You Have Zero Privacy, Get Over It



Courtesy TechnoLists

On Privacy, it's Google and Facebook Versus You.
The tech industry can't be trusted on privacy. That's the message we're getting these days – the one we see in headlines about new changes in Google and Facebook, and in ad campaigns like Microsoft's "Scroogled."

We experience it firsthand when targeted advertisements pop up in our news feed or our search results, and when our photos become the stuff of Web commercials. Browser cookies, webmail monitoring, and other intrusive practices may be perfectly defensible, but they don't poll well, and never have.

To illustrate the latest assault on privacy, the Wall Street Journal reported that Google "may display names, profile photos, ratings and reviews in ads as part of what is called shared endorsements" - without first asking for permission. "It's a commercial endorsement without consent and that is not permissible in most states in the U.S.," said Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. 

Technology companies haven't helped themselves to blunt criticism with their blasé attitudes on the subject. Scott McNealy, former CEO of Sun Microsystems, said in 1999 that, "you have zero privacy, get over it." Ten years later, Google's Eric Schmidt opined that, "if you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place."

We expect the companies that control our data to protect it. That's a crazy expectation; a naïve one. It's widely known that they're selling this personal information, and that the data trade drives revenue for many of today's largest tech firms, and yet the public still operates under the quaint notion that these businesses are – or should be – trustworthy.

Unfortunately, many tech companies have painted themselves into a corner on privacy. An obsession with 'free' has left them nowhere to turn but advertising, and an addiction to data has driven them toward scale at all costs.

The industry has become massively centralized, with information migrating toward data centers and "stack" providers like Google, and away from individuals. You don't get privacy from such a system. What you do get is a sudden rush of businesses, criminals, and governments, all looking to tap into this wonderful conglomeration of information – one way or another.

Privacy is a problem, and the problem isn't going away. Thus far, the industry has managed to keep regulators at arm's length. But, with the National Security Agency hitting headlines with its top secret PRISM system collecting data secretly from the likes of Google, Apple, Verizon, Facebook and a variety of other online locations, that may no longer be possible. The dangers have become more immediate, they've acquired the flavor of national security, and we're hearing political rumblings around the world. If the tech industry can't provide a solution, it runs the risk of having one imposed. Either way, denial may no longer be an option.

Protecting yourself from the latest privacy attacks from Google and Facebook - with this week's change that affects millions of users who tried to make themselves a bit harder to find, requires vigilance.

Among many tech tips to navigate the byzantine privacy controls, Forbes provides a very useful resource: A Guide To Fixing The Latest Privacy Attacks From Facebook And Google.

Source:
1. USA Today, "On privacy, it's Facebook and Google versus small tech," Andre Mouton, Minyanville, October 7, 2013
2. The Wall Street Journal, "Google's New Ad Star: You," Rolfe Winker, October 12, 2013

Does Grammar Matter Any More?

Welcome Back, My Ungrammatical Students

Mark Goldblatt’s op-ed, “Welcome Back, My Ungrammatical Students,” negatively singles out those who don’t know how to put sentences together in ways that clarify, rather than cloud, what they’re trying to say.

Mr. Goldblatt teaches English at State University of New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology. Set off in bold type is this jolting line:

“Sure, grammar might not seem like a big deal if you're composing a text message, or updating your Facebook status, or tweeting about what you've just had for lunch. Your reader, in such cases, is someone who wants to know what's on your mind, who has an emotional stake in the information . . . who likes you. Your college professors may or may not like you. Unlike your friends, who will excuse your errors, your college professor may or may not like you.”

Goldblatt, in his very first line, leaps into the heart of the matter: “The fall is mere weeks away, another college semester either under way or soon to be. If you’re one of thousands of freshmen nationwide, you’ve just discovered you’ve been placed in a remedial English class.

 

“‘How can this be?’ you’re asking yourself. ‘I got straight A’s in high school! I love writing stories and poems! I’m good in English!’”

Needless to say, Goldblatt postulates that it does matter whether or not a student uses correct English.

Goldblatt, in referencing “grammar,” does so in these words: “to refer to the overall mechanics of your writing, including punctuation, syntax and usage.” And he negatively singles out those who don’t know how to put sentences together in ways that clarify, rather than cloud, what they’re trying to say.

The inability to write or speak correctly is not likely to hurt you too much among your peers and friends. Not in the short-term, that is. And especially not if you are charismatic, cover-girl-beautiful, or a candidate for sexiest man alive.

