface streets."
In May, Trapster also became integrated with Dash Navigation Inc., an Internet-connected GPS device for vehicles that can be mounted on the dashboard. Trapster relies partly on the WiFi technology provided Skyhook Wireless Inc., a Boston-based firm that provides positioning services that depend on various WiFi access points. It also relies in part on satellite-based Global Positioning Systems.
"The reason that Skyhook is a great partner for us is that, if you have a handset that only has GPS, that takes a few minutes after you turn it on before it gets a fix on the location of a speed trap," says Tenereillo. "But Skyhook's WiFi technology is instantaneous; it can tell you immediately if there is a cop with a radar gun in your vicinity."
"Pete needed to get Trapster into as many handsets as possible, as many different types of phones and PDAs as he could, in order to build a large interactive social network," Ted Morgan, Skybook's CEO, explained. "A big challenge for a service like Trapster is that it requires the phone to know its own location. So, by integrating our technology, it enabled Trapster to expand the potential pool of phones they could get service onto.
"We take advantage of the fact that there are WiFi access points almost everywhere in populated areas -- homes, offices, Starbucks stores, etc," Morgan said. "We have crews that go out and survey every street, we've covered over a million miles of road, which covers 70 percent of the population. We've now mapped over 40 million access points."
As mentioned, Trapster also relies in part on satellite-based GPS, but using GPS alone is not enough to ensure "total coverage" for a system like Trapster, Morgan said.
"Our WiFi system works in a way that is similar to GPS, except that, instead of using satellites, we use the WiFi signals that permeate through most populated areas. GPS has some limitations, in that the cell phone manufacturer has to add it to the phone, and GPS also does not work as well in crowded urban areas."
Tenereillo expanded, saying, "What's also great about Trapster is that it can work with handsets that have GPS, or, it can work with handsets that don't have GPS, because of the WiFi technology provided by Skyhook."
One would think that law enforcement would take a dim view of a company/service like Trapster -- since you could look at it as a service that is enabling speeders to escape detection. But both Tenereillo and Morgan point out that the opposite is true.
"We have a quote on our Web site from the National Association of Police Organizations that states a service like Trapster is actually a positive," says Tenereillo. "Because, if one driver warns everyone else that there is a speed trap at a certain location, then everyone slows down -- which, after all, is the whole(cnn.com)IBM TO MAKE NEXT GENERATION z10 MAINFRAMES FROM POWER FAMILY CHIPS
IBM has decided to fold its mainframe processor chips into the Power family, much the way it moved its AS/400 engines into Power architecture years ago. IBM says the mainframe versions of the Power 6 or p6 chips, which it calls z10 when the result is a server not just a chip, will have some unique features.
It is very hard to predict the timing of an official announcement, but Big Blue has been conducting customer briefings since last August.
The IBM slide show is here (warning: 2 meg download) and our preliminary analysis is here.
With mainframe sales in a sharp dip as the financial sector firms that buy so many putting all capital equipment acquisitions on hold, IBM may have to act more quickly and more decisively than it would under more propitious conditions.
PLATFORM SOLUTIONS ANSWERS IBM COMPLAINT, COUNTERSUES
Platform Solutions, Inc., (PSI) has not only responded to IBM's intellectual property infringement complaint, but also countersued.
The defensive portion of PSI's court filing basically asserts that the patent infringement claims made by IBM are invalid and additionally sketches out the details of its position.
The countersuit accuses IBM of going back on explicit and implicit promises to license software for use on PSI servers, based on a principle lawyers call promissory estoppel. In addition, PSI alleges that IBM's insistence on licensing its software only to persons who have purchased IBM servers is tying. Tying, forcing a buyer to acquire one product in order to purchase another when the buyer really only wants the second product, is illegal under US antitrust laws. However, these laws only apply if the complainant can show that the party alleged of tying is a monopoly that is abusing its position with the act in question.
In the past, IBM has successfully deflected antitrust claims by proving that it does not have a monopoly in servers, which it says is the relevant market for antitrust considerations. But IBM's prior tactics may not apply to this case, which is about software rather than plug-in peripherals.
