Facebook security Issues part 2
Wednesday, April 18, 2007 at 12:19 pm | Posted in gripes, technology | Leave a commentDatamining is something I don’t like. That’s why when I go to places like Ikea or some other clothing store and they ask for my postal code, I simply say, “no.”
Datamining occurs everywhere. Whether we like it or not, our data, be it our purchasing patterns related to our credit cards, or our medication profiles related to our pharmacy are mined and sold off to the highest bidder.
But I guess facebook is a little bit more insiduous in that we offer up quite a bit of data, pictures, relationships, contacts, education and much much more. Here is an interesting link:
Facebook and security issues
Friday, April 13, 2007 at 9:20 am | Posted in gripes, technology | Leave a commentIt seems to me that facebook collects (or has the opportunity to) collect much more information than the other platforms out there. To even join a “network” that is a university/college, it requires you to enter in your personal email account at that particular institution. Some people even have their resumes (work history) on there so to speak. Literally, be it friend, foe, neighbour, peeping Tom, Dick, and Harry, or employer can do a search for your name and look you up.
Even worse, is people can tag others on pictures. So yesterday, as I took a look at facebook, I realized I belonged to a network, which allowed me to see a lot of pages of people who belonged in the network. And a classmate of mine had signed up, and then put really embarrassing pictures of another classmate who was extremely drunk and silly looking on her facebook album. And to top it off, she had tagged it. Lovely. At that very moment I was thanking my lucky stars I wasn’t the one in her picture. How embarrassing. There it was, out there for the world to see.
And then… there was another classmate who had received a “private” e-present in the picture of a thong, but for some reason it was available for everyone who was a friend of the person to see. Ewww. Also embarrassing.
Anyways, it seems according to wikipedia, Facebook has quite a bit of issues with security. I can just even think of datamining being a big issue with this as people have their real names, their school affiliations, their coursework, their emails, contacts, relatives, and friends… the list is endless. Scary actually.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook
In fact, wiki talks about how 2 students from MIT downloaded OVER 70 000 PROFILES from facebook as part of a research project. Here is an excerpt from wikipedia:
Privacy concerns
There have been some concerns expressed regarding the use of Facebook as a means of surveillance and data mining. Theories have been written about the possible misuse of Facebook[22] and privacy proponents have criticized the site’s current privacy agreement. According to the policy, “We may use information about you that we collect from other sources, including but not limited to newspapers and Internet sources such as blogs, instant messaging services and other users of Facebook, to supplement your profile.” However, some features—such as AIM away-message harvesting and campus newspaper monitoring—have been dropped and Facebook has since responded to the concerns. Facebook has assured worried users the next privacy policy will not include the clause about information collection and has denied any data mining is being done “for the CIA or any other group.”[23] However, the possibility of data mining by private individuals unaffiliated with Facebook remains open, as evidenced by the fact that two MIT students were able to download, using an automated script, over 70,000 Facebook profiles from four schools (MIT, NYU, the University of Oklahoma, and Harvard) as part of a research project on Facebook privacy published on December 14th, 2005.[24]
Great… food for thought.
Internet connectivity…
Wednesday, April 11, 2007 at 1:43 pm | Posted in technology | Leave a commentWell… I’ve succombed… I’ve actually made a facebook account.. only at the much urging of a friend who sent me an email invite. It started off with IRC, ICQ, MSN messenger, google talk, myspace, xanga and now facebook.
It’s nothing new really, other than the fact that perhaps facebook plays off the 6 degrees of separation theory to draw people into it’s network.
It’s a great site for setting up a group website (i.e. group bulletin board) as it’s inbuilt already. Almost wish we had facebook around for some really tough on-line courses I took about 2 years ago. I could have definitely used it then.
But it feels almost very wrong to have something with so much of my information, and a list of my friends on the net for others to see. I am sure there is a disable function somewhere. Who knows. I’m guessing my facebook will be the most boring one out there as I don’t plan to put much on it.
How much do we expose on the internet?
Tuesday, February 6, 2007 at 5:59 am | Posted in technology | Leave a commentAs I go surfing through the internet, sometimes, I can’t help but say, “thank goodness for the internet!” Often such comments arise from moments when I am doing last minute research for assignments, or looking up an address for a company. One way or the other, it’s become a very useful piece of technology, that seems to have permeated every aspect of our lives. Whether using it as a telelphone book, or looking up an article, or simply searching for the perfect recipe, it becomes this last minute, at-your-finger-tip type of resource. So incredibly perfect for our immediate need for instant gratification, and lack of patience in society these days.
