Entries Tagged 'Internet Safety' ↓
August 25th, 2011 | Facebook, Internet Safety, Legal Issues, Online Reputation Management, Privacy, Quick Hits | Rob Frappier
In today’s Quick Hits, we share the fallout from a college golf team’s provocative Facebook photo, the story of a gangster’s Facebook undoing, and information on a new privacy lawsuit against the tracking firm comScore.
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The Bethany College men’s golf team thought it would be a pretty good gag to take a team picture in the nude, with only golf equipment covering their (ahem) putters. When they posted the picture on Facebook, however, they quickly earned the wrath of their coach and school officials who suspended the team from playing in three upcoming tournaments. The team’s captain is appealing the decision.
Many Facebook users go out of their way to keep their profiles hidden from job recruiters, but this Reuters article suggests that Facebook recruiting may be the wave of the future for hiring managers. Thanks to Facebook’s extensive built-in social networks, making referrals for jobs would be much easier, just one of the many reasons why hiring managers might find Facebook recruiting useful.
An Italian mobster was tracked down and arrested in Spain after his girlfriend posted pictures to Facebook that gave away the pair’s precise location. According to The Daily Mail, the woman “published several photos on Facebook of her outside upmarket Marbella nightspot Nikki Beach Club where the couple were staying” allowing police to swoop in and arrest the individual with no resistance. The mobster had been on the run for nearly a decade when he was discovered.
The online tracking company comScore has been charged with “surreptitiously collecting Social Security numbers, credit card numbers, passwords and other data from consumer systems” according to a new lawsuit filed in federal court. According to ComputerWorld, “the lawsuit characterized comScore’s software as intrusive surveillance tools that allowed the company to monitor every keystroke and every action taken by a user on the Internet.” A comScore spokesman has called the lawsuit meritless and pledged that the company would fight it.
Canadian privacy commissioner Jennifer Stoddart is asking Canadian citizens to be more careful with their mobile phones following a survey which revealed that “just four in 10 [respondents] use password locks on their mobile devices or adjust their settings to limit access to personal information stored on such gadgets.” Stoddart has been one of the world’s foremost personal privacy advocates and has helped Canada lead the charge in forcing companies to improve online privacy protections for consumers.
August 19th, 2011 | Facebook, Internet Safety, Legal Issues, Online Reputation Management, Privacy, Quick Hits | Rob Frappier
In today’s Quick Hits, we talk about Groupon’s privacy policies, why one German official has a problem with Facebook, and a political candidate’s Facebook faux-pas.
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In response to Congressional inquiries about the company’s recently privacy policy changes, Groupon has issued a statement clarifying its stance on location tracking. Kashmir Hill at Forbes writes that Groupon “wants to start collecting location information from phones — even when the Groupon app is not on — in order to tell people about deals in their vicinity.” According to Groupon, this can only happen with a customer’s consent, but Congressmen Ed Markey and Joe Barton still warned the company not to violate user privacy.
Claiming a violation of German and European Union data privacy laws, Thilo Weichert, Data Protection Commissioner for Schleswig-Holstein, “ordered state institutions to shut down [Facebook] fan pages…and remove the [Facebook] ‘Like’ button from their websites.” Facebook disputes Weicher’s allegations that the company tracks and stores user data for two years, but did admit that it accesses technical information about the user, such as an IP address. Weichert’s order demonstrates how Germany and the United States treat the subject of privacy.
Facebook collects a wide range of data on its users, but one of the more interesting things Facebook records is which profiles you visit the most. Zack Whittaker at ZDNet explains how this works, writing “Facebook uses a server-side script, loaded when you use the site, called first_degree.php. This acts as a ranking algorithm, likely to be based on those who you interact with, the profiles you visit, who you chat and communicate with and those who you have recently become acquainted with. The higher the negative number, the more likely the person attached to it will display in Facebook’s autocomplete search — at the top of the window.”
A Canadian politician recently apologized for several off-color jokes on his Facebook profile, saying “If I could do it again, I probably wouldn’t have posted it.” The jokes, which were made prior to his decision to run for office, tried to shrug off the Facebook posts saying they represented his “taste in humor,” but acknowledged that they may have offended some. The candidate’s efforts to distance himself from his Facebook profile represent a new reality for politicians seeking election in the digital age.
In an effort to address concerns over security, privacy, and bullying, Facebook has published a free, 20-page guide titled “A Guide to Facebook Security.” PCWorld writes that “the pamphlet is available on the site and was co-written by security experts Linda McCarthy and Keith Watson, and editor and teacher Denise Weldon-Siviy.”
