Posts tagged privacy
You gotta have swine to show you where the truffles are - E. Albee
The Internet is a Surveillance State
Whether we admit it to ourselves or not, and whether we like it or not, we’re being tracked all the time and the new surveillance state is efficient beyond the wildest dreams of George Orwell, writes Bruce Schneier. Sure, we can take measures to prevent this. But increasingly, none of it matters, he writes. Sad, innit?! [ cnn ]
It came to mind when I saw the Leon Burnett ad for Norton Utilities (on the right). BTW: According to a report this week Symantec anti-virus software managed to identify just 1 of the 45 pieces of Chinese malware at the New York Times. Boom!
A dark cloud for privacy
“All personal information stored by British internet users on major “cloud” computing services including Google Drive can be spied upon routinely without their knowledge by US authorities under newly-approved legislation.” The Independent manages to sound suitably shocked …
Abracadata!
As the recent Private Eye cartoon said: “Ali Baba. You really should not use Open Sesame as your password for ALL your caves!” … Dave is a clairvoyant who finds out specific financial information. This video shows the magic behind the magic, making people aware of the fact that their entire life can be found online. AMAZING!
Mining your narrative
There is no doubt about it: as Frédéric Filloux writes in The Guardian, folks are likely to begin paying a high price soon enough for yielding their privacy online. The new data mining services, he posits, will not be about tracking core competencies.
“The firm is more into character and personality analysis. … What they basically do is data-mining the social internet: blogs, forums, Twitter, and of course Facebook.” Filloux is particularly concerned about GenY users, and he is making the bold assumption that there will actually be jobs out there for them. In the short term, I imagine the vulnerable might include the more naive Internet users among the 40-something Beached White Males made redundant by the latest financial downturn.
Turning data into stories, as companies like Narrative Science already do for example, sounds like a harmless enough activity, until you discover that you are the subject of the latest mining expedition.
CISPA: All the state’s spies
The pace which the United States Congress appears set to clear all legal impediments to the state’s access to private information is bewildering. Salon writes: “Congress is seriously considering a bill called the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA). Intended to allow information sharing both between corporations and between corporations and the government, it presents serious dangers to individual privacy. The most important parts of the proposed act permit corporations to share information about their customers with each other and with the government if they assert that this information sharing is necessary for national security.”
* Update 27.04: The buggers passed it
Whose Twitpics are they anyway?
Twitpic appears to have changed its terms and now claims exclusive rights to distribute photos uploaded to its servers. And they have made a deal with photo agency WENN for exclusive rights to resell those images. (via @mrchrisaddison @JonathanBowcott & @PhotoAttorney)
