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December 7, 2007

After the Fallout, A Defense of Facebook Beacon

I haven't been hanging out on Facebook very long or often these days, so I didn't experience the "Big Brother"-ish alerts from Beacon that my colleague Jason Del Rey describes in his post. But, not living under a rock, I couldn't miss all the bad PR Facebook has encountered because of Beacon and its privacy intrusions.

Then today, as I was doing background research/casual Web surfing, I ran across a post, dated from a week ago, on the blog Sexy Widget regarding Beacon. My immediate reaction: "Ha! If only Facebook had positioned this better. The way it's described here, Beacon doesn't sound half bad." To read the post, click here; I definitely recommend it for a different perspective on the matter.

The most salient point that I took from the post was that Beacon doesn't necessarily have to be blatantly commercial. Beside privacy concerns, much of the grumbling about Beacon centered upon what people believed to be incessant shilling of products. But the notifications are useful for other activities on the Web besides e-commerce. Sure, it's about advertising, but so are those notices on the news feed that tell you when someone has added a new app. And I remember when the news feed first came out. Everyone hated it, including me -- I even notified Facebook personally on the matter. But now the news feed is one of Facebook's most acclaimed features, MySpace is copying it, and I have to admit it's pretty clever.

Now, much of this is moot, as Facebook has not only made Beacon opt-in but also enabled users to turn it off completely. But now that I've read some analysis of Beacon's potential, I hope that potential hasn't entirely been quashed by the public's disgust.

Posted by April Joyner at 12:56 AM | 2 Comments

December 4, 2007

Facebook: Social Networking Site or Big Brother?

The first time I took note of Beacon, I wasn't exactly sure what it was. It was about one week ago, and I had returned home a few hours earlier from watching some football games at a friend's apartment. I logged into Facebook, and observed a news feed telling me that my friend had just purchased tickets to see the movie "Michael Clayton." I was puzzled.

Was there a new feature embedded in Facebook that allowed users to purchase movie tickets? Not that I knew of. Had my friend included this info in his status? I doubted it.

Continue reading "Facebook: Social Networking Site or Big Brother?"

Posted by Jason Del Rey at 3:14 PM | 3 Comments

October 22, 2007

Technology: The Ringing Could Soon Be Everywhere

I was on the subway with one of my louder friends the other day when he said something particularly embarrassing. Red-faced I shushed him vigorously and looked furtively around to see how many people were chuckling. Talk about anticlimactic. Nobody.

Every single one of our surrounding co-passengers who sat within earshot had headphones planted firmly in their ears, seemingly content to just sit back and let the music keep them company. I was amazed.

It's not really a new phenomenon that many people who ride New York's subway carry iPods or other MP3 players. I just had never had an occasion to notice how large this number actually is. People keep inter-personal interaction to a minimum-- no looking, no talking, no touching (well not of one's own volition anyway). The music is just another way to keep the invisible walls impenetrable.

Listening to music on the subway isn't a bad thing at all – before it seems like I'm heading down that path -- but last week's incident (or lack of) has made me think about how public transport systems are increasingly being populated by more and more gadget wielders.

A recent piece of tech news: In the near future, possibly even next year, people may be able to freely use their cell phones on airplanes flying over EU airspace. Plans have already been developed to allow mobile phone usage above 3000 meters, without the risk of interference with the aircraft navigation systems.

Less newsworthy is the fact that New Yorkers will soon be able to use their cell phones underground. The Metropolitan Transport Authority recently announced a plan by which all 277 subway stations would be wired for cell phone and wireless Internet connectivity over the next six years. Reportedly, Transit Wireless, the company that will be installing the equipment, will also provide the MTA with the potential to extend the cell phone and wireless capabilities to subway tunnels. So far, the MTA has indicated no intention of doing so. Some seem to think they should.

Now I love using my phone; I love chatting with people. And particularly when I'm suspended in a tubular vacuum, staring blankly at the Delta ad in front of me and trying to decrypt the garbled sounds from above that are meant to keep everyone informed, the prospect of having a familiar voice just a button away to help pass the time sounds pretty appealing. The problem? It sounds pretty appealing to just about everyone.

Technology itself -- if intended for humane purposes, to facilitate interaction, solve a problem or make life easier -- can be wonderful. Problems arise around the way in which people choose to harness this technology. Sometimes, depending on the type of device and the way people choose to use it, too much technology can be a bad thing.

Continue reading "Technology: The Ringing Could Soon Be Everywhere"

Posted by Saabira Chaudhuri at 10:33 AM | 3 Comments

June 1, 2007

Who's Looking at Your Google View?

Google is bringing stalking to a whole new level. With the recent launch of Google's map feature, Street View, people are getting all shaken up about the real-time views that the Internet will allow of several cities, including New York.

According to an article in today's New York Times, one woman was able to see her own cat sitting in her apartment window. For some, this is too close for comfort and feels like a violation of privacy. In the post 9/11 world, it also raises questions of security as anyone, including potential terrorists, could use the feature to get views of anywhere in the city.

Street View is available in San Francisco, Miami, Denver, Las Vegas, and New York. "Street View only features imagery taken on public property," the company said to the Times. "This imagery is no different from what any person can readily capture or see walking down the street."

The launch of Street View coincides with the New York launch of Microsoft's 3D mapping tool, Windows Live Search Maps. New York is the first city that will be featured in 3D.

While it has yet to be determined the usefulness of these products, aside from the entertainment value, the big technology companies are doing everything they can to one up each other in this realm. It will be interesting to see what comes next. What features do you want to see in the maps and do you think Google has gone too far?

