Values and Pragmatic Action: The Challenges of Introducing Ethical Intelligence in Technical Design Communities

I've written a lot here about the need for companies to engage in value-conscious design of their products and services. This, admittedly, is no simple task. Ever since spending a few weeks thinking about this topic a few years ago,…

School Bans Teacher-Student Communication on Social Networks

A Milwaukee-area school district has enacted a policy banning communication between school staff and students on social networking Web sites and instant messaging services. According to this report, the school board seems to be concerned over the fact they can't…

Stutzman’s Suggestions for Facebook to Properly Address User Rights

Fred Stutzman has an excellent post on the recent Facebook terms of service kerfuffle, including his prescription for what Facebook must do to properly address user rights: First, Facebook should place a reasonable lifespan (eighteen to twenty-four months) on information…

On Facebook, People Own and Control Their Information (Except When Facebook Does)

Now that the NY Times has picked up the story about Facebook changing their terms of service, effecitvely removing mention that the license users grant Facebook to use their content expires if users remove said content, Facebook has issued a…

Facebook’s New Content License Extends Beyond Closure of Account

The terms of service (TOS) for most websites featuring user-generated content share a common language regarding the license granted to those sites when a user uploads content. YouTube, MySpace, and Flickr, for example, all state (with some wordsmithing) that when…

Comparing Search Data Retention Policies of Major Search Engines

Well, according to Microsoft. As part of the on-going battle among major search engines related to search data retention policies, Microsoft has published this chart attempting to summarize and compare the state of anonymization in the search industry (click to…