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Kerry, McCain, and your online privacy
The collection, use and dissemination of sensitive consumer data is one of the greatest causes of concern in today’s online data tracking environment. Companies can easily access the most intimate details about you and compile them into comprehensive profiles that can then be sold to the highest bidder, without your permission or control. This bill gives some power back to consumers by requiring companies to get your permission before collecting or using this information, with only a few very carefully defined exceptions.
It’s not perfect, but given that it attempts to give consumers protections that we don’t currently enjoy, it is definitely a step in the right direction.
(via Huffington Post)
Advertising-backed web services must get large numbers of users and collect as much data about them as possible to add value for their customers, the advertisers.
(via brycedotvc)
City libraries say 'checking out' porn protected by First Amendment
“Customers can watch whatever they want on the computer,” said Brooklyn Public Library spokeswoman Malika Granville, describing the anything-goes philosophy that’s the rule at the city’s 200-plus branches.
And that has religious leaders and library patrons — even some librarians — hotter than an XXX flick.
Make this fun for yourself and go straight to the comments because according to them, protecting elderly perverts at libraries is the new liberal agenda, and I really really love imagining those protests and campaigns.
They’ve already complied with the filters, so just to cover their bases, they could probably supply headphones since many of them seem to provide a “privacy screen” (prevents people from viewing the screen when viewed sideways).
And if people really want to have a discussion on how libraries are spending our taxpayer dollars, then I would like to make a comment about how I do not appreciate that XX% of my income goes towards funding the 5.5 hours of time wasted each day by a former high school classmate who was just laid off and can barely afford rent, let alone internet access, who keeps sending me Farmville invitations over Facebook in between messages and emails to join his pyramid-schemed-designed business that would make even Bernie Madoff blush. Let’s talk about that, hmmm?
(For more information on this matter, read United States v. American Library Association.)
That’s not an accident. The e-book business seems determined to repeat the early mistakes of the music industry with “digital rights management” restrictions. But this time around, I don’t feel compelled to back their early investments with my own money.
E-book business should take a page from music industry and go DRM-free - The Washington Post
(via mediafuturist)
15 iOS To-Do Apps that Sync Over the Air - TNW Apps
My personal favorite is Wunderlist.
(via thenextweb)
Bamboom sends you free, live TV via the Internet, but is it legal?
Bamboom think they have found a legal crack that they can sliver through, by having a separate antenna for each subscriber at their central head end. Your own personal rig there will pick up free over the air TV, and a DVR in the same location can record shows. Then, when you want to watch something, you simply send commands from whatever device you want to use, and your programming is streamed online directly to you.
I can’t wait to see how this turns out. To be honest, I am all for anything that will get me out of the haunches of AT&T or Comcast.
(via dvice)
According to the labels, record sales would have burgeoned if not for the existence of file-sharing site Napster. The labels’ optimistic forecast comes in the form of a chart included in a trial brief for their case against LimeWire.
Really? Napster? And not, you know, technology? And record labels’ refusal to rapidly evolve? Napster? Okay.
(via Mashable)
Lost privacy: More than half of adults would 'delete everything they have ever posted about themselves online'
More than half of British adults are so concerned about their online reputation they would erase everything they have ever posted on the Internet about themselves, a survey today revealed.
A staggering 35 per cent believe they could never consider a career in politics due to damaging personal material online.
And nearly a quarter of people admit to having posted a photo or personal information that they wouldn’t want an employer to see, according to a study by security firm Norton.
Someone actually funded this study?
Woman single-handedly cuts off two countries from Internet
Woman was digging for scrap metal when she came across a fiber optic cable “which runs through Georgia to Armenia”… she then proceeded to cut into the cable with intentions of stealing it.
Why websites are slow and why speed matters
Speed is a bit of an obsession for most web users. We fret over our Internet connections’ and mobile connections’ perceived slowness, and we go bananas for a faster web browser.
Given this better-faster mentality, the consequences for slow-loading pages can be dire for site owners; most users are willing to navigate away after waiting just three seconds, for example. And quite a few of these dissatisfied users will tell others about the experience.
(via Mashable)
Tech firms hiring White House staffers
“These companies are at the crosshairs of privacy and policy issues and they see people in the White House and federal government as protectors of their plans to expand into new markets,” said Jeffrey Chester, an online privacy advocate and executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy. “These are uber influence-makers they are hiring.”
Tech companies are following the footsteps of phone and computer companies. My gut instincts tell me that doesn’t bode well, seeing as how much of a “monopoly” certain phone and computer companies have on the market. But this does underscore the importance of policy in technology, the internet and social media.
(via The Washington Post)
