In today’s Quick Hits, we talk about toddlers on Facebook, Facebook’s new “trusted friends” security feature, and how some healthcare workers are violating patient privacy by posting information on social networking sites.

–

Is Facebook Profile for Your Toddler Too Much?

Psychologist Andrea Bonior has an interesting article on the Huffington Post about the downside of creating a Facebook profile for your toddler. Bonior argues that there are privacy concerns, issues about the child’s lack of consent, and the potential for future resentment. The article is a great read for any new parents who want to create social media accounts for their kids.

Facebook Introduces Trusted Friend Feature

Facebook just introduced an interesting new security feature. TIME’s Techland blog explains: “Facebook just announced a new feature called Trusted Friends, which uses—surprise, surprise—your social network to log you back in if you forget your password. This is how it works: First, you pick five Facebook friends you trust. If you get locked out, you can arrange it so those friends get a code. Afterwards, call them, collect three of the codes, enter them, and voila—you’re back in business. Facebook likens it “to giving a house key to your friends when you go on vacation.”

Healthcare Workers Violating Patient Privacy via Social Media

A new UK report reveals that “private records belonging to ill and vulnerable patients were breached more than 800 times over the last five years by nurses, doctors and administrative staff at 152 NHS trusts and hospitals.” In many cases, these breaches came via social media, where workers posted information about patients and sometimes photos.

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.

–

Irish Data Protection Commissioner Claims Facebook Creating “Shadow Profiles”

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.”

New Jersey Senate Candidate Apologizes for Sexist Twitter Update

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.

Survey Shows Parents and Students Want Action on Bullying

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.

Dan Tynan Reviews TrueRep

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.”

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.

–

School Apologizes Over Teacher Facebook Post Calling Students “Inbred”

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.”

USPS Welcome Kit Raises Privacy Concerns

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.

The Difficulty of Identifying Bullying

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.

Man Arrested for Scarlett Johansson Nude Photo Leak and Other Hollywood Hacks

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.”

In today’s Quick Hits, thoughts on Facebook’s power, teen online privacy, and why taking steps to protect yourself from junk e-mail can end up causing you to miss out on important privacy notices.

–

Phone Thief Accidentally Uploads Picture of Himself to Victim’s Facebook Page

A thief may have unwittingly outed himself when he snapped a picture using a stolen mobile phone. According to ABC News, “police in Henry County, Ga., said they now believe the thief grabbed [the victim's] cellphone, took a picture of himself and unwittingly uploaded it to her Facebook page, which automatically synced with her phone.” In this case, the woman’s predilection for sharing all of her cell phone photos online (something that we might usually recommend against) may have actually helped her.

Op-Ed: Facebook’s Power Should Worry Us All

In an op-ed for the National Times, Julian Lee writes that Facebook’s power is “unsettling,” saying “if Facebook was a government agency, its power would be as undisputed as it would be frightening.” Lee’s incisive commentary points out that legal protections lag far behind technology and that Web companies like Facebook have a practically unchecked ability to enact new privacy-invasive features with little fear of punishment. At the end of his piece, Lee touches on the idea that “free” Internet service aren’t really free saying, “it’s the price we pay for such free services, the Faustian pact into which we have entered in order to survive in an age of constant connectivity where the tentacles of Facebook — with its ambition to be the “identity platform” — are extending to every corner of the internet.”

How News Outlets Rank in Privacy Protection for “Frictionless Sharing”

With its new “Frictionless Sharing” feature, Facebook has teamed up with third-party websites to stream a user’s Web habits directly to his or her profile. This feature, which is unnerving to many privacy advocates, is already in place with many news websites. But not all news organizations give users the same level of privacy protection. This article from Inside Facebook discusses all of the third-party news organizations using frictionless sharing and rates them according to how much control they offer users over sharing.

How Privacy Measures Can Impact E-Mail Disclosures About Personal Privacy

In its bid to buy a massive list of e-mail addresses from bankrupt book chain Borders, Barnes & Noble was forced to send an e-mail to Borders’ customers giving them 15 days to opt out of sharing information with the new company. Ironically, as Forbes’ Kashmir Hill explains, this disclosure e-mail might not make it to all customers if they’ve taken certain steps to protect their privacy. Hill writes that “most folks who signed up for Borders accounts, or any company account, usually hand over their ‘junk e-mail address.’”

Because these aren’t the accounts people usually check (in order to keep them from massive amounts of spam), they might miss the notice. Similarly, Hill notes that because she had unsubscribed from Borders e-mail list long ago: “I was unsubscribed from a future email that would tell me that my data would be sold to another company.” In both of these cases, the company isn’t legally in the wrong, but the user still doesn’t get the disclosure, demonstrating the complexity of online privacy protections.

Survey Reveals Kids Have Awareness of Online Privacy

In this video interview with CBS News, Yahoo! Web Life Editor Heather Cabot talks about a new survey that shows kids are much savvier about online privacy than parents give them credit for, while also offering advice about “how parents can drive home the message home about the importance of online privacy.”

In today’s Quick Hits, teens and young adults talk about having their online accounts hacked, Facebook readies its new design rollout, and an artist uses trash to teach about personal privacy violations.

