Entries Tagged 'Legal Issues' ↓
October 31st, 2011 | Google, Legal Issues, Online Reputation Management, Privacy, Quick Hits | Rob Frappier
In today’s Quick Hits, we talk about the effectiveness of Internet tracking opt-out tools, an embarrassing Google glitch for Mitt Romney, and a pro athlete’s (mildly) scandalous tweets.
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Opt-out buttons and other tools designed to help people stop Internet tracking may not be effective according to a new study. Quoting the Wall Street Journal, “instead of helping consumers limit websites, advertisers and others from collecting information about their web browsing behavior, the Carnegie Mellon University study found that the tools were more likely to cause confusion and, at times, accomplish the opposite of what the user intended.”
Everyone knows that Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum has a pretty bad Google problem, but it looks like Republican front-runner Mitt Romney has a Google issue of his own. According to CBS News, “when a Google user types the phrase ‘Romney can win’ into the search engine, its spell check function responds with the message, ‘Did you mean: Romney can’t win?’” The glitch is related to Google’s auotmatic spellcheck function, which the company says it is always improving.
New England Patriots Tightend Rob Gronkowski apologized to the Patriots organization recently after snapping a few photos for Twitter with an adult film star. In a statement Gronkowski said “I didn’t intend anything to hurt the reputation of anyone on the New England Patriots or on behalf of Robert Kraft.” Truthfully, the incident was pretty mild. The pictures weren’t inappropriate or explicit in anyway and the relationship didn’t extend beyond the snapshots. Nevertheless, the incident shows how pro athletes must always be mindful of their online reputations.
October 26th, 2011 | Facebook, Legal Issues, Online Reputation Management, Privacy, Quick Hits | Rob Frappier
In today’s Quick Hits, we talk about a new social start-up, why oversharing and privacy don’t go hand-in-hand, the ongoing investigation into Facebook’s alleged “shadow profiles,” and how one Austrian law student’s efforts to access his Facebook data have created international press coverage.
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A new Internet company hopes to take on Facebook and Google+ by painting the companies as corporate giants interested only in snatching user data. Quoting CNN, the website, called Upthink, hopes “to capitalize on frustrations with the social networking giant, not to mention some of the anti-corporate sentiment bubbling up on Wall Street and beyond.” The start-up is similar to Diaspora, a self-proclaimed privacy-centric alternative to Facebook that launched to much fanfare last year.
In an op-ed for NJ.com, Carl Golden writes that the way people overshare online is at odds with a society that desires personal privacy. Quoting the op-ed: “In the electronic communication world in which we live, nothing remains confidential for very long and only the foolhardy believe it is. A secret, as has been said, remains a secret only for as long as it takes one person to tell another. And, in the case of social media, once it’s exposed, it’s out there forever no matter how many times or how frantically someone hits the delete button.”
Fox News reports that “privacy watchdogs began an on-site investigation Tuesday of Facebook’s regional office in Ireland, following sensational accusations that the company is creating extensive ‘shadow profiles’ of non-users.” Facebook has denied the claims and is cooperating with the investigation.
The AP has an interesting report on one Austrian law student’s efforts to show how much data Facebook collects and stores about users online. Quoting the article, “Max Schrems wasn’t sure what he would get when he asked Facebook to send him a record of his personal data from three years of using the site. What the 24-year-old Austrian law student didn’t expect, though, was 1,222 pages of data on a CD. It included chats he had deleted more than a year ago, ‘pokes dating back to 2008, invitations to which he had never responded, let alone attended, and hundreds of other details.”
October 24th, 2011 | Facebook, Legal Issues, Privacy, Quick Hits | Rob Frappier
In today’s Quick Hits, we talk about the ECPA, Facebook privacy, and using Facebook for recruiting.
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Twenty-five years ago Friday, President Reagan signed the Electronic Communications Privacy Act into law. Since then, the bill has remained relatively unchanged despite tremendous advances in digital technology. This article from Wired.com discusses the ECPA and how the language in the law allows police to access e-mail data without a warrant if its at least six months old. Moreover, because of the wording of the law, the ECPA allows access to any content in “the cloud” if it’s six months old via a government subpoena.
A portion of Facebook users are becoming concerned about their privacy online and are turning to third-party apps to protect their information. According to the Daily Mail, “Facebook Disconnect – a browser extension which prevents Facebook ‘seeing’ which other sites you visit online – has been downloaded 152,000 times. The software works in Google’s Chrome browser and automatically blocks web traffic between other sites and Facebook, so the social network can no longer ‘look at’ your browsing history.”
