tech-ed collisions

Privacy, a continual vigil

Just read an interesting post on ZDNet entitled "Facebook's privacy changes: When will it go too far (and will you even notice)?". Now I had kind of been aware that Facebook has been tinkering with privacy settings and knew that I should check mine out to see that everything was in order. One of the reasons I use Facebook is to share photos with my family of my family and I want to protect their privacy (maybe I am kind of foolish to use Facebook to do this). I thought I had locked down my Facebook account enough to be able to participate in networking with friends, colleagues and family at the levels that I wanted. However, the continual changing by Facebook seems to have eroded that completely. For example, while I thought I had protected my family with the initial basic settings that Facebook used to have, there is now a myriad of privacy settings and the default options for them are anything but private and bear no resemblance to the settings I thought I had in place. Today I found out that friends can share the following about me through other applications and websites:* Personal info (activities, interests, etc.)

* Status updates

* Online presence

* Website

* Family and relationship status

* Relationship details (significant other, looking for, etc.)

* Education and work

* My videos

* My links

* My notes

* My photos

* Photos and videos of me

* About me

* My birthday

* My hometown

* My religious and political views

The only option that was turned off was my photos however inspecting settings for them I was surprised at the number of levels I had to lock down to really keep them private too. The last thing I want is for Facebook to allow anyone or any application to share my birthday as that is a major identity risk but there it is. Other personal identifying information that Facebook has should be fully and very clearly under my control. Location information too is something that I want full control of over when and how I share it however any number of other services seem to have this information available to them without my knowledge or approval. There is an option to edit blocked applications but I can only see what applications I have blocked, not what others are accessing my information that I don't know about, have forgotten or otherwise. I urge all Facebook account users to check their privacy settings out just to ensure you understand what information you are giving away and try to think about the implications of that. The same applies for other social networks that you are using but Facebook does know a lot about us. There are some that would say we lost our privacy sometime ago and just need to accept it. However, our society is far from perfect and there is a need for us to be aware of the implications of how information about us can be used in ways that enhance our lives or to harm us. We need to manage that information to the best of our abilities and ensure that those who are custodians of information about us, protect that information and only use it in ways that we understand and approve.

Filed under  //   privacy  

letting the world know where you are/another nail in the privacy coffin

yet another great service from Google - Google Latitude. Using it, your friends etc can know where you are at any time. You can have your location updated automatically or you can set it manually (great for those who need to be in two places at once!). Of course its all opt-in and Google has paid quite a bit of attention to privacy etc. It runs on your mobile and to a limited extent, on your computer - it seems you can manually set your location in the iGoogle widget. Anyway, here's where I am:

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Of course Google aren't the only ones that offer this type of service or recognise the privacy challenges and marketing challenges related to that. The ubiquitous nature of Google makes it hard to ignore though. Cheers, Jerry. update: when I installed it on my phone I actually read the terms and conditions - scary stuff! (note - I did the highlighting)
July 4, 2008 Mobile Terms of Service By using Google's mobile products and services ("Services"), you: 1.  Agree to be bound by these terms and a) the YouTube Terms of Use (m.google.com/tos_youtube) for YouTube-related Services, b) the Google Maps Terms and Conditions (m.google.com/tos_maps) for mapping, local and location-based Services, and c) the Google Terms of Service (m.google.com/utos) for all other Services, as updated from time to time. You may use the Services only as set forth in these agreements. Do not use while driving. 2.  Acknowledge and agree that third parties may offer Services, and that you may be subject to third party terms and that third parties may enforce terms against you. Google is not responsible for third party changes to the Services. 3.  Consent to the collection, use, sharing, and onward transfer of your data, including but not limited to voice and location data, as outlined in the Mobile Privacy Policy (m.google.com/privacy). Location data may be from mixed sources and may not be accurate. Use at your own risk. 4.  Acknowledge that certain Services require phone service, data access or text messaging capability. Except as otherwise noted, Google does not charge for the Services, but carrier rates for phone, data and text messaging may apply. The Services may contain third party content.  Any required attribution or notice for the third party content may be found at www.google.com/m/legalnotices.> Still pondering whether or not to accept these terms.

