Entries Tagged 'Research' ↓
August 24th, 2011 | Facebook, Google, Legal Issues, Online Reputation Management, Parenting, Privacy, Quick Hits, Research, Student Online Reputation | Rob Frappier
In today’s Quick Hits, we talk about Google’s historic settlement over illegal ads, how social media use is linked to higher levels of substance abuse in teens, and what Facebook’s new privacy settings mean for users.
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In one of the largest settlements in U.S. history, Google has agreed to pay $500 million in damages after a Department of Justice investigation determined that the company violated U.S. laws by allowing Canadian pharmacies to advertise and sell drugs to U.S. consumers. Google has suspended this practice and apologized for the advertisements.
According to a new survey commissioned by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, teenaged social network users were “five times more likely to report using tobacco (10 percent versus 2 percent), three times more likely to say they used alcohol (26 percent versus 9 percent) and twice as likely to admit using marijuana (13 percent versus 7 percent).” It’s important to note that the survey doesn’t show a causal link between social media and substance abuse, but that certain elements of social networking can contribute to relaxed attitudes about alcohol and drug use.
In an article for HR Magazine, Paul Deakin argues that screening job applicants based on their social media profiles causes hiring managers to prejudge candidates unfairly and should be banned. Quoting Deakin, “By their very nature, social networking sites are not naturally respectful of privacy, reputation and control which is something both HR professionals and job applicants should take into account.”
According to The Register, “Microsoft has deleted code on its MSN website that secretly logged visitors’ browsing histories across multiple web properties, even when the users deleted browser cookies to elude tracking.” These so-called “supercookies” are practically impossible to opt out from and have drawn considerable criticism from privacy advocates.
The Wall Street Journal’s Digits blog has a good report on Facebook’s new privacy controls and how they will affect Facebook users. Reputation.com shared a first look at Facebook’s new privacy controls in a blog post yesterday.
August 18th, 2011 | Facebook, Legal Issues, Online Reputation Management, Parenting, Privacy, Quick Hits, Research | Rob Frappier
In today’s Quick Hits, we talk about new online tracking technology that is nearly impossible to disable, why one mom thinks friending one’s children online is a bad idea, and how more and more people are using privacy controls on social networking websites.
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The Wall Street Journal reports that several major websites “have been tracking people’s online activities using powerful new methods that are almost impossible for computer users to detect.” These so-called “supercookies” are “capable of re-creating users’ profiles after people deleted regular cookies, according to researchers at Stanford University and University of California at Berkeley.” As more people become aware of the privacy ramifications of online tracking, the advertising industry is looking for ways to continue accessing valuable consumer information online. Currently, “supercookies” are legal, but that might change depending on whether Congress takes up anti-tracking legislation.
A Florida teacher, who was once named Teacher of the Year, has been suspended from the classroom after he compared gay marriage to a “cesspool” in a post on his Facebook page. The veteran educator is arguing that his suspension is unmerited because he made the comments on his personal page during his personal time. A school district investigation will determine whether to take additional action against the teacher.
In an interesting article for The Daily Mail, Rachel Halliwell argues that parents shouldn’t friend their children on websites like Facebook, because, in her experience, it’s better to not know all of the things teens talk about online. Halliwell, who says she checked up on her daughter obsessively for a time, writes that “In the end I got so sick of worrying myself stupid about what they were up to that I deleted them all from my Facebook account — my own daughter included.”
Despite her decision to disconnect from her daughter online, Halliwell does acknowledge that social media has made adolescence much different. Quoting the article, “Our kids are the first generation of teens to have grown up with instant communication. They have no recollection of life before it. And however uncomfortable we adults feel with this set-up, there is no way to turn back the clock.”
Earlier in the month, a small faction of the hacker group Anonymous made headlines by declaring plans to take down Facebook on November 5th. Immediately, several representatives from Anonymous distanced the group from the operation, as tech writers questioned how a small group of hackers could take down Facebook in the first place. On Monday, someone managing the @Op_Facebook account tied to the operation posted a message saying “We Can’t Take Facebook Down…Yet” and calling the operation an awareness campaign. In other words, the operation is currently dead, but may return in the future.
According to a survey from Webroot security, people are becoming much more privacy-aware. Quoting TechCrunch, “between 2009 and 2011, Webroot says, the number of US social network users who have never viewed or changed their privacy settings plummeted from 37 percent in 2009 to 8 percent in 2011.” TechCrunch attributes the increase in privacy awareness to widespread publicity around privacy issues.
August 9th, 2011 | Facebook, Google, Legal Issues, Online Reputation Management, Privacy, Quick Hits, Research | Rob Frappier
In today’s Quick Hits, we talk about prisoners on social media and how social media might help send some London rioters to prison. Also, news on how Facebook affects children’s brains.
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As violence continues to grip parts of London, a loose coalition of citizens are turning to the Web to clean up the city and bring looters to justice. TechCrunch writes about one Google group that plans to use facial recognition technology to identify rioters. A similar tactic was used following the post-Stanley Cup riots in Vancouver. TechCrunch asks whether this practice is ethical, calling it “crowdsource justice.”
In a first of its kind case, a teacher in Northern Ireland has been granted an injunction preventing her ex-boyfriend from posting a sex video of her online. The woman alleges that her ex had threatened to post the video on Facebook, and also to send it to her bosses and her students. According to the BBC, the woman’s lawyers correctly claimed that “any clips could spread uncontrollably if they were allowed to be uploaded,” which is why a preemptive injunction was necessary.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has asked Facebook to assist in removing the Facebook profiles of criminals in state prisons. According to Corrections Department Secretary Matthew Cate, “access to social media allows inmates to circumvent our monitoring process and continue to engage in criminal activity.” In some cases, prisoners also use Facebook to harass their victims from afar.
