This afternoon, tech expert Mario Armstrong appeared as a guest on the Rachael Ray Show to talk about Internet safety issues and the dangers of people search databases. Specifically, Armstrong explained how many websites make it difficult for individuals to remove their personal data and how even if you successfully remove your info once, that doesn’t mean it’s gone for good.
To solve this problem, Armstrong recommended that people check out Reputation.com. Check out a clip from the show below.
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We wanted to take this moment to say thanks to the folks at the Rachael Ray Show for raising such an important issue and calling attention to Reputation.com. We also wanted to say thanks again to Mario Armstrong for giving us another nice shout-out. Armstrong previously recommended Reputation.com two weeks ago during a guest appearance on CNN Saturday Morning.
Countless websites across the Internet sell or give away your personally identifiable information without your permission. With MyPrivacy from Reputation.com, we will help you fight back against these sites and make sure your name, address, age, phone number, and other important personal information stays off the web for good.
If you have any questions about Reputation.com products, or would like to learn more about our company in general, please feel free to give us a call at 877-720-6488. You can also contact us by e-mail or follow us on Twitter.
A recent Wall Street Journal article revealed that Facebook and other social media websites like MySpace “have been sending data to advertising companies that could be used to find consumers’ names and other personal details, despite promises they don’t share such information without consent.” The issue specifically revolves around Facebook referral URLs for advertising including username information.
Before you get too upset, however, ReadWriteWeb’s Marshall Kirkpatrick has analyzed the article and come to the conclusion that there was a small privacy issue, that is now being resolved, but that the overall tone of the article suggested something much, much bigger. In any case, it shows you how Facebook has become a lightning rod for anything privacy-related.
Speaking of Facebook privacy, Times Online is citing several anonymous sources at Facebook who say that the site is planning a major change to its privacy controls that could make it much easier for users to keep their profiles totally private. As the Times article explains, “this would be a big reversal for the site, in particular for its 26-year-old chief executive and founder Mark Zuckerberg, who is known to have overruled those employees who argued that Facebook should make user data more private.”
While the Google Chrome 5.0 browser is almost ready for release in beta mode, Google has already moved on to testing for Google Chrome 6.0. According to a report from earlier this week at TrustedReviews.com, Chrome 6.0 will make browsing faster with “predictive pre-connections.” As the article explains it, these predictive pre-connections will “analyse a users browsing habits over time and automatically load the most likely places you’re going to want to click in the background.”
Is there a privacy issue at stake if Google is predicting what websites you are going to visit based on your previous browsing history?
Time Magazine explores a pending feud between Twitter and Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett. Corbett, who is running for governor in the fall, successfully petitioned a grand jury to subpoena information about two Twitter users who were critical of him. Twitter is fighting the court order and has pledged not to reveal information about its users unless it absolutely has to. According to Corbett’s people, the subpoena was “related to the an open case heading for sentencing and that the point of the subpoena was not to silence any criticism of Corbett.”
It’s a good thing it wasn’t meant to silence any criticism, because, according to the Time article, the two Twitter users cited in the subpoena have done nothing but ratchet up their criticism of the politician.
In an article for Psychology Today, Rob Doyle discusses the “Privacy Paradox.” According to the article, the Privacy Paradox relates to a number of studies in cyberpsychology that show there is no meaningful connection between fear over privacy issues and actual maintenance of privacy. It is easy to see the Privacy Paradox in action, just look at how few people have actually left Facebook over privacy issues.
In recent weeks, we have shared a few early positivereviews of Wild West 2.0: How to Protect and Restore Your Online Reputation on the Untamed Social Frontier, the new book from Reputation.com CEO Michael Fertik and Reputation.com General Counsel David Thompson.
Today, we are happy to share another positive review of Wild West 2.0 care of ForeWord Reviews. Check out the review below.
One of the intriguing and, in some cases, disturbing aspects of “Web 2.0” is the ability for anyone anywhere to damage the reputation of a person or company, simply by posting disparaging information on the Internet. The rise in popularity of social networks has led to the widespread availability of personal information, making matters even worse.
WILD WEST 2.0, whose title re-interprets World Wide Web 2.0, is a timely book that both explains how online reputation-bashing occurs and offers strategies to defend against it. Authors Fertik and Thompson, experts in the field of online privacy, spend a good deal of time discussing the “new digital frontier,” demonstrating its many similarities to the “Wild West” of a bygone era. They discuss the vulnerability associated with an “online reputation” and detail the impact of “anonymous cowards” as well as “the damage done by search engines” such as Google.
The authors make the important point that anyone can create and post content on the Internet, creating an environment in which “everyone is equal.” In addition, once information is posted, it is virtually impossible to retract it, so it could very well remain on the Internet indefinitely. The implications of this are chilling, especially if that information is designed to damage the reputation of a person or a business.
One of the more interesting chapters, “Types of Internet Attacks,” outlines what to guard against, such as “the half-truth,” “the breach of privacy,” “Googlestuffing,” and “E-Mobbing.” Simply being able to recognize and have a broad understanding of these attacks makes the book valuable to any business reader.
