This infographic presents the categories of information that social networks can make available to other applications. You authorize these applications by, say, logging in to a Web site with your Twitter account, or by playing Farmville on Facebook. The applications, in turn, often give data about your activities back to the social network. These exchanges of information take place through what’s known as an application programming interface, or an A.P.I..
I read “The Circle” by Dave Eggers and it scared the crap out of me. So much so that I decided to take a break from social media.
Facebook has found new, far more intrusive ways to exploit your personal information. The company will now use information from your web browsing history to display tailored advertisements on its site.
While the collection of private information by the National Security Agency is under scrutiny worldwide, a remarkable amount of your digital trail is also available to local law enforcement officers, IRS investigators, the FBI and private attorneys. And in some cases, it can be used against you.
Twitter today announced a new way of targeting advertisements for its users. This new system will display ads based on your behavior and reading habits. This is typical of the direction that major online companies are moving. But Twitter has made some praiseworthy design decisions
1. When Do Not Track is enabled, Twitter will not collect your browsing information
.2. Twitter is incorporating a setting to completely opt out of targeted ads.
The company unveiled yesterday its new ad retargeting effort, which lets it display advertisements to users based on their browsing activity. As Twitter argues, it’s all about seeing better, more relevant ads (and making more money from advertisers). But while the news is a big deal for Twitter, it’s actually a bigger deal for proponents of Do Not Track. Twitter says its new system will honor DNT signals, which means users who opt out won’t see targeted ads
In the physical realm we can deliberately control which portions our bodies are exposed to the world by covering it with clothing. In the digital realm, we have much less control of what personal aspects we share with the services that connect us. In the digital realm we are naked and vulnerable.
When Max Kelly, the chief security officer for Facebook, left the company in 2010, he did not go to Google or Twitter. Instead the man who was responsible for protecting the personal information of Facebook’s more than one billion users from outside attacks went to work for another institution that analyzes large pools of data: the N.S.A..
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