Real Conspiracy Theories

YourOpenBook.org is a new site that demonstrates some of the serious issues with Facebook’s privacy settings:
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From Business Insider:

According to SAI sources, the following exchange is between a 19-year-old Mark Zuckerberg and a friend shortly after Mark launched The Facebook in his dorm room:

Zuck: Yeah so if you ever need info about anyone at Harvard

Zuck: Just ask.

Zuck: I have over 4,000 emails, pictures, addresses, SNS

[Redacted Friend's Name]: What? How’d you manage that one?

Zuck: People just submitted it.

Zuck: I don’t know why.

Zuck: They “trust me”

Zuck: Dumb f*cks.

The Register reports:

Google’s roving Street View spycam may blur your face, but it’s got your number. The Street View service is under fire in Germany for scanning private WLAN networks, and recording users’ unique Mac (Media Access Control) addresses, as the car trundles along.

Germany’s Federal Commissioner for Data Protection Peter Schaar says he’s “horrified” by the discovery.

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Global treaty may make your ISP spy on you

Documents from talks on a secret global copyright deal have leaked online, various sources are reporting. The documents discussed are said to confirm that internet service providers could be compelled to constantly sift through their customers’ data looking for copyright transgressions. The European Union’s data protection chief has said that such requirements could curtail individuals’ civil liberties…ISPs told New Scientist in December that such technology will not only slow downloads, but puts in place technology that could be used for snooping and censorship.

Read more on PC World…

Here is a video  that demonstrates how photocopiers store copies of all your documents:

This is the new Facebook Like button that instantly spread across the Web upon its launch:

If you surf the Web while logged into Facebook, the button will display how many of your friends like the webpage you are on. That means it sends your personal identity back to Facebook to get the information.
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Google has a product called Google Health that allows you to store all of your medical information with Google.  Features:

Build online health profiles
You can enter your health conditions, medications, allergies, and lab results into your Google Health profile and you can name the profile anything you want. You can even create multiple profiles for family members or others you care for.

Import medical records from hospitals and pharmacies
Choose from a list of Google Health partners to see if your hospital or pharmacy can send copies of your medical records or prescriptions to your Google Health profile. This way, you can save an accurate history of your medical conditions, medications, and test results all in one place.

What this means is that Google will have the ability to link your health records to all of the other data they have about you including:

• Web pages you visit (Google Analytics, Google toolbar, Google AdSense, DoubleClick Ads, future AdMob ads, etc.)
• Search engine queries (IP address, Web history, Google Chrome)
• Your physical location at all times (Google Latitude, Google Mobile Maps, Android phones including Nexus One, your IP address when accessing your Google Account, Google Maps direction searches)
• The theoretical capability to track your exact physical gestures with your phone (see how cell phone accelerometers make this possible)
• Your documents, spreadsheets, and other files (Google Docs, “Gdrive”, Google Desktop)
• Your email (Gmail, Google Apps)
• Your personal and business connections (Gmail, Google Talk, Google Buzz)
• Your credit card numbers and purchases (Google Checkout)
• Your phone numbers, calls, and voice mails (Google Voice)
• Your photos (Picasa)
• Your face recorded with facial recognition technology (Picasa)
• and much more…

If you don’t think Google is that creepy, see how Google already developed eavesdropping technology capable of listening to you through your computer’s microphone, and about how Google is even interested in your DNA.  Google has an abysmal privacy record:

• Google Ranked Worst on Privacy (the only company ranked “hostile to privacy” in the report)
• 10 Countries criticize Google over privacy (April 20, 2010)

On April 28th, New York Times technology writer, Nick Bilton, tweeted: about Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg:

Off record chat w/ Facebook employee. Me: How does Zuck feel about privacy? Response: [laughter] He doesn’t believe in it.

Via Wired:

“Zuckerberg’s apparent disregard for your privacy is probably not reason enough to delete your Facebook account. But we wouldn’t recommend posting anything there that you wouldn’t want marketers, legal authorities, governments (or your mother) to see, especially as Facebook continues to push more and more of users’ information public and even into the hands of other companies, leaving the onus on users to figure out its Rubik’s Cube-esque privacy controls.”

And:

Zuckerberg defended the change — largely intended to keep up with the publicness of Twitter, saying that people’s notions of privacy were changing.

Though the average user has no idea how Facebook is using their data or what it means.

Where will your data end up?

Then last week at its f8 conference, Facebook announced it was sending user profile information in bulk to companies like Yelp, Pandora and Microsoft.

Full article at Wired.

“Is the New Facebook a Deal With the Devil?”

With Facebook’s release of the “Like button” and similar tools, they now have the capability to track you on every webpage you visit that has Facebook scripts installed. If you are logged into your Facebook account while surfing the Web Facebook has the capability to associate the webpages you’ve visited with your personal identity, including personal network of friends, and possibly even telephone and credit card numbers.
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Cell-Phone Tech Uses Accelerometer to Spy on Employees:

“The idea is simple: software is embedded into an employee’s mobile that is connected to a server that analyzes their movements via the phone’s accelerometer. At first, workers will have to input just what action they are performing into their mobiles so that their movements can be interpreted. The system becomes more accurate as time goes on, recognizing each individual’s movements. So, if your boss has asked you to hoover up the nasal hair he clipped before nipping off to lunch with his secretary, he can make sure that you’re performing the task he’s set you, rather than sitting in front of his computer and checking up on your Facebook page–or his.”

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