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6 posts tagged Privacy
Ohhh, now THIS is a privacy issue. Facebook claims it’s to prevent spamming and phishing, but one has to wonder - really? That’s the only reason?
Given all of the concerns about privacy - Facebook, Google, whoever, maybe everyone should think closer to home - like, ah, your mobile phone that is probably allowing your service provider to track everything you do. Keep in mind that European privacy regulations are much stricter than ours. Which means, well, you kind of have to wonder just who’s watching you now…(spooky, isn’t it?)
Source openculture.com
“How do I handle the privacy issues Facebook is having? I changed all my settings to “as public as possible.” That solved a few things.
1. It made it easy to figure out the privacy settings.
2. I won’t be shocked if something leaks into public view because now I’ll expect it.
3. It lets me move on with my life and make fun of all those wacky http://www.tumblr.com/new/quotepundits who deleted their Facebook accounts.”
Dear Facebook - perhaps you should revisit the meaning of “intuitive user experience”.
Hugs! Cheap&Evil
Free!
Let’s face it, we all like a good deal. And we love getting something for nothing - and in many cases, we have come to expect it.
Gmail. The Internet. Content.
Hold on.
Are we REALLY getting this for free? Of course not.
Gmail - you give up your privacy and allow Google to serve you advertising directly related to subject matter in your personal emails. In return, you get a pretty decent email system, and Google gets ad revenues. Billions of dollars in ad revenues. Do you use YouTube? Picasa? Google Docs? Calendar? Then you are giving Google basically open access to everything you post, create, save - basically your life stream. Want to know everything that Google can see? Check out GoogleDashboard. Mashable said it best “it’s…an unpleasant reminder of just how much data you’re giving out to Google (and other online services).”
Ahh the Internet. Well, THAT’S free, right? Really? Tons of content you can access, but if you don’t have the connection, you aren’t getting anything. But otherwise, unless you are piggybacking on someone else’s Wi-Fi, you are handing out money to Time Warner Cable, Verizon, AT&T, Spring, Comcast, whoever - so you can have access to all of this free content.
And even content is not totally free.
Sites have cookies. They can track what you do and where you go online. The length of time you spend. They have databases that store and cross-reference information - what your last purchase was, what you searched for last, what others who bought this product also bought (and that “other” could be you). It’s like having a mini-cam on you as you browse, surf, shop. Do you even think twice about providing your email address and zip code to get access to content? Sure you can opt out of mailings, but the site can associate your online behavior with your email. Did you give them your cell phone number when you filled out a “check-out” form? They now have your online behavior, your email address, geographical location and if they are engaged with a company like Sense Networks, they can track where you physically go, map it against your online behavior, and then compare against others in your geographical area. Makes the CIA look like hacks.
If we want something for “free”, there’s always going to be a trade-off. How much you are willing to “pay” is going to be based on just how much information you are willing to give up. Although it may not be monetary, it certainly can be worth far more than any dollar amount.
