Geek News: Latest Technology, Product Reviews, Gadgets and Tech Podcast News for Geeks


Tag: Privacy

Cloud Storage and the Law

Posted by KL Tech Muse at 8:41 PM on October 23, 2011

As a business or an individual if you store your data in the cloud, you are probably concerned with security and the ability to get your data back. The one issues you may not have thought about is where it is being stored, well maybe you should be according to Technology Review. The term cloud storage is misleading, it makes it seem as if the data is out there some where. The truth is data that is stored in the cloud is being stored in a data center which maybe be located anywhere in the world. The problem is who can get access to the data is unclear. Do the laws in the country where the data is being stored determine who can have access to the data or is it where it originated or maybe even where the company who owns the data center is incorporated. This maybe become an issue between Europe and the U.S if strict European privacy laws start to block U.S. attempts to access information it deems vital to national security. Many European countries have stricter privacy laws then the U.S. In the U.S. the Patriot Act which was passed after 9-11 enhanced the ability of law enforcement to intercept and read email and other records. If a European stores their data with a cloud company whose data center is in the United States would the stricter European privacy laws still apply or would U.S laws. The United States insist that it’s laws reign supreme even if the data is stored in another country if the company that owns the data center is incorporated in the United States. This was what Google and Microsoft both told European courts when they indicated they would have to abide by U.S law no matter where the data is stored. Not only is privacy an issue but also how long data must be kept is becoming an issue. Some country’s laws are based on how long the data must be kept, others are based on when the data must be deleted. These two viewpoints can collide and often do.

Because of this type of uncertainty, both companies and public institutions are starting to rethinking where their data can be stored. Some like the Canadian providence of British Columbia insist that all public healthcare records must be stored within the providence. Swiss financial institutions also say that any of their banking data must be stored in data centers located in Switzerland. As more and more sensitive data is being stored in the cloud these issues are going to continue to come up. This is another area where technology has clearly outpaced the law.

GNC-2011-10-17 #714 All the News

Posted by geeknews at 1:38 AM on October 18, 2011

You will love the rack overheat alarm going off in the middle of the show. Adds for some comedy and bewilderment by me as I have never heard that alarm coming out of the rack. Lots of great tech news and the show goes way long tonight. Will get that back in check as I do not have to report on “All the News”

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Listener Links:
SteamPunk Synth.
iris versus Siri?
Magnet Magic.
Wow How about this one.
Big Brother E-Toll watching us.

Links to articles covered in this Podcast on the GNC Show Notes Page [Click Here]

Credits:
Jack Ellis – Executive Producer
Mike Baine – Associate Producer

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Choices and Decisions

Posted by KL Tech Muse at 11:49 AM on October 17, 2011

ChoicesOne of the things that we face everyday in the real world and online are choices. However, studies show that if people are given a default choice, along with others most people will choose the default choice. This is true in the both in the real world and online. Advertisers, companies like Google, Facebook and even politicians have known this for years. This is one of the main reasons that politicians fight hard to be first on the ballot and companies always list their preferred choice as the default choice when they have to give consumers an option. If you are a Facebook user, you know that one of the biggest complaints against Facebook is that the option to share your information has always been the default one. Facebook wants the user to make this choice and they know that most users will opt for the default choice. Often if you choose something other than the default choice you have to jump through multiple hoops to set up that choice up. Facebook is not alone in this type of behavior. This is a major reason that Google pays Mozilla and estimated 100 million dollars a year to be its default search engine.

Why are decisions made this way by consumers. Part of it is laziness, it is just easier to use the default choice, consumers often feel overwhelmed when given a lot of choices. However it is more than that, subconsciously we see the default choice as the one that the authorities recommend and therefore the best choice. This is one of the major issues that the Federal Trade Commission is dealing with when it comes to the issue of privacy online. Advertisers and companies like Facebook and Google want the choices they give to consumers to be self-regulated. Privacy advocates would like there to be more government oversight and regulation. Unfortunately for privacy advocates more choices is not the answer. When users are provided with multiple privacy tool options they often find the choices confusing and too complicated. Often they make choices that do little to protect their privacy, whether they want that protection or not. So more choices is clearly not the answer. The answer may be fewer choices, with the default one being at a higher privacy setting being key.
To read more about default choices and the impact they have on our decision-making process see the New York Times article The Default Choice, So Hard to Resist.

