Rants, Raves, and Rhetoric v4

Category: Privacy

  • Facebook should honor those privacy notice hoaxes

    I’ve seen several friends post the new variant of the notice saying that in order to have privacy, you have to post the note that does not give Facebook permission to use your photos or status updates. Here is the thing. Taking away that permission makes Facebook unusable as no one can see them even…

  • United States v. Microsoft Corp

    I found this case interesting: The facts of the case are pretty simple: The cops have a warrant for an e-mail account for someone they suspect is involved in selling drugs. They go to Microsoft to get the information. Microsoft says they’ll give law enforcement the information they have stored in Washington [State], but the…

  • Fell through the cracks

    In terms of dealing with Nikolas Cruz, there were lots and lots of opportunity for early intervention. People “saw something, said something” multiple times over the past four years. 2014: Cruz was accused of shooting a chicken four years ago. It was confirmed he owned and used an airsoft rifle, but he denied shooting chickens.…

  • Facebook Feature Request: Privacy and Tags

    This is essentially the issue of the Friends of Friends post. In this case, I am not really interested in expanding the audience. Say I publish a friends only post. Victor, my friend, makes a comment tagging Roberta, not my friend, and asks a question directed at her. She is not notified about the tag.…

  • Disgust and politics

    I am a fan of Jonathan Haidt. In running across this, I think it helps me understand where social conservatives are coming from. He talks about three dimensions: Solidarity: how close we are to something. Family are close. Strangers are far. Hierarchy: who is above and below. Divinity: closeness to a deity. Disgust originated as a…

  • GEICO Mobile App

    I watched a commercial where traffic enforcement officer pulled over a pig in a convertible who hands over his phone when requested for identification. The officer questions it. The pig explains. The officer remains skeptical. Personally, I think it should continue with the officer saying, “Since you’ve unlocked your phone and handed to me, I will…

  • Face Recognition Obfuscation

    Parents of young children posts lots and lots of photos on Facebook. Tags in the photos of their children are of either or both parents. Children under thirteen are not allowed on the site. Babies lack the motor control to operate a camera or computer. So expecting children to have their own identities on Facebook…

  • Trust in Info-Infrastructure

    James Fallows has an interesting piece in the Atlantic called Why NSA Surveillance Will Be More Damaging Than You Think discussing trust in the US for the info-infrastructure of the Internet is part of why we have Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Apple. As that trust gets eroded by the behavior of the US government, users may…

  • Collusion on Firefox

    As we browse the Web, our browsers picks up cookies. Many sites will give our browser advertiser’s cookies. More importantly, the advertiser’s servers can look to see whether we have their cookies and where we obtained them. This is how they record our browsing habits. The more places they advertise, the better they are able…