We have produced a more detailed discussion of this matter and in that essay we provide a link to the actual court document filed by PSI as well as other material that is relevant to the matter.
IBM will soon respond to PSI's claims, and that response may well have implications for the Flex-ES emulation system and Hercules open software mainframe emulator.
IBM SUES PLATFORM SOLUTIONS, HALTS LICENSING OF FLEX-ES EMULATORS
IBM has taken steps to curtail two mainframe emulator systems.
IBM has halted licensing of key patents to Fundamental Software, blocking the use of IBM software on Fundamentals's Flex-ES mainframe emulators, effective November 1. The X86-based systems were popular among developers and end users; hundreds are in use. IBM's decision to halt future licensing will not directly impact the installed base, which will continue to enjoy the use of any software licensed under agreements in force at the time of installation.
IBM also has filed suit against Platform Solutions, a company hoping to launch a mainframe emulator that runs on Itanium platforms. Some details of the matter are available here.
Flex-ES boxes are mainly used by shops that require under 50 MIPS of processing power and include versions that run on laptops. IBM hopes to sell low end z9 mainframes to some of these small shops but it has no portable alternative for use by software developers and support personnel, a niche that was filled by products from resellers of Flex-ES.
Platform Solutions has some test machines installed at end user locations, but as far as we know has not actually sold any. Until the litigation began, the company seemed to be aiming for a commercial debut during the first quarter of 2007. Platform maintains that IBM's claims are without foundation, so it could still make a formal product announcement despite the legal cloud obscuring its position. But for now IBM has said it will not license its software for use with the Platform boxes, and that refusal puts Platform in a bind.
RESELLER WHISPERS UP PLATFORM SOLUTIONS PCM MACHINE
T3 Technologies, which says it is the top distributor of Flex-ES based emulated mainframes, is getting ready to offer a plug-compatible system. The machine, which it calls Liberty, is based on software and firmware from Platform Solutions (see our related essay).
T3 Liberty
Platform Solutions firmware and software, HP Itanium hardware
So far, T3 hasn't gone public with its plans, but it has circulated a promotional flyer in which the IBM Business Partner describes itself as "the other mainframe company." Officially, neither T3 nor Platform Solutions seems to be talking about their relationship, which is just as well. T3 bills the machine as a PCM offering built on HP Itanium hardware, which is one way to look at things, while Platform Solutions says its position is that whatever it makes using its code is a PSI machine, regardless of whose hardware is inside the box. A third interpretation may emerge if a deal between EDS and Fujitsu goes ahead. As we understand it, EDS wants to offer Platform Solutions' software and firmware running on Fujitsu Itanium servers as the equipment in its services deals.
To make matters more complicated, T3 seems to be saying it will not only offer the product in its American home market, but also in the EU from offices in the UK, Germany, and Italy. The machine is built to run on 200-240 volts and 50-60 Hz current, so it can work more or less anywhere.
For now, T3 is not talking about MIPS, but the photo it offers suggests a machine with modest power, a box that may overlap its Flex-ES line on the low end and small IBM mainframes on the high end. Our guess is that the four-way Itanium server pictured in the promotional material will yield something like 200 MIPS while running in mainframe mufti. Platform Solutions wants to sell small boxes as well as larger machines directly, providing servers that may range from under 100 MIPS to 2,000 MIPS and possibly higher.
But it all remains kind of iffy. PSI is still perfecting its 64-bit mainframe functionality and has only put boxes that provide 31-bit addressing into field tests. IBM is saying nothing about whether it will let PSI users license its software under general commercial terms, as it did in the case of other plug-compatible vendors. And, with the exception of L. L. Bean, none of the end users who have been testing PSI systems wants to talk about the machine or the deals with IBM under which software has been licensed.
LIKE KATRINA: THE GROUND FLOOR SINKS OUT OF SIGHT
On September 27, IBM said it was going to stop selling software under what it calls the ESL (Entry Systems Licence) plan at the turn of the year. ESL is a scheme under which users can pay one-time charges for a long list of IBM systems software and middleware if their platform runs at no more than 8 MIPS. It is only offered on a handful of platforms, including the 3006 Integrated Server and low end emulated mainframes running Flex-ES.
