Google Will Face Privacy Audits For The Next 20 Long Years (GOOG)

Google has reached a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission over Buzz, a social blogging service that the company introduced through Gmail last year.

As part of the deal, Google will be subjected to regular, independent privacy audits for the next 20 years. By then, soon-to-be CEO Larry Page will be 58 years old.

Buzz drew heavy criticism at launch in February 2010 for a glaring privacy flaw. When users turned it on, it suggested people to follow based on their Gmail contacts list and their most frequent email partners.

The problem: anybody following a user could automatically see all of his other Buzz contacts. So, for instance, your wife could see that you're still exchanging lots of emails with your ex-girlfriend.

As the FTC put it, "Although Google led Gmail users to believe that they could choose whether or not they wanted to join the network, the options for declining or leaving the social network were ineffective." Yikes.

The FTC also notes that users who opted out of Buzz were still enrolled in some features of the service.

Along with the 20 year oversight, the settlement also says that:

'Mad Men' Delay Drama Continues

"Mad Men" fans are on the edge of their seats as the show's eagerly anticipated fifth season remains on hold. "While we are getting a later start than in years past due to ongoing, key non-cast negotiations, 'Mad Men' will be back for a fifth season in early 2012," AMC said in a statement. The show's creator, Matthew Weiner (pictured left), addressed speculation on the show's blog, writing, "There's been a lot of speculation and misinformation in the press about what is going on. I want the fans to know directly from me that I had nothing to do with this delay and it is not about money. I am fighting for the cast and for the show. And I appreciate the kindness and concern of the fans." As of now, the season may not premiere until early 2012.

Japan fears radioactive contamination of marine life

Radioactivity fears deliver a double whammy to Japanese fisheries which have
already been badly hit by the tsunami. Photograph: Everett Kennedy Brown/EPA

High levels of radiation in the sea off the coast of Fukushima have raised concerns over harm to local marine life and the risk of contaminated fish, shellfish and seaweed entering the food chain.

Tests on seawater near the nuclear power plant showed that levels of radioactive iodine reached 3,355 times the legal limit on Monday, one of several peaks in recent days that have fallen rapidly as radioactive substances decayed and were steadily diluted and dispersed by ocean currents.

Officials are watching levels of iodine-131 in seawater because although it has a half-life of eight days, meaning it is half as radioactive after that time, the substance builds up in seaweed, a common food in the Japanese diet. If consumed, radioactive iodine collects in the thyroid and can cause cancer.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said iodine-131 in seawater would "soon be of no concern" presuming there are no further discharges of contaminated water from the power station into the sea.

The IAEA added that Japanese authorities have released the first analyses of fish, caught at the port of Choshi, in Chiba prefecture south of Fukushima, which found one of five to be contaminated with a detectable level of caesium-137, a far more persistent radioactive substance, though at a concentration that was far below safety limits for consumption.

Many countries, including Britain, have begun radiation testing of fish, shellfish and other fresh produce from Japan or have imposed wider bans on imports from the region. Fisheries are not entering waters within the 20km (12-mile) exclusion zone around Fukushima, said Hidehiko Nishiyama, a spokesman for Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.

The fate of many local seafood and shellfish farms, including scallops, oysters, sea urchins and sea snails, was sealed more than two weeks ago when the tsunami wiped out beds and destroyed fishing vessels and ports around Fukushima. In Iwate prefecture, authorities say the disaster may have wiped out businesses that account for 80% of the revenue of the region's fisheries.

In NASA’s Lens, Mercury Comes Into Focus

He’s really hot, really cold and maybe even a bit icy.

He is the planet Mercury, and this month he is ready for his extended close-up. On Wednesday NASA showed off some of the first pictures taken by its Mercury Messenger spacecraft, which entered the planet’s orbit on March 17. The Messenger is to spend at least a year photographing, measuring and studying Mercury.

The visit to Mercury is last frontier of planetary exploration that NASA will reach for a quite some time. The space agency has sent orbiters to five planets — Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn — but no plans are in place yet for trips to Neptune or Uranus (though a study on future planetary missions did express hope that an orbiter could be sent to Uranus in the coming years). NASA does have a spacecraft, New Horizons, that will zoom past Pluto in 2015, but Pluto is no longer considered a planet.

Mercury has been seen close up, but briefly, in half a dozen flybys by NASA probes: three by the Mariner 10 in the 1970s and three by the Messenger in the past three years. But now that the Messenger has pulled into an elliptical orbit around Mercury, planetary scientists will be able to get their first long look at the smallest of the eight planets. The day side of Mercury can broil at up to 800 degrees Fahrenheit. The night side drops to minus 150 degrees.

Rebels in Libya stage 'tactical withdrawal' amid assault, they say

Libya's opposition says its fighters are executing a "tactical withdrawal" from a swath of territory they once controlled, a move that comes as Moammar Gadhafi's forces relentlessly pound the rebel forces.

Col. Ahmed Bani, speaking at a news conference in the opposition capital of Benghazi on Wednesday, said his forces are being outgunned by superior military power.

They have been pushed eastward over the last two days after CNN reported on Sunday that rebels took al-Brega, Ras Lanuf, Bin Jawad and reached a town just east of Sirte.

Opposition forces have lost Bin Jawad, the key oil town of Ras Lanuf and are now backed up to the al-Brega area, said Bani. Ajdabiya, which is east of al-Brega, will be prepared as a "defense point" if the withdrawal continues further east, he said.

This development comes as NATO took over command of the coalition enforcing a U.N. resolution to protect Libyan civilians and world powers are now mulling the option of arming the rebels.

Bani called on the international community to supply opposition fighters with better and more powerful weapons to thwart the Gadhafi forces. And, he said, the opposition was open to foreign troops training rebel fighters. Bani asked for tanks, heavy artillery, communications and logistics equipment.

The rebels have been demanding an end to Gadhafi's almost 42-year rule in Libya, but they have been facing "sustained attacks in the face of the coalition bombing" in Misrata, Ras Lanuf, and Bin Jawad.

In an address to the House of Commons in London on Wednesday, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said that "regime forces have intensified their attacks, driving back opposition forces from ground they had taken in recent days." He cited the violence in the western town of Misrata.