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13 Apr 2011 11:26

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U.S.: Two losers try to save face by introducing online privacy bill

  • “GUYS! Guys. Come on, you know us.” “I’m the guy who lost the presidential election in 2004. Flanking me on my left is the guy who lost in 2008. Despite the fact that we’re both losers, we still have some winning moments, and this is one of them. We’re introducing this online privacy bill to ensure that consumers still have rights on the Internet and that their info isn’t being shared by anyone like those jerks at Rapleaf. I know my boy didn’t even discover Twitter until like a year ago, but we’re totally on top of this thing. Give us some credit, guys!” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

18 Oct 2010 22:27

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Tech: Facebook’s “privacy breach”: Meet Rapleaf, circa 2007

  • This is an e-mail we got way back in 2007. Good time of our life. We were living in Norfolk, Va., probably drinking an iced coffee and getting dumped on by an old ex or something. Well, one day, we got this e-mail in our inbox. Something seemed pretty bizarre about this e-mail. We don’t have the old page, and it no longer exists, but this company, Rapleaf, had a significant amount of information about us that it was publicly sharing with other people we didn’t know. And the service wasn’t opt-in for some reason. After getting really pissed about it and yelling and stuff, we opted out and didn’t think about it again for a while. We were reminded of this e-mail when we read the WSJ’s Facebook story today.
  • What’s going on?The WSJ investigation suggests that certain app developers have been giving away personal information about their users to services like Rapleaf, who then sell the information to marketers, who were then able to trace the users by linking their e-mails and user IDs. Rapleaf says it was unintentional.
  • LOLApps was doing it Over the weekend, Facebook game company LOLapps, known for their quizzes and other games, was kicked off of the site unexpectedly. (They’re back now after a cooling-off period.) Their platform is super-popular and has millions of users. Nobody knew why – that is, until the WSJ made it clear.
  • Don’t blame Facebook Facebook isn’t the bad guy here; they’re just the indirect conduit. We’re much more inclined to question Rapleaf. Based on our prior history with them, we can say that they have a history of directly violating end users’ privacy. And we find it hard to trust their explanation at face value. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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