Posted by Alma Whitten, Director of Privacy, Product and Engineering

Peter Steiner’s iconic “on the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog” cartoon may have been drawn in jest--but his point was deadly serious, as recent events in the Middle East and North Africa have shown. In reality, as the web has developed--with users anywhere able to post a blog, share photos with friends and family or “broadcast” events they witness online--the issue of identity has become increasingly important.

So, we’ve been thinking about the different ways people choose to identify themselves (or not) when they’re using Google--in particular how identification can be helpful or even necessary for certain services, while optional or unnecessary for others. Attribution can be very important, but pseudonyms and anonymity are also an established part of many cultures -- for good reason.

When it comes to Google services, we support three types of use: unidentified, pseudonymous and identified. And each mode has its own particular user benefits.

Unidentified. Sometimes you want to use the web without having your online activity tied to your identity, or even a pseudonym—for example, when you’re researching a medical condition or searching for that perfect gift for a special someone. When you’re not logged into your Google Account (or if you never signed up for one), that’s how you’ll be using our services. While we need to keep information like IP addresses and cookies to provide the service, we don’t link that information to an individual account when you are logged out.

Pseudonymous. Using a pseudonym has been one of the great benefits of the Internet, because it has enabled people to express themselves freely—they may be in physical danger, looking for help, or have a condition they don’t want people to know about. People in these circumstances may need a consistent identity, but one that is not linked to their offline self. You can use pseudonyms to upload videos in YouTube or post to Blogger.

Identified. There are many times you want to share information with people and have them know who you really are. Some products such as Google Checkout rely on this type of identity assurance and require that you identify yourself to use the service. There may be other times when it’s more desirable to be identified than not, for example if you want to be part of a community action project you may ask, “How do I know these other people I see online really are community members?”

Equally as important as giving users the freedom to be who they want to be is ensuring they know exactly what mode they’re in when using Google’s services. So recently we updated the top navigation bar on many of our Google services to make this even clearer. In the upper right hand corner of these Google pages, you will see an indicator of which account, if any, you are signed into.

We’re also looking at other ways to make this more transparent for users. While some of our products will be better suited to just one or two of those modes, depending on what they’re designed to do, we believe all three modes have a home at Google.

Posted by Ramya Raghavan, YouTube News and Politics Manager
(Cross-posted from the Official YouTube Blog)

With many U.S. states facing budget crises, and the President’s recent budget proposal being met with skepticism by Republicans, the financial health of the U.S. is capturing interest around the world.

As the budget debate heats up on Capitol Hill, we invite you to submit your questions for one of the most vocal opponents to President Obama’s proposed budget plan - Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH).

Speaker Boehner will sit down for a special YouTube interview next week, in which he’ll answer your top-voted text and video questions about the budget and spending, as well as other hot topics like the economy, jobs, health care and foreign policy.

Visit www.youtube.com/speakerboehner and use the Google Moderator gadget to submit your question and vote on others. Or you can tweet in your question using the hashtag #askthespeaker and it will automatically be eligible for voting in the queue.

A few things to note when asking your question:

1. Video questions are highly preferred (though we also accept text). Videos should be about 20 seconds long and be sure to ask the question directly.
   
2. Speak clearly and try to film in a place with minimal background noise. Keep the camera as still as possible.
   
3. Feel free to be creative (use props, charts, etc.) to help your question stand out. If you have time, find an interesting backdrop that may help reinforce your message.
4. Submit your question early. The final deadline to submit is Sunday, February 27 at midnight ET.

We’ll post the final interview next Friday so stay tuned to see if the Speaker answers your question.

Posted by Tina Ornduff, Geo Education Program Manager

(Cross-posted from the Google Lat Long Blog.)

When I was in elementary school, I got two days off every February; one for George Washington and another for Abraham Lincoln. I remember classrooms were usually wallpapered with a potpourri of decorations left over from Valentine’s Day and token silhouettes of these two Presidents thumb-tacked to the bulletin board. My teachers would talk about the significance of the holiday during class but with lack of visuals to pique my interest, it was always hard to retain (and fully enjoy!) the information. With that in mind, we’re pleased to celebrate the President’s Day holiday by letting you go back in time to learn more about our past presidents in a visually fun and interactive way.

We’ve created a U.S. Presidents Showcase to map the birthplaces of all 44 presidents, and provide details about their presidential terms, using the Google Earth plug-in. You can also see the states that voted during each president’s election by clicking on the tours in the left column of the showcase.


Whether you’re a history buff or simply curious to learn more about U.S. presidents, we hope you enjoy exploring a little further using Google Earth. In addition to the U.S. Presidents map, educators can use some of our other resources in their classroom to explore more aspects of history. Here are a few ideas:

• Explore the White House, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial and other historical monuments in 3D and have students explain how architecture is used to honor people, concepts and establishments
• View a 3D model of Valley Forge National Park in Google Earth
• View a copy of the Emancipation Proclamation signed by Abraham Lincoln and map the areas where slavery ended, as well as the areas that were not initially covered by this executive order
• Discuss the famous painting “Washington Crossing the Delaware” by German American artist Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze and use the ruler tool in Google Earth to measure the width of the Delaware River
  

We hope you have fun exploring and learning a little more of the history behind the President’s Day holiday. And when you’re done, go out and enjoy your day off!

