Facebook isn’t just Facebook. The company is massive, and has a whole suite of other apps and businesses it launches (or acquires) from time to time. The latest is kind of a pared down social network aimed at busy teens on the go — but that comes along with massive, glaring privacy flaws that could leave kids at risk. [More]
Data & Privacy
Facebook’s New High School App Does Not Actually Care If You Are In High School Or Have Privacy
By 8.26.16
Facebook Now Using Your WhatsApp Data For Advertising
By 8.25.16
Back in 2014, Facebook acquired messaging service WhatsApp in a headline-grabbing $16 billion deal. WhatsApp, though, had been built around respecting users’ privacy, while Facebook is, well, the exact opposite of that. [More]
Facebook Testing Autoplay Video Ads That Have The Sound Turned On By Default
By 8.24.16
If you scroll through your Facebook newsfeed right now, you might see video ads that start to play, but silently, at least until/if you decide to turn the sound on. But according to a new report, Facebook confirms that it’s testing ads that will blast sound at full volume as soon as you encounter them. Because that’s a pleasant experience. [More]
Facebook Opens Up A Little About The Very Many (Many Many) Ways It Targets You
By 8.22.16
Facebook is, primarily, an advertising business. It doesn’t just want you to grudgingly put up with its ads, and it certainly doesn’t want you to block them. No, it wants you to love its ads, to embrace its ads, and to beg to be targeted to selectively. [More]
Eddie Bauer Removed Malware From Payment Systems In All Of Its Stores
By 8.18.16
In today’s spin of the Wheel of Cybercrime, the affected business is…Eddie Bauer, a clothing and housewares retailer with more than 350 stores across the country. The company confirmed today that its point of sale systems were infected with malware, which has now been removed, and customers’ payment card information may have been compromised. [More]
Data Breach At 20 Hotels In 10 States May Have Exposed Guests’ Payment Card Data
By 8.15.16
The operator of several hotels across 10 states and Washington, D.C. — including Starwood, Marriott, Hyatt and Intercontinental locations — says guests may have had their payment data exposed by hackers who targeted the businesses with malware starting last year. [More]
Facebook Polling Users To Find “Most Informative” Stories For News Feed
By 8.12.16
In its quest to show users exactly what they want to see, when they want to see it, Facebook is tweaking its news feed algorithm yet again, this time based on user polling. [More]
Beware: Video-Jackers Can See Everything You Type On Your Smartphone
By 8.12.16
In a great example of the fact that not every USB charging station is as innocent as it looks, security researchers have identified a new, easy way for attackers to digitally eavesdrop on your smart phone when you think you’re charging it — and watch everything that appears on your screen while you’re doing it. [More]
That Was Fast: Ad-Blocker Announces Block For Facebook’s Ad-Blocker Blocking
By 8.11.16
You use Facebook as a place to post and store photos, dumb memes, and articles about the political foofaraw du jour. Facebook uses Facebook as a way to gather direct profiles for billions of souls that can be advertised to, and as a way to make money selling those ads. There’s a natural tension there, when Facebook wants you to be the product and you would rather not. These days, that tension is evolving into something like an advertising cold war. [More]
Facebook Thinks You Love Ads So Much, It’ll Helpfully Block Your Ad-Blocker For You
By 8.9.16
Facebook — one of the world’s largest advertising companies — magnanimously acknowledges that in your life on the internet, you’ve probably encountered some bad ads. And you almost certainly have, because online advertising can be obtrusive, creepy, and irritating to say the least. But Facebook thinks that they are so far ahead of the pack that you will actually want to see their ads, and so they’re going to circumvent your ad-blocker for your own good. [More]
You’ll Never Believe How Facebook Is Changing Its News Feed Algorithm To Reduce Clickbait… Again
By 8.4.16
Ah, Facebook’s News Feed. It changes frequently in order keep you better updated on your friends’ lives, the news of the world, and other events. But one thing you’re likely see a bit less of soon: those cleverly written headlines just begging to be clicked. The social network announced Thursday that it would revamp its News Feed algorithm to reduce the number of clickbait headlines you see. [More]
Facebook Will Let Small Companies In Emerging Markets Sell Directly Through Their Pages
By 8.3.16
In an effort to expand into online commerce in regions outside of the U.S. and Canada — and get the ad dollars that go with it — Facebook will let small companies in emerging markets sell their products directly through their account pages for free. [More]
Equipment To Spy On Citizens Is A Surprisingly Popular Export
By 8.2.16
It doesn’t require any super-special equipment to spy on one’s own citizens: the items needed to do so are widely available and pretty affordable compared to other law enforcement and military gear. Yes, spy equipment is a popular U.S. export, and governments out to keep very, very close tabs on their residents are the customers. [More]
Hacker Claims To Be Selling Stolen Info For 200 Million Yahoo Accounts
By 8.2.16
After a rash of account breaches on social media networks like MySpace, LinkedIn, Tumblr, and Twitter, the latest site to fall victim to hackers seems to be Yahoo, with a hacker claiming he’s got account information for 200 million users and is selling those credentials on the internet’s black market. [More]
Facebook Might Owe The IRS As Much As $5 Billion In Back Taxes
By 8.1.16
You know what giant corporations really hate to do? Spend lots of their revenue on taxes. And you know what they have to do anyway? Exactly that. But the IRS is saying that Facebook may not have done enough of it, in past years, and may be on the hook for a big fat chunk of cash overdue to the U.S. government. [More]
If Your Kid Made Unapproved App Purchases Using Facebook, You Could Get A Refund
By 7.27.16
It’s so easy to buy apps and then buy even more stuff within those apps, even a kid can do it. Which is exactly why a court has ordered Facebook to refund parents whose children made unapproved app purchases while using the social media network. [More]
Facebook To Pay For Live Videos From Internet Celebrities
By 7.19.16
YouTube stars and Instagram aficionados may soon pop-up on your Facebook feed in real-time: the social network is reportedly shelling out $2.2 million to dozens of internet personalities to create content for the recently launched Facebook Live. [More]
Study: 98% Of Us Will Sign Away Our Firstborn Because We Don’t Read The Terms Of Service
By 7.13.16
“Click here if you have read and agree to the Terms of Service.” How many times in your life — heck, how many times just this month, or this year — have you hovered over that little ticky box without bothering to click the TOS link first? Or scrolled straight to the bottom of a pop-up window with 17 pages of boring legalese in it, just to continue installation? If your answer is anything other than “all the times,” you are in a very, very small minority. [More]