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 18th, 2011 | Facebook, Google, Internet Safety, Online Reputation Management, Parenting, Quick Hits | Rob Frappier
In today’s Quick Hits, we talk about overconfident criminals getting caught after boasting about their crimes online, as well as the feasibility of teaching mandatory social media safety classes in elementary schools.
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They say there’s no such thing as the perfect crime, but it’s especially true when the criminals blab about it on Facebook. This article from CBS News discusses how some criminals were caught after boasting about their crimes on Facebook. Quoting the article, “In Kentucky, one man had his probation revoked for breaking rules that required him to stay alcohol free. A prosecutor tells the Courier-Journal newspaper the man posted pictures of himself drinking – and this, after inviting his probation officer to be his friend on Facebook.”
This article in the Austin-American Statesman discusses the social scoring service Klout and how one’s online reputation, equated here with one’s social networking popularity, can help one gain access to certain special events or products. While the article’s main focus is on social scoring rewards, it also discusses how online reputation can negatively impact an individual’s life, such as during a hiring decision.
This article from the Washington Post talks about Old Dominion University Computer Science Professor Michael Nelson’s research into Internet history and his studies into how information is saved and permanently archived online. Quoting the article, “Nelson and some colleagues at Old Dominion and the Los Alamos National Laboratory have developed a sort of Internet time machine called Memento . When attached to a browser, it enables the user to search for a Web site as it appeared on some past date, if an archived page exists.”
Some schools in Australia are considering adding social media safety classes to their curriculum to help fight the growing problem of cyberbullying and also to help students better understand the importance of a good online reputation. According to the Telegraph, Australian parents also back this effort: “The country’s main parents association has backed calls for schools to teach students about online etiquette, privacy protection and the long-term consequences of posting embarrassing or offensive content.” The adoption of mandatory social media safety classes has been discussed throughout the world, but it has yet to catch on in a big way. Perhaps Australia will lead the way and show off a model that works.
The hacker group Anonymous, which has been linked to a number of high profile cyber attacks in recent months, was booted from the new Google social network Google+ for violating the company’s terms of service. In response, Anonymous has vowed to build its own social network called AnonPlus, which will offer “a social network where there is no fear of censorship, of blackout, nor of holding back” according to a statement from the group.
July 15th, 2011 | Facebook, Google, Internet Safety, Online Reputation Management, Privacy, Quick Hits | Rob Frappier
In today’s Quick Hits, we talk about the growth of Google+, share some cybersafety advice, and share more evidence that self-regulation among Internet advertisers is flawed.
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After only two weeks, Google’s new social networking site Google+ has accumulated 10 million users, according to Google CEO Larry Page. The incredible growth of Google+ suggests that the service, Google’s latest in a long line of attempts at social networking, may actually be a viable threat to Facebook. Part of the appeal of Google+ is the service’s easy ability to filter contacts into distinct groups or “circles.” Of course, Google’s numbers should be taken with a grain of salt since the company is a legitimate tech giant. Facebook and Twitter took much longer to achieve the same number of users, but they were much smaller at the time by comparison.
The British Medical Association (BMA) recently issued a warning to its members to avoid contacting patients online via social networking websites. According to the Wall Street Journal Health blog, the BMA told its members, “Given the greater accessibility of personal information, entering into informal relationships with patients on sites like Facebook can increase the likelihood of inappropriate boundary transgressions, particularly where previously there existed only a professional relationship between a doctor and patient.”
The BMA’s warning mirrors similar calls from other medical organizations, which are collectively coming to grips with how the Internet, and social media in particular, has changed the doctor-patient dynamic.
According to a new UK survey from the security firm Bullguard, “more than half of parents surveyed said they keep an eye on their children by checking their activity on sites like Facebook.” As reported by Mobiledia.com, the survey revealed that “nearly half of parents check their children’s updates and look at postings, while one-in-three check out tagged photos.” However, parents are not always able to access their child’s page. According to the same study, “Thirty percent of parents say their kids rejected their attempts to ‘friend’ their them,” forcing parents to find alternate means to check up on their kids online.
This article from the Seattle Weekly offers advice to teens and their parents on how to avoid having their social media accounts violated and used for cyberbullying or cyberstalking. The offer’s sensible suggestions include always logging out of your social media account when you’re finished with your session and never using the “save password” option.
PCWorld reports that, “some online advertising networks continue to track Web users after tracking opt-out requests, even though the networks have promised to honor those questions, according to a new study from Stanford University’s Center for Internet Society.” The study revealed that 33 out of 64 members of the Network Advertising Initiative “left tracking cookies in place after a Web user opted out of targeted ads,” in defiance of the NAI’s stated self-regulatory guidelines. Stanford’s research sheds light on why self-regulatory efforts are not enough to protect consumers from data abuse online.
