In today’s Quick Hits, Google and Facebook intensify their feud, a possible correlation between texting and risky behaviors among teens, and page previews in search results.

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Google Facebook Feud Escalates

Between poaching its employees and challenging its Internet advertising supremacy, Google has had enough of Facebook. Recently, the search giant lobbed a small shot across Facebook’s bow by telling Google users that Facebook will “trap” their data if they try and import their Google contacts into the popular social networking site. Before allowing a user to import their contacts, a Google pop-up message asks, “Are you super sure you want to import your contact information for your friends into a service that won’t let you get it out?” The message also allows users to register a complaint about “data protectionism.”

Teens Who Text More Likely to Drink and Have Sex?

A study from Case Western Reserve University has polarized technology advocates and child safety groups after it found a “a strong correlation between texting, time spent on social networking sites, and risky teenage behavior like drinking, smoking, drug use, and having sex.” Some experts argue that the correlation is not explained by the technology itself, but rather that teens who spend excessive time online or texting are less likely to have strong parental oversight.

Advice for Parents on Connecting With Their Kids on Facebook

Should parents be friends with their children on Facebook? In an advice column for the Chicago Tribune, which has since been syndicated to dozens of major newspapers across the country, Heidi Stevens talks about how she interacts with her kids on Facebook and offering other advice from parents and child safety experts.

Facebook Adds “Account Protection” Sidebar

According to Inside Facebook, “Facebook has implemented a new security feature called Account Protection which informs users of how secure their account is. The feature is displayed in a new sidebar module and as a status bar at the bottom of the “Update Your Security Information” page which debuted last month.” The feature helps prompt users to add additional account retrieval functions to help protect against spammers and hackers.

Google Offers Instant Page Previews from Search Results

Google is rolling out a new feature that will show an instant page preview of a website from search results, allowing a user to see the content of a page without clicking through to it. The potential effect that this change will have on businesses which rely on click-throughs for page impressions and advertising dollars remains to be seen, but from an online reputation management perspective, it makes it even more important that individuals and businesses maintain a professional presence on Google.

Reputation.com CEO Michael Fertik will join a host of other online privacy and safety experts today in Washington D.C. for the Family Online Safety Institute Annual Conference and Exhibition. The theme of this year’s conference is “Internet Freedom, Safety & Citizenship. A Global Call to Action.”

Just some of the notable names attending the event include Larry Magid, child safety expert; danah boyd, Internet privacy advocate and researcher; and Jules Polonetsky, the co-chair and director of the Future of Privacy Forum.

This afternoon, Fertik will participate in a breakout session entitled The End of Privacy? Location-based-services, reputation and data protection issues at 2:45pm. Here is some information on the panel.

Moderator: John Carr, Children’s Charities’ Coalition on Internet Safety
- Michael Fertik, Reputation.com
- Brian Knapp, Loopt
- Fernando Laguarda, Time Warner Cable
- Jeff Brueggeman, AT&T

For up-to-the-minute updates from the FOSI 2010 conference, follow the #FOSI2010 hashtag on Twitter.

In today’s Quick Hits, we discuss the case of a teacher who was fired for Facebook, why some websites are reining in third-party tracking, and how labor laws may protect employees who talk bad about their boss online.

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Websites Agree to Rein In Third-Party Tracking

This article in the Wall Street Journal discusses how a number of major websites are taking a second look at the tracking software on their sites, opting to disable them in some cases if they violate user privacy or act in a way that is inconsistent with the website’s privacy policies. Interestingly, many companies in the article acknowledge that there is tracking software on their websites that they didn’t even authorize, demonstrating how pervasive the problem of data mining can be online. Perhaps more interesting is the fact that unauthorized third-party companies selling or trading data are costing the websites millions of dollars in potential revenues for data they could harvest themselves. If anything, it is this financial issue that will get websites to reconsider third-party tracking.

National Labor Relations Board Backs Employee Fired Over Facebook

We shared this story yesterday, but we’re highlighting it again today because it’s been picked up by the Wall Street Journal (as well as the New York Times). After an employee was fired for sharing a negative comment about her supervisor on Facebook, the National Labor Relations Board took up her cause arguing that the comments were protected speech under existing labor laws. If the NLRB successfully advocates on behalf of the employee and she is reinstated to her position, or awarded damages of some kind, does that mean that trashing your boss online suddenly becomes acceptable?

More Teen Facebook Memorials Defaced

In an ongoing and disturbing trend, two online memorials for two recently killed Australian teenagers were defaced by online vandals, causing significant emotional damage to the victims’ families. The act of defacing an online memorial has become increasingly common with groups of anonymous cybertrolls routinely taking credit for the attacks, and openly acknowledging the fact that they can’t be prosecuted for their actions.

Teacher Fired for Facebook Still Waiting on Decision Over Her Status

Ashley Payne, who was forced to resign from her teaching job over her Facebook profile last year, is still waiting to see if she’ll be allowed back in the classroom. According to a report in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Payne, whose Facebook profile included images of her drinking alcohol, “is waiting for a court to decide whether she is entitled to a due process hearing. She is also seeking back pay and money for legal fees.” While she waits, she has had a difficult time finding full-time work, demonstrating the reputation damage that can come from even the slightest perception of a problem online.

People Change Name On Facebook to Avoid Past Discretions

A little while back, Google CEO Eric Schmidt jokingly suggested that sometime in the future teens would be forced to change their names when they got older to escape their digital past. Perhaps he was not that far off. This article from The Economic Times discusses a new survey of more than 1000 Australians showing that 14 percent of respondents between the ages of 18 and 25 said they’d consider changing their name to escape their digital footprint.

