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Privacy Groups Call for Investigation into Facebook Changes

USA Today reports that 10 consumer privacy groups, along with Reps. Ed Markey and Joe Barton, have asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Facebook’s newly proposed Timeline feature, as well as numerous other changes from the site. According to Chris Calabrese of the American Civil Liberties Union, Facebook’s massive changes take away “the ability for consumers to control and protect their online reputations.” Others also argue that Facebook’s changes make users more susceptible to identity theft and other online crimes by making their personal information more accessible.

How Digital Devices Erode Personal Privacy

In an interesting feature for the Los Angeles Times, David Sarno writes about the way modern digital devices, such as cell phones, computers, and TVs, track and record significant data about individuals. Quoting the article, “The modern home, stocked with networked devices, has become a digital transmission station, endlessly relaying data to a wide array of for-profit companies that are largely invisible to the average parent and child.” Sarno goes on to write that “this explosion in the amount of data being collected has raised alarms in state capitols and in Washington, where lawmakers of both parties have proposed more than a dozen pieces of privacy legislation this year.” In the feature, Sarno examines how the members of one family are tracked throughout their day by their various devices.

National Labor Relations Board Rulings Leave Employers Confused Over Social Media Guidelines

In the last few years, the National Labor Relations Board has taken on a number of cases involving individuals who were fired for posting something inappropriate on Facebook or other social networking websites. Recently, the NLRB successfully argued that individuals fired for sharing comments about workplace conditions were illegally terminated, creating a new wrinkle for employers to consider when crafting social media policies. This article from the Washington Post discusses the NLRB’s efforts and how businesses are trying to come up with policies that give them the flexibility to fire employees for inappropriate and potentially reputation-damaging online posts without leaving them open to retaliatory lawsuits.

Jeff Jarvis Argues in Favor of Online Sharing in New Book

In a review of Jeff Jarvis’ new book “Public Parts: How Sharing in the Digital Age Improves the Way We Work and Live,” the Wall Street Journal’s L. Gordon Crovitz discusses the positive aspects of sharing information online and why the famed journalism professor turned Web evangelist considers pending privacy legislation to be a mistake. In the review, Crovitz mentions Jarvis’ unique philosophy on sharing. Jarvis writes that social media adoption “will lead to what I call the doctrine of mutually assured humiliation. I won’t make fun of your silly picture if you don’t make fun of mine. Perhaps it will lead to a greater expectation of openness from corporations and transparency from government. Perhaps it will also lead to people being more connected, for they can no longer run away from each other as they’ll always be only a link or two apart.”

In today’s Quick Hits, Facebook gets heat from Congress and Spotify gets heat from Facebook users. Meanwhile, Hollywood tries to capitalize on Facebook’s popularity and a survey shows the corporate security risks involving social media use.

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Congress Asks FTC to Investigate Facebook Tracking Cookies

Congressmen Edward Markey and Joe Barton have asked the FTC to investigate Facebook following reports that the company was tracking users even while they were logged off of the service. In a statement, Markey and Barton wrote, “as co-Chairs of the Congressional Bi-Partisan Privacy Caucus, we believe that tracking user behavior without their consent or knowledge raises serious privacy concerns. When users log out of Facebook, they are under the expectation that Facebook is no longer monitoring their activities. We believe this impression should be the reality. Facebook users should not be tracked without their permission.” In response, Facebook changed the log-out process so that it doesn’t store cookies for logged-out users.

Warner Bros Web Series Incorporates Facebook User Data Into the Story

In an interesting experiment, director McG is incorporating Facebook data into his new teen-oriented web series “Aim High.” According to McG, the series will pull data from a user’s profile to augment the series and give it a personal touch. Quoting McG, “music that the characters are listening to comes from your playlist, pictures on the walls, TV screens and picture frames inside the show are from your profile.” The planned “social series” is an attempt by Hollywood studios to tap into the popularity of social media technology, which has been siphoning viewers from TV and films.

Spotify Backtracks on Facebook-Only Authentication, Adds Private Listening Mode

Spotify users were in an uproar this week when the company announced that it was only allowing users to log-in to the service via Facebook. This move was widely criticized as it made a user’s Spotify playlist instantly accessible to Facebook friends via Facebook’s new “frictionless sharing” feature. Because users want to keep their listening preferences private, Spotify backed off and created a private listening mode. So, while you still have to log-in to the site through Facebook, you don’t have to share your listening stream publicly.

