Germany: Facebook Like button violates privacy laws

Facebook’s Like button today was found in violation of Germany’s strict privacy laws. Commissioner Thilo Weichert, who works for theIndependent Centre for Privacy Protection (ULD) in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, said the social network’s plugin, which allows Internet users to express their appreciation of something online, illegally puts together a profile of their Web habits.

The ULD said if you visit Facebook.com or use a Facebook plugin such as the Like button, you should expect to be tracked by the company for two years: Facebook allegedly builds a broad profile for individuals not on the service as well as a more personalized profile for its members.

Traffic and content data are transferred to Facebook’s servers in the US and an analysis is sent back to the website owner concerning the usage. The ULD believes such profiling infringes German and European data protection law. Users are not given sufficient information about this and the wording in Facebook’s conditions of use and privacy statements do not meet the legal requirements relevant for compliance of legal notice, privacy consent, and general terms of use, according to the ULD.

The ULD is demanding that websites in Schleswig-Holstein remove their Facebook Pages as well as the Like button from their websites by the end of September 2011. If they do not, they will face a fine of up to €50,000 ($72,000).

As for Internet users, the ULD is advising “to keep their fingers from clicking on social plugins” such as the Facebook Like button and not to set up a Facebook account if they wish to avoid a comprehensive profiling by Palo Alto. Profiles are personal information, but Facebook requires that its members use their actual name, the organization points out.

“ULD has pointed out informally for some time that many Facebook offerings are in conflict with the law,” Weichart said in a statememt. “This unfortunately has not prevented website owners from using the respective services and the more so as they are easy to install and free of charge. Web analytics is among those services and especially informative for advertising purposes. It is paid with the data of the users. With the help of these data Facebook has gained an estimated market value of more than 50 bn. dollars. Institutions must be aware that they cannot shift their responsibility for data privacy upon the enterprise Facebook which does not have an establishment in Germany and also not upon the users.”

Facebook of course disagrees with Weichert’s claims. “We firmly reject any assertion that Facebook is not compliant with EU data protection standards,” a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement. “The Facebook Like button is such a popular feature because people have complete control over how their information is shared through it. For more than a year, the plugin has brought value to many businesses and individuals every day. We will review the materials produced by the ULD, both on our own behalf and on the behalf of web users throughout Germany.”

Source : zdnet

New Facebook layout starts rolling out: What's new

Further to initial testing of the new Facebook layout, it seems the new layout is appearing on more and more screens.

Facebook has not seen a redesign to its News Feed area in over 16 months, it is understood and clear to see that advertising space — through sponsored stories and adverts — will regain prominent focus for Facebook users, in a bid to boost overall revenue.

Though the basic layout has changed slightly, Facebook keeps much of the same content. However, many will discover duplicates for now — one can presume until further tweaks are made to boost reported click-through rates for ‘unfiltered content’.

There are two key changes you need to be aware of — before you see the new layout, panic, and take to the groups to complain:

Highlighting: Facebook’s new highlighting feature is not yet clear, but shows some interesting functionality.

In short, you can hover over a status or an update and select the: “This is a highlight” option. While I suspect this is for a later feature, yet to be fully developed or rolled out, it temporarily ’sticks’ that status or update to your news feed.

It could be used to highlight favourite statuses, updates and ‘likes’ later on, in a retrospective look back at your time on the site — similar to that of Facebook Memories, which has yet to see the light of day.

Ticker: The fixed ticker on the right hand side of the screen displays all of your social networks’ updates, from friends’ statuses, along with updates from your pages and applications. This, in effect, is your unfiltered news feed.

Unlimited in length, it constantly updates you on the going’s on of your friends — taking on the permissions you set when you decide to hide a friend or a particular update still.

It is, in effect, an expanded view of the newly released Facebook game ticker, which was rolled out to counter the Google+ offensive.

New Facebook Feature Shows You Your Old Status Updates From 2010 & 2009

The world’s largest social network is getting nostalgic. Facebook has quietly rolled out a new feature that displays status updates you posted exactly one or two years ago.

The feature appears as a small box in the right-hand column above the advertising, either titled “On This Day in 2010″ or “On This Day in 2009.” We’ve typically found that the “On This Day” box appears while you’re browsing a photo album. This is how I found out, for example, that I had a terrible day on August 13, 2010.

