MetaFilter posts tagged with privacy and facebook

Canada Reigns In Facebook

shoesfullofdust — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 20:08:13 -0800

Facebook agrees to privacy changes [Flash video | article]. After an investigation by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, which found that Facebook gave "confusing or incomplete" privacy information to subscribers and gave developers "virtually unrestricted access to Facebook users’ personal information", Facebook has agreed to address the Privacy Commissioner’s concerns. “These changes mean that the privacy of 200 million Facebook users in Canada and around the world will be far better protected.” - Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart. "The notion that some teenager, working in a basement halfway around the globe, that could have access to all of this personal information was unsettling, to say the least." - Elizabeth Denholm, Deputy Privacy Commissioner.

Canada getting all up in your Facebook

stinkycheese — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 09:47:29 -0800

In response to a complaint by law students at the University of Ottawa in May of 2008, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada has found that Facebook is operating contrary to the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act. In other words, Facebook is breaching Canadian privacy law. Facebook has pledged to work with the Canadian government on this issue, and has 30 days to comply; if the Commissioner remains unsatisfied with their progress, they may take the case to Federal Court to force compliance.

Shame of the Survivors

permafrost — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 08:29:40 -0800

In 1996, sixteen children and one adult died in Dublane, Scotland after Thomas Hamilton walked into a school armed with four handguns. In 2009, journalist Paula Murray tracked down and befriended several of the survivors on Facebook, waited until they turned eighteen, and then wrote this article for the Sunday Express. The Express have now pulled the original article from their site, hence the Flickr link. There's a post at Graham Linehan's blog which pretty much sums up my feelings on this. The UK Press Complaints Commission is looking into the story, but as Linehan points out it's not like they're known for savage tenacity or anything.

10 Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know

Afroblanco — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 15:37:10 -0800

10 Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know thank you, Schneier

Another Day, Another Dispute at Facebook

etaoin — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 09:06:14 -0800

A NEW FACEBOOK CONTROVERSY A NEW FACEBOOK CONTROVERSY has developed, this time over photos of women breastfeeding their babies. But Facebook is standing firm.. The protesters have also formed a Facebook group, of course, Hey Facebook, Breastfeeding Is Not Obscene. It's not the first controversy at the social networking site and this blog documents activities, rumors and news about Facebook. The site was criticized after one moron posted photos showing himself costumed as a Virginia Tech shooting victim. Privacy and user data are always issues at the site. There was the Facebook Beacon program, that tracked users' activities on the Web to a much greater extent than originally anticipated. And for students, there's the matter of parents using Facebook, driving their children crazy. For the love of god -- don't let parents join Facebook has more than 6,400 members, mostly teenagers embarrassed or angry that their parents use the site, fearing a loss of privacy. But not everyone has the same complaint; this blogger was happy to find his grandfather on the site. And now Facebook itself is battling site aggregator Power.com in an effort to control access to user information.

Privacy and Social Networking: If I Poke you, it indicates that I’m online, and I’m thinking about you.

ahughey — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 10:45:01 -0800

Facebook and the Social Dynamics of Privacy (coming soon to the Iowa Law Review), by James Grimmelmann (law professor, programmer, MeFi's own grimmelm, and Level 1 Ensign Zombie): just in time for Facebook Connect and Google Friend Connect, Grimmelmann suggests we rethink what privacy means both in legal terms and how that impacts social networks and their users. (Previously) Don't miss the AskMe footnote on page 46 recounting Brandon Blatcher's Facebook fiasco and a cute reference to Hamlet's Facebook feed on p 27.

Cats Defending Henhouses

digaman — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 11:58:21 -0800

Worried about social-network data mining? Facebook hires Ted Ullyot, former right-hand man to former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, as its general counsel. Tapping Ullyot, who worked on the infamous torture memo and other illustrious projects, is a sign that the burgeoning Scrabble platform "is a little more grown-up," says Facebook public-policy VP Elliot Schrage.

It's not dead, it's just resting

bjrn — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 07:25:27 -0800

Privacy is dead - get over it [part 2] is a talk by private investigator Steve Rambam. It's a talk he has been giving for a number of years where he shows how privacy is being taken away, not by sinister plots but because people are giving it away. With people putting up everything and nothing on MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and so on, as well as a growing quantity of data held in private databases, he shows how easy it is to find out enormous amounts of data on just about anyone. All in all the video is three hours long, but if you have the time it's well worth watching. It includes Steve summing up how much info he managed to get on a volunteer in four and a half hours (a lot, everything really). And how he made a bet seeing if the same volunteer could avoid being tracked down by Steve for 60 days (it involved some more stuff, but you'll have to watch the video). This version of the talk was recorded at The Last HOPE conference, where MeFi's own Adam Savage also had a talk.

Moveon Facebook

gman — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 08:03:17 -0800

Moveon.org has now joined the fight. Now you can join too. Previously.

You were poked by Big Brother.

Reggie Digest — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 21:27:17 -0800

Over the past couple of years, Facebook has become increasingly popular, until it seemed like everyone and their grandma was joining up. A new feature, called Facebook Beacon, lets corporations join the fray. Might this be cause for concern? Previously.

Canadian border guards gone wild

russilwvong — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 11:28:11 -0800

Facebook and MySpace posts embarrass Canadian border guards. PDF. Another example of Jan Wong's advice in 15 minutes of shame, about a 2005 incident at a Toronto private school: Don't write anything you wouldn't want someone to forward to [the national newspaper].