Entries Tagged 'Careers' ↓

In today’s Quick Hits, we discuss Facebook Places, how it’s impossible to block Mark Zuckerberg, and how a cop and a teacher are in hot water over Facebook.

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WSJ: Facebook Places Causes New Privacy Concerns

The Wall Street Journal has an update on Facebook privacy concerns in the wake of the company’s new location-based networking feature, Facebook Places. As usual, the issue revolves around the level of control Facebook gives users to manage checking-in to Places. According to the article, “Many privacy groups said they were pleased that Facebook had limited Places to voluntary check-ins–rather than constant real-time tracking of users’ locations–and also that the service set defaults for much of the shared information to be limited to a user’s circle of friends.Still, the Electronic Privacy Information Center and the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, one of the groups briefed by Facebook about the product before its launch, said Facebook didn’t give users adequate controls.”

Why Do You People “Check-in” to Their Homes?

In a column for the Washington Post, Rob Pergoraro talks about Facebook Places and how he can’t understand why some of his friends who are otherwise aware of privacy issues have decided to publicly share their own homes’ locations. Pergoraro ponders about the purpose of such a check-in and asks his readers what they get out of checking in from home.

You Can’t Block Mark Zuckerberg on Facebook

Facebook has taken great pains to provide easy-to-use privacy controls to its users. So why does the website make it impossible to block Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg? According to a Mashable report, if you attempt to blog Facebook man-in-charge, “you’ll get an error message that says, ‘General Block failed error: Block failed.’” The report speculates that the failure could be “a bug or an intentional inside joke.” In either case, it’s something that Zuckerberg doesn’t need bad publicity over, especially since he’s got a highly-fictionalized major motion picture about his life hitting the big screen soon.

Mass. Trooper Under Investigation Over Facebook Photos

A Massachusetts state trooper is under investigation after three photos appeared on Facebook showing the officer posing with underage women. There is a bottle of alcohol in the background of the picture and the officer is in full uniform, implying that the officer was in the midst of arresting the underage individuals when he agreed to pose for the photos. There is no word yet on whether the officer will be punished for his egregious lapse in professional judgment, but this story is a sober reminder that one’s online reputation is constantly at risk even in “real-life” situations.

School Administrator Fired After Criticizing Parents on Facebook

Additional Facebook foolishness comes our way via the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. In an article discussing how social networking can be risky for teachers, the AJC article mentions the story of a 30-year veteran Massachusetts school administrator who was forced to resign last week after posting on her Facebook page that the parents at her school were “‘arrogant” and “snobby” and that she was, “so not looking forward to another year at Cohasset Schools.” The administrator acknowledged her mistake and said, ““I take full responsibility for my stupidity and I hope it serves as an example to kids that they need to be very, very vigilant about their privacy.”

In today’s Quick Hits, Facebook meets another milestone and researchers expose some privacy problems in Chatroulette.

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Facebook Hits New Traffic Record

Facebook set a new traffic record last month, earning 141 million unique visitors. Facebook’s continued growth puts it close to Google’s numbers. The search giant tallied 179 million unique visitors in May. Since last year, Facebook has doubled its traffic.

Researchers Uncover Chatroulette Privacy Loopholes

The anonymous video chat service Chatroulette burst onto the national scene several months ago, earning praise from tech pundits for its innovation as well as criticism from safety advocated for its rampant nudity. Now, thanks to researchers from the University of Colorado at Boulder and McGill University, it may also draw criticism for not being all that anonymous.

According to a PC World article, the researchers were able to determine the identity of several Chatroulette users by combining public Facebook data with IP information. “Because Chatroulette’s back-end system shares user IP addresses, researchers were able to use IP-mapping services to get a general idea of user’s location (a public Web site, called Chatroulettemap.com already does this). Then by searching Facebook using information obtained in chats and comparing pictures, researchers were able to identify chatters.”

Location-Based Social Networking Users Worried About Privacy

You might think that Foursquare and Gowalla users are comfortable with sharing their location (why would they use location-based social networking, if they didn’t?), but a recent survey of 1,500 location-based website users revealed that over half (55%) are worried about loss of privacy. In general, women were more likely to worry about their privacy than men.

Dan Schawbel Offers Job Hunting Advice in the Wall Street Journal

In a column for the Wall Street Journal’s Hire Education blog, personal branding expert Dan Schawbel shares five tips to help job seekers find work, or, as he puts it, help work find them. One of Schawbel’s recommendations is to “clean up and promote your online presence” demonstrating again that proactive online reputation management is key for job seekers.

In today’s Quick Hits, we talk about the value of Facebook data, why the government is coming down hard on Internet companies, and take a peek at the first poster from the new movie The Social Network.

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How Much Is Your Facebook Data Worth?

This article from the San Francisco Chronicle explores the myriad ways in which Facebook users willingly and unwillingly share their information and how much money that data is worth. Some of the data security issues raised in the article include games and apps like Farmville, Facebook’s “Instant Personalization Project,” and the threat of hackers and scammers.

Mark Zuckerberg Visits U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron

Hoping to smooth bumpy relations in the U.K., Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg visited with Prime Minister David Cameron and British secretary of state for culture, media and sport, Jeremy Hunt, to discuss ways to improve “digital engagement in policy making.” Facebook is widely popular in the U.K., and the company has a number of allies in government.

Politicians Continue to Press Internet Companies Over Privacy

In the wake of Google’s Wi-Fi sniffing scandal, politicians have seized on populist anger over privacy violations and are looking hard at passing more stringent privacy regulations for Internet companies. Jim Dempsey, vice president for public policy for the Center for Democracy & Technology, sums up the renewed interest best when he says, “While privacy concerns have ebbed and flowed, I think it is fair to say that they are at an all-time high now.”

Stories of How People Lost Their Jobs Over Facebook

Status updates and wall posts might be great ways to stay in touch, but they are also great ways to get in trouble if you’re not careful about who you’re friends with on Facebook. This article from the Des Moines Register offers several stories of Iowans who have lost their jobs because of ill-fated Facebook messages in the last few months. The issues range from employees who complain about their jobs to a school teacher whose private messages ended up in the wrong hands.

First Poster for Facebook Movie The Social Network

The first poster for the new Facebook movie The Social Network has been released, and it has an inspired tag line. The image, which features actor Jesse Eisenberg as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, reads, “You don’t get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies.” Early reports on the script for The Social Network suggest the film will bring about a lot of negative publicity for Zuckerberg and Facebook, especially since the company is still battling privacy concerns.