An 8 MIPS mainframe may sound puny, but for dozens of users who still have small 2003 systems, and for users with larber mainframes who are trying to downsize, an 8 MIPS box is a valid platform. During the IBM 370 era, the largest machine IBM made, a model 168, ran at less than a third this speed, and it did a lot of bookkeeping. None of the 303X line ran this fast, either. IBM didn't get past 8 MIPS until it built the 308X line.
When ESL is gone, the cheapest software deal IBM offers will be the special GOLC pricing that is associated with emulated mainframes. The least powerful machine for which IBM offers this deal, which prices software at around a third the rate charged for a 60 MIPS Multiprise 3000, runs at roughly 20 MIPS using Flex-ES emulation code on an Intel-based server. Even that option might not last long for new users. IBM's decision on ESL could be the first of a number of annual reviews that eliminate software deals aimed at the slowest (and oldest) mainframes still in use.
Because IBM's smallest mainframe users can still get ELS deals until January 1, and there might be a small flurry of migrations as users with 8 MIPS workloads try to locate suitable equipment while the getting is good.
Because IBM's smallest mainframe users can still get ELS deals until January 1, and there might be a small flurry of migrations as users with 8 MIPS workloads try to locate suitable equipment while the getting is good.
COMMON MEMORY AT $25 TO $30 PER GIGABYTE
Memory stick prices are very attractive, making it easy to equip PCs and servers with ample capacity to support the latest softoware. The popular 533 MHz DDR2 modules seem to be retailing for $25 to $30 per gigabyte. Dual channel technology is priced at the high end of this range, while single channel sticks are somewhat cheaper. Modules rated at higher speeds, such as 800 MHz, cost a few bucks more. Laptop memory is considerably more expensive, with SO DIMM sticks running $60 to $70 per gigabyte.
Our bellwether memory dealer, McDonald and Associates, in Omaha, has been selling parts at these levels in small quantities and appears to be willing to talk about price to customers who are looking for sticks by the dozen.
The more sophisticated types of error correcting memory used in midrange servers can cost more than standard PC memory but still can be a lot cheaper on the open market than when it is purchased from a server vendor. Customers usually don't shop the third-party market for memory when a server is very new but instead look for bargains when they are trying to stretch the life of an older server by another year or two. More often than not, a little bit of shopping can yield a lot of savings.
IBM POSTS BIG FIRST QUARTER GAINS ON SERVICES AND SOFTWARE
A mix of favorable currency translation, momentum in software and services, and good margins enabled IBM to report a 26 percent jump to $2.3 billion in pre-tax income for the first quarter, a gain from last year's unimpressive $1.8 billion figure. While there were a couple sticky spots, IBM said it felt the strong start to a year that is challenging many companies indicated that 2008 as a whole will be fine for Big Blue. The company reased its full-year profit forecast to $8.25 per share from $8.00. Investors were thrilled with the news and immediately bid up the price of IBM shares.
Big Blue showed its strength was indeed global. IBM said it did very well in Asia, with reported revenue up 14 percent, although Japan presented some challenges. Europe (combined with Middle East and Africa) looked even brighter, with revenue jumping 16 percent, but as was the case in Asia, three-fourths of the reported upturn was due to currency translation. Business in the Americas rose 8 percent, nearly all of it measured in dollars, and bringing IBM more constant currency growth than analysts had expected in the current climate of bad business news and turmoil in key financial markets.
The one concern that continues to cast a shadow over IBM's future is softness in hardware sales. Mainframe revenue was fine; intake jumped 10 percent on the introduction of z10 machines. Sales of storage subsystems grew at a similar rate. By contrast, servers in the Power-based p line were up only 2 percent, X86 server revenue was flat even with beneficial currency translation, and revenue from computers using legacy System i processors was off 21 percent. IBM's OEM technology business, which depends to a significant extent on the game console market, was down by 20 percent.
IBM's software business grew on the back of acquisitions, notably the purchase of Cognos, but also continued to show growth from products already in the IBM portfolio. IBM said that there was softness in operating systems revenue, a direct consequence of the sluggishness the company has experienced in processors. The jump in mainframe shipments was apparently not big enough to offset slow sales of other platforms. It is also possible that a larger slice of the IBM mainframe MIPS business, which IBM said rose 14 percent in the quarter, is based on processor cores that don't generate z/OS operating system revenue. IBM says, without providing precise detail, that its sales of specialty engines for running Linux, DBMS, and Java keep growing.
