Week in Numbers: Privacy online

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This week, privacy issues seemed to be a common theme, with both Google Street View and Phorm attracting negative attention - but it's not all bad news.

40 Mbps – the future access speeds for areas of the UK starting in 2010. BT announced plans to spend £1.5 billion on a national fibre-optic broadband service, which will allow around 40 per cent of the UK’s homes and businesses to access fibre-based services.

Eight per cent – the amount of international calls made in 2008 usingSkype, a 41 per cent increase on 2007's levels.

25 – the number of UK cities largely covered by Google’s Street View photo mapping service, which launched last week. Privacy International is calling for the Information Commissioner’s Office to shut down the service while they take another look.

33 years – The Queen sent out her first email 33 years ago while visiting the Ministry of Defence’s scientific research hub.

21,000 – signatures on a recent petition to boycott Phorm, which tracks which sites a user visits to profile what advertisements to display. The Open Rights Group has written an open letter asking seven of the UK’s largest web companies to opt out of Phorm.

£300 million – the amount UK businesses are wasting every year by powering idle computers. If reducing your carbon footprint is of interest, did you remember to shut off your computer when you left the office?

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