Oct 182010
 

The Journal found that some LOLapps applications, as well as the Family Tree application, were transmitting users’ Facebook ID numbers to RapLeaf. RapLeaf then linked those ID numbers to dossiers it had previously assembled on those individuals, according to RapLeaf. RapLeaf then embedded that information in an Internet-tracking file known as a “cookie.”

via Facebook in Online Privacy Breach; Applications Transmitting Identifying Information – WSJ.com.

This should probably not come as a surprise to anyone, given how fast and loose Facebook has played with privacy in the past, but as another cautionary tale about how marketing’s insatiable lust for personal data to sell to spammers (oh, sorry, “merchants”) leads many a company down the dark path to routine breaches of personal privacy.

Rapleaf: Opt out from data sharing.

While the worst offender of reselling personal information allows you to tediously opt-out for each e-mail address you own (guaranteeing they have a nice, juicy database of e-mail addresses), no one really knows how widespread the abuse of personal data is. Judging by the frosty response one application developer (Familybuilder, who make Family Tree) gave to the Journal when asked about the problem, I’d guess it’s pretty broad.

In the bigger picture, the best model for online marketing (for ANY marketing, in my opinion) is opt-in. Let the consumer decide what they want to hear about, not the marketer/spammer. You waste far fewer resources and tick off far fewer people that way, and your rates of return versus expense of spamming are much better, too.

Sep 212010
 

[W]e’re starting to see that in some cases the carriers may actually be able to exploit this “openness” to create a closed system that may leave you crying for Apple’s closed system — at least theirs looks good and behaves as expected.

via Android Is As Open As The Clenched Fist I’d Like To Punch The Carriers With. Thanks to Carole M for sharing the link with me originally!

Sep 202010
 

So here’s the setup:

I’ve got this lovely PHP/MySQL site that I’ve been working on. It was originally designed to only support one client, but management decided to change it to support multiple clients. OK, so it’s no (HUGE) deal.

Unless, that is, you forget that you use $client[] to pull in information about the current instance of the site, and try to use $client[] again on the page where one adds or edits new client instances.

Oops!

Sep 132010
 

Total techno-lustable:

From Philly nerd collective Hive76, USB Typewriters’re old-school manual key-bangers outfitted with fancy boards and chips to create a PC/Mac-compatible keyboard with an old-school feel/sound that’ll make everyone in the coffee shop totally envy you threaten to tear it to pieces if you don’t leave said coffee shop.

via USB Typewriter Keyboards | Thrillist.

Sep 102010
 

Personas | Metropath(ologies) | An installation by Aaron Zinman is an interesting little Web 2.x tool that trolls public pages to look for you—or who you might be—and collates the available information into a pretty colored grid. Unless your name is truly unique, chances are there are lots of people out there who share it, and Personas includes them all. The results may be interesting…


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