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Google officials have been sued for violating users’ privacy rights on Safari by bypassing computer settings designed to block monitoring of consumers’ online activity. Researchers at Stanford University says Google programmers developed codes that allowed them to avoid privacy settings created by their rivals at Apple, reports “Bloomberg Businessweek” (http://macte.ch/UBjWx).

In the wake of a Stanford University researcher’s study that found Google has been violating people’s online privacy choices, Consumer Watchdog said today the Internet giant was lying to users and called for the Federal Trade Commission to act. iPhone and iPad users were targeted.

“Google has clearly engaged in ‘unfair and deceptive’ practices,” says John M. Simpson, Consumer Watchdog’s Privacy Project director. “They have been lying about how people can protect their privacy in their instructions about how to opt out of receiving targeted advertising.”

The dominance of Apple and Google mobile browsers is leading to a situation that’s even worse for Web programming than the former dominance of Internet Explorer, according to Daniel Glazman, co-chairman of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), a group overseeing the formatting and effects standard called Cascading Style Sheets (CSS).

Per “CNET,” he says that programmers are overlooking other browsers when they use newer CSS features — even when those other browsers support the features.

Apple’s stock hit a new high on Thursday, pushing the company’s market capitalization to US$456 billion. That’s more than the values of Google and Microsoft combined, notes “AppleInsider” (http://www.appleinsider.com).

As of this morning, Microsoft’s market cap was around $256.7 billion, while Google was approximately $198.9 billion. With Apple’s stock up more than 3% in morning trading, the company passed the combined totals of both Google and Microsoft.

Google has hired Simon Prakash, a senior director at Apple, for a “secret project,” according to “VentureBeat” (http://macte.ch/L2A4h). The project is “presumably run by Google co-founder Sergey Brin, the article adds.

Prakash worked at Apple for more than eight years and was most recently the senior director of product integrity at Apple. Before Apple, he was director of engineering design validation at Cielo Communications. He was also a reliability and FA manager at 3Com. (The photo is courtesy of “VentureBeat.”)