Assange Alleges: Facebook is "Appalling Spy Machine"
I'm not surprised that Assange realizes how dangerous this kind of stuff is.
Let me throw two scenarios:
1. Someone asks to be your friend. Not someone you know well, but maybe
someone who went to your school and whose name you recognize, so you 'friend'
him. Turns out he's actually an investigator who got one of your school
yearbooks and checked to find out who wasn't already on Facebook, registered for
that person, and voila. Now he has access to your so-called friends, many of
whom actually are friends going back many years. Maybe he has to play the game a
couple of times to get the correct contacts networked in, but can you imagine
the dossier that can eventually be compiled if someone is serious about going
after you.
2. Someone wants to manipulate you. From Facebook they may be able to
recognize your weaknesses, possibly even find something embarrassing or illegal
that can be used for blackmail, either directly or by nudging you into a
position of greater vulnerability, but that isn't all. Even your tastes and
strengths can be used against you. My own pet theory is that Assange himself was
set up based on information about the kind of women he liked. Maybe I need a tin
hat, but I don't like coincidences and I can certainly see where certain
powerful people would have been getting increasingly uncomfortable about
Assange's activities.
Read the article THE REGISTER/Assange: Facebook a "Spying Machine."
<>
Not to be seen to be supporting Assange but one of the main problems with
Facebook (and similar sites) is that it is used largely by children. Children
are generally not that savvy (or paranoid) when it comes to posting information
online - not just about themselves but about their friends, family,
acquaintances and so on.
If young people (and some older ones as well) were educated to the realities
of posting shit on line (nothing is truly anonymous, people often aren't quite
who they say they are, nothing ever gets deleted & the biggie - what looks
and sounds really funny/cool/maverick/special now may well come back to bite you
once you get older) then they may change their behaviour - but knowing what I
was like as a teenager I suspect not.
Read the article THE REGISTER/Assange: Facebook a "Spying Machine
<>
Two points that make Facebook’s response weak at best. First, would they tell
us if indeed they had enabled interfaces for law enforcement to more easily
search through their trove of information? Doubt it 
Second, when Twitter fought to unseal the recent gov’t request for all the IP
addresses of communications of the various members of Wikileaks, as well as
those of Pfc. Bradley Manning, ne’er a peep was heard from Facebook. However, it
had become fairly common knowledge that both them and Google had likely also
received a sealed order from the FBI. Sure, they followed the request of law
enforcement, but no they are not some how sacrosanct in defending user rights to
the best of their abilities. When law enforcement over steps, we cannot count on
Facebook the way we have seen demonstrated by Twitter.
Finally, to postulate that it’s pure fantasy, that what Assange suggests is
possible or likely, is actually more fantasy on their part. I’m always surprised
when those in trusted positions are surprised that their trust is second
guessed. We live in interesting times where we have seen the trusted (and
powerful) abuse that position over and over. It is no longer a surprise to see
such abuses, and in some bizarro world that we’ve moved into, this has now
become the norm. Whatever might be said about Assange’s paranoia, he has already
shown and proven that those in positions of power and trust frequently should
not be. Facebook has also shown itself to abuse user trust in numerous
occasions, so it’s not a reach to paint a scenario where they have gone even
further than we are aware of. If we have to choose between Assange’s paranoia
and Facebook’s word, sorry but we have to give Assange the nod here, he has
earned it.
Read the article FORBES/Facebook responds to Assange's "Spying Machine Allegations
<>
Not using Arsebook at all ... but my wife does.
Personally I am not willing to drop my pants in front of the whole internet
community. Especially not as long as I don't trust Arsebook's security policy.
That company is totally incompetent to develop decent code, and I don't trust
it's integrity either.
Your privacy against a good standing with the authorities? Take a guess.
But that's just little tinfoil hatter me. There is basically nothing wrong
with sharing your whole life on the internet- as long as you censor it a bit ;-)
Everyone has full control over what they share and what not, and if you think
that your life is really that interesting to the rest of the world, be my guest.
What people fail to see is that there is:
NO SUCH THING AS PRIVACY ON THE INTERNET
Never was, never will be! Once you have understood this, go ahead and share
whatever you like!
I am aware that there is a wealth of information about me all over the
internet, indirectly through my wife's Facebook account, in this forum, and in
many other places. Its inevitable if you work in IT and have public appearances
over many years.
If "the powers that be" want to frame you on something they will succeed
anyways. If a government goes rogue your Facebook account is your least
concern.
This whole paranoia thing is like jealousy in marriage. As long as there is
no reason the whole thing is ridiculous, immature and unfair to the other side.
