Nine out of 10 adults said they believed advertisers should get a parent’s permission before collecting data on their children.
Overwhelmingly, parents object to personal information being collected on their children over the internet. This is according to a new poll just released before federal officials are set to vote on a controversial proposal to strengthen child privacy laws.
Continue reading… “Most parents oppose collecting children’s information on the internet”
Tom Slee published “Seeing Like a Geek” a few days ago. It is a thoughtful article on the dark side of open data. He starts with the story of a Dalit community in India, whose land was transferred to a group of higher cast Mudaliars through bureaucratic manipulation under the guise of standardizing and digitizing property records. While this sounds like a good idea, it gave a wealthier, more powerful group a chance to erase older, traditional records that hadn’t been properly codified. One effect of passing laws requiring standardized, digital data is to marginalize all data that can’t be standardized or digitized, and to marginalize the people who don’t control the process of standardization.
Continue reading… “The dark side of open data”
YIKES!
Within the next year or two, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will instantly know everything about your body, clothes, and luggage with a new laser-based molecular scanner fired from 50 meters away. From traces of drugs or gun powder on your clothes to what you had for breakfast to the adrenaline level in your body—agents will be able to get any information they want without even touching you.
And without you knowing it…
How much time do you have to read the privacy policies you encounter?
In The Cost of Reading Privacy Policies, by Aleecia M. McDonald and Lorrie Faith Cranor, the authors calculate that the average Internet user would have to spend one full working month per year in order to skim all the Internet privacy policies she encounters in a year. Mike Masnick reports on Techdirt…
Continue reading… “Reading all the privacy policies you “agree” to would take a month per year”
Facebook users ‘should never have to share’ information.’
In the wake of controversy over the intrusive practice of employers – Facebook is warning employers not to demand passwords as part of job interviews.
Continue reading… “Facebook issues warning to employers not to demand passwords”
Samsung’s latest sets feature built-in HD cameras, microphone sets and face and speech recognition software.
Top-of-the-line plasmas and LED HDTVs by Samsung offer new features never before available within a television including a built-in, internally wired HD camera, twin microphones, face tracking and speech recognition. These new features give you unprecedented control over your HDTV, but the devices themselves are more similar than ever to a personal computer and may allow hackers or even Samsung to see and hear you and your family, and collect extremely personal data.
Continue reading… “Your new tv could be watching you”
83% of people who use search engines in the U.S. prefer Google.
Despite privacy concerns, Google still reigns supreme as the go-to search engine, even if people are bit nervous about how it collects data and targets ads.
Continue reading… “83% of Americans prefer Google despite privacy concerns”
Do you think Facebook and Twitter account privacy settings guarantee future employers or schools can’t see your private posts? You need to think again.
Continue reading… “Employers and colleges demand Facebook passwords from applicants”
Firefox is the world’s second most popular web browser after Internet Explorer.
The maker of Firefox, Mozilla, has unveiled a new add-on for the popular web browser that gives web users an instant view of which companies are ‘watching’ them as they browse.
Pew is calling this phenomenon “the pruning” of social networks.
Facebook users are getting a lot more selective, deleting comments, photo tags and even friends at a record rate, according to a new study released Friday by the Pew Internet and American Life Project.
Continue reading… “Facebook users deleting friends at record rate”
Teens are migrating to Twitter because many parents are on Facebook, but they don’t tweet.
Teenagers don’t tweet and will never tweet because it’s too public, too many older users and not cool. That’s been the prediction for a while now, born of numbers showing that fewer than one in 10 teens were using Twitter early on.
Continue reading… “Teens shifting to Twitter for privacy”
Google’s Ad Preferences page shows you the profile Google has built up of your interests.
It has been said that Google knows more about what you like than your own partner. Now the search giant has given a glimpse on just how much information it has collected – and who it thinks you are.
Continue reading… “Google Ad Preferences thinks it knows who you are from your web history”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.