Posted by France Lamy, Program Manager, Google.org

(Cross-posted from the Google Lat Long Blog.)

After years of conflict, Southern Sudan overwhelmingly opted to secede from the country's north. Many challenges lie ahead as the newly independent state negotiates the rocky path towards independence. We believe that access to high-quality, up-to-date and locally relevant maps will assist humanitarian organizations working in the region.

We are encouraging users to add their local knowledge to this mapping effort through a campaign to build a better map of Sudan. Recent satellite imagery is key to building up-to-date maps, and we are continuously acquiring fresh and historical imagery of Sudan. Our latest imagery update is now live on Google Map Maker, Google Earth, and Google Maps, with nearly fifty percent of the UN priority areas over Southern Sudan covered with high resolution imagery. Thanks to our satellite partner GeoEye, we will continue to acquire and publish high resolution imagery of the remaining UN priority areas, as well as to refresh areas that we have previously covered as the need arises. This new imagery, such as the one over Melut, will directly benefit the many organizations working in Sudan and ultimately support the building of a solid basemap of Sudan to achieve long-term socioeconomic objectives.

Town of Melut (before 2/16/2004, after 1/30/2011). In Melut, there is a humanitarian hub where many services are delivered to at risk populations, including food, water, health care, education, and more. Given the varying needs of each of these services, maps can provide a variety of planning benefits for expansion, staff safety, and emergency procedures.

Google is also contributing to various humanitarian efforts, including the Satellite Sentinel project, by helping to build an active and self-sustained Sudanese mapping community -- locally and among the Sudanese diaspora. This community will help improve maps of Sudan by using Google Map Maker, a product that combines the power of mapping with community engagement.

Dedicated mappers have started building the foundation for a Sudan mapping community, resulting in high quality maps of Sudan. But this is a long term process that requires deep commitment from various stakeholders and community groups. To join the Sudan mapping efforts, and offer feedback, please join our Sudan community mailing list or visit our team site.

Posted by Jenna Wandres, Public Policy Communications

Obsessively checking your smart phone. Responding to email while you're on a beach vacation. Taking a Sunday morning conference call. You know the symptoms of 'digital dependency', and chances are good that you've experienced some form of it.

Carrying a smartphone or laptop is a great way to stay on top of your workload and to be available in case of an emergency - but at what cost? William Powers' new book, Hamlet's Blackberry, critiques online life and examines the dichotomy of technology as a convenience and technology as a burden.

Join us to hear from Powers about how historical greats such as Plato, Shakespeare, and Thoreau dealt with "disconnecting" from the technological advances in their day. Powers will suggest remedies for digital dependency (like a digital sabbath), and he'll answer your questions on how to strike a happy balance between digital life and real life.

This event is a collaboration of Google, D.C. and the Family Online Safety Institute.

Please RSVP.

Featuring William Powers, author and journalist
Moderated by Stephen Balkam, founding CEO of the Family Online Safety Institute

Thursday, February 24, 2011
4:00pm - 5:30 pm
Followed by a book signing and reception with William Powers
Drinks will be served

Where: 
Google DC 
1101 New York Avenue, NW 2nd Floor
Entrance on Eye Street Washington, DC

Posted by Harry Wingo, Policy Counsel

From encrypted search to security alerts in Gmail, we’re always looking at new ways to make your online experience more secure.

Building on that tradition, starting today we’re offering an advanced sign-in security feature for Google Accounts called 2-step verification.

Most of us are familiar with 1-step verification, which requires a username and password to sign in. 2-step verification adds an extra layer of security to your Google Account by requiring two factors for authentication: your username and password, plus a unique code generated by your mobile phone.

It's an extra step, but it's one that significantly improves the security of your Google Account. Now, if someone steals or guesses your password, the potential hijacker still can’t sign in to your account because he doesn’t have your phone.

We first rolled out 2-step verification for our Google Apps customers last year, and now we’re excited to bring the same advanced protection to all our users. To learn how to set up 2-step verification on your account, check out the Official Google Blog.

Posted by Vint Cerf, Chief Internet Evangelist

(Cross-posted from the Official Google Blog.)

In the same way your phone is associated with a unique number, your computer is assigned a unique Internet Protocol (IP) address when you connect to the Internet. The current protocol, IPv4, allows for approximately 4 billion unique addresses—and that number is about to run out.

This morning the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) announced (PDF) that it has distributed the last batch of its remaining IPv4 addresses to the world’s five Regional Internet Registries, the organizations that manage IP addresses in different regions. These Registries will begin assigning the final IPv4 addresses within their regions until they run out completely, which could come as soon as early 2012.

As the last blocks of IPv4 addresses are assigned, adoption of a new protocol—IPv6—is essential to the continued growth of the open Internet. IPv6 will expand Internet address space to 128 bits, making room for approximately 340 trillion trillion trillion addresses (enough to last us for the foreseeable future).

Google, along with others, has been working for years to implement the larger IPv6 format. We’re also participating in the planned World IPv6 Day, scheduled for June 8, 2011. On this day, all of the participating organizations will enable access to as many services as possible via IPv6.

Today’s ICANN announcement marks a major milestone in the history of the Internet. IPv6, the next chapter, is now under way.