Internet Privacy Concerns

Google Latitude:

Google Latitude is a new feature for Google Maps on your mobile device. It’s also an iGoogle gadget on your computer. Once you’ve opted in to Latitude, you can see the approximate location of your friends and loved ones who have decided to share their location with you. So now you can do things like see if your spouse is stuck in traffic on the way home from work, notice that a buddy is in town for the weekend, or take comfort in knowing that a loved one’s flight landed safely, despite bad weather. And with Latitude, not only can you see your friends’ locations on a map, but you can also be in touch directly via SMS, Google Talk, Gmail, or by updating your status message; you can even upload a new profile photo on the fly. It’s a fun way to feel close to the people you care about.

Privacy concerns:

Internet privacy is now a hot-button issue; the flurry of media reports about HTTP cookies has raised public concerns that consumers’ online activities are being monitored. In mid-May, Vice President Al Gore announced a White House initiative aimed at helping to improve online privacy protections. And in June, the Federal Trade Commission reported the results of its March privacy “sweep,” in which the agency visited more than 1,400 commercial Web sites in search of clearly displayed privacy policies. The FTC reported that while 85% of the sites it had visited collect personal information from consumers, only 14% had posted any privacy-related notices, and only 2% had posted comprehensive privacy policies. Meanwhile, the European Union is preparing to launch the European Data Protection Directive on Oct. 25. This directive will prohibit EU member countries from sending personal data to other countries that lack adequate privacy protection. Online transactions, which often cross national borders, may be significantly impacted by this directive. The Internet and computerized databases make automated collection and processing of information particularly easy and convenient. In fact, for the typical Web site operator, it’s easier to collect information about Web site visitors than to figure out how to configure a Web server not to collect that information. As a result, there are now zillions of databases silently collecting mostly innocuous “click-stream” data from everyone who surfs on by. But when these databases are merged, and especially when click-stream data is combined with personally identifiable data that users type in when filling out online forms, Web surfers may be profiled in ways that raise serious privacy concerns. Imagine, for example, if employers started inferring health information about their employees (or prospective employees) based on information about visitors to medical- or health-related Web sites.

Facebook Privacy Concern:

When you first start facebook, facebooks defult settings are at FULL ON STALKER MODE which means anything and everything you put, say on facebook are for all eyes to see? Your commenting on a funny picture of your friend, that picture can have comments of your comment on that picture from people your friend preobibly doesnt know. The dispute involves changes that Facebook had made to its terms of service agreement. Some critics said the changes appeared to give the company a perpetual right to content that users post on the network. People Against the new Terms of Service, a Facebook group created to oppose the changes, counted more than 88,000 users on Wednesday. The about-face by Facebook underscores the sensitivity that many consumers have about their personal data, even on sites where they freely share information about their lives with online friends. And it reflects the challenges facing Facebook as it seeks to squeeze money out of its network of 175 million users and to offset the costs of its rapid growth. Facebook is quickly burning through its initial funding, said Sanford Bernstein analyst Jeffrey Lindsay. Among other things, the social network needs to pay for the computers and equipment that host its online service around the world. “That’s real money,” said Lindsay. “They’re realising that they have to get a business model.” As a private company, Facebook does not disclose financial information. Lindsay said the site is rumored to generate US$100 million to US$300 million a year, most of it through an advertising arrangement with Microsoft, which owns a 1.6 percent stake in Facebook.

~ by spamnrice on February 26, 2009.