If you’re perceived to be one of these golden ones who seemingly can do no wrong, you’ll suffer little more than winces from such disasters as “me and Joanie were like, wild about like see’n Tony.” But, in life, there are such things as fuses.

When one’s proverbial “fifteen minutes of fame” are over, and the long descent takes place; when you are no longer drop-dead beautiful or head-turning handsome, what then? You may have been hired because your looks and contours were impossible to ignore, but inevitably there will come a day when your looks can no longer make up for your embarrassing mistakes in writing and speaking.

When one more mangled syntax, misspelled word, or misplaced punctuation mark costs the firm one of its most valued clients—and out you go.

Goldblatt closes his article with: “So take your medicine. It won't be fun, but you need it. Learn what a clause is, what a gerund is, what a misplaced modifier is—because your father did not shoot an elephant in his pajamas. If you're going to stew over your workload, fine. But cast the blame where it belongs. You should have learned this stuff a long time ago, maybe instead of writing a few of those ungrammatical stories or poems.

 

“Now get out of here. Class is about to start.”

Old Style Font Makes Comeback



The old guy used Optima, too

Yahoo Picks a New GeoCities Logo

After months of hype, questionable marketing spend, and 30 days of ‘meh’, Yahoo! has unveiled the next big move in its ambitious transformation: a slimmed down logo.

 

Honestly, the new logo reminds one a lot of fonts used in the 90′s, especially the stock beveled and glossy fonts that appeared on the internet portal GeoCities, where many of us first learned to build these funny things called ‘web pages’. Unfortunately, this is no longer the 90′s and this logo is feeling pretty dated.

 

The logo is set in Optima, a 1950s humanis sans-serif designed by Hermann Zapf with a flavor of purple called Pantone Violet C.

 

It has a distinctly old-fashioned-internet vibe when it comes down to it. The slightly tilted exclamation point remains…an exclamation point. In case you’re wondering, it was tilted by exactly nine degrees. Many were hoping that it would go away. One other thing retained is the slightly larger ‘O’ at the end of the logo. This has long been taken to be a poeic representation of the famous Yahoo ‘yodel’ from its commercials.

 

The old Yahoo logo, though dated in its own way, was also chock full of whimsy. The new emblem feels buttoned up and slimmed down. Perhaps the company is trying to project a tighter, more controlled image now. In that, at least, it may have succeeded.

 

In case you miss the new gif-based image in the top left corner of the screen, the playful exclamation point dances around the Y-A-H-O-O like a lost Pixar lamp looking for its home. Gifs are something Yahoo has heavily adopted since its acquisition of Tumblr, and is no doubt aimed at catching the sleep eyes of millions of netizens waking up to a brand new day.

 

In 2009, Yahoo shuttered GeoCities, which it had purchased ten years earlier. That was also the year that it picked purple as its new color. Though the logo is said to be a ‘nod’ to the company’s history, its original color of choice was red.

Changing Animals

2014 Emblem

Chevrolet Impala’s New Leaping Emblem

 

The 2014 Impala, Chevrolet’s new flagship large sedan, has a unique symbol in addition to the brand’s signature bowtie. It is the one of only two vehicles – the Corvette and its crossed-flags emblem is the other – in the Chevrolet lineup to have a unique emblem.

The Impala emblem is an enduring symbol of the nameplate. The Chevrolet Impala has worn the image of the leaping African antelope for which it was named as an emblem in some form since its debut in 1958. With the 2014 Impala, the

1994 Emblem

emblem evolves to complement the modern, athletic design of the new design of the car.

“We kept the stylized interpretation of the animal, and made the impala more muscular.  We also added defined edges, to give the impala a sleek form and make it look like it was running fast.” said Joann Kallio, lead creative designer for Chevrolet global badging.

The Impala emblem has a bright chrome finish to match the bright chrome of the car’s bowties, located in the grille and on

1965 Emblem

the decklid.  Special attention was paid to how the highlights flow across the leaping Impala badge surface, following the contour of the form of the impala, enhancing the overall appearance and illusion of movement.

There are two versions of the new emblem, one for each side of the vehicle so the animal always appears to be running forward. There also are impala logos stamped in the aluminum sill plates.

Changing a brand image is always a gamble, but in this case, GM pulled it over extremely well.

Source:
GM Media, "2014 Chevrolet Impala Wears Leaping Impala Emblem," April 4, 2013

Invisible Web Ads

Fraud, Scammers, Technology Snafus Make Advertisers Pay  Buying display ads online seems like it should be a fairly straightforward proposition; you design your ad, submit to an ad network, and pay up based on how many consumers you want to display to.

