Americans uncomfortable with search engine records

BOSTON -- Most Americans are uncomfortable with the fact that Internet search engines record their users' queries, according to a survey released Wednesday that examined perceptions about federal authorities' demands for such records.

Search engine companies recently sparked the debate by responding differently to the Justice Department's subpoena for records on what their users had been looking up.

Google Inc. refused to comply, citing privacy along with a desire to protect its trade secrets. But Yahoo Inc. and other rivals have handed over their data, which the government says will be useful in an online pornography crackdown.

Equally contentious, however, is whether the search engine providers even should be storing such records.

In the new survey of 800 Americans by the University of Connecticut, 60 percent said they opposed the storage of users' search queries. Just 32 percent supported the practice, which the companies say is necessary to improve the performance of their services.

Similarly, when asked whether the government should monitor the Internet search behavior of "ordinary Americans," 65 percent said no and 30 percent said yes.

Apparently, even some opponents of having these records stored and mined believe that the subpoena ought to be followed. Some 44 percent of all respondents said the records should be turned over. Half sided with Google and said the files should remain secret.

The random survey was conducted by telephone from Jan. 31 through Feb. 5 and had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

-- Brian Bergstein, AP Technology Writer

EU proposes European tech institute

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- The European Union wants to create a rival to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, reflecting fears that academic standards are slipping and Europe will no longer be able to compete globally.

A European Institute of Technology should be a "flagship of excellence in higher education, research and innovation," said European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, who presented the plans Wednesday with Jan Figel, the EU's education commissioner.

Envisioned is a central governing body in charge of finances and research strategy, and a number of so-called knowledge communities -- research and education centers dispersed around the EU. It would be up to the member states to decide where the institute and the centers would be.

French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin proposed basing the institute in Paris, while some members of the European Parliament suggest the eastern French city of Strasbourg -- but on condition that meetings of EU parliament are shifted from Strasbourg to Brussels, an idea long opposed by France.

European leaders are to take up the plan at a summit in March that will focus on efforts to modernize the EU's economy.

Governments are increasingly concerned that slippage in research and academic standards is holding back innovation needed for the European economy to compete with those of the United States and emerging powers such as China and India.

The need for academic improvement is underscored by an EU report that said the 25 current EU nations won 19 percent of Nobel Prizes from 1995 to 2004 compared with 73 percent from 1901 to 1950.

-- Jan Sliva, AP Writer

Dutch labor union opens Net option

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands -- Call it Labor 2.0.

To attract new members, a Dutch union has launched an Internet-based version of itself with reduced benefits for a tiny fraction of its usual dues.

The labor union De Unie, which represents around 100,000 workers in the financial services, health care and hospitality industries, said membership in the Internet Union would cost just $12 per year, instead of the roughly $215 it and other Dutch unions typically charge.

De Unie will offer its Internet members free online advice and one telephone consultation per year along with representation in annual collective-bargaining talks. But online members won't get legal support in wrongful-dismissal cases.

De Unie director Jacques Teuwen said the effort was a low-cost, do-it-yourself option for workers who benefit from collective agreements anyway but aren't members.

"Eighty-five percent of Dutch workers say they support collective labor agreements, but only 25 percent are actually members of a labor union," he said. "We're targeting those millions of people who aren't organized."

He predicted that De Unie's regular union members wouldn't leave, but that the Internet membership would attract young workers in industries where unions are weakest, such as restaurants and computer programming.

Some rough parallels to the Internet Union idea already exist. In the United States, Microsoft Corp. workers started the lobby group WashTech, which charges members $120 a year.

In the Netherlands, a grass roots group called Alternative to Labor Unions was launched last year and now has around 2,000 members. Its fees are also $12 per year. It has lobbied for more rights for temporary workers and freelancers.

-- Toby Sterling, AP Writer

New England bank unveils touch-and-go bank cards

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- A regional bank is offering touch-and-go banking in which customers can hold debit cards next to an electric reader instead of swiping the cards.

Providence-based Citizens Bank will be the first major bank in New England to issue the touch cards to all of its customers. Three other regional financial institutions -- Bank of America Corp., Sovereign Bancorp Inc., and TD Banknorth Inc. -- are considering the technology.

Some national banks, including HSBC, KeyBank, JP Morgan Chase, and Citigroup, offer the technology to some customers.

Credit card companies say the technology saves effort and time by speeding up transactions. The companies hope that the technology will persuade more customers to use debit cards for small purchases. Financial institutions make a small profit every time a debit card is used.

The touch-and-go system is already available at CVS Corp. retail stores, McDonald's Corp. restaurants and AMC Entertainment Inc. theaters. Some gas stations accept a similar technology in which a "wand" that hangs on a key ring lets customers pay by waving it near a reader.

The new Citizens touch cards look like traditional debit cards and can still be swiped at stores that don't offer this contact-less system.