Zeitgest of the year 2009

After Google Zeitgeist of 2007, and 2008 it's time to write about the Zeitgeist of they year 2009.

Zeitgeist is a german word and it could be translated as "spirit of the age" or "spirit of the times", it is best known in relation to Hegel's view of philosophy of history.

"Except where noted, all of these search terms are most popular for 2009—ranked in order of the queries with the largest volume of searches this year. In some cases, we list the "fastest rising" queries, which means we found the most popular searches conducted in 2009 and then ranked them based on how much their popularity increased compared to 2008. Conversely, "fastest falling" queries were very popular in 2008 but flattened in popularity in 2009."

Fastest Rising (Global)

1. michael jackson
2. facebook
3. tuenti
4. twitter
5. sanalika
6. new moon
7. lady gaga
8. windows 7
9. dantri.com.vn
10. torpedo gratis

1 New moon should be the sequel to 2008's Twilight
2 dantri.com.vn is a vietnamese newspaper
3 torpedo gratis is a portuguese language site where you can send free sms

For first time, we have the top 10 fastest falling

Fastest Falling (Global)

1. beijing 2008
2. euro 2008
3. heath ledger
4. barack obama
5. amy winehouse
6. kraloyun
7. dailymotion
8. bebo
9. wii
10. emule

Somebody in Techcrunch Europe asks "Why does Turkish startup Sanalika feature on Google Zeitgest 2009?" and explains us:

Sanalika is a virtual world where you can play multiplayer games and join realtime events. It was launched on November 2008 and has already reached over 3 million users.

But how did Sanalika make Google’s Zeitgeist 2009?

Sanalika isn’t yet available in english so that isn’t the reason why it’s become a popular search term. Instead, it’s the way Google is used within the Turkish online community.

Most Turkish Internet users search for the domain or keyword of a website on Google then click on the first search result to go to the actual site. So, when a web service has millions of users it’s inevitably searched for on Google over a million times a day.

Techcrunch writes:
Google Publishes Zeitgeist 2009 – Michael Jackson Crowned King Again

Look: they are watching you!

From Newsweek: a new film is coming out, "Look", and it does talk about our privacy

This is Look official site
This is Look page in Imdb

Smile! You’re on Hidden Camera

Shot entirely through the view of public surveillance cameras, a new film gives viewers a glimpse into just how public our private lives have become. What 'Look' reveals may shock you.

By Jessica Bennett | Newsweek Web Exclusive
Nov 20, 2007 | Updated: 3:44 p.m. ET Nov 20, 2007

With more than 30 million surveillance cameras in this country, the average American is caught on tape more than 200 times a day: on the street, at the ATM, in department stores, even in public restrooms. Yet the notion that we're being watched—at all times—has yet to resonate in the public perception. Most people don't know that hidden cameras are legal in dressing rooms and bathrooms in most states, nor that workplaces can get special permission to install them without ever having to reveal their whereabouts. In some places store employees can even make reels from security cameras and post them on YouTube.

That's where "Look," the acclaimed new film by writer-director Adam Rifkin, comes in—and it's likely to shock you. Shot entirely through the point of view of security cameras (and co-produced by Barry Schuler, the former head of AOL), the film is executed in the style of actual spy-cam footage strung together but is actually a fictional tale aimed at giving viewers a glimpse of just how public our private lives have become. Its characters run the gamut: a high-school English teacher who has an affair with an underage student, a gas station clerk with high hopes for a musical career, a department store manager who uses his warehouse as a secret sex refuge. Yet all are connected by surveillance footage that, in the end, holds the key to their survival—or demise. The film took home the Grand Jury Prize at this year's Cine Vegas Film Festival and will debut in New York and Los Angeles in December. Schuler spoke with NEWSWEEK's Jessica Bennett. Excerpts:

NEWSWEEK: Describe the social context that inspired you to make this film.
Barry Schuler: The last 10 years have brought a sort of perfect storm for what we're seeing today: wide adoption of the Internet, technological advancements that make accessing the Internet easy and a sense of paranoia that's been created by the aftermath of 9/11. We're being captured on camera nearly 200 times a day in the United States, and those images are being digitized and archived forever, with highly advanced face-recognition technology. This technology is racing forward without any attention, and nobody's stopping to ask questions about its propriety.

What should we be asking?
Is it OK to have surveillance in bathrooms and dressing rooms? And if it is, shouldn't there be some kind of disclosure that it's happening? What is slander and liability in this new world? Say I'm Vanessa Anne Hudgens. I'm a kid; I'm a celebrity. I take a fairly innocent picture in today's world, send it to my boyfriend, and the next thing I know my naked photo is being sent across the Web at light speed. Now not only am I embarrassed but my career is in jeopardy. Is that OK? Is it really fair game when someone does something they think is in privacy for it to be spattered across the media?

But how do you separate what's privacy and what's security?
It's hard to figure out what's right and what's wrong in many of these cases. But it's so easy now to set up these networks of cameras, and you can keep the data forever and ever and can find specific frames of specific people all with the click of a mouse. And that's when we need to be asking about the statute of limitations on a clickstream. How long should operators be able to keep that stuff? What laws should be required to access this stuff for anything but something criminal? If we allow cameras in New York City as a method of regulating a commuter tax, what else can that information be used for? If I happen to be cheating on my wife and get snapped in a picture with another woman, is that data going to be available to my wife if she tries to divorce me?