Some Facebook users are complaining that a glitch in the site is sending out unwanted friend requests, but the more likely scenario is that they downloaded a rogue Facebook app that is using their account to try and spread spam messages. This safety issue underlies why it’s important to only download trustworthy third-party apps.
This article from the Wall Street Journal discusses how independent developers are tapping into Facebook to build networking and recruiting tools. While Facebook hasn’t been a direct competitor with professional networking website LinkedIn, independent apps like BranchOut demonstrate how the site could become a powerful tool for recruiters looking to connect with the ideal job candidate. Conversely, there are privacy concerns among users who believe that their profiles shouldn’t be accessible to recruiters.
October 19th, 2011 | Facebook, Legal Issues, Privacy, Quick Hits | Rob Frappier
In today’s Quick Hits, Sean Parker defends Facebook, Ira Winkler explains why Facebook isn’t free, Jason Zada uses Facebook to scare users, and one man’s bizarre Facebook post earns him a drug arrest.
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Sean Parker, the outspoken former president of Facebook made famous by Justin Timberlake in the film The Social Network, recently took to the stage of the Web 2.0 Summit to defend his old company’s lax attitude toward privacy. According to the Huffington Post, Parker said “there is good creepy and there’s bad creepy” and that “today’s creepy is tomorrow’s necessity.” The only problem Parker had with Facebook was that the company didn’t make it easy for “power users” to filter the massive amount of information on the site.
There’s a misconception that the because you don’t have to pay for it, Facebook is free. It isn’t. As Ira Winkler explains in a well-written Computerworld editorial, “Facebook is not free. While you don’t have to pay to join the site, you nonetheless give Facebook two things that are much more valuable: your time and your intellectual property. Facebook gives you access to its system for free because it is in Facebook’s interest that you spend time on the system and click links. So, what is your time worth?” As Facebook prepares for another large-scale profile redesign, that last question will certainly ring with users who have shown frustration with the site in the past.
A Chicago-area man was arrested on drug possession after police were called to his home to investigate kidnapping claims on Facebook. The man, who posted updates on Facebook talking about kidnapping his ex-girlfriend, claimed that it was a creative writing exercise, but one Facebook friend was concerned and alerted police. When they arrived, he granted them permission to search his house, where they found heroin, marijuana, and drug paraphernalia.
TV and music director Jason Zada recently launched a viral app on Facebook that challenges our perception of personal privacy. According to the New New York Times, “the mysterious site is called Take This Lollipop. After you give the site permission to connect to your Facebook account, it begins playing a video featuring a sweaty, twitchy man, sitting in a darkened room, using a computer to nose around Facebook. But he’s not browsing through just any random page — he’s looking at your account and getting increasingly agitated by what he’s seeing.“
Zada explains that the horror-themed project is intended to make people feel uncomfortable about sharing their personal data: “When you see your personal information in an environment where you normally wouldn’t, it creates a strong emotional response. It’s tied into the fears about privacy and personal info that we have now that we live online.”
October 14th, 2011 | Facebook, Legal Issues, Online Reputation Management, Privacy | Rob Frappier
In today’s Quick Hits, we talk about the infamous Hollywood hacker, why Facebook doesn’t have to give you all of your data, Verizon’s big privacy policy changes, and how a New Jersey teacher’s Facebook comments have started a mini-controversy in her school district.
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The Florida man arrested for hacking into the e-mail accounts of Scarlet Johansson, Mila Kunis, and other celebrities has apologized for his actions, claiming that he knew what he was doing was wrong but that he couldn’t stop himself. According to the hacker, he “became addicted to seeing the behind-the-scenes of what’s going on with these people you see on the big screen every day.” If convicted of all charges, the hacker faces up to 121 years in prison.
In news that clearly demonstrates Facebook’s priorities when it comes to user data, the company recently revealed that international law protects it from having to give up all data about users, even if they request the data themselves. The news came out when users of the social sharing website Reddit flooded Facebook with data requests and the company was forced to reject the requests.
The Los Angeles Times reports that “Verizon Wireless has made a change in its privacy policy that clears the nation’s largest wireless carrier to track its subscribers’ Web browsing, location and app usage habits. The change in Verizon’s privacy policy covers all customers of the company by default, automatically opting-in subscribers, though they can opt out of this if they want.”
A New Jersey teacher sparked a controversy after school administrators discovered anti-gay speech on her Facebook wall. The woman, who was expressing her religious beliefs regarding homosexuality, may face investigation over whether she violated the state’s Law Against Discrimination.
