Social networks as Big Brother

Have you noticed those "Like" and "Tweet" buttons that are popping up all over? A new study suggests they are being used by Facebook and Twitter to track your browsing, even when you don't click them!. It may be time to consider logging off of Social Networks, as these companies are going overboard in their efforts to know everything about their users.

The widgets, which were created to make it easy to share content with friends and to help websites attract visitors, are a potentially powerful way to track Internet users. They could link users' browsing habits to their social-networking profile, which often contains their name...

For this to work, a person only needs to have logged into Facebook or Twitter once in the past month. The sites will continue to collect browsing data, even if the person closes their browser or turns off their computers, until that person explicitly logs out of their Facebook or Twitter accounts, the study found.

Facebook, Twitter, Google and other widget-makers say they don't use browsing data generated by the widgets to track users; Facebook says it only uses the data for advertising purposes when a user clicks on a widget to share content with friends.

I don't want to be one of those paranoid people who assumes the worst of every company. But these days, the Social Networks are giving us every reason to be suspicious.

Truly the Internet Revolution

From Townhall.Com.

Are your Facebook friends actually your friends?

It is comforting to be able to share your thoughts on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, but it can also be dangerous. Not only because people may use the information against you, but also because virtual friends may not be your friends at all. They may ignore your cry for help, or even make fun of you for it.

Simone Back, 42, posted a last message on the social networking site at 10.53pm on Christmas Day saying: "Took all my pills be dead soon bye bye everyone."
Some users of the site even taunted the 42-year-old over her final status update instead of trying to save her, calling her a “liar” and saying the fatal overdose was “her choice”...
While some Facebook friends from out of town begged online for her address and telephone number so they could get help, none of those who lived closer did anything to help.
Several friends taunted the charity shop worker as she lay dying on the floor of her flat. Just minutes after the post a “friend” replied “She ODs all the time and she lies.”

It is yet another reason to be cautious of virtual relationships. And another reason to get out of the house and into a church/synogogue/etc. to find people who really care about you.

Beware: Facebook can cost you more than your privacy

Always remember, anything you post online eventually be seen by anyone. And often it will be the person you least want to see it. Be wise, be careful, and pretend every private post will be trumpeted from the rooftops.

In anticipation of being laid off, she updated her status on Facebook and wrote:
''I speak for myself when I say WoOOOOooooOooooHOoooOooOoo' it was pretty damn obvious something like this was coming. I'm neither stupid nor naive ... and quite honestly it is the best news ever as far as I am concerned!''
'It was not unexpected. I've just hung on by my fingertips to stick around long enough for a nice payout when they could've had me out long ago without a penny! More fool them! Haha! Xx.''
A work colleague saw the posts and told the bank.
The bank responded by ordering her to take part in a disciplinary hearing, where her bosses decided "to sack Furlong without a penny of the money she was expecting," as the Parents Lounge, a UK website, puts it.

Facebook app shares ALL your Phone Numbers?

It is clear now that the "privacy problems" are not merely bugs, but actually endemic to their corporate culture. A new report shows Facebook's iPhone app can share all of the numbers in your address book in a public space or user consent. To protect yourself, simply (1) never add your phone number to your Facebook profile and (2) don't sync your iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad address book to Facebook.

The Guardian's Charles Arthur reports that Facebook's Contact Sync feature links your friends' Facebook profile pictures to the contact telephone number in your iPhone address book. The app then pushes these private phone numbers onto Facebook's servers, and publishes them to Facebook's Phonebook app. The Facebook app also appears to share numbers for contacts that you don’t have, but your Facebook friends do. If you are logged onto Facebook, you can see your Phonebook here.

MugShots on Facebook?

The rights of the accused are a special thing in American society, one of the few places on Earth where "presumed innocent until proven guilty" is a watchword of the justice systems. We go to extreme lengths to protect those arrested, including the Miranda warning, state-provided legal counsel, and the right to remain silent. We want to ensure both that the guilty are punished and that the innocent are spared.

So what happens when Facebook enters the picture? One New Jersey township is now publishing the mug shots of arrested individuals, and leaving them up even if the accused should be exonerated. This means their arrest is only a Google search away for any future prospective employer. Or a date.

Is the deterrent effect of such a posting worth the potential damage to the innocent? What do Mod-Bloggers think?

Student sues to slam teacher on Facebook

High school is a strange time of life. You're old enough to recognize the limitations authorities place upon you, but not old enough to challenge them in the legal arena. For example, the courts have ruled that student's lockers can be searched without student consent or a warrant. But what about comments made off school grounds, on Facebook? Do teens have a right to privacy and to free speech? Or can they be punished for inappropriate comments online? The courts are about to rule, thanks to a lawsuit brought by one high school honor's student.