You did a lot of research for this film. What's the most shocking thing you learned?
In most states in this country you can walk into a department store and be recorded on video while you're undressing. Many of the monitors of those recordings are kids. Kids get goofy. They're using joysticks to follow around the hottest girls, zooming in on privates.

Wow. What sorts of things were caught on tape while you were heading AOL?
Mostly just people acting like people when they don't believe they're being observed. Some would have sex during the day in places they clearly weren't supposed to be having sex. There were people doing drugs. But this stuff is pretty common at large organizations everywhere.

If surveillance is such a breach of privacy, why does the broad public support it?
People see the lens, and I think it creates a sense of security. But I don't believe there's any real understanding of the power of this technology: how it can be archived and searched, and how loose the rules are for who gets to access it.

Give me an example of how that information could be used.
We're moving into a presidential election. I hope none of the candidates have been visiting porn sites, because the fact of the matter is that some kid somewhere at Google or one of those companies could be paid off by an operative and go digging for dirt. I wouldn't be surprised if over the course of the next year we see something like that.

Do people need to be more careful what they do online?
I think young people are seduced by the citizen media notion of the Internet: that everyone can have their minutes of fame. But they're also putting themselves out there—forever.

Japan restarts fingerprinting foreigners

Japan is to fingerprint and photograph foreigners entering the country from today in an anti-terrorism policy (they used to do it but they stopped in 2000)

Here you can see a propaganda video (in english language) made by the japanese government

After 2 minutes and 20'' (the whole video is 5'and37'') they start showing a list of terrorist attacks that begins with 9/11. The ridiculous thing is that they listed the 9th July 2005 London bombings: one bomber was born in Jamaica and moved to England when he was 5, two were born in Leeds, they were all british. Can you prevent terrorist attacks fingerprinting foreigners if, like july 7th, the terrorists are NOT foreigners???

Here you can see a petition to abolish this new law

Here you can read an article from an australian newspaper:

Anger as Japan moves to fingerprint foreigners
October 26, 2007

Japan is to fingerprint and photograph foreigners entering the country from next month in an anti-terrorism policy that is stirring anger among foreign residents and human rights activists.

Anyone considered to be a terrorist -- or refusing to cooperate -- will be denied entry and deported.

"This will greatly contribute to preventing international terrorist activities on our soil," Immigration Bureau official Naoto Nikai said in a briefing on the system, which starts on November 20.

The checks are similar to the "US Visit" system introduced in the United States after the attacks on September 11, 2001.

But Japan, unlike the United States, will require resident foreigners as well as visitors to be fingerprinted and photographed every time they re-enter the country.

"It certainly doesn't make people who've been here for 30 or 40 years feel like they're even human beings basically," said businessman Terrie Lloyd, who has dual Australian and New Zealand citizenship and has been based in Japan for 24 years.

"There has not been a single incident of foreign terrorism in Japan, and there have been plenty of Japanese terrorists," he said.

There are more than two million foreigners registered as resident in Japan, of whom 40 per cent are classed as permanent residents.

The pictures and fingerprints obtained by immigration officials will be made available to police and may be shared with foreign immigration authorities and governments.

Diplomats and children under 16 are excluded from the new requirement, as are "special" permanent residents of Korean and Chinese origin, many of whom are descended from those brought to Japan as forced labour before and during World War Two.

Local government fingerprinting of foreign residents when issuing registration cards, long a source of friction, was abolished in 2000.

Amnesty International is calling for the immigration plan to be abandoned.

"Making only foreigners provide this data is discriminatory," said Sonoko Kawakami of Amnesty's Japan office.

"They are saying 'terrorist equals foreigner'. It's an exclusionary policy that could encourage xenophobia."

The new system is being introduced as Japan campaigns to attract more tourists.

More than 6.7 million foreign visitors came to Japan in 2006, government statistics show. Immigration officials say they are unsure how long tourists can expect to wait in line for the checks to be made.

Britain is set to require non-European foreign nationals to register biometric details when applying for visas from next year.

REUTERS
---
another article from Sky News:

Fingerprint Scheme Causes Privacy Row
Updated:09:01, Tuesday November 20, 2007

Japan has started fingerprinting and photographing foreigners arriving in the country in a crackdown on terrorists.

The move comes despite complaints that it unfairly targets non-Japanese people.

Nearly all foreigners aged 16 or over, including longtime residents, will be scanned.

The only exceptions are diplomats, government guests and permanent residents such as Koreans who have lived in Japan for generations.

Tokyo has staunchly backed the US-led attacks on Iraq and Afghanistan, raising fears Japan could be targeted by terrorists.

Officials say the new security measures, while inconvenient for visitors, are necessary.

"There are people who change their names, use wrongly obtained passports, and pretend to be other people," said Toshihiro Higaki, an immigration official at Narita International Airport near Tokyo.

"The measure also works as a deterrent."

The fingerprints and photos will be checked for matches on terrorist watch lists and files on foreigners with criminal records in Japan.

Japan is the second country after the United States to implement such a system.

Critics say the measures discriminate against foreigners and violate their privacy.

About 70 people gathered in front of the Justice Ministry for a rally protesting against the measures.