Archives for posts with tag: privacy

Privacy Is Not Dead, But…

May 2, 2010 //
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Today marks the start of Privacy Week. It’s timely, given the reaction to Facebook’s Open Graph announcement a couple weeks ago.

As we become more dependent on digital interconnectedness to stay in the know, it’s important to consider the data trail we leave behind — and not just on social networks. Earlier this year, President Obama signed signed a one-year extension of the Patriot Act, a law that was written in response to the Sept. 11 attacks, but which critics say gives the federal government unprecedented surveillance authority over private citizens.

“Having information about other individuals is a very important way of having leverage over them,” says University of Chicago law professor Geoffrey R. Stone.

Watch the short film above. If you’re concerned about your privacy and want to take action, sign the Privacy Week petition to congress, and read the latest information from the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC). If you’re specifically concerned about Facebook, follow these instructions to opt-out of instant personalization or these instructions to permanently delete your account.

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Categories Social Media, Tips + Techniques

Facebook Privacy ‘Fix’ Isn’t Much of One at All

November 27, 2007 //
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First there was concern over Beacon.

Then came the launch that Faced a thousand users.

What followed was the public and predicted invasion of privacy outcry, Facebook’s claim of implied consent, and Moveon.org’s petition.

It seems people either weren’t seeing the social ads that showed just what they’d bought and where they made their purchase, or they didn’t understand that they only had 20 seconds to opt-out of having the ad posted on their Facebook feed.

Now comes news that Facebook announced a change to its social ads, but as Wendy Davis points out:

When pressed about how the statement distributed to the media yesterday reflected any changes, the spokesman said, “We fixed a technical issue to be sure the first notification fully displayed since some users were missing it.”

Well, if that’s the case — if Facebook’s “fixed” something so that the notifications it intended to launch with actually work — it’s hardly worth bragging about.

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Categories Social Media