But, it isn't always so simple to know you're actually getting all the ad impression you pay for.

The old adage in advertising, "Half the money is wasted, but no one knows which half," turns out to be true for the digital world as it ever was for traditional media.

 

An astounding 54% of online display ads shown in "thousands" of campaigns measured by comScore Inc. between May of 2012 and February of this year weren't seen by anyone, according to a study completed last month.

 

Don't confuse "weren't seen" with "ignored." These ads simply weren't seen, the result of technical glitches, user habits and fraud.

 

The finding implies that billions of marketing dollars are being poured down a digital drain. Last year, $14 billion was spent on online display advertising, estimates eMarketer, 40% of all online ad spending.

 

Advertisers can blame both technical snafus and more nefarious factors for ads going nowhere. Technical issues include ads being displayed on part of a browser not open on a computer screen—such as when an ad appears at the bottom of the screen and surfers don't scroll down. Another problem: Some ads load so slowly that the Web surfer switches off before the ad comes up, says comScore.

 

And then there is fraud. A significant number of display-ad "impressions" often paid for by marketers are based on fake traffic. Malicious software makes a website think a person is actually on a page and ads are served up to that fake visitor. In other scams, ads show up on several Web pages but they are hidden behind a window on a website that is the size of a pencil point, according to comScore.

 

Sources:

1. Nick Saint, “How Websites Scam Advertisers Into Paying For Invisible Ads,” Business Insider,  Sep. 7, 2010

2. Suzanne Vranica, “Web Display Ads Often Not Visible,” Wallstreet Journal, June 11, 2013

 

New Rules on Kids and Apps

Good News for Parents
Do you have a child that uses the Internet or plays with an app on your phone or tablet? Unless you live in Mad Men times, you've probably answered "yes" to these questions. Then, you should have heard about COPPA, right?

I didn't until recently. I assumed it was the Barry Manilow song. However, COPPA is the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, a U.S. federal law enforced by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to protect the privacy of children when they go online.

 

It requires parental consent from websites and apps looking to collect personal information from users under 13-years-old. It's the most significant overhaul of the nation's laws to protect children's online privacy. In short, COPPA is good news.

 

The updated federal children's online privacy rules go into effect in July. Developers of games and other mobile software are still figuring out how to comply: They must balance their desire to tap the lucrative kids' market and the increased regulatory headache of targeting children.

 

The biggest problem: data-collection practices that have become routine in the app industry could run afoul of the new rules when used in kids' apps.

 

Regulators spent much of the last two years soliciting comments from entertainment companies, app developers, consumer groups and others about how to best update the way the government enforces COPPA.

 

The FTC can seek civil penalties against Coppa violators, and in the past has won settlement payments as high as $3 million.

 

In the law's early years, COPPA was relatively simple to enforce: Regulators cracked down on websites that asked kids for emails, home addresses and phone numbers without first checking with their parents.

 

But the explosion of smartphone and tablet games complicated the picture. Children are big users of those devices and are picking them up at very young ages. The devices have expanded the range of information that can be harvested, from device usage patterns to location data to photos and videos.

Traditional Journalism Proves its Relevance

Horrific Mistakes
by Mainstream Media

Pizza never tasted so good.

 

The entire newsroom of the The Boston Globe was treated to pizza last week. The gift card read: “We can only imagine what an exhausting and heartbreaking week it’s been for you and your city. But do know your newsroom colleagues here in Chicago and across the country stand in awe of your tenacious coverage. You make us all proud to be journalists. We can’t buy you lost sleep, so at least let us pick up your lunch. – Your friends at the Chicago Tribune.”

 

A simple gesture, but powerful at a time when so many media outlets made horrific mistakes. In the drive to be first after the Boston Marathon bombing, the gaffes ranged from the New York Post fingering – with Page 1 photos – the wrong bombing suspects, to CNN reporting prematurely an arrest has been made.

 

As big as those stumbles were, it was almost as irritating to watch endless cable coverage – dozens of reporters with so little new to report. We would hope big national news operations will learn from this debacle, but I’m pretty sure they won’t.

 

Throughout it all, the hometown paper, The Globe, covered the big story responsibly and accurately. Like many newspapers, The Globe has a pay wall on its website, but it lifted the pay wall for a week so the site was open to all, from around the world or down the block. It was remarkable and thorough coverage.

 

In an age of tweets, social media posts and other technology that allows “news” to travel almost at the speed of light, The Globe reminds us that we need traditional journalism, too, with professionals who care about accuracy, responsibility and the community they serve.