Social networks as Big Brother

Have you noticed those "Like" and "Tweet" buttons that are popping up all over? A new study suggests they are being used by Facebook and Twitter to track your browsing, even when you don't click them!. It may be time to consider logging off of Social Networks, as these companies are going overboard in their efforts to know everything about their users.

The widgets, which were created to make it easy to share content with friends and to help websites attract visitors, are a potentially powerful way to track Internet users. They could link users' browsing habits to their social-networking profile, which often contains their name...

For this to work, a person only needs to have logged into Facebook or Twitter once in the past month. The sites will continue to collect browsing data, even if the person closes their browser or turns off their computers, until that person explicitly logs out of their Facebook or Twitter accounts, the study found.

Facebook, Twitter, Google and other widget-makers say they don't use browsing data generated by the widgets to track users; Facebook says it only uses the data for advertising purposes when a user clicks on a widget to share content with friends.

I don't want to be one of those paranoid people who assumes the worst of every company. But these days, the Social Networks are giving us every reason to be suspicious.

Your iPhone/iPad is watching you!

In scary Big Brother style, it turns out your iOS cellular enabled iPhone or iPad is tracking your every movement. The database found keeps data from the moment iOS 4 is installed, and appears to track even times when GPS location is not turned on (likely using cell tower triangulation).

Skeptical? I used this sample app to pull the data from my own iPhone. The image below. Note it's careful documentation of my trips to Bath and Houghton, NY, Lancaster, PA, Cherry Hill and Wildwood, NJ, and Delaware. Of course, my own privacy is not breeched because I had already posted photos from each of those trips here to Mod-Blog or to my twitter feed.

Please note, getting this info requires access to your device OR to any computer (Mac or PC) which your iOS device has synced with.

H1N1 (Swine) Flu self assessment

At my work, the arrival of autumn meant one thing - the simultaneous arrival of many, many sick people. And of that mob of sickos, many are quite afraid that they may have H1N1, because of the many news reports. Paranoia and hypochondria truly know no bounds.

However, there is help! If you are afraid that you may have H1N1 (swine) flu, then Emory University offers this online self-assessment. It is admittedly not a replacement for seeing your doctor. But it may help to preserve your sanity the next time you have the sniffles..

If you wondered if people can be TOO paranoid...

...look no farther. Australia has just bypassed the USA for stupid politically correct policies.

Santas in Australia's largest city have been told not to use Father Christmas's traditional "ho ho ho" greeting because it may be offensive to women, it was reported Thursday....One disgruntled Santa told the newspaper a recruitment firm warned him not to use "ho ho ho" because it could frighten children and was too close to "ho", a US slang term for prostitute.

This is beyond words. Let simply suggest if a child knows in Australia what "ho" means and that is American slang for a member of the oldest profession and somehow associates Santa's laugh with that word... well... either he is a normal 8-year-old boy who is also taking great joy in using the word "poopie" in public, or the child has larger problems.

Could we prevent another Virginia Tech or Columbine with technology?

One tech writer thinks so. Cringely is normally focussed on predicting the next emerging technology, but this week he ponders the case of the Virginia Tech shooter, and compares it with his own experience with an unstable personality in his life. I also have known some people who were clearly unstable and needed care (and largely recieved it), but whom I worry about to this day. It is an interesting question to wonder if it would be possible to create a system to scan the blogs and twitter posts and etc. that people freely post in an attempt to predict when individuals enter dangerous states. Then again, it would also be a dangerous system, like the Pre-Crime of Philip K. Dick's Minority Report, because it would tempt society to act before any crime has been committed. And really, is it possible to have such a system which can act early enough to extend a helping hand, while the disturbed individual is still capable of accepting it?

Dow 30K!

Yesterday, I was reading a somewhat paranoid and highly critical discussion about the GWB presidency. I then came across a liberal whose comment was mystifying to me. It made the claim that this was "the worst economy since the Great Depression with the highest unemployment ever." Hunh? I am hoping the comment was made before the Dow hit 13,000 which is the highest level it has ever reached, which was pushed largely by unexpected drops in unemployment which was already very low.

There are many things to criticize about the George W Bush Administration. But somehow, I do not think the state of the economy is one of them.