Facebook could face €100,000 fine for holding data that users have deleted | Technology Facebook could face a fine of up to €100,000 (£87,000) after an Austrian law student discovered the social networking site held 1,200 pages of personal data about him, much of which he had deleted. Max Schrems, 24, decided to ask Facebook for a copy of his data in June after attending a lecture by a Facebook executive while on an exchange programme at Santa Clara University in California. Schrems was shocked when he eventually received a CD from California containing messages and information he says he had deleted from his profile in the three years since he joined the site. After receiving the data, Schrems decided to log a list of 22 separate complaints with the Irish data protection commissioner, which next week is to carry out its first audit of Facebook. He wrote to Ireland after discovering that European users are administered by the Irish Facebook subsidiary.
Google Admits Handing over European User Data to US Intelligence Agencies Google has admitted complying with requests from US intelligence agencies for data stored in its European data centers, most likely in violation of European Union data protection laws. Gordon Frazer, Microsoft UK's managing director, made news headlines some weeks ago when he admitted that Microsoft can be compelled to share data with the US government regardless of where it is hosted in the world. At the center of this problem is the USA PATRIOT ACT, which states that companies incorporated in the United States must hand over data administered by their foreign subsidiaries if requested. Not only that, but they can be forced to keep quiet about it in order to avoid exposing active investigations and alert those targeted by the probes. This situation poses a serious problem for companies like Microsoft, Google or Amazon, which offer cloud services around the world, because their subsidiaries must also respect local laws. This is not only a theoretical problem.
Look who's watching: it's not the FBI, it's Facebook Even the most sophisticated security agencies could not have dreamed up something like Facebook ... "Your friends have a lot in common with you, it’s your friends who betray you." Photo: Bloomberg The CV you'd rather the boss didn't see Stored inside a series of ordinary brick buildings beside a sprawling wasteland on the edge of San Francisco Bay are intimate details of your life, relationships and opinions. This information repository is not the headquarters of the FBI or CIA, but Facebook Inc, Mark Zuckerberg's multibillion-dollar social networking behemoth with access to more than 840 million people, and their data. While full-body scanners and CCTV cameras often evoke Big Brother fears, the growing trend in surveillance is much closer to home. Advertisement Social media has become the latest way governments, police and corporations spy on their citizens, most of whom have no idea they are being watched. But it is not just governments and security agencies spying on cyber space.
www.readwriteweb.com/archives/obama_meets_with_the_real_leaders_of_the_world_pho.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+readwriteweb+%28ReadWriteWeb%29 What does the President of the United States say to the unelected leader of a teaming populace fast approaching the equivalent population, but half his age? Thanks for following me on Facebook? Watch out for Zynga, I don't trust them? Barack Obama met yesterday with CEOs from Facebook, Twitter, Apple, Google, Yahoo and other leading tech companies (but no Microsoft, ouch) to discuss global media disruption, OTA installs for the Bohemian Grove iPad app and the risk of inflation in Farmville. Who knows what they talked about? Until someone spills the beans on Quora, all we can do is speculate. Cheers!
I Have Seen The Future, And Its Sky Is Full Of Eyes Allow me just a little self-congratulatory chest-beating. Four years ago I started writing a near-fiction thriller about the risks of swarms of UAVs in the wrong hands. Everyone I talked to back then (including my agent, alas) thought the subject was implausible, even silly. Well, it’s not like I’m the next Vernor Vinge — it always seemed like a pretty blatantly obvious prediction to me — but I am pleased to see that drones and drone swarms have finally become the flavor of the month. In the last month, the Stanford Law Review has wrung its hands about the “ethical argument pressed in favor of drone warfare,” while anti-genocide activists have called for the use of “Drones for Human Rights” in Syria and other troubled nations; the UK and France declared a drone alliance; and a new US law compels the FAA to allow police and commercial drones in American airspace, which may lead to “routine aerial surveillance of American life.” Terrified yet? Image credit: Bee swarm, doubleagent, Flickr.
Exclusive: Military’s ‘persona’ software cost millions, used for ‘classified social media activities’ By Stephen C. WebsterTuesday, February 22, 2011 17:49 EDT Most people use social media like Facebook and Twitter to share photos of friends and family, chat with friends and strangers about random and amusing diversions, or follow their favorite websites, bands and television shows. But what does the US military use those same networks for? Well, we can’t tell you: That’s “classified,” a CENTCOM spokesman recently informed Raw Story. One use that’s confirmed, however, is the manipulation of social media through the use of fake online “personas” managed by the military. These “personas” were to have detailed, fictionalized backgrounds, to make them believable to outside observers, and a sophisticated identity protection service was to back them up, preventing suspicious readers from uncovering the real person behind the account. When Raw Story first reported on the contract for this software, it was unclear what the Air Force wanted with it or even if it had been acquired. Mystery bidder
1984 by George Orwell. Search eText, Read Online, Study, Discuss. (pub. 1949) Webmaster's Note, 5/10/2007 - We have been informed by the rights holder that this work is still copyrighted in our territory. So we have removed it. You may still read our original summary though to the left. Also commonly titled as Nineteen Eighty-Four 1984 is possibly the definitive dystopian novel, set in a world beyond our imagining. Winston Smith is a middle-aged, unhealthy character, based loosely on Orwell's own frail body, an underling of the ruling oligarchy, The Party. But Winston believes there is another way. 1984 joins Winston as he sets about another day, where his job is to change history by changing old newspaper records to match with the new truth as decided by the Party. "He who controls the past, controls the future" is a Party slogan to live by and it gives Winston his job, but Winston cannot see it like that. You will meet many recognisable characters, themes, and words which have become part of our everyday life as you read 1984. Fan of this book?
Revealed: Air Force ordered software to manage army of fake virtual people By Stephen C. WebsterFriday, February 18, 2011 15:07 EDT Update (below): HBGary Federal among bidders These days, with Facebook and Twitter and social media galore, it can be increasingly hard to tell who your “friends” are. But after this, Internet users would be well advised to ask another question entirely: Are my “friends” even real people? In the continuing saga of data security firm HBGary, a new caveat has come to light: not only did they plot to help destroy secrets outlet WikiLeaks and discredit progressive bloggers, they also crafted detailed proposals for software that manages online “personas,” allowing a single human to assume the identities of as many fake people as they’d like. The revelation was among those contained in the company’s emails, which were dumped onto bittorrent networks after hackers with cyber protest group “Anonymous” broke into their systems. Government involvement Update: The contract has since been taken off FBO.gov. Manufacturing consent “That’s me.