Social Media Use Increases Corporate Security Risks

According to a new global study by the Ponemon Institute, more than half of the 4,640 organizations polled indicated an increase in computer attacks as a result of workers using social networks. According to the study, “about a quarter of those respondents said the attacks rose by more than 50 percent” due to social media. The attacks mostly came via “social engineering,” which involves a deliberate attempt to target an individual using information in their profile to gain their trust and get them to click on a malicious link.

In today’s Quick Hits, we talk about Facebook’s dramatic recent changes, why it can be difficult to develop effective social media policies, and concern on Capitol Hill over OnStar’s recent privacy policy tweaks.

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Facebook “Frictionless Sharing” a Potential Privacy Problem

One of Facebook’s new changes following its dramatic redesign is a feature called “frictionless sharing.” The idea behind frictionless sharing is that users can allow certain online activities to be shared with friends without manually updating their profiles. However, as this PCWorld article points out, frictionless sharing raises some very serious privacy concerns. Quoting the article, “The new functionality is reminiscent of Beacon, Facebook’s now defunct over-sharing system that landed the social network in hot water in 2007. Under the Beacon plan, if you bought movie tickets from the Fandango site, say, Facebook would alert your Facebook friends.”

Frictionless sharing is different than Beacon, because it requires explicit authorization before sharing info, but the same issue applies. You don’t want to share certain information on Facebook, but Facebook continues to make it easier and easier to share.

10 Things to Know About the New Facebook

The Detroit Free Press has a nice write-up of Facebook’s recent design overhaul and what it means for users. In the article, Mark Smith touches on many possible privacy issues related to the makeover and also how users can protect themselves from sharing too much sensitive data online.

Companies Have Hard Time With Facebook Policies

To protect their bottom lines, companies need to develop smart social media policies for employees. But many companies are having a hard time coming up with policies that don’t restrict employees’ freedom of speech, leading to several cases in which the National Labor Relations Board has helped employees who were fired for online comments regain their employment. This article from ABC News discusses the NLRB’s efforts to help employees who have been wrongfully terminated as well as companies who need to establish social media policies as part of a risk management strategy.

Sen. Chuck Schumer Calls for Probe Into OnStar Privacy Changes

Sen. Chuck Schumer, who has been active in consumer privacy issues in Congress, has called for the FTC to launch an investigation into OnStar and the company’s recent privacy policy changes. Last week, OnStar made a switch to its privacy policy that gave the company a lot more room to share customer data with third-parties.

Couple Ask Facebook to Name Unborn Baby

An Illinois couple has asked Facebook (all 800 million members) to help them pick a name for their unborn child. Perhaps anticipating that the Web could come up with something terrible, they have set-up a poll with their four favorite names and asked for votes. The four choices are McKenna, Madelyn, Addilyne, and Emily.

In today’s Quick Hits, we share thoughts on Facebook’s f8 announcements, a survey showing opposition to Facebook’s news feed changes, a story about the online reputation perils of college newspapers, and the Australian government’s concerns over Internet privacy.

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Facebook Profile Overhaul Raises Privacy Concerns

Yesterday at the company’s annual f8 developer’s conference, Facebook premiered a drastically new look for its profiles called “Timeline.” Timeline allows users to see everything they’ve posted on Facebook over the course of their time on the site, making much more information available to friends and followers. While many were excited about this change, others were concerned about the privacy implications of having so much data readily available. Facebook expert Mari Smith discussed the changes with USA Today and touched on these privacy concerns. Quoting the article, “Among her own vast online community, [Smith] said she’d heard complaints that Facebook was asking users to share too much information and that there were overtones of Big Brother.”

Facebook Users Hate Changes by 5 to 1 Ratio

According to a national phone survey, Facebook users dislike the company’s recent changes to the News Feed by a ratio of 5 to 1. Though the sample size of the survey was small compared to Facebook’s global userbase, it begs an intriguing question. If people are upset over changes to the news feed, how will they feel when the entire profile changes to the Timeline model shown at yesterday’s f8 conference?

Digitization of College Newspapers Causing Reputation Problems for Alumni

By and large, people are different during their college years than they are as professionals. But, as more and more colleges put their newspaper archives online, alumni are learning that the things they did in college are catching up with them and, in some cases, damaging their online reputations. This article from USA Today discusses how college newspaper articles, both old and new, can cause reputation problems for college students and graduates.