It is hard to see how IBM can feel secure about its services and software operations unless it also can keep its hardware business growing. IBM is not a leader in Unix software except where its AIX platforms are concerned. In the X86 market, which is huge in terms of footprints even if it is small in terms of its contribution to IBM's hardware profits, IBM cannot beat Microsoft in Windows country and it does not have the kind of corporate culture that can feed itself off the Open software market. IBM needs to keep selling big ticket services deals and big ticket software products to large enterprises that favor IBM computing equipment.
Nevertheless, IBM says that it expects a prosperous 2008. The company is well aware that it has to execute well as it rolls Power 6 technology across its p and i server families. From the tone of its first quarter remarks, it appears that IBM's management has received very encouraging reports from the field about the reception its new and forthcoming systems will receive.
IBM FIRST QUARTER 2008 PERFORMANCE BY SEGMENT
| REVENUE CATEGORY | EXTERNAL REVENUE | INTERNAL REVENUE | TOTAL REVENUE | PRE-TAX INCOME | PRE-TAX MARGIN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Systems & Technology | 4,219 | 195 | 4,414 | 145 | 3.3 |
| Percent change | -6.7 | -27.1 | -7.8 | 50.7 | |
| Global Technology Services | 9,677 | 388 | 10,065 | 988 | 9.8 |
| Percent change | 17.2 | -8.7 | 15.9 | 45.1 | |
| Global Business Services | 4,911 | 259 | 5,169 | 579 | 11.2 |
| Percent change | 17.4 | -14.5 | 15.3 | 23.4 | |
| Software | 4,847 | 667 | 5,514 | 1,267 | 23.0 |
| Percent change | 14.0 | 14.1 | 14.0 | 22.3 | |
| Global Financing | 633 | 386 | 1,019 | 388 | 38.1 |
| Percent change | 3.0 | 10.7 | 5.8 | 26.8 | |
| Total for All Segments | 24,286 | 1,894 | 26,180 | 3,368 | 12.9 |
| Percent change | 11.3 | -1.7 | 10.2 | 26.8 | |
| Eliminations/other | 216 | 1,8942,077 | -1,679 | -170 | |
| Total | 24,502 | 0 | 24,502 | 3,198 | 13.1 |
| Percent change | 11.2 | 11.2 | 24.0 |
TOKYO, Japan (AP) -- Japanese beer-lovers can anticipate an out-of-this-world brew: suds made with barley descended from grains that traveled in outer space.
An Okayama University graduate student holds the latest crop of "space barley."
The "space beer," to be test-brewed by Sapporo Breweries Ltd., will come in a pilot edition of 100 bottles to be ready in November, company spokeswoman Momoko Matsumura said.
The beer will be made with barley, to be harvested this weekend, descended from seeds that spent five months in 2006 aboard the international space station.
"We're really looking forward to tasting it when it's ready," Matsumura said.
The barley project started when Sapporo teamed up with Okayama University biologists working with the Russian space team.
The team took 0.9 ounce of barley into space for storage inside the space station from April to September 2006.
The project is part of biological studies of the adaptability of plants to environmental changes and the impact from stresses such as space travel.
Sapporo planted 0.14 ounce of the barley grains that returned from space at its research farm northeast of Tokyo in March 2007.
The seedlings were harvested in November. The company expects to harvest 100 pounds of the third-generation grains Saturday for use in the space beer.
Sapporo isn't planning to sell the special brew, at least for now, and hasn't decided how it will distribute the planned 100 bottles, Matsumura said.
Scientists have not found any difference between space barley and the Earth-confined version, she said.The launch of the third and final satellite in the UK's next-generation military space communications network has been delayed by a few days.
The Skynet 5C platform was due to fly from French Guiana on Friday but technicians called a halt to the countdown just hours before lift-off.
Software on the launch vehicle did not behave normally during a test sequence.
Skynet 5 is intended to provide British forces with a secure, high-bandwidth
capability through to 2020.
