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This is National Consumer Protection Week.
Federal, state and local agencies, consumer groups and advocacy organizations will share tips and information on how consumers can protect their privacy, manage money and debt, and avoid identity theft, frauds and scams.
The Huffington Post reported that Facebook plans to share users' personal data with advertisers:
Facebook will be moving forward with a controversial plan to give third-party developers and external websites the ability to access users' home addresses and cellphone numbers in the face of criticism from privacy experts, users, and even congressmen. Facebook quietly announced the new policy in a note posted to its Developer Blog in January. It suspended the feature just three days later following user outcry, while promising that it would be “re-enabling this improved feature in the next few weeks.“
Facebook's statement that it has no current plan to share users' private data isn't reassuring:
Despite some rumors, there's no way for other websites to access a user's address or phone number from Facebook. For people that may find this option useful in the future, we're considering ways to let them share this information (for example to use an online shopping site without always having to re-type their address). People will always be in control of what Facebook information they share with apps and websites.
And get this: Facebook plans to use your “likes” and comments in ads. A CNN reporter observed, “It's kind of creepy.”
If you don't want to be creeped out, make sure you stay in control of your information. Know your privacy rights.
UPDATE: As if on cue, a little while ago I received this notification from Facebook:
Name redacted (or someone impersonating Major) has requested access to Major's Facebook account. To help confirm who owns this account, please call Major and give them this code.For Major's security, please be sure to talk to your friend in person or on the phone. Don't send this code by email or SMS.
Yes, Major is a Facebook “friend,“ but I don't have his phone nunber. Nor would I be able to identify him in a police lineup. So if Major is sitting by the phone waiting on a call from me, he's SOL.
The Swedish actress Greta Garbo famously said, “I want to be let alone.” In the era of the social web, you will not be let alone. In fact, it's an open question who owns your virtual you.
From think tanks to the Department of Commerce and the Federal Trade Commission, privacy is a trending topic. Indeed, privacy was on the agenda of the Institute for Policy Innovation's 3rd annual Communications Summit.
In his closing keynote remarks, Andrew Keen, author of “The Cult of the Amateur,” noted that privacy was on the national agenda in the 1990s. With the shift from an Internet of links to an Internet of likes, it's making a comeback:
The social web is all about revealing ourselves on the Internet...Everything is social. So it's no coincidence that privacy is the hot issue.
While over-sharing is an intergenerational phenomenon, the concept of TMI is seemingly lost on the first generation of “digital natives,” Generation Z. Keen observed:
Children growing up in this social world have no understanding of the distinction between public and private.
They are unaware that the Internet “records everything and forgets nothing.” That is, until they apply for college, get turned down for a job, or run afoul of the law.
Keen said the “Facebook-centric” Internet is giving rise to social companies. Entrepreneurs are using our freely shared personal information – our likes, tweets, comments, photos, videos and status updates – to start up companies.
Indeed, venture capitalists are investing like it's 1999. JPMorgan Chase has launched a $1.2 billion fund to invest in social media. Kleiner Perkins has a $750 million Digital Growth Fund.
So say, for instance, you have not enabled Mail Googles or engaged in “drunk facebooking” and didn't change your privacy settings. But fear not. Companies are springing up to defend reputations.
Back in the day, on the Internet, no one knew you were a dog.
Today, Web 2.0 has SocialEyes.
Keen said “privacy is the next big thing” and regulation is inevitable:
Something different is happening. This isn't the old issue of privacy. Something new is happening.
Today in remarks before the Technology Policy Institute, Rep. Cliff Stearns, a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said “privacy is a big concern.” Stearns plans to introduce legislation “to empower consumers so that they can make their own privacy choices.”
In the meantime, check out Facebook's Data Use Policy.
Yesterday I attended a communications summit in DC. It was a beautiful day so when the program ended, I walked over to the site of the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial. The memorial is under construction and behind a fence.
Some of the granite blocks that will be used to assemble the “Mountain of Despair” and “Stone of Hope” are visible from Independence Avenue.
The memorial will be dedicated on August 28, the 48th anniversary of Dr. King's “I Have a Dream” speech. Organizers expect 125,000 people will attend the dedication ceremony, including President Barack Obama.
The budget for the memorial is $120 million. So far, $100 $109 million has been raised.
It's not too late to help build the dream. So make a secure donation and push them over the top.
