Entries from July 2011 ↓
July 29th, 2011 | Facebook, Google, Legal Issues, Online Reputation Management, Privacy, Quick Hits, Research | Rob Frappier
On top of our usual array of interesting privacy and reputation management news, today’s Quick Hits feature a pair of stories involving criminals and Facebook.
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A New York man facing domestic violence and harassment charges was recently apprehended after using Facebook to taunt police. The fugitive, who posted such taunts as “Catch me if you can, I’m in Brooklyn,” was captured, appropriately enough, in front of his computer.
In Belgium, an enterprising band of thieves used a fake Facebook profile as a lure to rob a grocery store. The robbers stole the keys to the store and emptied its safe after tricking the store’s manager into showing up for a date with a non-existent women that he thought he had been interacting with online. This story demonstrates how important it is to only accept friend requests from people whom you know in real life or can verify.
A mom-to-be has an interesting question in the New York Times’ Social Q’s column. She asks for advice on how to tell her over-sharing mother-in-law that she doesn’t want any information about her pregnancy or child posted on Facebook. In his response, Philip Galanes explains that bringing up the subject in a direct, but respectful way is the best approach.
In her always entertaining privacy blog for Forbes, Kashmir Hill talks about the principles of ‘privacy by design’ — a fast-growing practice among Internet companies. Speaking with Ann Cavoukian, Ontario Information and Privacy Commissioner, Hill describes how baking in smart privacy functionality is a must for companies in a commercial and legislative environment where privacy is a critically important issue.
Following the revelation that Google had collected the MAC addresses of millions of personal computers and mobile phones via its Street View vehicles, the company quietly claimed it had fixed the problem. This article from CNET reveals, however, that security researchers are not content to take Google at its word. Spurred on by Google’s lack of transparency, researchers like Ashkan Soltani are digging into Google’s geolocation API to see whether there are still problems with the service.
July 28th, 2011 | Online Reputation Management, Privacy, Reputation.com News | Rob Frappier
This afternoon, Reputation.com CEO Michael Fertik is appearing on Bloomberg TV to talk about online privacy issues, the value of data to Internet advertisers and data miners, and how privacy-centric business models can find success in the Internet economy.
The segment will air live on Bloomberg TV at 3:00pm PT/6:00pm ET. You can watch it online at Bloomberg.com/TV. We’ll have a recap of Michael’s segment after it airs here on the Reputation.com blog.
July 28th, 2011 | Facebook, Internet Safety, Online Reputation Management, Privacy, Quick Hits | Rob Frappier
In today’s Quick Hits, we share a novel way to sign-in to Facebook, talk about Facebook monitoring tools, offer a warning on recent social media scams, and discuss efforts to educate at-risk Internet users.
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A new webcam called YouCam 5 is using facial recognition technology in an unusual and interesting way. According to PCMag.com, YouCam 5 has a feature called “Face Log-in” that, as the name suggests, allows users to log-in to Web services such as Facebook with their face. The software will also log you out of your service if it detects that your face isn’t in front of the camera. Could YouCam represent a new way of protecting oneself from online impersonators and account hackers?
In a lengthy piece at The Wall Street Journal, Walter Mossberg reviews the social media monitoring tool SocialGuard, which is designed to help parents protect their children on websites like Facebook. According to Mossberg, the service operates in the background sending e-mails when it finds objectionable content, meaning parents don’t have to “intrude” into their child’s Facebook experience. However, there are drawbacks, including the fact that the software can’t detect all elements of a Facebook profile.
Again demonstrating how popular news can be used by cybercriminals, scams related to the recent attacks in Oslo, Norway and the death of singer Amy Winehouse have flourished across the Internet. Patrik Runald, senior manager of security research at Websense, notes that “videos are an especially popular lure,” encouraging Web surfers to stick to their trusted news sources if they see a link offering a gruesome or macabre video online.
As Internet use is becoming more and more ubiquitous, some consumer advocates are pushing for education initiatives and strong consumer protection laws to help the poor and elderly surf the Web safely. At a policy forum event covered by USA Today, Nicol Turner-Lee, Vice President of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, said we “don’t want new adopters to face potential harms they’re not ready for.” Given the rise of social media, as well as the growth of data abuse by data miners and marketers, Turner-Lee’s concerns are merited.
