Tag Archive - privacy

Perils and Positives of Frictionless Sharing

November 21, 2011 in Digital, Media with 0 Comments

As usual, I eagerly clicked on a shared link from my friend Venessa Paech this morning, on Facebook. Today she was sharing a perspective from CNET on the friction Facebook has introduced in its quest for frictionless sharing. We’ve all see the various automatic updates that some people may not even realise they are providing to their social graph (previously know as their friends) – they’ve read an article on the Washington Post Social Reader or The Guardian; they’ve listened to a song on Spotify. And CNET makes two key arguments:

1. People will be afraid to click on links because Facebook is tracking them, and
2. Facebook is introducing a barrier to sharing.

These are valid points, and yet they deserve a counter perspective. Continue Reading…

Should You Worry About Digital Privacy?

June 29, 2011 in Digital with 4 Comments

I was uploading photos to Facebook today when I noticed something I hadn’t seen before:  a public link to the album I was creating.  I selected that I wanted the photos available to my friends only.   (For those not in the know, photo privacy must be set separately for each upload.  No comment on what this means for the ongoing concerns about how Facebook deals with our info).

Having been involved in discussions around Parental Controls in the early days of the internet, and as a parent, I admit to being surprised when I saw this.  I did a little testing and found out that indeed, I could send that link to anyone with or without a Facebook account, and they could view my photos.

Here is the official explanation in Facebook’s FAQs:

“Please note that “public links” are only visible at the bottom of your photo albums when you view them while logged into your account. These links will not be visible to others when they view your photo albums, and they will only have access to them if you personally provide it.”

For this and more on Facebook privacy, see the FAQ here.

While I’m in control of who, if anyone, I send the link to, am I confident that these links cannot be hacked and associated to my account thereby making my photos on Facebook effectively fully public?  Never say never comes to mind.

I’m going to do a little more investigating to decide what I think.  This will come down to a balance of how comfortable I am with the admittedly small risk that this could ever go wrong.  I am not the sort of person who needs to hide what I’m up to.  I am neither a celebrity, nor that important to anyone other than my friends and family anyway.  But most of my photos are of my children who might have their own opinion at some point in the future.  It’s just a philosophical question right now, but one that will continue to creep into our digital lives.

How do you feel about posting photos on Facebook?  Should I be concerned?

A Personal Lesson in Online Privacy

May 21, 2011 in Australian Digital, Digital, Media with 0 Comments

Are we ever too old to learn from our parents?

When I started work at AOL more than a decade ago, I often grinned at the common product question which was asked – would your parents be able to use this?  In nearly all cases, mine would, but then my parents have proven to be early adopters of technology even before the internet (except for one small blip when the compact disc was invented which will live on in family lore for a long, long time).  Because of this, I listened attentively when on a recent visit both of my parents asked me a number of probing questions about what they could and could not trust online, including using their email address to subscribe to this blog.

Imagine, my own parents nervous about what kind of mailing list they would end up on as a result of subscribing to their daughter’s blog.  This was startling and mildly alarming to me as someone who relies for my livelihood on people exchanging their information (not just email, but often credit card details to make a purchase) for a product or service that I provide.

So today in my news round up over my morning coffee, I’ve come across this article in the LA Times:

Facebook executive warns senators that restrictive privacy rules could squelch benefits of social Web | Technology | Los Angeles Times.

It is just one of many covering the privacy legislation introduced by Sen. Kerry.  My normal response would be the same as Facebook’s CTO – let the innovators in the industry get on with figuring out a commercial solution.  In effect, “trust us, we won’t abuse our customers“.  Well, I still believe that most of us won’t abuse our customers.  And in fact, I will always be a consumer advocate in any digital business I am involved with.  However, I am not sure that we as an industry have earned the trust of the people, and therefore their government.  This statement is true not just for the US, but also for European and Australia markets where governments are equally concerned with privacy and trying to determine how to legislate protection.

I definitely do not want to push for this legislation because the likelihood of governments to really understand the issue and the ramifications of their laws is low.  Digital privacy is a complex area with some stellar experts working in the space around the world.  My wish is that all businesses could act responsibly and respectfully when using and sharing consumer data.  More laws, more lawsuits, and more compliance is sure to dampen innovation, especially for individual entrepreneurs and small businesses.

On the other hand, something must change so that my parents once again feel comfortable surrendering their email address to me via my blog.  How can we help legislators understand all sides of this issue?