Archive for the ‘Privacy’ Category

Stan Schroeder at Mashable goes into detail about Facebook Privacy: 10 Settings Every User Needs to Know. This excellent post discusses the ins and outs of Facebook’s privacy settings. As many of you know there have been quite a few adjustments and additions to these settings within the past year and not all of them are obvious, including the types of information that your friends are able to share about you. Here are the first 5 settings discussed:

1. Sharing on Facebook
2. Existing Photos
3. Checking In to Places
4. Connecting on Facebook
5. Apps You Use

Many of us are already using cloud computing for our personal computing needs, however there are legal and privacy considerations when using such third-party services on behalf of your organization. Alex Williams at ReadWritecloud discusses 3 Legal Issues to Consider When Going to the Cloud. He raises some very good points in this brief article which discusses the following concerns:

• Do You Know Where Your Data is Located?
• Who Takes Responsibility?
• Intellectual Property Rights

The latest issue of Library Technology Reports looks fantastic! It’s titled Privacy and Freedom of Information in 21st-Century Libraries and it’s authored by an all-star cast of talented, forward-thinking librarians such as Sarah Houghton-Jan, Jason Griffey, Eli Neiburger, Deborah Caldwell-Stone, Angela Maycock, and Barbara M. Jones.

“As libraries increasingly move beyond provision of print material and into their expanding roles as providers of digital resources and services, intellectual freedom concerns have been magnified as they apply to a range of complex new issues.”

Thursday Bram at GigaOm writes about Online Project Management: What Are the Legal Concerns? If you’re considering hosting client/patron information in the cloud you’ll want to give this article a look. Advising patrons of the use of SaaS or other cloud services in non-disclosure agreements ahead of time is recommended as a best practice.

“Depending on your clientele, explaining your data storage plans within a context that they understand can be difficult. But Roberts points out that such steps are necessary: “We would recommend explaining the use of certain types of software—i.e., software that stores documents in the Cloud, or SaaS, etc. The point is to explain the data usage in context. That context could also include an assurance that the software provider follows industry standards for data security.””

Peter Wylie, lead researcher for Three Ships Media writes for the Social Media Examiner about How to Control Your Privacy With Foursquare and Other Geoloaction Services. In this helpful article Wylie discusses common privacy problems with geolocation services, ways in which social networks have reacted and potential solutions. Also check out the Social Media Explorer’s Common Sense Safety Tips For Foursquare And Gowalla which makes the following recommendations:

• Never Check-In At Home
• Never Check-In At Someone Else’s House
• Never Check-In At Your Kid’s School
• Never Check In With Someone Without Their Permission
• Never Check In At Your Girlfriend’s House

Georgina Laidlaw at GigaOm reports that Web Users Seek the “Right to Be Forgotten”. This is a very interesting article about privacy, reputation management, and the right to have personal information deleted from public websites.

“The EU is currently proposing laws that would require web site and service owners to delete individuals’ personal information from their records. The new laws aim to uphold a person’s “right to be forgotten.”

How do you feel about your right to be forgotten? To be honest, until I read this article, I didn’t realize being forgotten was a right. This news seems to reflect an intriguing new stage in our restlessly evolving relationship with technology.”

Nilay Patel at Engadget blogs about How-to: Effectively manage your Facebook privacy settings with three simple lists. This step-by-step tutorial shows you how to balance your personal and professional life on Facebook by setting up appropriate Privacy Settings and Friends Lists.

The Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project has just published a new report on Reputation Management and Social Media. Not only have online reputation management activities increased, but young adults are the most vigilant in several areas including changing privacy settings, removing their names from photos, deleting unwanted comments, and taking steps to limit personal information about themselves. Some other key findings include:

• Online reputation-monitoring via search engines has increased – 57% of adult internet users now use search engines to find information about themselves online, up from 47% in 2006.
• Activities tied to maintaining an online identity have grown as people post information on profiles and other virtual spaces – 46% of online adults have created their own profile on a social networking site, up from just 20% in 2006.
• Monitoring the digital footprints of others has also become much more common—46% of internet users search online to find information about people from their past, up from 36% in 2006. Likewise, 38%% have sought information about their friends, up from 26% in 2006

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via Stephen’s Lighthouse

Facebook announced a new set of privacy settings yesterday and Nick O’Neill at All Facebook has already crafted a guide to 10 Things You Need To Know About Today’s Facebook Privacy Changes. This is a quick primer on the new FB privacy changes, here are the first five things you’ll want to know about:

1. You Can Opt Out Of Applications
2. You Can Hide Your Friends List
3. You Can Hide Your Interests
4. Much Information Is Still Public By Default
5. Instant Personalization Is Still Opt-Out

Matt Pizzimenti has created a free open-source application which will scan your Facebook privacy settings and warn you about any settings which might be “unexpectedly public”. This is part of his ReclaimPrivacy project which strives to promote privacy awareness on the Web.

via The Bivings Report

Technology Editor Claudine Beaumont at the Telegraph tells readers How to: delete your Facebook account, and adjust key privacy settings.

“Facebook’s privacy policy is a whopping 5,830 words long. As the New York Times recently pointed out, the Constitution of the United States is just 4,543. In recent months, Facebook has made revisions to its privacy policy that makes a growing amount of information public by default; users must opt out if they want to keep their information private, or share it only with a trusted group of friends.”

There have been numerous posts on this trend lately including LifeHacker’s How to Quit Facebook Without Actually Quitting Facebook and the QuitFacebookDay.com movement.

Image Credit: Christopher Capozziello for The New York Times

According to the New York Times, the Tell-All Generation Learns to Keep Things Offline. Laura M. Holson writes about privacy, social networks, and the digital generation:

“The conventional wisdom suggests that everyone under 30 is comfortable revealing every facet of their lives online, from their favorite pizza to most frequent sexual partners. But many members of the tell-all generation are rethinking what it means to live out loud…

…They are more diligent than older adults, however, in trying to protect themselves. In a new study to be released this month, the Pew Internet Project has found that people in their 20s exert more control over their digital reputations than older adults, more vigorously deleting unwanted posts and limiting information about themselves. “Social networking requires vigilance, not only in what you post, but what your friends post about you,” said Mary Madden, a senior research specialist who oversaw the study by Pew, which examines online behavior. “Now you are responsible for everything.””

Kurt Opsahl at the Electronic Frontier Foundation has put together a useful guide to How to Opt Out of Facebook’s Instant Personalization. This quick tutorial is in response to Facebook’s newly announced Instant Personalization feature (read New York Times coverage) which will personalize your experience on websites such as Yelp, Pandora, and Microsoft Docs based on your public Facebook information.

Wired’s How-To-Wiki has a detailed tutorial explaining Facebook’s privacy settings and how to Make Your Facebook Account Private. The article has detailed instructions and screenshots for locking down your profile. I would also suggest creating Friends Lists and using those to limit who sees particular status updates and photo albums.

Rosemary Hattersley, PC Advisor at PCWorld puts together 6 Steps to Protect Your Facebook Privacy. This helpful article addresses steps you can take to ensure your privacy from Facebook account and privacy settings to avoiding FB quizzes.

“There are plenty of straightforward ways to claw back some peace of mind. As we outlined in our in-depth look at the latest online security threats, the little bits of information with which we furnish web apps can be collectively turned against us.

A good example is the Facebook app that asks what single topped the charts the day you were born. I don’t mind admitting that my answer to this is one of those dated comedy tracks. But I’m not about to amuse Facebook’s entire London network (several million-strong and counting) with its details, particularly when doing so narrows down my date of birth to a seven-day period. How many guesses does a hacker need to correctly ascertain and make use of my date of birth (DOB) on an official form, such as applying for a credit card? Not many, given those odds.”