Fertik and Thompson also provide sensible advice about assessing any damage to one’s reputation online. They offer two highly useful tools: a “reputation road map” and an “online reputation audit.” Examples and detailed instructions are included for each.
The final few chapters in the book cover proactive strategies for “recovering from online smears” and tactics for protecting an individual or business from harm in the future.
The advice provided by the authors is both informed and wise, and it is supported by compelling facts and specific examples. The book is easy to read and written in everyday language, so it will be useful to even a non-technical reader. WILD WEST 2.0 is essential reading for professionals, business owners, and other individuals who need to understand how the Internet can be used to tarnish a reputation—and how to effectively protect against it. (June)
ForeWord Reviews is a print magazine and online review service for readers, booksellers, book buyers, publishing insiders, and librarians with a print audience of 20,000 readers.
Wild West 2.0 goes on sale June 2nd. To pre-order your copy, head over to Amazon.com right now for a special discounted offer.
In today’s Quick Hits, we explore a new security flaw with Facebook, fallout from Google’s accidental data gathering, and what makes social games such a moneymaker.
Earlier in the week, M.J. Keith, a senior security analyst with security firm Alert Logic, discovered a security flaw in Facebook that allowed him to make significant changes to a user’s account, including making users’ private information public, changing their profile information, or adding new contact e-mail addresses.
According to an article in PCWorld, Facebook worked with Alert Logic to fix the bug, which is called a cross-site request forgery (CSRF), but that “as of late Tuesday afternoon, Pacific time, after Axten sent his e-mail, Facebook had not completely fixed the issue.”
On the heels of news that Facebook and Zynga signed a five-year deal to keep Zynga games on the site, Wired took some time in a recent article to explain exactly how games like Farmville actually make money. The main way that social games make money is through the purchase of virtual goods. If you’re wondering why someone would spend real money on a virtual farm animal, read the Wired article to see what some players have to say about the game.
After coming out and admitting that its Street View cars accidentally collected sensitive wireless data, Google has faced international criticism from privacy activists and government leaders. Most recently, the UK Information Commissioner’s Office ordered Google to destroy any personal data that was collected from British home wireless networks in 2008. However, the ICO has said it will not move forward with any legal action against the company.
CNET’s Caroline McCarthy explains how there is at least one group of people who are ecstatic over Facebook’s recent barrage of negative press: the producers of the new movie The Social Network. The Social Network is based on the book The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich and tells the story of Facebook’s inception and Mark Zuckerberg’s subsequent rise to Internet success. Early reports suggest that the film doesn’t paint Zuckerberg in the greatest light, which probably won’t win any additional support for his company.
In an article in the Telegraph, Technology Editor Claudine Beaumont speculates that it’s still possible to have online privacy in the Internet age, but users have to be proactive in managing their digital identities. Beaumont offers some practical advice to help users secure their privacy online.
After being hammered for having overly complicated privacy settings, Facebook has agreed to roll out “simplistic” privacy controls over the next couple of weeks. Whether or not these will go over well with the Facebook community remains to be seen, but with the kind of public and governmental pressure no the site, the company was obligated to do something.
The New York Times Bits Blog talks about Togetherville, a new social networking website designed specifically for children aged 6-10 and their parents. The website has been partly designed as a teaching tool to help kids understand how to navigate social networking websites before moving on to something like Facebook.
Here is a brief description of how the site works: “Togetherville allows parents to build a social circle for their children based on their own collection of Facebook friends. The children can then interact with the children of their parents’ friends, and specific adults that their parents have chosen, in a semiprivate environment. The content on the site is curated, so children can play games, make art projects and watch or share videos, but everything they have access to has been vetted in advance.”
After reports that Facebook and popular social game developer Zynga would part ways over money issues, news has come out that the companies will retain their partnership for the next five years. Zynga, who struck gold with the game Farmville, had previously threatened to leave Facebook over increasing commissions for app developers. Whatever Facebook did to sooth those concerns has not been revealed, but it appears that the companies agreed they can make more money with each other than they could apart.
Google CEO Eric Schmidt might not have helped his company’s reputation when he told an audience that there was “no, harm, no foul” over Google’s recent admission that the company’s Street View cars had been collecting wi-fi data. Schmidt went on to ask the audience, “Who was harmed? Name the person.”
Schmidt may be right in implying that no one was literally harmed by Google’s mistake, but that doesn’t mean he should treat the issue quite so lightly. European privacy regulators are already very angry with Silicon Valley companies over privacy issues, and it won’t do Google any good to show this kind of disinterest. What happened to the old standby, “We sincerely regret that this happened, and we are taking steps to correct the problem immediately.”
Ohio legislators are working on passing cyberbullying legislation that would expand the scope in which a school can punish students for bullying activity. According to the Columbus Dispatch, the bill, which is co-sponsored by Rep. Marian Harris and Rep. Nancy Garland would “require schools to expand their bullying policies to cover incidents of cyberbullying that occur off school grounds. It also requires that schools provide anti-cyberbullying training as part of their current bullying training for school employees.”
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