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02 Dec 2010 11:08

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Tech: Protip: Don’t browse YouPorn if you wanna keep your privacy

  • 485 major sites exploit a privacy-exploiting browser hack source
  • » Wait, what about YouPorn?: See, YouPorn, one of the most popular sites on the Internet that nobody ever talks about going to, is the most-notable user of this particular hack, which scrapes your history using Javascript to see if you’re going to other sites, and even hijacks it. And don’t think because you don’t watch porn that you’re not getting traced – news sites, sports sites and many other safe-for-work sites also use the scary technique. (Update: In an earlier version, we linked to a site which appears to have been down much of the day. Sorry ’bout that.)
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Dec 2010 22:15

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Tech: Federal Trade Commission: We should have a “Do not track” button

  • positive In the wake of the Facebook scandal over Rapleaf, the FTC is recommending that there’s a “do not track” button for Web users.
  • negative They’re only recommending it, not pushing for legislation to make it happen. Instead, they plan to offer suggestions to companies. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Nov 2010 11:38

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Politics: Posted without comment: Kid strip-searched by the TSA (wow)

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Nov 2010 10:42

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Tech: Most popular plugin ever: Adblock Plus. Publishers grow very sad

  • 100
    million     number of downloads the plugin, most popular on Firefox, has had since it was released in 2006
  • 12.3
    million     number of active users the plugin currently has, which means millions in lost advertising income source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Oct 2010 10:48

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Tech: Google apologizes (profusely) for Street View data scraping

  • We work hard at Google to earn your trust, and we’re acutely aware that we failed badly here.
  • Google Senior VP of Engineering and Research Alan Eustace • Revealing what the company did in the wake of Google Street View’s accidental wi-fi snooping in Europe. (Lots of training, lots of policy changes.) He also admitted, though, that (while most of what they grabbed were data fragments) the company did in fact grab entire e-mails and other private information. “We are mortified by what happened,” Eustace writes, but says that they hope that the policy changes will prevent it from happening again. 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

15 Sep 2010 23:19

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Tech: Here’s their hard work: The boys of Diaspora show their stuff

  • There it is guys. Diaspora. The Kickstarter project that led to many thousands of dollars in donations now has a code release. It’s now open-source. It’s not a real release yet (that’s coming in October), but it’s definitely off to a good start. Imagine it as Facebook without any of the ads and extra crap that makes Facebook Facebook. Too early to decide if it’s overhyped yet. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 4 Comments • Permalink
 

02 Sep 2010 21:00

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Tech: Consumer watchdog group to Google CEO: Don’t be creepy

  • Google CEO Eric Schmidt has said some pretty weird crap lately. He thinks you should be able to change your name as an adult. He suggests that you shouldn’t say certain things online if you don’t want them to get out there. And it’s got consumer groups pretty concerned. We don’t think Schmidt is anything other than a weird dude, but this clip makes him look like the second incarnation of Chucky from “Child’s Play.” Is it really this bad? Really? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Aug 2010 12:50

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U.S.: Can police put a GPS unit on your car without a warrant?

  • YES that’s what a federal appeals court ruled source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Aug 2010 22:24

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Tech: Will RIM cave to foreign pressure on BlackBerry data processing?

  • NO caving could damage business relationships source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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