I don't want this page to descend into an "everything about Facebook" page, but the news has been coming fast and hard the last few weeks. The article I found today isn't news, but instead a plea to the public to not buy in to Facebook's apology for their recent nastiness.
Parents of young children can spot an insincere apology from miles away.
"Sorry," your tot mumbles, after you find the dog half-shaved and your Xbox full of jam.
"Sorry for what?" you'll say. "Sorry for shaving the dog and putting jam in your Xbox," he'll say, looking at the floor. But he's lying. He's only sorry that he didn't get away with it.
Facebook's much-reported apology in the Washington Post is a bit like that. "Sorry," says Mark Zuckerberg. "Sorry for what?" the internet asks.
"Sorry for invading your privacy and making things confusing and stuff," Zuckerberg says. "Can I have an ice cream now?"
Funny and blisteringly accurate; that's a good combination. Check out the rest of the article here
Tags: Facebook
Every now and then, there's a new search engine released that tries to play with the big boys, but they often fail. Usually its because of speed, maybe financial backing, sometimes user interface, but most often because they don't do the job well.
So here's one that may be worth some attention. Like Google, they focus on keeping very minimal and having a nice interface. But unlike Google, they make an effort to help you find what you are actually looking for:
They also include some summary information right in the search making it possible to skip visiting the site at all if you don't need to or at least getting a better feel for what the site is about before going. And according to their About page, they store NO personal information (which has long been a complaint of mine about Google).
So far, they're doing a lot right, but with Google having just released HTTPS for searches, the competition is even stiffer. I wish them luck.
Check them out yourself here.
Tags: Google, Search Engines
Wow. It seems like the last week or so, all I've talked about is Facebook! But it seems there's an awful lot to talk about! Check out what I found today:
If you visit certain sites while logged in to Facebook, an app for those sites will be quietly added to your Facebook profile. You don't have to have a Facebook window open, you don't need to signed in to these sites for the apps to appear, and there doesn't appear to be an option to opt-out anywhere in Facebook's byzantine privacy settings.
According to the source article, Facebook contacted them and told them it was a bug that has been fixed. That's the second such bug this week.
Tags: Facebook, Social Networking
This is awesome:
10. Facebook terms of service are completely one-sided
9. Facebook's CEO has a history of unethical behavoir
8. Facebook has flat-out declared a war on privacy
7. Facebook is pulling a classic bait and switch
6. Facebook is a bully
5. Even your private data is shared with applications
4. Facebook is not technically competent enough to be trusted
3. Facebook makes it incredibly difficult to delete your account
2. Facebook doesn't really support the open web
1. The Facebook application itself sucks
I agree so much with this. Facebook is trying to become the only provider and replace the open Internet much like AOL back in the day. I have long objected to their practices and privacy issues as well as their technical and security flaws. It would be nice if they could make moves in the right direction and become a more ethical business since the idea has a lot of potential if used properly.
The problem is I just don't see that happening. Until then, you may want to reconsider being a part of the system…just be careful when you do quit that you don't end up like this guy:
Stan tries to quit Facebook, Facebook resists
Tags: Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, Social Networking
Looks like they're doing it again. This time, they've made a change where even information you've set to private will be fully visible to strangers.
Today, Facebook removed its users' ability to control who can see their own interests and personal information. Certain parts of users' profiles, "including your current city, hometown, education and work, and likes and interests" will now be transformed into "connections," meaning that they will be shared publicly. If you don't want these parts of your profile to be made public, your only option is to delete them.
Of course, this doesn't affect me since my REAL friends already know all that stuff so I saw no reason to enter it into Facebook in the first place, but if you or someone you know has it, tell them to pull it down or put in fake data instead. Why broadcast information to strangers hoping that none of them will use it against you?
Update
It looks like Lifehacker posted an article on how to restore your privacy after the change. Check it out
Tags: Data Abuse, Facebook
There have been stories in the past of how difficult and how impossible it is sometimes to remove information from Facebook. But if you get sick of it, you can just delete the account entirely using this technique.
Tags: Facebook
The Library of Congress is planning to create a lasting record of all Tweets. In case you hadn’t figured this out already, you have to be extra careful about what you post BEFORE it gets to the ‘net.
Tags: Library of Congress, Twitter
In Austin Texas, more than 100 customers of a local car dealership suddenly found their cars dead or their horns honking out of control when a vengeful former employee decided to take action using their computerized payment nagging system:
The dealership used a system called Webtech Plus as an alternative to repossessing vehicles that haven’t been paid for. Operated by Cleveland-based Pay Technologies, the system lets car dealers install a small black box under vehicle dashboards that responds to commands issued through a central website, and relayed over a wireless pager network. The dealer can disable a car’s ignition system, or trigger the horn to begin honking, as a reminder that a payment is due.
While there are questions of the ethics and legality of shutting down someone’s car due to failure to pay, the important lesson here is to avoid using wireless and web-based capabilities carelessly. Many such systems are designed without taking into account hacking or insider threat. In this case, customers who had the “black box” in their cars were at risk to both employees of the dealer and Pay Technologies as well as any random hacker who managed to get into either company’s systems.
The simplest and most effective solution is to avoid wireless and web technologies where there is no clear mission goal or benefit. Even then, they must be implemented with strong security measures designed by specialists.
Tags: Austin, Repossession, Webtech Plus
A police official in the UK signed up a new account with a girls name and used data and a photo that suggested he was a 14 year old girl.
Within 90 seconds, a middle-aged man wanted to perform a sex act in front of me.
I was deluged by strangers asking stomach-churning questions about my sexual experience. I was pressured to meet men with whom I'd never before communicated.
If you plan to let your kids use sites like these, you have to know what they're getting into. Make sure you have the name and password to their account (being friends with them is not enough) so you can see what they see and talk to them about it. Also bone up on safety precautions like learning the proper way to secure your account.
Update
I decided to try this out myself and created a fake account with a girly sounding name, age 16 from Texas. I entered only a high school, an age, a fake picture, and a few favorite movies, TV shows, and bands. Then I waited to see what would happen.
For over a day, nothing did. In that amount of time a retraction was posted showing that the social site used for the original experiment was not Facebook, but something else. For various reasons, they didn't mention which site, but really, does it matter. The fact that predators use these things like menus is not in question. Tell your kids to be careful and make sure you know what they're doing.
Tags: Facebook, For Parents, Sexual Predators
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