July 27th, 2011 | Facebook, Google, Online Reputation Management, Privacy, Quick Hits | Rob Frappier
In today’s Quick Hits, we talk about Facebook’s “Online Education Center” for businesses and share two compelling Op-Ed articles on personal privacy.
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In an effort to help brands get better use out of Facebook, the company has set-up an “online education center” for businesses. The webpage, found at Facebook.com/business, offers advice on Facebook advertising, setting up a Facebook Fan Page, and other business-focused features of the site. Colleen Taylor at GigaOm wisely notes that Facebook’s announcement came not long after Google faced criticism from businesses for not yet allowing branded Google+ accounts.
According to Bloomberg, “Facebook Inc. made it easier for subscribers to opt out of the ‘tag suggestions’ facial- recognition feature, addressing privacy concerns raised by Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen.” The feature, which uses facial recognition technology to identify a Facebook user and then suggests “tagging” him or her, has faced considerable criticism from privacy advocates since Facebook rolled it out to a wide audience in June.
Having a strong Google+ profile may be a powerful new tool for job seekers. This article from job search expert Miriam Salpeter for the U.S. News and World Report discusses how Google+ users can use their profiles to catch the attention of recruiters and hiring managers.
In a recent editorial, the San Jose Mercury News calls on Internet companies to get their act together regarding online tracking or face the reality of federal legislation. Quoting the article, “Consumers have legitimate worries about the information that’s being collected and used online. It’s time for the Internet industry to come to a collective agreement about the privacy protections it will guarantee.” The editorial goes on to offer a vision of what the final solution should look like, “The ultimate goal should be a one-click option for consumers that protects their privacy without the need to install complex software or read the fine print of a wordy disclosure statement.”
Ann Cavoukian, Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario and a stalwart consumer privacy advocate, writes that facial recognition technology and personal privacy do not have to be mutually exclusive. In an op-ed for the The Globe and Mail, Cavoukian writes that the key is “privacy by design.” Quoting the op-ed, “Privacy is all about freedom of choice and personal control. We need to realize that the same technology that serves to threaten privacy may also be enlisted to its protection. This entails the use of Privacy by Design – embedding privacy directly into technologies and business practices, resulting in privacy and functionality.”
July 26th, 2011 | Facebook, Google, Legal Issues, Online Reputation Management, Privacy, Quick Hits | Rob Frappier
In today’s Quick Hits, we talk about Google+, Olympic tweeting, whether it’s appropriate to share certain news on Facebook, and why social media can be used in a court of law.
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Following criticism from many users that the company’s real name only rules on Google+ were too strict, Google has made a slight tweak to its policy. While individuals still must use their real name on Google+ or risk expulsion, Google spokesperson Bradley Horowitz said individuals will first get a warning and an opportunity to change their user name before they are kicked off the site. Google is also changing the sign-up process to make it clearer that real names are the only allowable user names.
New guidelines from the International Olympic Committee allow athletes to tweet and post Facebook updates that are in keeping with the “Olympic spirit.” In an editorial for the Herald Sun newspaper, Australian Olympic swimmer Geoff Huegill warns his fellow athletes to be cautious about what they share online writing, “For most Australians, having a chance to represent your country at an Olympic games is a dream. It take years and years of blood, sweat and tears to get the opportunity to stand behind the blocks to fight for one of 44 positions. To athletes who use their Twitter accounts, think about what you’ve typed before you hit that send button. What starts off as a moment of frustration or a cheap laugh might just offend someone but, more importantly, ruin your Olympic dream.”
In their Manners for a Digital Age podcast for Slate, farhad Manjoo and Emily Yoffe discuss whether certain news, such as a death in the family, is too personal to share publicly on your Facebook wall. Demonstrating the divisiveness of the topic, a poll accompanying the podcast shows that 53% of people think sharing a death is inappropriate, while 47% think it’s okay.
This article from the Register discusses how private Facebook messages can become admissible evidence in a court case. The article shares one example: “Rane Zimmerman was a forklift driver at a warehouse owned by Weis Markets in Pennsylvania in the US. He said that he hurt his leg at work and claimed damages for lost wages. Weis Markets said that they believed his Facebook and MySpace pages indicated that his leg was not as damaged as he claimed, and asked the court to give it his passwords for those pages so they could check.” The court agreed to the request making the individual’s private Facebook account completely accessible to his former employer — something which many would call an invasion of privacy.
