Entries Tagged 'CyberBullying' ↓
October 21st, 2011 | CyberBullying, Facebook, Online Reputation Management, Parenting, Privacy, Quick Hits | Rob Frappier
In today’s Quick Hits, we talk about allegations that Facebook is creating “shadow profiles,” a New Jersey politician’s ill-advised tweets, a new survey on cyberbullying, and a look at TrueRep from Intelius.
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According to Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner, Facebook “is now building profiles of non-users who haven’t even signed up.” The claim, which Facebook categorically denied, is the latest problem for Facebook in Europe, where privacy laws are much stronger. According to Fox News, the Data Protection Commissioner “will be commencing a comprehensive audit of Facebook Ireland before the end of the month.”
A New Jersey Senate Candidate has apologized for a sexist Twitter update directed at women saying, “Women, you increase your odds of keeping your men by being faithful, a lady in the living room and a whore in the bedroom.” The adage, which was paraphrased from a famous quote by Mick Jagger’s ex-wife, was labeled offensive by both political parties.
According to a new report from the Ontario Student Trustees’ Association, more than three-quarters of students want schools to be involved in bullying prevention. The report also reveals that 84% of parents think schools should step in in the case of cyberbullying. This report reflects a growing awareness of bullying issues among students and parents.
In an article for IT World, Dan Tynan writes about TrueRep, the new reputation management service from people-search and online background check company Intelius. Tynan’s review isn’t flattering: “Say you have a fresh water well on your land. The water is all the data available about you in the public record. Though the water is technically yours, other people can also drink from the well, and you still have to pump it out yourself when you get thirsty. Companies like Intelius take the water, bottle it, and sell it back to you at a profit. And that’s what TrueRep is: your own water in a fancy plastic bottle.”
October 13th, 2011 | CyberBullying, Facebook, Legal Issues, Online Reputation Management, Parenting, Privacy | Rob Frappier
In today’s Quick Hits, some school teachers get in trouble for making fun of students online, the USPS is criticized over privacy issues, a mom wonders when bullying is really bullying, and the FBI makes an arrest in the case of the Hollywood hacker.
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A school in the U.K. was forced to offer an embarrassing apology to parents when several of its teachers were discovered referring to students as inbred during an online chat on Facebook. This isn’t the first time a school has faced criticism for its teachers remarks. Earlier this year, a first-grade teacher in New Jersey was suspended for calling students “future criminals.”
For years, the cash-strapped United States Postal Service has earned money by sending ads to individuals as part of its change of address welcome kit, but privacy advocates argue that the arrangement may be in violation of federal privacy laws. According to the Washington Times, “While these welcome kits may provide a targeted marketing opportunity for advertisers and much-needed revenue for the USPS, federal agencies aren’t allowed to sell or rent personal information such as names and addresses under the federal Privacy Act.” The USPS has defended the partnership and claims that it’s doing nothing illegal.
In this article for TIME, Bonnie Rochman talks about bullying and why it can be hard for parents to identify if their child is being bullied or is a bully themselves due to changing definitions of the act. Rochman also discusses research into anti-bullying techniques and how children naturally form antipathetic relationships with some of their peers.
A Florida man has been arrested for hacking into the e-mail, cell phones, and social media accounts of Scarlett Johansson and other notable celebrities. According to the AP report, “the FBI announced that it had made an out-of-state arrest Wednesday morning in a year-long investigation of celebrity hacking that was dubbed Operation Hackerazzi.”
October 7th, 2011 | CyberBullying, Facebook, Google, Legal Issues, Online Reputation Management, Privacy, Quick Hits | Rob Frappier
In today’s Quick Hits, Facebook is hit with a lawsuit, Google adds some privacy features to Google+, and Barnes & Noble tries to swoop in on Borders’ customer base.
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A Kansas man recently filed a lawsuit against Facebook alleging that the company violated federal wiretap laws by tracking browsing data on users after they logged off the service. As ABC News explains, however, the litigation may be unsuccessful because it is difficult to prove harm in these kinds of cases. Quoting the article, “Experts say the Kansas litigation faces an uphill battle since courts in the past have tossed out similar cases against Facebook and others filed under wiretap law, finding such computer cookies are not wiretaps. In those cases that do end up being litigated the plaintiffs typically lose because they cannot prove any harm.”
There is a movement among some privacy activists to reframe what constitutes “privacy harm” in a legal sense. Stanford’s Ryan Calo has been a leading voice in the debate over the meaning of privacy harm and was interviewed by the Wall Street Journal on the subject last year.
Slate’s Katherine Goldstein has an amusing and interesting article about how her father has been “stalking” her on Twitter. Since the author showed her father how to use the site, he has been monitoring all of her updates and responding to them regularly, leading to some embarrassment and awkwardness. The article presents an interesting dynamic that many adults are facing as their older parents adopt social media technologies.
The U.S. News and World Report reports that a handful of media companies have teamed up to raise awareness about bullying with a multi-pronged digital campaign. Quoting the article, “media companies such as CNN, Cartoon Network, Facebook, and Time Inc. have started an online anti-bullying campaign designed to raise awareness. The companies launched the “Stop Bullying, Speak Up” Facebook page to give students and parents a place to voice their support for victims of bullying.” The campaign hopes to increase the number of “active bystanders” by encouraging people who speak up about bullying when they see it.
