In a New York Times article about the massive de-bugging effort Microsoft is undertaking to get their new Vista operating system released on time, mention is made that 450,000 users are testing the software, and that their computers are sending…
Category: Privacy
The Google YouTube Tango
In one corner, we have the Googlization of virtually every aspect of our online (and increasingly offline) activities, tracking your every move. In the other corner, we have the increased corporatization of Web 2.0, also interested in watching everything you…
I want my Google Data Privacy
Gene at Fred's House sounds like one of the multitude who are beginning to embrace the "Google lifestyle": I look around my desktop and I see Google Reader, Google Mail, Google Talk, Google Toolbar, Google Maps, Google Calendar, Google News,…
From Clickstream to Clickprint
Researchers at the Wharton School are examining the ability to identify unique users based merely on their browsing behavior, their clickstream data: Clickprints on the Web: Are There Signatures in Web Browsing Data? (PDF; 233 KB) We address the question…
Unblinking Symposium
I just came across an amazing-looking multi-disciplinary symposium on privacy and surveillance at Berekely: Unblinking: New Perspectives on Visual Privacy in the 21st Century. The program is quite impressive, including Ian Kerr (who gave the keynote last week at our…
Grokster Site Warning Visitors, Collecting IPs
Eric Goldman recently visited Grokster's website at http://www.grokster.com and got the following stern warning: The United States Supreme Court unanimously confirmed that using this service to trade copyrighted material is illegal. Copying copyrighted motion picture and music files using unauthorized…
LonelyGirl15 ID’d through Amateur Data-Mining
It was recently revealed (confirmed?) that the popular online video diaries of LonelyGirl15 were not authentic, but a publicity stunt of entertainment folks linked to Hollywood talent agency CAA. Today, the real identity of LonelyGirl15 has also been revealed, mostly…
Facebook Offers Privacy Fix, But Only If You Select It
It appears Facebook has indeed modified their controversial news feed feature to allow more user control over their own privacy. But as Mary Hodder points out, the default settings allow full sharing of informaiton: So, users still must take direct…
Read More Facebook Offers Privacy Fix, But Only If You Select It
Peer-to-peer surveillance
I've commented about some of the privacy & surveillance implications of adding location meta tags in photos, everyone snapping photos in public with their cellphone cameras, and the rise of amateur surveillance and data-mining. Many of these concerns are repeated…
More on Facebook and the Contextual Integrity of Personal Information Flows
There has been an interesting discussion on the Association of Internet Researchers mailing list (and across the blogosphere) regarding the addition of feeds at Facebook and the nature of the reaction by its users. Many have criticized the reaction by…
Read More More on Facebook and the Contextual Integrity of Personal Information Flows
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