GNC-2011-09-29 #709 Kindle Fire

Posted by geeknews at 1:18 AM on September 30, 2011

I want to thank all of our Sponsors this month for helping me keep the lights on, it is greatly appreciated and of course all of you that purchased product from GoDaddy or did a GotoMeeting trial.. I have an action packed show for you with lots of tech news and information. It comes fast and furious, so strap in. If you had trouble downloading the last show please send me an email with your ISP and the area you live in.

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Listener Links:
COPPA
Zuckerberg on COPPA
Nissan Contest!
Skype Phone Adapters.
Facebook Editorial – Chicago Tribune.

Links to articles covered in this Podcast on the GNC Show Notes Page [Click Here]

Credits: Jack Ellis – Executive Producer

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GNC-2011-09-26 #708 The Facebook Menace

Posted by geeknews at 1:11 AM on September 27, 2011

I talk about the Gaf in show 707, and then spend some time on my soapbox talking about Facebook and the implications of recent revelations. I talk very seriously about the ramifications of allowing Facebook to track your every move and how it could impact your life, relationships with a spouse and ruin your reputation.

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Listener Links:
Amazing planet View.
Amazing Hair Growth 9 Months.
Neutrinos from Space 2.0

Links to articles covered in this Podcast on the GNC Show Notes Page [Click Here]

Credits: Jack Ellis – Executive Producer

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OnStar Still Collecting Data After You’ve Cancel Service

Posted by KL Tech Muse at 12:58 PM on September 26, 2011

onStarUnder a recent change in policy, OnStar which is owned by GM continues to connect to your vehicle and collect information about it even after you have cancelled your account. This change of policy goes into effect Dec 1. This information includes speed, location, odometer reading and seatbelt usage. Information that could be used by both law enforcement and insurance companies among others to both the aid and detriment of the consumer. OnStar stated they reserve the right to share this information with interested third parties, including law enforcement, although they do not do so at this time. OnStar stated that this allows them to communicate to the cars occupants about severe weather, emergency evacuation, and recalls. OnStar also insist that this information is clearly stated in the Terms of Service (TOS) and customers should be aware of it. It is unclear however, whether this is something that OnStar informs the customer when they cancel their service or is it something that the customer has to bring up. This is clearly an opt out service and not an opt in service. Let’s assume that consumers read the TOS when they first get the service and are aware they have to deactivate the data connection when they cancel service to stop OnStar from collecting data. Are they really going to remember this when they actually cancel service, I doubt it and I bet OnStar is betting on this. This change of policy has raise the ire of several Senators including Senator Schumer (NY), Al Franken (MN) and Christopher Coons (DE). They have all called upon Onstar to change it’s policy, Senator Schumer has also requested the FTC to launch and investigation.

First I am presently not a user of OnStar, none of the cars I own have it installed. A few rental cars I used in the past have had it installed. So I have never had to cancel the service. However when I cancel service with a business this means to me and I think most consumer, that my contract and connection to that business has been totally severed. It doesn’t mean the business can continue to collect information about me and that’s alright because it’s for my safety. Why OnStar thought that consumers would be ok with this is beyond me, or perhaps more likely they thought no one would notice. The second question is why OnStar is collecting this information in the first place, if not to sell it. With over 6 million willing customers from which they can collect information from, do they really need to collect information from ex-customers. Finally what prompted the change in policy and did anyone at OnStar say wait this might be a bad idea.

GNC #697 Police State?

Posted by geeknews at 1:19 AM on August 19, 2011

Meetup in Albuquerque is on for next week if you want to attend please email me ASAP. We are also collecting prizes for show #700 if you would like to donate a product or service drop me a line. This show gets very serious almost out of the gate we all need to make sure we protect our freedoms.

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Listener Links:
Space Hotel.
1994 Tablet.

