Facebook Provides Some Control of Friends List Visibility, But Hides It

One of the most controversial aspects of Facebook’s recent privacy upgrade downgrade has been the removal of the privacy setting allowing users to limit the visibility of their list of friends. Perhaps more than any other set of information on…

Facebook’s Privacy Upgrade is a Downgrade for User Privacy

Recently I’ve commented on Facebook’s new privacy paradigm, and went so far to applaud Facebook’s promise to give users more specific control over individual posts, as well as the promise to simply its privacy settings. My enthusiasm was tempered with…

West Bend Public Library Wins U-Illinois Robert B. Downs Intellectual Freedom Award

For its principled stance regarding the recent controversy over certain Young Adult books, the West Bend Community Memorial Library has been awarded the Robert B. Downs Intellectual Freedom Award by the faculty of the Graduate School of Library and Information…

If You Trust Google’s Results, You Can Thank…“PigeonRank”?

Perhaps the greatest ethos surrounding Google’s success is its — and users’ — faith in the algorithm. Users trust Google, and have faith that the results provided are accurate and helpful. Sometimes, however, that trust can be misplaced. Recently, a…

On Google’s New Homepage, Privacy Fades Away

Google has announced a new "feature" to its homepage: upon loading, only the Google logo, the search box and the search buttons are visible. The links to additional products, advanced search function, and the privacy policy, only fade in if…

Google Adds Location History to Latitude: Feature Request, or Strategic Rollout?

When Google launched Google Latitude 9 months ago, they took steps to ensure users' locational privacy was protected. Among the most important privacy-protecting features was the fact that Google didn't keep a log of user locations on its servers; only…