I previously complained about Facebook’s Beacon and Social Ads, and last week Facebook appeared to back down (at least from Beacon) by changing its policy and having users opt-in before their activities on other websites is broadcast on their profiles. I applauded Facebook’s change of heart. But there are more disturbing aspects of Beacon that […]
Category: Social Media
Posts about Social Media by Professor Daniel J. Solove for his blog at TeachPrivacy, a privacy awareness and security training company.
Facebook’s Beacon, Blockbuster, and the Video Privacy Protection Act
The news has been buzzing lately about Facebook’s Beacon, where participating websites share personal information with Facebook. Beacon originally had a poor notice and opt-out policy, but after significant public criticism, Facebook changed to an opt-in policy. Even under the new opt-in policy, however, the participating companies are still turning data over to Facebook, and […]
Breaking Up: From Face-to-Face to Facebook
In my book, The Future of Reputation: Gossip, Rumor, and Privacy on the Internet, I write about how members of the current generation — what I call “Generation Google” — are increasingly spreading gossip and rumors about their private lives online. Some people have few inhibitions, especially one woman who decided to break up with […]
The Megan Meier Case: New Developments
Recently, I blogged about the tragic Megan Meier case, where the parent of a classmate of Megan’s created a fake MySpace profile and pretended to be a boy (Josh Evans) interested in Megan. When the fictitious boy suddenly dumped Megan and wrote nasty comments, Megan committed suicide. A local newspaper reported the story, which quickly […]
More Facts about the Megan Meier Case
This story from CNN [link no longer available] provides some interesting facts about the Megan Meier case:
Facebook Founder Zuckerberg’s Lost Privacy
Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, has learned a lesson about privacy — it’s hard to maintain if others irresponsibly leak your personal information. From the New York Times:
Facebook Listens and Responds
I’m quite pleased to learn that Facebook has come to a privacy epiphany. I’ve been blogging a lot lately about the privacy problems with Facebook’s new features — Beacon and Social Ads: * Facebook’s Beacon: News Feeds All Over Again? * The Facebook-Fandango Connection: Invasion of Privacy? * Facebook and the Appropriation of Name or […]
Yale Law School Conference on Online Reputation
On December 8, 2007, Yale Law School’s Information Society Project will be holding a conference about online reputation called Reputation Economies in Cyberspace. I’ll be participating in the symposium and will be talking about my book, The Future of Reputation: Gossip, Rumor, and Privacy on the Internet. Other participants include Alessandro Acquisti, Michel Bauwens, Danielle […]
Facebook’s Beacon: News Feeds All Over Again?
I recently blogged about Facebook’s Beacon, where it adds information to user profiles of their purchases at participating external websites such as Fandango. Beacon is starting to spark a privacy outcry among Facebook users. From the AP:
Responses to Blog Reviews of The Future of Reputation: Part II
This post responds to more reviews of my new book, The Future of Reputation: Gossip, Rumor, and Privacy on the Internet (Yale University Press, Oct. 2007). I posted Part I of my responses to reviews here. This is Part II.