A South Florida teenager who sued her former principal after she was suspended for creating a Facebook page criticizing a teacher can proceed with her lawsuit, a federal judge has ruled.

The student, Katherine Evans, is seeking to have her suspension expunged from her disciplinary record. School officials suspended her for three days, saying she had been “cyberbullying” the teacher, Sarah Phelps. Ms. Evans is also seeking a “nominal fee” for what she argues was a violation of her First Amendment rights, her lawyers said, and payment of her legal fees.

What do Mod-Bloggers think? Where does the line belong in this instance?

Santa Modernizes

Review: Mozy Home Backup

I first heard about Mozy on Facebook. They created a group and said that if you joined it, you'd be entered into a drawing for a free iPod or something else. Being a sucker for free stuff, I joined. While I didn't get a free iPod, I did decide to check them out because they offered 2 free GB of backup.

Pros: It's 2 free GB of online backup. For every person you refer, they get and you get an extra 256 MB of online backup. They also have an unlimited plan for $5 per month per computer. Both the free and unlimited support Windows XP and Vista and they have a beta version of the Mac backup. Not only are the files transferred securely, they are first encrypted on your computer and stored encrypted on their servers. For more on the Mac version, see the Mac FAQ.

Cons: 2 GB runs out quickly and at $5 / month, Carbonite is slightly cheaper (though it is only for Windows). Mozy Home does not support versioning meaning that if you made a mistake yesterday, you probably can't get the previously saved copy. Also, if you delete a file from your system, it will be deleted from Mozy in 30 days. There is no other way to delete a file. That being said, the 2 GB limit is based on what you are currently backing up. If I back up one 2 GB folder and then change to back up a different 2 GB folder, that is fine, but the first 2 GB folder will be deleted in 30 days. The way you select which files to back up in Mozy Home is not the most intuitive opting to view the backup as a "set" instead of working like a home user would think. Carbonite, on the other hand, allows you to right-click and say "Back this up". It also puts a green colored dot in the corner of the icon to show a file that has backed up and a yellow colored dot in the corner of the icon to show a file that is set to be backed up.

If you've got a Windows computer and are looking to go with the unlimited plan, Carbonite is probably the better bet (though I didn't test the restore capability). If you use a Macintosh or you just want 2 GB to have an off site backup of your most important files, Mozy Home is a good fit.

Carbonite can be found here. The free version of Mozy Home can be found here. For anyone signing up for Mozy Home that wants to get an extra 256 MB and give me an extra 256 MB, you can enter referral code 7AF8UK.

Viewing Ads to Help Others

While on Facebook, I noticed that one of my "friends" added an application called iRipple. iRipple links back to the website, Ripple. Ripple allows you to support four different charities by clicking a button to view an ad. Although I did not call up the charities to verify, they say that 100% of the ad revenue goes to charity and are authenticated by the charity. One of the charities, Oaktree Foundation, appears to be a Christian organization. Unfortunately, Oxfam supports abortion, so I prefer not to click on their button.

This site is similar to The Hunger Site, only it is a much cleaner interface and instead of once per day, you can click each button about once every 20 minutes. I believe there was some talk on Mod-Blog about The Hunger Site and wondering how much of the money went to the charities. The Hunger Site also claims to give 100% of the revenue from clicking to charity.

Anti-Clinton People Outnumber Pro-Obama People On Facebook

This article isn't substantial news as how many "friends" you have on Facebook is hardly more than a straw poll. Still, I found it interesting that more people have joined an anti-Clinton group than pro-Obama group on Facebook. Some Republicans and conservatives have worried that a Clinton/Obama ticket could be the death knoll for the Republican party this election. The two have seen each other as the "enemy" that I'm not sure the groups would merge other than as a "marriage of convenience".

Warning for Facebook Users

Facebook has changed its policy and will allow non-users to search profiles unless you opt out. The search results will bring up your profile name and picture. Instructions for protecting your privacy can be found at the link above.

The social network battle-royal

The youth in my old youth group were crazy about MySpace, but I never got into it. I always thought it was unorganized and generally ugly. I wasn't about to spend a bunch of time building up friends or any of the other stuff that people do on MySpace. Well it appears that there is a potential fight coming between MySpace and FaceBook. From the opinion of this blogger FaceBook is about to walk all over MySpace. He makes a bunch of really good points, looking back to the fight between Prodigy and AOL. I'm not sure how much this affects any of us on this blog but it will be interesting to see if FaceBook becomes the next big social network - or if social networking will go out all together and something else will become the next big thing.