A successful launch will complete the in-orbit part of the £3.6bn project.
Additional work has included upgrades to ground stations and the installation of new antennas and terminals on military ships, planes and land vehicles.
Taken together, the three Skynet spacecraft - known as 5A, 5B and 5C - will provide coverage from the Americas to Asia.
A new launch date for 5C would be fixed early next week, explained Jean-Yves Le Gall, the CEO of launcher company Arianespace.
"There is an anomaly on software. The launch will be delayed a few days", a period of the order of a week, he told the AFP news agency.
The Skynet satellites match the sophistication of the very latest civilian platforms used to pass TV, phone and internet traffic - but also are "hardened" for military use and will resist attempts to "jam" them, for example.
Malcolm Peto explains how Skynet 5 will aid UK military communications
"These satellites have technology that allows them to pinpoint communications on to particular regions of the world with absolute precision, and without interference," explained Malcolm Peto from Paradigm Secure Communications, the company set up to run Skynet.
"You know the areas where British forces operate, and you can imagine the type of interference attempted. We can avoid that very simply, very clinically," he said.
The new Skynet constellation will allow the British Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force to pass much more data, faster between command centres. The bandwidth capacity of Skynet 5 is two-and-a-half times that of the old satellite constellation, Skynet 4.
The new system will enable British forces to make use of next-generation weapons systems, such as the recently introduced Reaper drones.
These unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) are deployed over Afghanistan but are remotely piloted by RAF personnel in the US.
This is made possible only by Skynet's ability to handle the drones' real-time video feeds.
Other battlefield applications would include surgeons, unsure how best to treat badly injured soldiers, being able to send scan information back to the UK for a second assessment; and then using video conferencing to discuss cases.
Skynet 5 is the largest PFI (Private Finance Initiative) so far delivered to the UK's Ministry of Defence (MoD). Under the PFI, the British military buys guaranteed capacity off its commercial supplier (Paradigm), which is free then to sell any spare capacity to friendly governments.
These third-party sales earn money for Paradigm and the MoD in what is a "shared gain" arrangement. The launch of the Skynet 5C satellite should provide substantial extra revenue potential.
When the PFI deal was originally set up, the MoD was only going to get the use of two satellites; but the high cost of spacecraft insurance in the early 2000s prompted project chiefs to put that money into building an extra platform instead.
"In effect we've self-insured," said Mr Peto. "We've used the money we would have spent on insurance to build a third satellite.
"When we launch [Skynet 5C], we will have three very capable satellites to provide communications, not only for British forces but for our third-party market which makes this whole project viable."
 Skynet will support reconnaissance video gathered by unmanned drones  |
Paradigm hopes the money it earns over the course of its contract (which runs to 2020) will be sufficient for it to reinvest in further spacecraft with enhanced payloads.
If this is achievable, Mr Peto says, it will provide UK forces with better equipment, much faster than traditional procurement routes.
As is normal for Ariane flights, Skynet 5C will ride into space with a co-passenger - on this occasion, a Turkish TV satellite.
"We'll be first out; the separation of 5C from the rocket occurs about 30 minutes after launch," explained the Skynet project manager, Patrick Wood, from manufacturer EADS Astrium.
"We'll pick it up via a ground station we're using in South Africa. The first thing we'll do is send a command that should be sent straight back to us, telling us the receive electronics are working. We can then send a sequence of commands to start waking up the satellite's systems."
It will take about a week to move 5C to its initial operational position 36,000km over the Atlantic Ocean, at 17.8 degrees West.
Friday's launch window in Kourou opens at 2152 GMT.
Facebook 'violates privacy laws'
| By Maggie Shiels Technology reporter, BBC News, Silicon Valley |
 Facebook says it plans to "set the record straight" |
A Canadian privacy group has filed a complaint against the social networking site Facebook accusing it of violating privacy laws.
The Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic has listed 22 separate breaches of privacy law in its country.
Clinic Director Phillipa Lawson told the BBC that, with over 7 million users in Canada, "Facebook needs to be held publicly accountable".
Facebook rejects the charge, claiming some of the highest standards around.
