Home » Posts tagged 'privacy' (Page 2)
Tag Archives: privacy
Links for August 8th 2008
Interesting links for August 7th 2008 through August 8th 2008:
- Steal This Hook? Girl Talk Flouts Copyright Law [NYTimes.com] – “Girl Talk, whose real name is Gregg Gillis, makes danceable musical collages out of short clips from other people’s songs; there are more than 300 samples on “Feed the Animals,” the album he released online at illegalart.net in June. He doesn’t get the permission of the composers to use these samples, as United States copyright law mostly requires, because he maintains that the brief snippets he works with are covered by copyright law’s “fair use” principle …Girl Talk’s rising profile has put him at the forefront of a group of musicians who are challenging the traditional restrictions of copyright law along with the usual role of samples in pop music.” Girl Talk’s latest album Feed the Animals can be downloaded for whatever price users choose to pay (including choosing to pay nothing).
- MisUnderstanding YouTube by Joshua Green [Flow TV 8.05] – “… popularity on [YouTube] revolves as much around what is “Most Discussed” or “Most Responded” as it does what is “Most Viewed.” … Understanding this is crucial to effectively accounting for YouTube as a diverse media space. This is not to suggest everyone comes to the site to post a video blog, but rather to come to terms with the fact that YouTube is built as much through practices of audience-ing as it is practices of publishing, and to realize the two as intimately linked. As much as the video blog, YouTube is ruled by the clip and the quote — the short grab or edited selection; these videos are evidence or demonstration of active audience-hood.”
- Human rights group broadcast ‘pirate’ radio show in Beijing [Radio Australia] – “A human rights group has broken China’s tight control of the media by broadcasting a radio show calling for freedom of expression in Beijing. At 8.08am local time, the Paris based group Reporters Without Borders began a twenty minute pirate broadcast on Beijing’s airwaves.” [Via @mpesce]
- It’s public so what’s the privacy issue with Google’s Street View? [The Courier-Mail] – Peter Black tells it like it (legally) is regarding Google Streetview in Australia: “What Google did was perfectly legal. They took photographs of houses, buildings and streets from a public place. If anyone can legally walk up and down your street taking photographs of houses, why can’t Google? They can. Once this is accepted, the argument then becomes one about people randomly caught in the lens of the camera. “Surely they don’t have a right to take a photo of me?” Yes they do. You can have no reasonable expectation of privacy, let alone a right to privacy, when you are in a public area, such as your street.”
Links for July 7th 2008
Interesting links for July 4th 2008 through July 7th 2008:
- Iran: death penalty for “corrupt weblogs” [Boing Boing] – “New legislation has been proposed in Iran that could make blogging a crime punishable by death. … A translated English copy of the proposed legislation is here.”
- Watching you, watching YouTube [BBC NEWS | dot.life] – A thoughtful and cautionary response to the release of YouTube viewing data to Viacom. Also, see YouTube’s official response to user concerns about the ruling.
- The Top 100 Liberal Arts Professor Blogs [Online University Reviews] – Proof that many good academics write many good blogs (on many, many different subjects). I read about a dozen of these. [Via Chuck]
- Google must divulge YouTube log [BBC NEWS | Technology] – “Google must divulge the viewing habits of every user who has ever watched any video on YouTube, a US court has ruled. The ruling comes as part of Google’s legal battle with Viacom over allegations of copyright infringement.”
- Fox News: The return of yellow journalism and photoshop [Dennis Dunleavy] – Fox News photoshops images of their press critics. Dunleavy: “promulgating a use of technology that imperils journalistic standards and deceives its viewers.” [More.]
Links for June 17th 2008
Interesting links for June 12th 2008 through June 17th 2008:
- Blogger arrests hit record high [BBC NEWS | Technology] – “Since 2003, 64 people have been arrested for publishing their views on a blog, says the University of Washington annual report. In 2007 three times as many people were arrested for blogging about political issues than in 2006, it revealed.”
- Facebook No Longer The Second Largest Social Network [Tech Crunch] – “April 2008 was the milestone: Facebook officially caught up to MySpace in terms of unique monthly worldwide visitors, according to data released by Comscore … Both services are attracting around 115 million people to their respective sites each month.”
- Save Jericho Again: TV Campaign Info – The fan fight to save the now twice-cancelled US TV series Jericho continues, with dedicated Jericho nuts this time raising funds for a series of tv advertisements and billboard trying to save the show and get a new network to pick up the series.
- Sexually Frustrated Superheroes: Superheroes Who Can’t Have Sex [io9] – Which comic-book superheroes can’t have sex? Any why? (And I can’t believe there is an alternative future Spider-Man comic in which Mary-Jane dies after sharing too many bodily fluids with Marvel’s favourite hero!!).
Links for June 2nd 2008
Interesting links for June 2nd 2008:
- It Really Looks Like Ice on Mars [Universe Today] – The Phoenix Lander on Mars may have uncovered ice. As anyone with a passing interesting in Mars science fiction will know, actually finding water/ice on Mars is the single either makes or breaks the possibility of terraforming Mars! 🙂
- ABC Earth [ABC Online] – “The ABC Earth content layer (to be viewed using the Google Earth 4.3 application) is a trial that consists of video, images and content developed by the ABC. The layer includes National News and video …” (Fun way of engaging with news!)