In today’s Quick Hits, we talk about a new report to help parents navigate Facebook, why you should consider “un-friending” some of the people in your network this November 17th, and whether talking about your boss behind his or her back is grounds for losing your job.

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Jimmy Kimmel Declares ‘National UnFriend Day’

Do you have hundreds and hundreds of Facebook friends? Comedian Jimmy Kimmel thinks its time to cut some of them loose. Kimmel has declared November 17th ‘National UnFriend Day’ and is urging his fans to go back to a time before Facebook, when you “didn’t know what the guy you took high school biology with was having for lunch.” Although the tongue-in-cheek event is meant to draw laughs, there are some interesting practical considerations. How much of your life should you share with people who are, for all intents and purposes, strangers?

The iKeepSafe Coalition and Connect Safely Release a “Parent’s Guide to Facebook”

Today at the at the fourth annual Family Online Safety Institute conference, the iKeepSafe Coalition and Connect Safely are presenting a special report entitled the “Parent’s Guide to Facebook.” The 32-page report, which was written by safety advocates Larry Magid and Anne Collier of Connect Safely, is designed to help parents “understand what Facebook is and how to use it safely.” In a separate article for the San Jose Mercury News, Larry Magid addresses some of Facebook’s new features and their privacy implications.

Politicians Have Digital Skeletons in Their Closets

The election might be over, but that doesn’t mean that the winning politicians have escaped their digital past. This article from the New York Times discusses how a generation of young politicians are being forced to answer for their online indiscretions, whether they be party photos from college or embarrassing statements on an old blog. The Times article also speculates as to whether society will eventually learn to forgive these transgressions, or if, as Daniel Solove predicts, it’s not in our “human nature” to ignore them.

Is Trash Talking Your Boss on Facebook Protected Speech?

It’s generally assumed that if you get caught talking bad about your boss behind his or her back, you’ll get fired. Whether you’re doing it online or in the workplace makes no difference. However, one labor rights organizations is arguing that workplace complaints may actually be protected under current labor laws. According to an article in The Atlantic, the National Labor Relations Board recently took up the case of an ambulance company employee who was fired after complaining about her supervisor on Facebook. Per the report, “the NLRB, an independent federal agency that defends employee-organizing rights, is basing the complaint on a long-existing provision of the National Labor Relations Act that provides protections to employees who get together and complain about a host of workplace issues – everything from conditions to benefits.”

Cybertrolls Deface Facebook Memorial for Teen Suicide Victim

It’s not uncommon for cyberbullies to troll online memorial pages to leave nasty comments or obscene images, but that doesn’t make it any easier for the family of the deceased. In Houston, the parents of Asher Brown, a 13-year-old who committed suicide after alleged bullying, have been forced to endure attacks against their son on his memorial Facebook page. After the attacks became so commonplace that the page was no longer usable, it was shut down. This article from the Houston Chronicle cites several experts to try and explain why cybertrolls flock to online memorial websites to leave hurtful and anonymous messages.

In today’s Quick Hits, two men are fired for Facebook, Google gets stuck in a territorial dispute between Costa Rica and Nicaragua, and Germans are still suffering over Street View problems.

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Location Services Fail to Find Mainstream Audience

The hype over location check-in services like Foursquare and Gowalla may have come too soon. According to a Pew Research Center report, only “4 percent of Internet users are even using location based services.” What’s more, “on a given day, the percentage of Web users checking in via their mobile devices falls to just 1 percent, per Pew’s research.” These numbers might change once more people begin to use Facebook’s new location-based service, but the low numbers suggest that regular people are disinterested in these products, or wary of the security risks associated with using them.

Two Workers Fired for Insulting Their Boss on Facebook

Two Canadian workers were fired from their jobs after making aggressive statements and homophobic slurs about their boss on Facebook. The pair attempted to argue that their dismissal stemmed from their successful efforts to unionize workers, but those arguments were rejected. While this story itself is not necessarily shocking, the fact that the workers were friends with their boss online and continued to make derogatory remarks toward him is. It shows how some social media users don’t consider the ramifications of their actions before sharing content online.

Woman Removed from Jury Pool Over Attempt to “Friend” Defendant

Facebook and juries simply don’t mix. In a political corruption trial in Atlantic City, a woman was dismissed from the jury for allegedly sending a friend request to one of the defendants. The judge dismissed the woman, but advised her not to make comment without first consulting an attorney. It remains to be seen whether she will face criminal charges for ignoring the judge’s order to avoid Facebook contact with the defendants.

Google Maps in the Middle of South American Border Dispute

Demonstrating Google’s widespread reach, the company is currently embroiled in an international border dispute over its Google Maps feature. According to a Wall Street Journal report, “The Internet is abuzz with claims that a Nicaraguan commander justified a raid into neighboring Costa Rica after using Google Maps.” Costa Rica has petitioned Google to change Maps to reflect that the disputed territory is theirs, while Nicaragua has requested Google ignore the request and keep the map the way it is. It’s hard to believe that this all started with a search engine.

Errors Undo Street View Blurring in Germany

Several bugs have been uncovered in Google Street View that allow individuals to see German homes and businesses that were supposed to be blurred out. Google agreed to black out the images, but the German Data Protection Agency is arguing that Google needs to delete the data from the company databases completely, as it agreed to do prior to rolling out Street View in the country.