As well, more and more people are putting their lives on the net. From blogging to creating websites, it no longer is this haphazard running stream of consciousness on one’s life, but some have become this rather sophisticated website full of information and resource. Other’s use it to promote their business or products, while others use it to organize family albums. You see music, pictures, links, and information that could almost be a summary of a person’s life and innermost thoughts. Incredible.
I predict, that one of these days, probably sooner rather than later, everyone will have a webpage or website. It will become integral as having a telephone number or an email address. But this page will integrate everything, be it the person’s agenda, personal data, CV or resume, photos and what-not. Perhaps something a bit more organized than what is being offered right now… probably a combination of a blog, gmail, google calendar, the blackberry, Canada Post Services, address, and the yellow pages. Given the rate at which technology is rapidly expanding, I don’t think it’s that far off.
Already people have personalized their web space. But sometimes I wonder, exactly when does it become “too much” when we publish ourselves on the net? Our names, our address, our resumes, our pictures… Before you know it, our entire lives. The thought of a stranger knowing exactly who I am, and what I do, becomes a scary thought.
Perhaps it’s just me being extra cautious. But for now, I like my anonimity. And I catch myself writing a little too much information. My location, my profession, my schooling, my background, and then I end up scrapping the post. Oh well. 
nothing like playing with the internet to procrastinate
Monday, January 22, 2007 at 8:13 pm | Posted in technology | Leave a comment
Today is my day off. Good thing too cause I woke up with a really sore throat. Sometimes, I can’t ever seem to escape my childhood nemisis…..(drum roll please)… Strep throat, caused by by Streptococcus bacterial species (I’m sure). Next on my agenda: gargling with warm salt water. Oo…. what a lovely day off it’s turning out to be. 
As I sit here, relaxing and hoping the throat will get better as I drown myself in vitamin C effervescent water, I discovered a blog that posted the most amazing music. The title of the song is “Far Away”. The person on their blog has actually posted the video, and the lyrics. I guess they must “love” the song. The lyrics actually sound a little to obsessive and stalker-like to me. Not the type of lyrics where I think the song writer was talented…However, the singing and the guitar playing is absolutely amazing. I love music with that level of passion and musicality. I guess anything that sounds kinds of like the group Third Day, with that type of singing just is beautiful.
Now I’m inspired to figure out a way to put some music on this blog, just so that should I have anyone (that lone single reader) stumble upon this blog by accident, then I will “force” them to listen to my type of music. Now if I can only figure out how to put the “code” up properly on this thing… procrastination…..
The internet
Tuesday, January 16, 2007 at 7:59 pm | Posted in technology | Leave a commentThe internet is a dangerous thing.
Actually it’s an addictive thing. Just started up an online course. And instead of using my hours productively doing my online course, I surf the web. 
Of course, that doesn’t change the deadline for any of the assignments either.
So they say (statistics that is), that there are approximately 1-2 readers per blog, if you imagine the number of blogs there are out there in the ethereal world of blogging, compared to the number of people actually reading the blogs. Kind of a sad statistic really.
And truth be told, there is probably just a few blogs that get massive amounts of attention. One certain blog I read, not for inspiration but rather for pure entertainment is:
http://www.waiterrant.net/wordpress2/
Apparently the story behind this blogger is that he was blogging for quite a while, with nary a reader or comment. Finally he became so frustrated that he ended up writing somewhere and also posting the link to his blog. Now this story is rather a foggy memory, so excuse me if I mess up the story a little. Anyways, currently today, he has an incredible viewership and following.
It’s easy to see why he has so many readers. His blog is not so much about himself, as it is truly about the people around him that he encounters everyday. Then he sprinkles the story with a tiny bit of commentary on the side that consists of philosophy, sarcasm, wit and occaisionally lust. Just enough to keep everyone interested. It’s almost like a mini-appetizer if you will.
No serious melodrama, no serious storylines, and plain and simple light entertainment. Ah… sounds a little bit like TV doesn’t it?
New move
Tuesday, January 16, 2007 at 7:43 pm | Posted in technology | Leave a commentNot physically, but more virtually.
Have a blogger blog, but since then have decided to move. Several reasons for the move.
The fact that blogger now is integrally tied into my gmail account seems rather invasive. It’s just me being silly.. but when I was forced to upgrade to the “beta-blogger” version.. I decided to move. That decision was of course several months ago.
I’m trying out wordpress because it seems so many people have a wordpress blog. The only thing is, is that it doesn’t seem as intuitive as the blog system run by google. The other thing that is *slightly* annoying is the fact that I can’t seem to see the entire screen of what I’m typing. Instead I have this teeny tiny little screen.
If anyone can help me figure out making this screen bigger, please comment … cause I would appreciate the help.
In the meantime, I’ll continue to stumble around learning how to use wordpress.
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