Reputation Management, Internet Privacy, and Social Media Quick Hits

Happy International Data Privacy Day! Celebrate with a mid-morning cup of coffee and the latest in reputation management, Internet privacy, and social media news.

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It’s Data Privacy Day, Why Aren’t Big Companies Doing Anything About It?

Ian Douglas of the UK’s Telegraph wonders about Data Privacy Day and why, despite the fact that many major companies have acknowledged it, Google is the only company to come out with any concrete public declaration of their privacy principles. By the way, those Google privacy principles aren’t all they’re cracked up to me. Check out ReputationDefender Chief Privacy Officer Dave Thompson’s great blog post on why Google’s privacy principles fall short.

Canada v. Facebook: Round Two

Facebook is facing a second investigation from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada related to the privacy settings changes the site initiated in December. Interestingly, these changes came about in part over an initial investigation from the Canadian Privacy Commissioner. Is Canada the most privacy-conscious country in the world, or what?

More Updates on the Massachusetts Cyberbullying Suicide

The Good Morning America website did some follow-up reporting on the suicide of 15-year-old Massachusetts teen, Phoebe Prince. At a meeting, parents were critical of school administrators for not working harder to identify the bullying, but, in reality, how much could the school have done if the majority of the bullying was done online? This story serves as another sad reminder that parents must take proactive steps to protect children from harm online and help them become responsible web citizens.

Reply by E-Mail Feature Leads to Facebook Comment Spoofing

I knew there would be problems when Facebook unveiled its latest reply by e-mail feature, but I thought it would be a user issue, not a technical one. According to security group, F-Secure, once a conversation has started, anyone can use the Reply To address from any e-mail account to join the discussion. The third-party messages will appear as if they are posted by the individual who started the thread. Obviously, this is a major loophole and one that could be easily exploited by spammers. F-Secure is also the group that uncovered the Facebook loophole that allows private Facebook photos to be shared using a public link. Keep up the good work guys.

Are Government Regulators Missing the Big Picture About Privacy?

John M. Simpson, a consumer advocate with Consumer Watchdog, has a well-written discussion piece for the San Francisco Chronicle. In it, Simpson wonders why the FTC is focusing on technological solutions to privacy concerns rather than addressing the overall issue, which is control. We want to be able to say yes or no when it comes to behavioral advertising, and it’s as simple as that.

Simpson sums up his point by saying, “Murder is illegal. We don’t have one law against killing someone with a gun and a different one against killing him with a knife. Similarly, we don’t care what technology was used to spy on us; we just want to be able to say no.”

Is Facial Recognition Technology Becoming Mainstream?

This article from Wired talks about facial recognition technology and how Tampa, Florida police have been using it to catch criminals for almost 10 years. Obviously, this is a great concern to civil liberties groups, but it’s becoming a bigger issue thanks to the widespread adoption of smartphones and the advance of facial recognition technology. Suddenly, the thought of being able to snap a picture of someone walking down the street and learn who they are in a few seconds doesn’t seem like science-fiction anymore.

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