You can also click the “Show More” button to see more status updates from exactly one or two years ago, if you posted multiple status updates on those days. The feature only seems to go back to 2009. That makes sense — Facebook just didn’t have a lot of users in 2008 or 2007.

Based on a search of public Facebook and Twitter status updates, we believe the feature began rolling out in a limited test on August 11. More and more users started noticing in the last twelve hours, though. This isn’t the first time Facebook has tried to help uses discover their past activity on Facebook. It also has a feature for surfacing photos from your past.

We’re not sure if Facebook thinks of these nostalgic features as just fun little additions to the product, or whether they serve a purpose. Perhaps Facebook wants to remind its users that they have invested years of their lives into their product, so perhaps they shouldn’t switch to something new. Or perhaps its just another one of Facebook’s many product engagement tools.

Source : mashable

Facebook hits back over Google+ Games

Facebook has revealed that it has bolstered its gaming service, after Google announced it has also begun offering games through its social network, Google+.

Facebook has had massive success with the gaming part of the site. Companies such as Zynga has used Facebook to make their billions.

At one point, Zynga's FarmVillewas said to have more people on it than use Twitter.

Google has also dabbled in in-browser gaming but it only announced the first lot of games to hit Google+ this week. These include Angry Birds and Zynga Poker.

Let the games begin

In a blog, which coincided with the Google+ Games launch, Facebook said: "When you're playing games, you'll now see a separate stream of your friends' game activity, scores and achievements in a ticker.

"The best way to find new games is through friends, and now you'll have more opportunities to see what they're playing.

"Maybe your best friend has started playing Sims; your roommate has a new high score on PacMan; or your mom and sister have taken up Words With Friends. Simply click on a story and you can start playing the game yourself."

It also noted that it had added a bigger screen and you can now bookmark your favourite games to play later.

These additions are more tweaks than major overhauls but the timing of them is significant.

Facebook sees Google+ as a rival and it seems that with the search engine's games announcement one of the people.

Source : techradar

Anonymous to attack Facebook on November 5, but is it a hoax?

Yesterday news broke that the hacktivist group Anonymous is vowing to destroy Facebook on November 5, 2011 (Guy Fawkes Day). Now there is speculation that it’s all just a hoax, or that the collective group Anonymous doesn’t support what a few of its members are up to.

I contacted Facebook last night to see what the company thinks about a possible Anonymous attack. Facebook did not get back to me, so I decided to look for more information today.

On July 16, 2011, someone created accounts for an “Operation Facebook” on YouTube (FacebookOp) and Twitter (OP_Facebook). These account names are a little odd: why not just use one of the many other mediums that Anonymous has used in the past? Furthermore, the released video, embedded above, is not of the usual computerized voice and visual production quality that we’re used to from Anonymous.

The dates are also questionable: why didn’t this news spread like wildfire three weeks ago? Whenever Anonymous or LulzSec declare a new target, the world definitely notices. Furthermore, while Guy Fawkes Day is a perfectly understandable choice, it’s very far away. There are 112 days between July 16, 2011 and November 5, 2011: Anonymous rarely gives more than a few days notice, if at all.

My suspicions were confirmed via a few Twitter accounts that Anonymous has used in the past. They have given accurate information regarding the organization and its actions in the past, so I’m more likely to believe what they are saying.

GroupAnon, which has some 26,000 followers, sent out these two tweets:

No one can speak for the whole of #Anonymous. There are some anons who support #OpFacebook whilst others do not. | #AnonOps
@Anonymous_SA Exactly! #OpFacebook is just an Op, it’s not Anonymous…

AnonOps, which has some 45,000 followers, sent out these four tweets:

We prefer to face the real power and not to face to the same medias that we use as tools. #OpFacebook #Anonymous
#OpFacebook is being organised by some Anons. This does not necessarily mean that all of #Anonymous agrees with it.
Dont be silly. Important things are happening in the world to deal with quirks like #OpFacebook. Lets keep our style & moral #Anonymous
TO PRESS: MEDIAS OF THE WORLD… STOP LYING! #OpFacebook is just ANOTHER FAKE! WE DONT “KILL” THE MESSENGER. THAT’S NOT OUR STYLE #Anonymous

By contrast, here is the original message from the OP_Facebook account, which has some 3,000 followers:

spread the new video like AIDS NOU!!! youtube.com/watch?v=SWQTS8…

Here is the original “press release” from the YouTube video posted by FacebookOp:

Attention citizens of the world,

We wish to get your attention, hoping you heed the warnings as follows:
Your medium of communication you all so dearly adore will be destroyed. If you are a willing hacktivist or a guy who just wants to protect the freedom of information then join the cause and kill facebook for the sake of your own privacy.