Australian Privacy Watchdog Gives Warning on Facebook Privacy

Add Australia to the list of countries that have taken exception with the amount of personal data that Facebook and other social networking websites collect about users. According to The Australian, Australian Privacy Commissioner Timothy Pilgrim recently issued a statement saying that “social networking sites needed to ensure their users knew exactly how and when their personal information would be used.” Pilgrim’s concern, echoed by academics, is that erosion of privacy will be normalized unless people are made explicitly aware of how much information they are sharing online.

In today’s Quick Hits, we talk about possible changes to COPPA, the NHL’s new social media policy, and Facebook’s ambitious small business plans.

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FTC Proposes Changes to COPPA

CNET reports that, “in an effort to keep up with changing technology, the FTC is proposing changes to online privacy rules that give parents control over the type of information that Web sites can collect from kids under 13. The proposed amendments are an update to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, which became effective in 2000. The possible revisions focus on five areas, including parental notice, the definition of personal information, and the confidentiality and security of children’s personal information.” The Internet has transformed significantly in the last 11 years, particularly with regard to the rise of social networking services, which is why the FTC is considering these changes.

Facebook Makes Push for Small Businesses

In a recent interview, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg laid out her plans for bringing in small business users to Facebook saying, “I think every small business should … be using Facebook” and “we’re not going to stop until all of them are using it to grow their business.” The article goes on to explain one tactic that Facebook is using to entice small business owners to use Facebook advertising. Quoting the article, “The company plans to offer free $50 advertising credits for up to 200,000 small businesses. When a person clicks on an ad, there’s a set rate predetermined for that click through — 5 cents or 25 cents, for example — the advertiser has to pay. Facebook will pick up the tab for the first $50 of such ads delivered under its offer.”

Missouri Senate Passes Revised Social Networking Law

The Missouri Senate has finally passed a social networking law limiting contact between teachers and students online. The original version of the bill was criticized by teacher’s groups and rejected by a federal judge for being overly broad. The passed version of the bill was tweaked to prohibit “exclusive access” to students, such as a Facebook message, but not Facebook Fan Pages and other public groups.

Congress Makes Important Tweak to Computer Fraud and Abuse Act

Recently, the Federal government proposed changes to the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act that would make stiffer penalties. However, as Kashmir Hill explains, these changes worried some legal experts such as Orrin Hill who argued that “faking your name on Facebook could be a felony” once the law was changed. In response to these criticisms, Congress proposed an amendment to the bill that would “exempt those guilty only of TOS violations.”

Inside the NHL’s New Social Media Policy for Players

Thanks to social media technology, fans and professional athletes can communicate with each other better than ever. However, this has also opened up the possibility of embarrassment or abuse from athletes who don’t use the technology correctly. To combat inappropriate social media use, the NHL recently enacted a new social media policy for players. Some of the points in this policy are good reminders for any social media user. For example, the NHL recommends that “a player must take personal responsibility for comments” and encourages players to “stop and think before you post.”

In today’s Quick Hits, we talk about Facebook’s role in relationship disputes, Sen. Ellen Corbett’s thoughts on Facebook’s new privacy controls, Flickr’s creative new privacy feature, and a curious story involving the commercial sale of mug shots from the 1950s.

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Facebook Friction Cited in Relationship Disputes

Dating in the digital age not only requires navigating the usual pitfalls of new relationships, but also the confusing ins and outs of social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter. This article from the Herald Sun discusses how “Facebook Friction” is often cited as a common issue in modern relationships and various ways to deal with digital drama.

California Sen. Ellen Corbett on Facebook Privacy Changes: “More Must Be Done”

Sen. Ellen Corbett, whose controversial proposal to force social media websites into opt-in defaults was narrowly defeated earlier in the year, recently released a statement about Facebook’s recent privacy changes. According to the San Jose Mercury News, Corbett said “much more still must be done to protect children and educate adults and children about the dangers of disclosing information on the Internet,” and that “as a parent and a legislator, [she has] serious concerns about protecting children and will continue to work on this issue.”

Flickr Aims to Protect Location Privacy with Geofences

In an effort to give users more protection over the location data in their photographs, the popular photo-sharing website Flickr recently introduced a new feature called “geofences.” With geofences, “users can draw a circle on a map to designate a geofence and then choose a geographic privacy setting for that area.” It’s a creative solution to a complex problem that many Flickr users likely were not even aware of.

