A fantastic essay by Corey Doctorow over at Boing Boing all about the rise of DRM and the future of general purpose computing. The entire essay is grand, but I think this paragraph sums it up best. We don’t know how to build a general-purpose computer that is capable of running any program except for [...]
[16 Jan 2012]
The guide is simply a review of privacy policies, to the extent we’ve been able to find them, plus additional information we received directly from Adobe and the Internet Archive. We haven’t been able to do independent testing to verify how these e-book providers work in practice. Also, in discussing whether individuals are linked to [...]
[7 Dec 2010]
Today’s 24Ways entry is from Christian Heilmann and takes a look at HTML5 Local Storage. Heilmann explains: Why client-side storage can be a good thing; The origins of and need for local storage; How to use local storage; When to use local storage; I implemented local storage in browsers that support it for our wedding [...]
[7 Dec 2010]
The battle that is underway is not a battle over the future of privacy and publicity. It’s a battle over choice and informed consent. It’s unfolding because people are being duped, tricked, coerced, and confused into doing things where they don’t understand the consequences. Facebook keeps saying that it gives users choices, but that is [...]
[14 May 2010]
The complaint has over 150 numbered paragraphs, runs 38 pages, and includes a lot of legalese. But the basic claim is simple: Facebook pulled a “privacy bait and switch.” They told users to sign up and provide personal information under one set of privacy policies, and then they changed the policies. It’s like if someone [...]
[14 May 2010]
One reaction is to diversify: Hotmail instead of Gmail, MapQuest instead of Google Maps, AOL Instant Messenger instead of Google Chat ’ though that would mean losing the accumulated benefits of linked services. Another reasonable response is to focus efforts on improving our (new) media literacy so that we’re more mindful of how much even [...]
[18 Feb 2010]
That is the question Jakob Nielsen sparked with last summer’s column: Stop Password Masking. In this week’s A List Apart, Lyle Mullican discusses The Problem with Passwords, and writes: However, making such a sweeping change to a fundamental user interaction could present serious problems. Consider some contexts in which a password might need to be [...]
[9 Feb 2010]
If Privacy Icons become widely adopted (and I think Mozilla is in a unique position to help make that happen) then the correlation of good companies using the icons and bad companies not using the icons becomes rather strong. If a privacy policy doesn’t include any icons it’s synonymous with that policy making no guarantees [...]
[13 Jan 2010]
By and large, those who are looking are those who hold power over the person being observed. Parents look. Teachers look. Employers look. Governments look. Corporations look. These people are often looking to judge or manipulate. Given the powerful position they are in, those doing the looking often think that they have the right to [...]
[10 Dec 2009]
From his 24 Ways piece, Breaking Out The Edges of The Browser: The Web Storage API is basically cookies on steroids, a unhealthy dosage of steroids. Cookies are always a pain to work with. First of all you have the problem of setting, changing and deleting them. Typically solved by Googling and blindly relying on [...]
[2 Dec 2009]