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Filed under  //   Web 2.0   privacy  

the Panopticon gets that little bit closer

Telstra's Whereis Everyone service is bound to raise a few eyebrows. It's great if you want to locate a few friends and they are happy for you to be able to locate where they are at anytime but..... what about any privacy concerns? Are you happy to be located anywhere anytime? The press and commentators, as usual, is going to town on some of the more alarmist uses. We have very little privacy left in our lives - some would argue that it disappeared some time ago. Anyway, here's another example of technology with the potential for intruding further into our lives. Telstra has some great sales pitches - its certainly nice to be able to know your kids are on their way home or how you can find your misplaced phone (is it really that accurate?) but are we becoming immune or blase to these invasions of privacy? If we know we are being monitored so closely will that affect our behaviour in any way (as in Jeremy Bentham's Panopticon) or are we simply past caring?

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Wikipedia also has an interesting modern definition of the Panopticon. I had a rant about this previously after reading "John Twelve Hawk's" "The Traveller" (must have a look to see if the sequel is out yet). Anyway, if you are interested in this type of technology from legal/policy/social perspectives, you might like to go along to UNSW's free one day seminar 'You are where you've been - technological threats to your location privacy' on 23rd July. Just don't forget to turn your (Telstra) phone off before you go ;).

Filed under  //   identity   privacy  
Posted July 8, 2008

They are TV!

Following on from Garry's post, 'We watched TV ... they make TV', this isn't exactly about remixing and publishing content, its about publishing yourself. Interesting post from Greg Sterlings Screenwerk blog looks at the diminished view of privacy that is emerging in today's web generation. Shameless promotion or just emergent behaviour? Make your own mind up.

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Filed under  //   Web 2.0   general   privacy  

the 'vast machine'

Well this is sort of a culmination of a few interesting things I have read recently that's worth some sort of reflection and perhaps commentary. Anyway, one of the ways that I like to relax is reading fiction and I recently picked up and read 'The Traveller' by John Twelve Hawks. I tend to like fiction that has some element of non-fiction in it, be it science, history or whatever but stories based on non-fiction do seem to provide an amount of colour that makes interesting reading. Back to The Traveller, its sort of a conspiracy theory/science/fantasy novel which involves a secret society whose aim is generally to control the population at large and uses the concept of a 'virtual panopticon' (do a search on panopticon / Jeremy Bentham if you want to find out more) which roughly speaking, uses the idea that by thinking you are always being watched, you will adjust your behavior accordingly. Anyway, there are a couple of groups of people that are threats to this and these are harlequins and travellers. It turns out in this novel, that there is a good chance that you are always being watched. What really makes the novel interesting, and definitely lets you know where the author is coming from, is the postscript to the book, where 'Twelve Hawks' discusses his? views on society and how we are being tracked with technology (CCTV, RFID, GPS, and many other technologies and digital sources). So Jen, perhaps it is more than the Web that is watching us and Kerrie, I am sure we are 'never alone'. Here are a few things to think about though - how many times today were you under some sort of surveillance (cameras etc) on the way to work, what sort of digital trail did you leave at work, at the shops, via your mobile (who did you talk to and what was your location...) all in the one day. The vast machine is a term used in the novel and John Twelve Hawks (a real name?) according to the novel and a couple of websites, supposedly 'lives off the grid'. The book was released in 2005 but, despite being a 'best seller' has only recently found its way to my local bookshop and there is already a sequel out in other parts of the world so apologies if this is all old news. There is some interesting marketing around the book on the Web. Check its official website out to see an interesting way of promoting it and have a look for some of the other websites that have been built up around characters/places in the book - great marketing. The novel does however highlight just how intrusive technology can become though. My family is considering going overseas next year. The kids will need their own passports now and their first ones must have photos of a quality that enables digital facial recognition and the passports themselves will have chips embedded in them. Anywhere they go they will be monitored quite closely which would seem to be a far cry from my first passport and overseas adventure (not really all that long ago but what a different experience it will be for them as they are finger printed, photo'd and subjected to all sorts of security procedures that are a necessary part of travel in some places now). The ever present CCTV and embedded RFID in The Traveller seems pretty 'every day'. And if you can't get enough of conspiracies and are a fan of Facebook, check this article out from the NZ Herald.

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Filed under  //   privacy