Psychologist Larry D. Rosen recently presented a report entitled “Poke Me: How Social Networks Can Both Help and Harm Our Kids” to the American Psychological Associtation. In his presentation, Rosen highlighted numerous findings about Facebook’s impact on children, including both positive and negative effects. The Atlantic Wire reports some of Rosen’s discoveries, including the good news that Facebook makes kids more empathetic and the bad news that Facebook can lower kids’ self-esteem.
Black Hat, the famous security conference attended by the world’s foremost experts in hacking, is well-known for exposing significant security vulnerabilities in popular technology. CNET’s Declan McCullagh writes that Black Hat researchers recently showed how it is possible to bypass Windows’ built-in encryption tools to access password data for e-mail and websites like Facebook that has been stored in the cloud. In response to the vulnerability, Microsoft encouraged its users to use its BitLocker tool to encrypt their hard drives.
August 2nd, 2011 | Facebook, Google, Legal Issues, Online Reputation Management, Privacy, Quick Hits, Research, Social Networking | Rob Frappier
In today’s Quick Hits, we talk about a researcher’s claims that social media is creating a generation of narcissists (and why that assessment may not be backed up by science). We also have info on Facebook’s facial recognition technology, tips on online etiquette, and news on Microsoft’s location sharing policies.
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British researcher Baroness Greenfield is warning that Facebook, Twitter, and other social media could be creating “a generation obsessed with themselves, who have short attention spans and a childlike desire for constant feedback on their lives.” Despite this dire proclamation, however, the Guardian’s science blogger Martin Robbins writes that Greenfield’s warnings are overblown. In a response, Robbins writes that no research has been performed on the issue and criticized the professor for using the media “as a platform to push her theories to the public.”
In a recent statement, Johannes Caspar, data protection commissioner for the state of Hamburg, criticized Facebook’s new facial recognition feature, saying that he doesn’t think the technology “conforms with EU data protection law.” Caspar says his office has “repeatedly asked Facebook to shut down the facial recognition function and to delete the previously stored data,” without success. The feature, which has been available in the United States since December 2010, uses facial recognition technology to identify a user’s friends in a photo and suggests “tagging” them.
A special feature in the Toronto Sun discusses digital etiquette and how responsible social networking can help protect one’s online reputation. In the article, social media experts Scott Stratten and Dave Larsen offer several smart pieces of advice including a reminder to “never say, text, tweet or upload anything you don’t want to see on a billboard with your name, face and logo on it with your boss, mom and best client driving by.”
Microsoft, which has positioned itself as a champion of consumer privacy issues among tech companies, has quietly announced that it will stop publishing estimated location data from its smartphones. Microsoft’s decision comes as Google and Apple are still feeling the negative effects of reports that they surreptitiously tracked user data from mobile devices.
August 1st, 2011 | Facebook, Google, Legal Issues, Online Reputation Management, Privacy, Quick Hits, Research | Rob Frappier
In today’s Quick Hits, we talk about a newly discovered and unblockable tracking cookie. We also discuss how the combination of Facebook and facial recognition technology can unlock your social security number.
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Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley, including Christopher Hoofnagle and Ashkan Soltani, recently uncovered a new tracking cookie that is effectively impossible for individuals to avoid. According to Wired, the service is called KISSmetrics, and it works even “when users block cookies, turn off storage in Flash, or use browsers’ ‘incognito’ functions.” In a comment, Hoofnagle explains why this form of tracking is disturbing, saying “Part of our point here concerns the arms race between trackers and consumers. Although the industry has stated in principle that individuals should be able to opt out, they have defined the opt out very narrowly.”
A new law in Missouri prevents teachers from friending students on Facebook and other social networking websites. The law is generally focused on requiring schools to report suspected abuse within 24 hours, but tucked inside of the law is wording that says teachers aren’t allowed to have “nonwork-related website that allows exclusive access with a current or former student.” Some teachers have been critical of the law for what they believe is an overly broad ban.
A professor at Carnegie Mellon University demonstrated how facial recognition technology, paired with publicly accessible Facebook data, can help uncover at least part of an individual’s social security number. According to the Wall Street Journal, “Prof. Alessandro Acquisti, the study’s author, also found that about 27% of the time, using data gleaned from Facebook profiles of the subjects he identified, he could correctly predict the first five digits of their Social Security numbers.” Acquisti believes this research shows that Facebook has become “a de facto identity-verification service.”
This article from MSNBC talks about Google+ and how job seekers can use the new social networking service to help with professional networking. According to the article, Google+’s blend of Twitter and Facebook-like functionality makes it an ideal service for networking. A job seeker can interact with hiring managers and recruiters at a deeper level than Twitter and, thanks to Google+’s social circles feature, without revealing personal information that they might have on their Facebook profile.
A new piece of legislation with the admirable goal of ending child pornography could be a threat to personal privacy online, according to many privacy advocates. This article from Donor Friedersdorf at The Atlantic discusses the bill in detail, explaining that “under language approved 19 to 10 by a House committee, the firm that sells you Internet access would be required to track all of your Internet activity and save it for 18 months, along with your name, the address where you live, your bank account numbers, your credit card numbers, and IP addresses you’ve been assigned.” The Electronic Frontier Foundation, and numerous other groups, have come down against the bill, which still must pass a vote in the full House of Representatives before becoming law.