The basis of the complaint, filed with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, states that Facebook collects sensitive information about its users and shares it without their permission.
It goes on to say that the company does not alert users about how that information is being used and does not adequately destroy user data after accounts are closed.
Minefield
"Social networking online is a growing phenomenon," said Ms Lawson.
"It is proving to be a tremendous tool for community-building and social change, but at the same time, a minefield of privacy invasion.
"We chose to focus on Facebook because it is the most popular social networking site in Canada and because it appeals to young teens who may not appreciate the risks involved in exposing their personal details online."
The 35-page action was lodged after students at the clinic analysed the company's policies and practices as part of a course this past winter and identified specific practices that appear to violate the Canadian Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (Pipeda).
Harley Finkelstein, 24 and a Facebook user for the last three years, told the BBC:
"A great percentage of Canadians using Facebook are aged between 14 and 25 and that raises vulnerability issues.
"Some 14-year-old kid might not know that privacy settings exist or how to take advantage of them or appreciate the ramifications of having their private information disclosed to third parties."
Industry leading controls
In a statement, Facebook said:
"We pride ourselves on the industry leading controls we offer users over their private information. We believe that this is an important reason that nearly 40% of Canadians on the internet use our service.
"We've reviewed the complaint and found it has serious factual errors, most notably its neglect of the fact that almost all Facebook data is willingly shared by users."
But Mr Finkelstein disagrees:
"Our investigation found that this is not entirely true - for example, even if you select the strongest privacy settings, your information may be shared more widely if your Facebook Friends have lower privacy settings.
"As well, if you add a third-party application offered on Facebook, you have no choice but to let the application developer access all your information even if they don't need it."
"We're concerned that Facebook is deceiving its users," said newly signed up Facebook user Lisa Feinberg, another law student behind the complaint.
"Facebook promotes itself as a social utility, but it's also involved in commercial activities like targeted advertising. Facebook users need to know that when they're signing up to Facebook, they're signing up to share their information with advertisers."
Publicly accountable
The Canadian Privacy Commissioner, Jennifer Stoddart, has a year to act on the CIPPC's complaint. The commissioner's office focuses on negotiation to resolve privacy disputes, but it can seek court injunctions if they fail to resolve the issues.
Ms Lawson told the BBC the clinic's reasons for going after Facebook publicly were because past issues they have tried to discuss with the company went nowhere:
"We don't see the point in going down that route again.
"Our experience is it gets dragged out and they might make a few changes but they are making representations about their privacy controls and they need to be held accountable. That would be difficult if we did it through private conversations."
Facebook said:
"We look forward to working with Commissioner Stoddart to set the record straight and will continue our ongoing efforts to educate users and the public around privacy controls on Facebook, including a brochure and video project we have completed with Ontario Information and Privacy Commissioner Ann Cavoukian."
All suspect
Facebook has been accused of crossing the line over privacy issues in the past.
Earlier this year, however, the Silicon Valley start-up introduced new tools it said would let users have greater control over their privacy, such as letting only certain groups of friends see their photos and other personal information.
The director of the CIPPC sees their complaint as a shot across the bows of all social networking sites.
Ms Lawson told the BBC the only reason they are focusing on Facebook at the moment is because they did not have the time or resources to look at others:
"They are all suspect. Facebook is the most popular site in Canada and so that is why we looked at it particular but I am hoping to be able to do an analysis of MySpace later this year."(http://news.bbc.co.uk) Internet key to Obama victories |
With Barack Obama moving close to victory in the Democratic presidential primary campaign, the internet has proved one of the key tools to his success. And it may well give the Democrats a big advantage during the Presidential race itself.
The internet has been moving to the mainstream of political life in the US for some years.
But in this presidential cycle it has been particularly important for the Obama campaign, which was starting from scratch with few resources and little name recognition.
The internet favours the outsider, and gives them the ability to quickly mobilise supporters and money online.
And the more nimble use of the internet by the Obama campaign in its early stages helped him overcome the huge initial lead of Hillary Clinton in the presidential nominating race.
Ready to go
Mr Obama's internet strategy was at the heart of his plan to win the Democratic nomination, according to expert Phil Noble, who tracks trends in relation to the internet and politics.