In a bid to further establish itself as the social networking website for privacy-conscious users, Google+ has added a handful of new privacy controls. According to VentureBeat, Google now lets you disable comments on Google+ posts and lock posts prior to publishing them. Previously, users would have to share the post publicly, before setting up privacy restrictions. The change is relatively simple, but intuitive and reflective of Google’s apparent desire to make Google+ the anti-Facebook in terms of privacy and sharing.
When Borders went bankrupt recently, its competitor Barnes & Noble swooped in to buy the company’s customer lists for a cool $14 million. But in purchasing the e-mail list, Barnes & Noble has drawn the wrath of consumer watchdog groups who say that the bookstore chain’s opt-out notice to customers was too vague. Regulators asked Barnes & Noble to give consumers explicit control to transfer their information to the new company, but Barnes & Noble refused to use the requested language.
September 27th, 2011 | CyberBullying, Facebook, Online Reputation Management, Parenting, Privacy, Quick Hits | Rob Frappier
In today’s Quick Hits, we talk about Facebook and Spotify’s close partnership, how one mom’s Facebook update ruined her sons’ football season, and the epidemic problem of cyberbullying.
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Spotify, once the envy of all music sharing sites for its positive press coverage and close partnership with Facebook, is on the defensive after making a change that requires users to log-in to the service using Facebook. People don’t necessarily want to share what they’re listening to on Spotify, which is what they’d have to do thanks to Facebook’s new “frictionless sharing” experience. Since the announcement, Spotify founder Daniel Ek has spent much time on Twitter defending the decision, but also acknowledging the potential for further changes based on feedback.
In an op-ed for Fox News, John Quain criticizes Facebook’s recent “convoluted, confused, and cluttered update,” writing that, while Facebook is a free service, it actually requires users to give up information about themselves to make money. Quain also points out that quitting Facebook offers no guarantee of privacy.
“The problem is that even if you abandon Facebook, others could be tagging you in photos, putting personal information about you online, and sharing it all with their 500 closest friends. Potential employers — and dates — can then use that information against you without your knowledge. One example: I’ve been tagged in photos on Facebook that I can’t delete or edit, even though at least one photo isn’t even of me (now people think I was at an event I didn’t attend).”
Recently, Australian tech developer Nik Cubrilovic discovered that Facebook was tracking data about users after they had logged out of the site. According to the Wall Street Journal, “When you log in to Facebook or visit Facebook.com without logging in, the site places small files called ‘cookies’ on your computer. Some of these cookies remain on your computer even after you log out, and then whenever you visit a site that connects to Facebook – such as those with a ‘Like’ button – information from those cookies is sent back to Facebook, providing a record of where you’ve been on the Web.” The ubiquity of the “like” button on the Web means that Facebook is able to collect a considerable amount of data from users even while they’re not on the site.
In an unusual story, a Tennessee mom is the center of a high school sports controversy after a Facebook update about her sons led to the revelation of the boys’ ineligibility to play and the team’s subsequent forfeiture of three wins. According to The Tennessean, the mom made a comment about how her sons leave messy rooms after only being in town for the weekend. The problem is that the mom lives in a different county. According to the TSSAA’s bylines, the boys weren’t allowed eligibility because the family continued “to maintain a previous residence for the residential purposes of that family or any of its members.”
According to a new MTV-AP poll, 56% of teens have been the victim of some form of online bullying or harassment. Three-quarters of respondents also said that online bullying was a serious problem, demonstrating a high level of awareness about the issue. This article from the Boston Globe discusses the poll and shares some examples of online bullying.
September 20th, 2011 | CyberBullying, Facebook, Online Reputation Management, Parenting, Privacy, Quick Hits, Research | Rob Frappier
In today’s Quick Hits, we talk about a new bullying prevention campaign, an interesting poll about teen attitudes online, a smart privacy change from Foursquare, and the hidden privacy risks of popular technology.
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Yesterday, Facebook and Time Warner launched an anti-bullying app called “Stop Bullying: Speak Up.” According to ABC News, the app “offers resources on prevention, and asks children and adults to take an online pledge to speak up if they see bullying.” Cyberbullying is a major concern for children and teens online, and has been cited as a factor in a number of high-profile teen suicides. Facebook’s position as the hub of social life for many teens makes it important for the company to spend time on anti-bullying measures.
According to a new Associated Press-MTV poll surveying 14 to 24-year-olds, 71% of respondents said they are more likely “to use slurs online or in text messages than in person” and that “only about half say they are likely to ask someone using such language online to stop.” This apparent disregard has led some experts to worry that young people are becoming desensitized to abusive language and are risking their reputations by using the language online.
Foursquare recently enacted a new privacy change that allows users to check-in to their homes on the service without exposing their exact location. According to Mashable, “applying the ‘Home’ category will keep the actual address of the venue private to just the user and his or her friends, as well as allow the user to edit the venue or delete it altogether.” This step, while long overdue, is logical and may help bring in more privacy-conscious users to the check-in service.
In a comprehensive piece for The Today Show website, Christina DesMarais talks about the privacy concerns associated with a number of popular technologies. Listing everything from cell phones to fax machines, DesMarais explains how modern technology can put your privacy at risk and the steps you should take to help mitigate the amount of information about you online.
