One in 10 web pages scrutinised by search giant Google contained malicious code that could infect a user’s PC, reports the BBC. Researchers from the firm surveyed billions of sites, subjecting 4.5 million pages to “in-depth analysis”. About 450,000 were capable of launching so-called “drive-by downloads”, sites that install malicious code, such as spyware, without a user’s knowledge.

See the Google researchers’ papers The Ghost In The Browser - Analysis of Web-based Malware.

• update: Google files patents that would enable it to analyse gaming behaviour for targetted advertising based on psychological profilting, says the Guardian. ORG says “hmmm”