When Senator Obama announced his campaign, his internet site was already fully developed and ready to go - with a set of tools which allowed supporters to meet and organise as well as contribute money.
According to Michael Turk, the e-campaign director for the Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign, the Democrats had learned the lessons of 2004 very well in an "arms race" between rival teams of developers.
 John Kerry depended on online fundraising in the 2004 campaign |
Mr Noble says he expects Mr Obama to raise $1 billion online during the 2008 campaign, 12 times as much as John Kerry raised through online fundraising in 2004.
And he says that two million Obama activists have already been mobilised to become volunteer workers for the campaign - a key advance in the "ground war" of getting out the vote.
And some key internet stunts - including the independently developed "Obama girl" mock ad on YouTube - helped increase Mr Obama's public profile early on.
Primary advantage
Both the fundraising and the mobilising potential of the internet proved key advantages for Mr Obama during the primary season.
 Senator Clinton took more time to see the full potential of the internet |
And his early success soon generated a wave of small-size campaign contributions that have continued to roll in.
This gave him a crucial advantage in campaign organisation and advertising over the Clinton campaign, which had raised a large sum of money, mainly from larger donors.
Funding shortages forced Mrs Clinton to dip into her own pockets, and limited the number of states she could campaign in.
New tools
One of the unique features of the Obama campaign has been its ability to embrace social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook.
 Mr McCain has invested less in internet tools despite being an early pioneer |
Indeed Mr Obama's decision to run was influenced by the fact that a page created on MySpace by supporters not connected to any official campaign quickly signed up 160,000 supporters.
According Paul Zube and Rebecca Hayes of Michigan State University, Mr Obama is far more popular on Facebook - the social networking site most widely used by college students - than any other candidate.
And joining Mr Obama's Facebook site - unlike responding to an email message of support - is a public expression of support which can have a broader political impact.
As such, it may be a more powerful mobilising tool to gain new supporters than sending out emails or expecting activists to come to your website.
Youth vote
His use of social networking sites has helped Mr Obama to mobilise young people, a group which has traditionally been uninterested in politics, according to Professor Thomas Patterson of Harvard University.
"Since the start of this campaign in early 2007, I think what we've seen is a second source of energy for young voters and that's the Obama campaign. They were attracted to him in the first instance by his early opposition to the war in Iraq. At the same time, he happened to have the kind of personality, the kind of message that appealed to them," he says.
Mr Obama has consistently performed extremely strong among younger and highly educated voters, whose increased turnout could be critical to the general election.
Lessons of recent history
In some ways, Mr Obama has drawn the lessons of the failed Howard Dean campaign in the 2004 primaries.
Mr Dean was the first Democratic presidential candidate to use the internet - through his Blog for America - to mobilise his supporters.
But he failed to connect with the voting public in Iowa and crashed out of the race.
Mr Obama has therefore also drawn lessons from the very successful Republican internet campaign that helped re-elect President Bush in 2004
As Michael Turk, the Bush-Cheney e-campaign director in 2004 explained, the Republicans were able to mobilise their supporters through a combination of email lists and internet 'data mining'.
They identified potential Republican supporters in every precinct around the country, using technology which predicts voter preferences on the basis of commercial data on car ownership, magazine subscriptions, and the like.
And then they sent their campaign volunteers detailed instructions on who to visit, including local maps of the area and walking routes, and issues that each potential voter was likely to be most concerned about.
Mr Obama has been utilising similar data to target primary voters - where turnout is crucial - through both telephone banks of volunteers and personal contacts.
Looking forward
Mr Noble believes that the Democrats will continue to enjoy an enormous advantage over their opponents in the use of the internet for campaigning in this election cycle.
Ironically, the McCain campaign in 2000 - when he unsuccessfully challenged George Bush for the Republican presidential nomination - was an early example of using the internet to raise money online.
But according to Phil Noble, this time round, Republicans are far behind in resources and investment in internet tools, and that Mr McCain is having difficulty appealing to the traditional Republican base.
The most important advantage could be in fundraising.
If Mr Noble's predictions are right, then Mr Obama could have a massive lead in the money needed to carry his message to the American electorate.(news.bbc.co.uk)
