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.

Is CBS surprised by offended viewers?

I am not sure how many Mod-Blog readers have seen posts by the Twitter feed "#### My Dad Says", but it is a darkly funny feed of intensely politically-incorrect and profanity laden quotes from one man's father. Many were surprised when CBS bought the rights to turn the feed into a Sitcom. Now CBS is acting surprised that some viewers are offended by a show with a profanity right in its title.

CBS will promote the show verbally with the word "bleep" instead of the profanity in ads -- as in, "Bleep My Dad Says."

But the network doesn't need to spell out of one George Carlin's famous Seven Words You Can Never Say on TV for viewers to decode the the title. Having a broadcast network air a comedy with a semi-quasi-it's-there-but-not profanity may also make it tougher for the network to wrangle advertisers...

CBS maintains that the show itself will be perfectly suitable for family viewing.

CBS knows exactly what it is doing, and is gambling on hooking the profitable 18-25 year old demographic based on this stunt. My guess? Endless meddling as the network tries to thread the needle on this one will doom the show to a single season, despite the talents of William Shatner.

Santa Modernizes

It's a Brave New World

From here.

I think He prefers Facebook, anyway

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