- Facebook ban for PM’s staff [Australian IT] – “Staffers working in Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s office and on his household staff have been asked to remove their Facebook profiles.” (A move sure to reinforce the image of Australia’s PM as something of a control junkie!)
- Town forces Google to scrap street images [The Age] – “The small, private community of North Oaks in Minnesota enforces its trespassing ordinance, and Google Maps is no exception. The mapping service’s Street View feature allows users to see what a certain address or intersection looks like …”
Links for May 21st 2008
Interesting links for May 21st 2008:
- The Long Tail Wags the Dog [Technorati Weblog] – “Nowhere have we seen a bigger impact of blogging and social media on the American political landscape than on the 2008 presidential election. Candidate appearances formerly confined to a small town are uploaded to YouTube and seen by millions.”
- Big Brother’s vault for all net use, calls and emails [The Age] – “A digital vault containing information about every email, internet visit and phone call made in Britain is to be created in a European bid to battle terrorism. The plan, …has alarmed civil libertarians who are already anxious about a proposed ID card”
- Teenage burglar snapped on cameraphone [PerthNow] – “A teenage boy is facing burglary charges after being photographed on a mobile telephone after allegedly breaking into a Thornlie house. A woman took a snap of the 17-year-old as he rode away on a BMX bike …”
- Net starts to overtake TV [ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)] – “A new survey of internet consumer trends has revealed that people with broadband connections spend more time on the net than watching television. … Australians with broadband spend an average of 22 hours per week on the web. “
DNA Dating?!?
While there are many elements of the film Gattaca which are realistically extrapolated from contemporary society, I really thought that scanning someone else’s DNA to determine how romantically or sexually compatible they may or may not be with you was one of the more fictional elements. It seems I was wrong. Enter “Scientific Match“, which describes itself thus:
ScientificMatch uses your DNA to maximize the chances of finding chemistry—actual, physical chemistry—with your matches. We look at your personal values to help you find a soul mate. And our in-depth background checks provide one of the safest—and most honest—places for your search.
We faithfully guard your DNA. Your genetic information is never made public—not even you can see it. Our CLIA/ASH-accredited lab never knows whose DNA it’s analyzing, and it follows all HIPAA privacy guidelines. We only analyze a very few of your immune system genes—not your whole genetic makeup. And your DNA sample is destroyed after we’re done with it. Your genetic privacy is much more vulnerable when you get a haircut, or drink from a glass in a restaurant!
Despite their tome on privacy, I tend to think they protest too loudly. For anyone who would actually consider using such a service, all I can suggest is you avail yourselves of the lovely new BluRay version of Gattaca first and think whether you really want DNA matching to rule your love life.
Links for May 6th 2008
Interesting links for May 5th 2008 through May 6th 2008:
- Little Brother » Download for Free – Cory Doctorow’s new young adult novel “Little Brother” is out and is also available, in its entirety, as a free download. The novel explores issues of privacy and surveillance (among others) as they related to young people (with culture jamming ideas to boot).
- Apple iTunes To Sell Films On Day Of DVD Release [InformationWeek] – Apple’s iTunes store is to start selling feature film downloads on the same day that they are released on DVD.
- Internet serves up 30 years of spam [ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)] – “Today marks the 30th anniversary of the computer phenomenon – spam email. Now a nuisance for tens of millions of computer users worldwide, three decades ago someone sent what is considered to be the very first spam email.”
Links for April 27th 2008
Interesting links for April 27th 2008 through April 28th 2008:
- Nielsen Online: Produsage Trends in Australia and New Zealand [Produsage.org] – Using details from Nielsen Online, Axel gives an outline of how many Australians and Kiwis are using Web 2.0 tools, and how many are “produsing” (lowdown: a lot use, less make).
- Being a Researcher at a Liberal Arts College [Just TV] – Fascinating reflections from media scholar Jason Mittell and the pros and cons (mainly pros) of teaching in a US liberal arts college rather than one of the the larger, more prestigious, universities. (Esp useful for those of us outside looking in!)
- Israeli jailed for Facebook photo [BBC NEWS | Middle East] – “Israel has sentenced a soldier to 19 days in jail for uploading a photograph taken on his military base to the social networking website, Facebook. … The case follows widespread reports about the potential security risk of soldiers posting photos …”
Links for April 14th 2008
Interesting links for April 14th 2008:
- The new digital paparazzi [On Line Opinion – 14/4/2008] – Peter Black discusses “the new digital paparazzi” which are more likely friends, family, or even ourselves, posting photos online with little concern for personal privacy. Black argues that this is evident of a shift in the way privacy is thought about.
- Civil liberties expert slams email spying plans [ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)] – “The head of the Australian Council of Civil Liberties, Terry O’Gorman, says tighter laws to protect Australia against cyber terrorism threats are not needed.” (In the wake of proposed laws which would let certain employers read their employee’s email.)
- Study: Pirated Web Video Peaks 12-18 Hours After Broadcast [WatchingTV Online] – “Unauthorized viewing of popular TV shows on video-sharing Web sites like YouTube peaks between 12 and 18 hours after an episode is broadcast, according to a study conducted by Akamai Technologies and content-identification service provider Vobile.”