Facebook has been selling information to government agencies and giving clandestine access to information security firms so that they can spy on people from all around the world. Some of these so-called whitehat infosec firms are working for authoritarian governments, such as those of Egypt and Syria.

Everything you do on Facebook stays on Facebook regardless of your “privacy” settings, and deleting your account is impossible, even if you “delete” your account, all your personal info stays on Facebook and can be recovered at any time. Changing the privacy settings to make your Facebook account more “private” is also a delusion. Facebook knows more about you than your family. http://www.physorg.com/news170614271.html http://itgrunts.com/2010/10/07/facebook-steals-numbers-and-data-from-your-iph….

You cannot hide from the reality in which you, the people of the internet, live in. Facebook is the opposite of the Antisec cause. You are not safe from them nor from any government. One day you will look back on this and realise what we have done here is right, you will thank the rulers of the internet, we are not harming you but saving you.

The riots are underway. It is not a battle over the future of privacy and publicity. It is a battle for choice and informed consent. It’s unfolding because people are being raped, tickled, molested, and confused into doing things where they don’t understand the consequences. Facebook keeps saying that it gives users choices, but that is completely false. It gives users the illusion of and hides the details away from them “for their own good” while they then make millions off of you. When a service is “free,” it really means they’re making money off of you and your information.

Think for a while and prepare for a day that will go down in history. November 5 2011, #opfacebook . Engaged.

This is our world now. We exist without nationality, without religious bias. We have the right to not be surveilled, not be stalked, and not be used for profit. We have the right to not live as slaves.

We are anonymous
We are legion
We do not forgive
We do not forget
Expect us

Source : zdnet

Facebook aims to replace texting

Facebook has launched an instant messaging service for mobile phones, similar to BlackBerry Messenger.

The dedicated app, for iPhones and Android devices, allows users to contact individual friends or groups of people.

Its release comes a month before Apple is due to unveil a similar product.

Attention has been focused on mobile messaging recently because some of the London rioters were known to have used it to co-ordinate their movements.

So far Facebook's mobile messenger is only available in the United States, but it is expected to eventually roll out in other countries.

The social network's 750 million users already have the ability to send messages through the website, and on Facebook's original smartphone app.

Its new application adds the option to send directly to a mobile phone via SMS, and also to include location information.

Bad timing?

Facebook's timing has raised a few eyebrows within the industry, given the debate around BlackBerry Messenger's role in the recent UK rioting.

However, it is likely that its decision to launch in the US now was influenced by the impending Arrival of Apple's iOS 5 and its integrated messenger.

Stuart Miles, the founder of Pocket-lint.com, told BBC News that Facebook might be able to make mileage out of its compatibility with more than one phone system.

"Apple will be iPhone to iPhone, like Facetime. The same as BBM which is Blackberry to Blackberry. [Facebook] will be Android to iPhone, so theoretically it can only benefit from the platform," said Mr Miles.

"The big question you have to ask is how long will it be before Google+ has a messaging service built-in."

Source : BBC Technology

Facebook used to organize UK riots, clean them up

Scotland Yard has vowed to track down and arrest protesters who posted “really inflammatory, inaccurate” messages on social networks like Facebook and Twitter. The platforms are being blamed in part for helping rioters in the UK organize.

On the flipside, the social networks have also been used to help organize clean ups after the disturbances. In Liverpool, 21-year-old bartender Charles Jupiter set up a “Liverpool Clean Up” Facebook page that brought about 100 volunteers onto the streets this morning to sweep up piles of broken glass and debris.

“I thought, ‘Not in my city’,” Jupiter told CBS News. “People were posting, ‘I’m embarrassed to be English, I’m embarrassed to be from London or Liverpool.’ I reposted and said, ‘I’m not. That’s why I’m going out there to help clean up.’”

The volunteers followed the same path taken by the rioters on Monday night who smashed bus stops and set fire to cars. A supermarket even supplied the groups with brushes, shovels, and binbags after hearing about their effort. If violence strikes again tonight, the volunteers said they will go back to doing the same work tomorrow morning.

Source : zdnet