–

3 in 10 Teens Admit Having Facebook Hacked

A new study from the AP and MTV reveals that a large percentage of teens (30%) have had their online accounts hacked, more than double the number from 2009. More distressing is the apparent attitude regarding hacking. The Wall Street Journal quotes a handful of teens and young adults who treat hacking as no big deal. Some say it’s only for fun and that they know who is doing it, so it’s okay. Others, however, are distressed by the hacking. The survey showed that 46% of respondents were upset by a hacking attack and concerned about how it might affect their image.

Protecting Privacy on New Facebook

The Los Angeles Times has an article on Facebook’s new-look profiles and how users can protect their privacy once the new design rolls out. The article goes into detail on how some of the new tweaks may compromise privacy, including the little-known fact that current privacy settings aren’t automatically applied to old posts that will appear on user’s timelines.

Artist Uses Mark Zuckerberg’s Trash to Make Statement About Sharing

A street artist named XVALA has taken to Silicon Valley to make a statement about information sharing and personal privacy violations. According to the Los Angeles Times, “the first of the series, ‘Mark Zuckerberg’s Not Very Well Hung Hanger,’ features a wire coat hanger taken from Zuckerberg’s trash can. XVALA bent the hanger by hand to show Zuckerberg’s ‘manhood’ and painted it blue, the color of Facebook’s logo.” In a statement, the artist said, “I wanted to ‘expose’ Zuckerberg like he exposes Facebook users, daily.”

How to Block Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ From Tracking Data

In an article for PCWorld, Paul Venezia explains why it’s so difficult to keep social networking sites from tracking your browsing information across the web and some of the ways you can try to keep your personal data private. As Venezia explains,  ”for normal people, this situation is extremely difficult to control,” which is why social media companies are so attractive to advertisers. The data on the profile itself, paired with browsing information, is more than enough to learn an individual’s entire life story.

Facebook Shares More Details on Makeover

Inside Facebook has an insightful article with Facebook product manager Carl Sjogreen about the company’s new-look profiles and some of the safety measures in place to prevent application developers from using the “Frictionless Sharing” Open Graph platform to send out spam messages. Facebook’s balancing act between consumers and app developers is tricky, but could be very valuable for the company.

As Inside Facebook writes, “Facebook is preparing to make a major change to how users express themselves with the rollout of Timeline. It will need to clearly communicate the privacy implications of ready access to old content in order to avoid backlash. It will also need to strike a proper balance between a clean user experience and an attractive Open Graph application development Platform. If Facebook can navigate these two pitfalls, Timeline could become the richest way to represent one’s identity online.”

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.

–

Spotify Users Angry Over Forced Facebook Integration

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.

Maintaining Privacy on “Free” Facebook

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).”

Facebook Defends Tracking Data From Logged-Out Users

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.

Mom’s Facebook Update Costs Her Sons’ Football Team Three Wins

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.”

Poll Shows Over Half of Teens the Victim of Online Bullies

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.

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.

–

Facebook and Time Warner Launch Anti-Bullying App

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.

Poll Shows Young People Don’t Care About Online Slurs

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 Makes Privacy Change to Hide Home Addresses

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.

Can You Use Technology and Protect Your Privacy?

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.

In today’s Quick Hits, we offer advice for parents of bullies, ponder what happens to our digital profiles when we die, share the story of a fugitive busted by Facebook, and consider how a big celebrity’s Twitter complaint might hurt one’s online reputation.

–

What if You’re the One Raising a Bully?

A recent study showed that 77% of kids have reported being bullied at some point. While the number of bullying victims is staggering, it begs an important question. If so many kids are being bullied, then there must be a lot of bullies, and that means that parents need to consider the unfortunate possibility that their son or daughter is the bully. This article from The Stir advises parents on ways to determine if their child is a bully and steps to take to limit bullying behavior.

Fate of Digital Assets ‘Vague’ After Death

This AFP article poses some interesting questions: “When you die, does your Facebook account die with you? Or that online photo album? What about your iTunes playlist, blogs or tweets?” As we live more and more of our lives online, the issue of what happens to our online content after we die has become more complex. Most websites aren’t equipped to deal with the digital death of a user, and so what happens is that an individual’s online content is trapped in a sort-of limbo. This unusual circumstance has spurred the creation of a small economy focused around digital afterlife services, that help an individual’s surviving relatives manage his or her accounts after death.

Fugitive Arrested Thanks to a Facebook Check-in

Arizona police arrested a man wanted in Oregon for negligent child support after they were tipped off to his location by someone who saw the fugitive “check-in” to a restaurant on Facebook. This is not the first story of a criminal getting caught because of Facebook. Recently, an Italian mobster was arrested after investigators tracked him down via his girlfriend’s Facebook photos.

Alec Baldwin Calls Out a Starbucks Employee on Twitter

If someone calls you out for doing a bad job on Twitter, it might not look to good to your boss. But when that person is Hollywood actor Alex Baldwin, it’s especially bad. Baldwin recently took to Twitter to criticize a Starbucks employee that he thought had an attitude problem. One can argue that Baldwin’s complaint should be taken with a grain of salt (“You know how those prima donna celebrities are.”) but this story demonstrates how important it is for businesses and their employees to always be thinking about how their actions can lead to a negative online reputation.