Posted by Lisa LaMotta at 4:41 PM | 111 Comments

April 20, 2007

My Week on MySpace

Yesterday, I wrote a blog post about the safety of social networks. I would personally like to rescind that and talk about how I have since been violated by the lack of security on MySpace. While I am still a firm believer in Facebook and the precautions that site takes to protect its users, my prior apprehensions about joining MySpace have been reaffirmed by today's events. (Prior qualms included lack of security and overabundance of advertising)

I logged on to MySpace this morning as I have been everyday this week. It was becoming as natural as checking my email every morning and I was finally starting to grasp some of the nuances of using the site. Although, I quickly became frustrated when I could not post a comment to a friend's wall and the site continued to redirect me back to my homepage. That is where I found the message from "Tom", the universal MySpace friend, that has set this blog in motion.

Continue reading "My Week on MySpace"

Posted by Lisa LaMotta at 4:36 PM | 15 Comments

July 8, 2005

London Lalling

My ride to work on the Tube yesterday was different. Commuters on London's Underground don't normally make eye contact, let alone speak to one another, but yesterday morning they were smiling and chatting as the front pages of their papers celebrated how London had scooped the Olympic prize.

But by the time I'd got to my desk, the tunnels beneath London had become the scene of tragedy. Today London is a desperately sad city.

Continue reading "London Lalling"

Posted by Ian Wylie at 7:29 AM | 1 Comment

March 22, 2005

Pay by Finger

This just in from FC's Charles Fishman:

Lowes Foods, which operates 108 bright, expansive grocery stores in the southeast U.S., confirmed to the Raleigh News & Observer today that it will soon offer payment using a fingerprint reader at the checkout counter. The company will have a fingerprint on file, linked to a customer's checking account, and the money will be deducted directly from the checking account.

Easy, quick, convenient. No swiping of cards, no writing checks, no PIN numbers. No chance you'll leave your finger at home by accident. No chance of fraud or theft. But here's a set of questions the story didn't tackle that make me nervous:

Continue reading "Pay by Finger"

Posted by Keith Hammonds at 1:21 PM | Add Comment

March 16, 2005

Somewhat Secure Number

With a Congressional committee interviewing ChoicePoint CEO Derek Smith over the theft of 145,000 people's social security numbers, many members of Congress are wondering if it isn't time to rewrite the laws of selling personal data and make selling a person's SS# illegal.

What? It isn't illegal already? When I head about this I was flabbergasted. In high school and college they drill it into your head to never let anyone get your Social Security Number. All sorts of experts say never to respond to SPAM asking for your SS# or PINs or anything. Yet companies like ChoicePoint are allowed to know it.

Continue reading "Somewhat Secure Number"

Posted by Kevin Ohannessian at 10:48 AM | 6 Comments

March 16, 2004

The Tropicalization of Digitization and Global Red-Light Districts

Bruce Sterling is an internationally acclaimed author who lives in Austin, Texas. Having produced a steady stream of enlightening essays and ground-breaking science fiction since 1976, Sterling's most recent book is Tomorrow Now.

In his SXSW Interactive presentation, Sterling riffed through a wide range of topics, including politics, globalization and offshoring, technology and security, and the potential of NGOs. What follows is a partial transcript of his talk.

Continue reading "The Tropicalization of Digitization and Global Red-Light Districts"

Posted by Heath Row at 1:39 PM | 1 Comments

October 16, 2003

Blanket Security

The IT Security Show, the self-proclaimed largest online security exhibition, offers an impressive array of white papers related to computer forensics, information security, biometric identification, cryptography, fraud, and other related topics.

If you're interested in business- and technology-oriented privacy and security, the IT Security Show might be worth tuning in.

Posted by Heath Row at 3:11 PM | Add Comment

September 18, 2003

I've Got the Privacy (Jet)Blues

JetBlue Airlines has recently come under fire for sharing 5 million passenger itineraries with a defense contractor without passengers' knowledge or consent. In so doing, not only did the company violate its own privacy policy, it could now face an investigation of unfair business practices by the Federal Trade Commission.

Posted by Heath Row at 2:46 PM | Add Comment

September 16, 2003

Safe and Sound?

The Sept. 15 edition of Crypto-Gram features a wonderful item about the differences behind designing for safety -- accidents and random events -- and designing for security -- attacks and nonrandom events.

Using the August power outages and the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks as starting points, Bruce Schneier expands on the differences between accidents and attacks -- and the design and engineering needs for each.

How safe is your workplace -- or product or network? How secure?

Posted by Heath Row at 11:17 AM | Add Comment

September 15, 2003

Card Sharks

The state of Virginia's attorney general's office now offers an identity theft passport to protect victims of identity crimes. The passport is a legal document that asserts and confirms that you are, indeed, yourself -- and not the criminal who has stolen your identity.

My question is: What happens if your identity theft passport gets stolen or lost?

Incidentally, Robert X. Cringely recently penned a thoughtful piece on why identity theft is a growth industry. Cringely indicates that there are between 250,000 and 750,000 cases of ID theft a year.

The U.S. Secret Service reported in one year investigating more than 7,000 cases with an average cost to victims and financial institutions of $217,000 or a total cost of about $1.5 billion. The American Banking Association reports identity fraud losses to its members of around $1 billion per year and the credit card companies absorb around $1.5 billion per year in such fraud losses.

Then there is the cost of fighting the problem, which ranges from $15,000 per case for the Secret Service to the average 175 man-hours that consumer counseling organizations report it takes victims to deal with the paperwork of restoring their financial lives to order.

So the cost to society of identity theft is in the range of $4-5 billion per year and may be even higher. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission recently came up with an annual figure of $53 billion.

Cringely's suggested deterrent to identity theft: a paper shredder.

Posted by Heath Row at 10:56 AM | Add Comment