Commercial Use of Old Mug Shots Raises Questions on Privacy

The New York Times has an interesting article about a new company that sells products with reproductions of 60-year-old mugshots. Jason Schultz, a director of the Samuelson Law, Technology and Public Policy Clinic at the law school of the University of California, Berkeley explains the complex issues involved with old mug shots, saying “There are ongoing questions about the privacy of people listed in court records. We think, ‘Wow it’s in the public record,’ but in reality if it’s in a file somewhere that you can’t Google, it remains private until we need it. Now that records are becoming more public, I think courts are trying to think about how to be sensitive to those interests given that they can be indexed by search engines, copied and reposted.”

In today’s Quick Hits, Eric Schmidt uses interesting language to describe Google+, Dan Tynan criticizes Facebook’s new privacy settings, and ZDNet tests your ability to weed out phishing scams.

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Eric Schmidt Calls Google+ an “Identity System”

You might think of Google+ as a social networking site, but according to Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt, it’s an “identity system.” Schmidt made the statement while defending Google’s policy of requiring real names, which many have criticized for being overly aggressive. As BusinessInsider explains, this approach is useful for Google because having a single trusted identity “could ease their interactions offline and online,” making Internet advertising, the core of Google’s business model, more effective.

Juror Sentenced to Community Service for “Friending” Defendant

A Texas juror was sentenced to two days of community service after he pleaded guilty to contempt of court following his attempts to “friend” the defendant in the case on Facebook. The juror also attempted to talk about the case with the defendant, in clear violation of the court’s orders to not discuss the case online. This isn’t the first time that a juror has gotten in trouble for social networking, not will it be the last, as social media has become a staple of everyday life.

Legitimate Facebook E-mails vs. Phishing E-mails

Could you tell the difference between a legitimate Facebook e-mail and a phishing scam? It’s not as easy as it seems. This article from ZDNet gives three examples and asks the reader to pick whether the e-mail is legit or a scam. The level of sophistication around online scams may surprise you.

Dan Tynan: Facebook Privacy Controls Stil Broken

Despite Facebook’s recent efforts to make privacy controls more accessible, the company is still missing the point when it comes to user privacy, according to tech journalist Dan Tynan. In his ITWorld column, Tynan singles out Facebook’s new tagging controls, which he says allow users to post negative information about a Facebook user without them knowing.

Quoting Tynan, “Using Facebook’s new “improved” privacy controls, you can tag someone else in photo and then keep them from seeing it. It’s pretty simple; just change the sharing option so they don’t see what you posted. So if you want to tag a picture of a jackass with your friend’s name on it and make it Public, everyone on Facebook will be able to see it except one – the person whose name is on it.”

Christopher Wolf of Future of Privacy Forum Questions Law Focused on Erasing Privacy Data

Attorney Christopher Wolf, who is co-chair of the Future of Privacy Forum, recently appeared on Bloomberg Law where he questioned the efficacy of new privacy laws that promise to give consumers the power to erase their private data on demand. Wolf specifically discussed the “Do-Not-Track Kids Act of 2011,” which he said could be unwieldy and difficult for companies to enforce.

In today’s Quick Hits, we talk about a lawsuit intended to overturn a new law preventing teachers from “friending” students online and why Facebook and dating don’t always mix.

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Missouri Teachers File Lawsuit Against Social Networking Ban

The Missouri State Teacher’s Association has filed a lawsuit challenging the state’s new law preventing teachers from interacting with students on Facebook and other social media websites. The law, which has been described as unconstitutional by Internet law expert Daniel Solove, was created to discourage teachers and students form having inappropriate sexual relationships, but has been criticized as overly broad by teachers’ groups. The law is set to go into effect on August 28th.

Preteens and Teens Embrace Raunchy Online Culture

This article from The Campbell Reporter discusses how young teens are embracing “the raunchy, rude lingo of cyberspace” and what teachers are doing to help students exercise more responsibility online. Quoting the article, “Educators increasingly are joining in to challenge the crude culture of social networks, which they fear unleashes cyberbullying and sexting, heightens the social drama of puberty and teaches the wrong values.” Citing a number of examples from the San Francisco Bay Area, the article shares how digital literacy and education programs, along with anti-bullying legislation, have been proposed to help kids stay safe on the Web.

Facebook Comments Improve Websites

People might say and do stupid things on Facebook, but when they’re using Facebook to leave a comment on a website, they smarten up. According to Jimmy Orr at the Los Angeles Times, whose paper has been using Facebook comments and traditional anonymous comments side-by-side, the difference in the quality of discourse from Facebook commenters was “stunning.” Orr owes the improved comments to the fact that Facebook requires users to provide their real name. When individuals know that their real name and reputation is tied to their comments, they are more careful and less combative online.