In today’s Quick Hits, we talk about a new Microsoft study, a huge privacy breach involving 20,000 hospital patients, and one Applebee’s worker’s stand for self-expression online.

–

Microsoft Study Shows More Than Half of U.S. Teens Don’t Consider Consequences of Online Actions

A new Microsoft study shows that “before posting personal information online, more than half of U.S. teens and parents don’t truly consider the potential consequences of their actions.” The study also showed that while teens recognize “the importance of limiting what they share online,” they still reveal more personal data than their parents and that 6 in 10 teens admit to having “friends” online that they have never met in real life. This data reveals the importance of online reputation management and digital citizenship – two important issues that Microsoft is addressing through a new white paper called “Fostering Digital Citizenship” and a Teen Reputation Guide.

Stanford University Medical Breach Affects 20,000 Patients

The New York Times reports that “a medical privacy breach at Stanford University’s hospital in Palo Alto, Calif., led to the public posting of medical records for 20,000 emergency room patients, including names and diagnosis codes, on a commercial Web site for nearly a year.” This isn’t the first time that medical data has been exposed online. The Times writes that “records compiled by the Department of Health and Human Services reveal that personal medical data for more than 11 million people has been improperly exposed during the last two years alone.”

Applebee’s Worker Threatened with Termination for Refusal to Sign Agreement Prohibiting Negative Comments

An Applebee’s worker claims that his job has been threatened by his refusal to sign an agreement from his employer that restricts his right to post negative content about Applebee’s online. The man, who has had no problems with the company in the past, says that he is concerned the agreement would stifle his freedom of expression. The Applebee’s story comes at an interesting time. The National Labor Relations Board recently issued a report outlining when companies can and can’t fire employees for their online profiles and a judge ruled that several non-profit employees were unjustly fired for their Facebook comments.

Facebook Explains Difficulty of Policing Under-13 Age Restriction

The Children’s Online Privacy and Protection Act (COPPA) requires companies to block children under the age of 13 from accessing their websites. But this is often easier said than done, especially if you’re Facebook, the world’s largest social networking website. This article from ZDNet discusses how Facebook approaches the problem and why the website claims that “it is difficult is to implement age restrictions on the Internet and that there is no single solution to ensuring younger children don’t circumvent a system or lie about their age.”

Mobile App ‘Blendr’ Helps Users Hook Up

New York Times tech reporter Jenna Wortham writes about a new mobile app called Blendr, which combines social networking with location check-in technology to help users “find someone to meet nearby, right now.” The app includes some privacy restrictions, including the ability to narrowly tailor what type of person can access one’s profile, but it is still likely something that a privacy-conscious individual would be leery to use. Nevertheless, the creator of Blendr’s previous mobile app Grindr (which offers a similar service for the gay community) has been very successful with 2.6 million users, proving the viability of the concept.

In today’s Quick Hits, we talk about an unusual criminal case in Mexico, a recently discovered Facebook flaw, one dad’s beef with Facebook, and some advice for college students on online reputation management.

–

Two in Mexico Face 30 Years in Prison for Twitter Updates

Two people in Mexico are facing up to 30 years in prison for allegedly causing a panic with their Twitter updates. The Huffington Post reports that the individuals tweeted updates about an alleged attack at a local school where gunmen were kidnapping children. The reports turned out to be untrue, but the panic caused by the messages supposedly led to 28 car accidents and the collapse of the emergency response telephone system. The defendants in the case say that they weren’t tweeting maliciously, but were merely passing on information that they had heard. Numerous civil rights groups have petitioned for the pair to face lesser charges.

Facebook Flaw Allows Administrators to Get Kicked Off Their Own Pages

A flaw in Facebook allows page administrators to remove the original creator of the page. ZDNet explains that, while it is the original creator who assigns the administrators, new admins shouldn’t be able to remove the original creator according to Facebook’s written policy. This flaw poses a security risk, because “if [an admin] account gets hijacked by someone else, in addition to their account, your Facebook Page could be taken over as well.”

Dad Sues Facebook Over 12-Year-Old Daughter’s Racy Pictures

A dad in Northern Ireland is suing Facebook after discovering sexually provocative pictures of his 12-year-old daughter on the site. The dad argues that Facebook isn’t doing enough to enforce its own policy of restricting children 13 and under from accessing the site. Of course, it’s nothing new for under-13 kids to join Facebook, either with or without permission. In May, a Facebook spokesperson said that the site bans 20,000 underage Faceook accounts everyday.

Students Must be Aware of Their Online Reputations

This article in the Toronto Sun explains why students need to be extra careful about protecting their online reputations. Quoting the article, “It used to be that a university student could go out to a wild party, drink their face off, pull some embarrassing stunts before stumbling home and the only record would be a conversation among friends later. Not that we’re condoning the behaviour, but at least it only existed over a 24-hour period.  These days, it’s all archived. And the people paying attention could be the ones writing your future paycheque.”