Two years ago, the Federal Trade Commission accused Napster co-founder, and creator of Jerk.com, John Fanning of pilfering data from Facebook accounts then charging people $30 each to manage their online reputations. A federal appeals court recently upheld most of the FTC’s ruling that Fanning deceived consumers about the source of the information contained on Jerk.com and the benefits of paying for membership. [More]
Data & Privacy
7 Products By The Biggest Tech Companies That Failed Miserably
By 5.17.16
Hearing the news that Google is taking another stab at social media with a new group-chatting app dubbed “Spaces” may feel like deja vu for anyone paying attention to the tech giant’s previous, mostly unsuccessful efforts to gain traction in the social media world with Google+. But Google isn’t the only big name in the tech world that’s tried and failed to popularize a new tech product, not by a long shot. [More]
Man Accused Of Hacking United Airlines Website, Stealing Travel Vouchers
By 5.11.16
There are a few ways you can earn travel vouchers that let you fly on the cheap or for free, but slipping in the back door and stealing them could also earn you a trip to court. That’s the lesson playing out right now in Utah, where officials charged a man with a slew of crimes including theft after he allegedly hacked United Airlines and boosted unredeemed vouchers. [More]
Instagram’s New Ads Will Target Shoppers Who Look At Stuff Online But Don’t Buy It
By 5.10.16
One of the ways I save myself money when shopping online is pretty simple: I put a bunch of stuff in my online cart that I want, then immediately close the window and don’t return. Facebook is going after people like me with its rollout of dynamic ads on Instagram, which will be targeted at shoppers who browse online but don’t pull the trigger when it comes to actually buying items. [More]
Facebook Wins Trademark Victory Over China’s “Face Book” Beverages & Snacks
By 5.9.16
Five years ago, China’s Zhongshan Pearl River Drinks filed trademark applications for “Face Book” branded beverages and snacks, hoping to ride the wave of popularity for the social media platform even though it’s banned in the country. Today, a court in Beijing handed the real Facebook a rare victory for this sort of trademark case, revoking this use of the famous brand. [More]
Cruise Ship Norovirus Season Begins: 252 Passengers Sick On Ship Docked In Maine
By 5.9.16
When the cruise season kicked off in Portland, ME this weekend, it didn’t exactly get off to a great start. The first ship to dock in the city’s port is under surveillance for norovirus after more than 250 passengers reportedly became sick. [More]
Court: Facebook Must Face Facial-Recognition Privacy Lawsuit
By 5.6.16
Six years after Facebook launched a feature that scans uploaded photos to see if it can recognize faces and suggest people to tag, a lawsuit about the social media site’s facial-recognition tech has been given the go-ahead by a federal court. [More]
Tell Us All About The Strange Things Facebook Mistakenly Thinks You’re Interested In
May 4, 2016
As you’re probably well aware, Facebook tracks its users all over the internet, building up a profile of their behavior so that advertisers can target them with a higher degree of precision. While sometimes the assumptions Facebook makes about your profile are accurate, other times it results in some very bizarre conclusions about what you are interested in. [More]
10-Year-Old Receives $10K Facebook Bug Bounty For Finding Instagram Comment Flaw
By 5.4.16
Since Facebook launched its bug bounty program in 2011, the social media company has divvied up more than $4.3 million, including the $10,000 recently awarded to a 10-year-old who found a vulnerability in Facebook-owned Instagram. [More]
Facebook Inches Into Skype Territory With Group Calls On Messenger
By 4.20.16
At this point it seems there really isn’t anything that Facebook’s Messenger can’t do: correspond with businesses, use a virtual assistant, or send friends money, among other things. Unless you count group calls. Wait, what was that? Oh, never mind, it can do that now too. [More]
Facebook Might Allow Some Users To Add A Virtual Tip Jar To Their Posts
By 4.20.16
If you’ve ever ended what you thought was a particularly witty or entertaining Facebook status update with, “Thanks, folks, I’ll be here all week!” you may have wished you could earn extra cash with such a great comedic performance. Facebook may just allow that to happen with a “tip jar” feature it’s currently toying with. [More]
Oculus Executive: We’ll Answer Questions About Rift’s Privacy Policy “In Due Time”
By 4.18.16
Virtual reality company Oculus doesn’t seem to be too concerned about questions some people have had about the privacy policy for its new Rift headset, with a company executive downplaying those concerns and saying that they’ll be answered “in due time.” [More]
With New High-Speed Wireless Ventures, Facebook Stakes Claim On Another Corner Of The Internet
By 4.15.16
While the average consumer might just think of Facebook as just a place to post photos, ignore high school friends’ (and distant uncles’) politically charged rants, and catch up on the news, the reality is that Facebook has been quietly building a behind-the-scenes empire that covers everything from advertising to virtual reality to artificial intelligence. And the company’s latest venture makes it clear that Facebook is intent on being a lot more than a social media platform. [More]
Facebook’s Big New Plan: Fewer Passwords, More Robots
By 4.12.16
At the annual F8 developer conference today, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg laid out his vision for how the big blue social network plans to take over the world in the coming decade. There was a lot to his keynote speech, and there will be a lot more to the conference, but two big announcements, the Messenger Platform and the Account Kit, stood out as likely to have an immediate impact on consumers nation- and worldwide. [More]
Facebook Partners With Dropbox To Allow Users To Share Files Through Messenger
By 4.12.16
Until now, Facebook users could message each other and share thoughts, feelings, links, photos, and ginormous stickers, among other things. Soon, they’ll have another way to share more data than a snap or two from Uncle Larry’s 70th birthday party, with a new partnership between Facebook and Dropbox that lets people send photos, videos, and other files during a chat on the Messenger platform. [More]
Ticketmaster Will Allow Some Users To Buy Tickets On Facebook Soon
By 4.11.16
Have you ever scrolled through your Facebook news feed and noticed a friend had scored tickets to that awesome concert or sporting event, but decided it was simply too much work to actually search for the event yourself? That’s about to change — if the tickets are sold through Ticketmaster. [More]
Sen. Al Franken Has A Few Questions About Oculus Rift’s Privacy Policy
By 4.8.16
While we’ve been talking about virtual reality for decades, the current slate of VR headsets marks the first time we’ve seen anything close to widespread adoption of the technology. And when one of the leading companies in the field also happens to be owned by a company that makes billions of dollars tracking your online behavior, you can’t fault people for being concerned about privacy.
[More]
Facebook’s WhatsApp Messaging Service Bolsters Encryption Amid Law Enforcement Scrutiny
By 4.5.16
Even though the FBI has figured out a work-around that — for now — allows the agency to bypass an iPhone’s encryption, the debate still continues about which is more important: privacy for all consumers, or ready-but-limited access for law enforcement? Today, Facebook-owned messaging service WhatsApp made it clear which side of that argument it comes down on. [More]