Show Links:
Canada Police State?
HP #1
HP #2
HP #3
HP #4
Reid Hoffman Interview.
Juice-Jacking.
TextBook P2P.
Chegg for College Students.
$*(* AT&T
Scoble on Google+
Yankee’s Bashing or Trademark Violation.
FBI_Surveillance_VAN?
S&P Retaliation.
Cut your Headphone jack in Half and Patent it.
DHS Scanning us on the Streets?
Darpa we found it.
AES Cracked?
NASA Space Weather Video.
NASA says Aliens to destroy us over Environment?
iPhone for T-Mobile?
Lion Updated.
Microsoft App Store.
70/30 AT&T & Verizon Iphone.
Music Publisher says Uncle.
Redbox Coupons and Tricks.
Netgear SetTop Box.
MafiaaFire Plugin.
uTorrent 100 Million Active Users!
Follow the BitTorrent Money.
CTRL-F “Find”
Energize Me!
Fox ask those cut off to cry!
Vid.ly = Very Expensive.
Netflix vs Amazon Video.
Nomad.
Cover some P2P Tracks.
1 Million Dollar Vacation to Space.
HDHomerun.
Skitch.
Foursquare adds Events.
Firefox 7 Beta.

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About.Me

Posted by Andrew at 12:34 AM on August 16, 2011

Depending on your point of view about.me either strips the final layers of privacy from a narcisstic world or else provides a handy one-stop signposting to your Web 2.0 presence. As their tag line says, “It’s all about you.”

Like many people, your online life isn’t restricted to just one social media site. You have your friends on Facebook, your work colleagues on LinkedIn, random acquaintances on Twitter and family on Flickr. When it comes to pointing someone to “you” on-line, there’s no one place to go and this is where about.me comes in. At about.me, you can set up a cool picture and a biography, plus links to all of the social sites that you subscribe to.

To get an idea of what it’s like, here’s the about.me page of one of the founders, Tony Conrad. Looks pretty cool doesn’t it? There are editing tools to setup your page just as you’d like and there are stock designs if you don’t have a good photograph to use. To further appeal to the cult of me, about.me will provide statistics and graphics on who has been looking at your page.

It’s all very seductive, isn’t it. But let’s just have a little reality check here…this brings together your whole on-line life. Everything is linked to from one place, so if someone, say a prospective employer, wants to research you then it’s all there for them. They don’t even have to do any digging. Of course, you could have two about.me profiles, one for your public persona and one for your private life…

About.me seems to be backed by AOL amongst other investors and you might recognise a few of their advisors too.

The landrush for good names is underway, but I think the site has only been up a couple of months so I was able to snag my name without any numbers. If you are interested, I’d pop over and grab your page just in case about.me gets big.

GNC #695 Free Speech Watch

Posted by geeknews at 1:30 AM on August 12, 2011

Thank you for your amazing support of the show. At 695 Episodes they are as exciting for me to do as the day I recorded the first one. Do you have a prize you would like to donate for show #700. Several companies have already stepped up and we are going to have a huge giveaway pool of gadgets and gear.. Speaking of Gear make sure you check out the latest episodes of The Gadget Professor and Robot Underpants!

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Show Hotline 24/7 1-619-342-7365 or e-mail geeknews@gmail.com

Listener Links:
Apple is King!

Show Links:
Happy Birthday PC @ 30!
Chill.
Free Speech Watch.
What’s good for the Goose is good…..
Don’t Cry!
CrowdMug?
Parking in Motion!
1.2 Billion on What?
Don’t send me your email!
Cancer Cure?
New Patch Monitoring.
Ford Net?
Sony cuts Prices on Google TV.
Carbonite IPO!
Amazon Flips Apple the Bird.
Apple is King of the Hill.
USB 3.0 @ 100 Watts.
Google + Games Implemented the Right way!
Power Consumption of Gadgets.
Privacy at Linked In?
Block Sites – Lower Prices.
New Zealand 3 Strikes on Clock!
DtecNet Evil Empire.
Apple Projectors.
Breaking Netflix Down.
Vudu Flips Apple the Bird.
Yap.Tv makes you Yap?
Disney Pay for Cable or No Net Media!
P2P moving on up!
Zediva Shutters.
**** Social Media Propaganda ****
Yahoo Ups their Image.
FTC Crawls through Google.
Google Video App 2.2 and Up 4×4!
Shuttle Head to Head.
Rover oh Rover Where are Though Rover!
Mach 20 and then Warp!
Facebook Slows Down.
T-Mobile more Like AT&T everyday!

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Social Media Propaganda

Posted by Andrew at 2:35 PM on August 10, 2011

Aaron Wood is selling these thought-provoking social media propaganda posters through Etsy. They’re brilliant on so many levels, bringing wartime effort to Big Brother and a line that is so close to being crossed without us even knowing. There are nine posters in the series, so check them all out and buy one.

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