Ask Michael Cohen: Why You Shouldn’t Mix Dating and Facebook

Huffington Post advice columnist Michael Cohen answers three questions about the often confusing intersection of Facebook and relationships. For the most part, Cohen’s advice is to keep Facebook out of relationships, especially when dating, so as not to show off your entire life before you can even get to know your would-be date.

How Parents Help Their Kids Get Around Age Limits Online

This interesting article from TIME explores how parents help their kids access Internet websites by lying about their age. Because of the federal law COPPA, children under the age of 13 aren’t allowed to access certain websites. However, some parents believe that there is value in giving their kids access to social networking websites like Facebook and Google+. The TIME piece discusses how Google’s efforts to keep a 10-year-old from accessing his Google+ profile led to his father setting up the boy’s account in his name.

In today’s Quick Hits, we talk about LinkedIn’s privacy problem and a Canadian politician’s porn problem, as well as some tips on how to protect your privacy and security on social networking websites.

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LinkedIn Clarifies Privacy Policies, Tweaks Social Ads

Two months ago, LinkedIn began something called Social Ads, in which the website used user information as part of in-site advertising. LinkedIn has since received considerable negative press over the feature, particularly with regard to the fact that users were opted in to the program by default. In response, LinkedIn has tweaked Social Ads to not feature a user’s picture. The company also released a statement apologizing for the faux-pas and pointing out that it could have made the change more visible at the time.

Canadian Political Candidate Embarrassed Over Facebook Pornography

A political candidate in Canada was recently embarrassed to discover that someone had posted links to pornographic websites on his Facebook profile. The candidate, who admits to not being computer savvy, is unsure how the links ended up on his profile, but acknowledged the possibility that it could be a political opponent.

MSNBC Live Chat on Social Networking Security and Privacy

Yesterday, MSNBC tech reporter Rosa Golijan hosted a live Q&A dealing with online privacy and security issues. The Q&A discussed how to keep safe on social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter. The entire Q&A is still accessible at MSNBC and features a lot of interesting information.

In today’s Quick Hits, we talk about the New York Police Department’s plans to use social media to catch criminals and the epic fight between Facebook and Google+.

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NYPD Forming Social Media Monitoring Units

In an effort to capitalize on the number of criminals who boast about their crimes online, the NYPD has announced the formation of new units that will “mine social media, looking for info about troublesome house parties, gang showdowns and other potential mayhem,” according to the New York Daily News (via Mashable). This is not the first time that a law enforcement agency has used social media in its crime fighting efforts, as numerous local, state, and federal outfits have also turned to social media to help identify criminals.

Facebook Changes Social Reporting Tools

In a note at its Facebook Safety page, Facebook announced several changes to how users report offensive content on the site. In a series of screenshots, Facebook shows how it has improved the reporting function so that users can better specify their issue, request to have a photo taken down, connect with a “trusted friend” for assistance, or block a bully. The changes are specifically geared at helping young Facebook users deal with online harassment and cyberbullying.

Most Members of Anonymous Hacking Group Don’t Support Planned Facebook Attack

This week, numerous reports declared that factions of the hacking group Anonymous were planning to hack Facebook later this year. Now, several of the loosely-knit group’s more prominent voices have declared that the Facebook operation is the work of only a few members and is not supported by Anonymous as a whole. According to ZDNet, the Twitter account for AnonOps wrote in a message, “#OpFacebook is being organised by some Anons. This does not necessarily mean that all of #Anonymous agrees with it.” The apparent lack of support for the campaign is a good indication that it will not have a strong impact on Facebook’s operations.

New York Times: Europe Backs Web Privacy Fights

It is no secret that Europe and the United States of America have widely divergent views on personal privacy policies, but this article by Suzenne Daley in the New York Times shows just how much European governments are doing to give people a “right to be forgotten.” It would seem that European citizens agree, as well. According to the Times, “Three out of four [European Union citizens] said they were worried about how Internet companies used their information and wanted the right to delete personal data at any time. Ninety percent wanted the European Union to take action on the right to be forgotten.”

Facebook vs. Google+ Infographic

Since Google rolled out its Google+ social network earlier this summer, nearly every story on the service has focused on whether it will be able to compete with Facebook. Taking that question to a whole new level, SingleGrain devised a special infographic pitting Google+ against Facebook. The infographic, shared via The Atlantic, details the rapid rise of Google+ in comparison to the sheer size of Facebook.