In today’s Quick Hits, Facebook has plans to improve targeted advertising, NPR and ABC News take a look at social media and politics, and Google is still on Canadian Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart’s radar.

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Canadian Privacy Commissioner: Google Privacy Breach “Still Unresolved”

Canadian Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart has always been one of Google’s fiercest enemies when it comes to privacy issues, and she wants the company to know that as far as her office is concerned, the Street View data privacy breach is “still unresolved” until Google confirms that it will follow her recommendations. When you contrast Stoddart’s policy to the United States, where the FTC has cleared Google of any privacy violations, it becomes easy to see why American privacy advocates are disappointed with their government’s response to the issue.

Republicans Winning Elections on Facebook

If the mid-term elections were held on Facebook, the Republicans would win hands down. According to this ABC News article, “Among U.S. House, Senate and gubernatorial candidates who have Facebook profiles, Republicans have more than twice as many fans as their Democratic opponents.” While the number of Facebook likes a candidate has does not necessarily reflect the number of votes they will receive, it does provide a glimpse into which candidate’s base is more mobilized and which candidate has more momentum heading into election day.

NPR: Politics in the Social Media Age

This article from NPR goes into deeper analysis of why social media support may not necessarily transfer to actual votes by analyzing several recent political races in which candidates used social media tools extensively as part of their campaign outreach. A sidebar of Key Moments In Digital Politics is also interesting.

Firsthand Account of a Firesheep Hijacking

Computerworld’s Sharon Machlis writes a firsthand account of how easy it is to take over someone’s social media account using the Firefox extension Firesheep. With her permission, Machlis downloaded the extension and logged onto her co-workers Facebook account. She later used the extension to scan the available accounts of other journalists at a conference. With little effort, she would have been able to gain access to dozens of accounts, demonstrating the power of the program.

Facebook Applies for Ad-Targeting Patent

According to a CNET report, earlier this month, “Facebook filed for a patent to further hone its ad-targeting technology so that ads can be based on what a user’s friends interests may be. The reason for this, it appears, is so that Facebook can better serve ads toward users who have not filled out their profiles with enough information for traditional ad targeting.” So, even if you keep your profile secure, you may still be served ads based on what your friends like.