If there is a reason its too late to worry, and its time to take consequences.
But apart from staying decent and not causing a situation yourself there is very
little you can do to avoid it. You will have to cross that bridge once you reach
it, so you might as well ditch irrational paranoia and just live your life.
P.S: This is not an appeal to neglect ones social and political
responsibilities! But in my experience the biggest conspiracy theorists and
other paranoia addicts are the least active where it matters and don't even try
to make a constructive change to anything.
Read the article THE REGISTER/Assange: Facebook a "Spying Machine
<>
Is that really the very worst actual scenario you've got for the case against
Facebook?
When we were kids our house was raided by armed police all because a drug
dealer had befriended my parents on holiday so he could slip through customs
more easily tagging on to a family. He'd kept my parents address in a notebook
and that was found by police looking for him. Maybe we should ban biros and
paper before moaning about Facebook?
A student got a tracking device and one got visited by the FBI. Big deal. And
not nearly as exciting for a kid as a bunch of armed coppers either.
Read the article THE REGISTER/Assange: Facebook a "Spying Machine
<>
This guy's an idiot, but yeah, Facebook keeps way too much info on people. Not to mention all the scams on there that only exist to gather your info by having you and your friends fill out stupid surveys that give out your vital info.
Two of my nieces have answered personal questions about me on those things that divulge too much private info about me. Another niece has hundreds of friends and belongs to about 500 pages like, "I love dancing around in my underwear", and "I love you momma but you be trippin sometimes", and "I use my cell phone as flashlight!"
By joining those pages, users have given full access to their FB profiles to the scammers who created them. Then, they regularly post when they're leaving the house, where they're going and even give the names of the school or workplace they're going to, and then post when they'll be back. By doing that, hundreds of strangers know where those young women will be, when their house will be empty, and what time they're returning home. Stupid.
I don't use any FB apps and never accept requests from my family to add me to whatever those family connection apps are. The family tree stuff is just a way to set up a comprehensive list of all your family members and their relationships to you. It's useless for any other purpose than to gather information to sell to data brokers or provide to whatever group would find it useful for their purposes. It's also a pretty awesome resource for ID thieves. I don't know why people can't see that, but I constantly try to educate users about the scams and they never believe me
Read the article FOX NEWS/Wikileaks founder Assange blasts Facebook as "Most Appalling Spy Machine"
<>
I joined Facebook because I met someone who was a member. It creeped me out because it recommended people as friends that I can't figure out how they knew that I had a connection to them.
One was a former co-worker, but I didn't put anything in my profile about where I had worked. Another one is the owner of an online critiquing website that I am a member of, but I didn't put that in my profile anyway.
That being said, I don't use my Facebook account except to log in on sights that I am not otherwise registered on so I can comment. I don't go there anymore because it mostly has stuff where people I don't know are commenting on comments/pictures of other people I don't know.
I don't have much in the way of real friends, but having fake friends on Facebook holds no interest for me.
Read the article FOX NEWS/Wikileaks founder Assange blasts Facebook as "Most Appalling Spy Machine"
Key Stroke for Last Mechanical Typewriter Factory
How sad. I remember typing out school assignments on one of those, it was neat to hear and see the actual mechanics of the thing.
At least they'll still be around in second hand shops and such. I suggest picking one up so you can regale and horrify your children and grandchildren with how tough things were when you were a wee lad - "yes, and when we came to the end of the page, we had to move the cylinder-roller to the left to start a new line!"
Read the article CBC/World's last typewriter plant stops production
Another big plus with typewriters is that they do not spontaneously destroy your
work. My experience has been they tend to do it in the clutch, losing something
you can never regain again.
Creative thought, I've noticed, only comes out once.
If it goes onto a piece of paper, you still have it. If it goes onto a computer
screen and the computer loses it, it is lost forever. It seems the computers
always seem to know what is irreplaceable and, voila, it's gone.
Read the article CBS NEWS/500 machines left at world's last typewriter factory
Need to address an envelope
1, Put in type writer
2, Type address
Alternative
1, Buy sheet of sticky labels that are supported in Word's list (which seems
to only do US sizes even in the UK)
2, Type address
3, Print
4, Print again with labels correct way up in tray
5, Print again because somebody sent another job to the printer and their
first page got printed on your labels
6, Discover that you had the margins set wrong and the address starts off the
label
7, Manually put a few spaces at the start of the address
8 goto 3
catch: Write the address by hand
Then you have the 99% of forms that aren't fillable PDFs
Read the artlcle ARS TECHNICA/End of line for mechanical typewriters
Don’t mock what you can’t understand. I raised two sons (mostly alone) with just the initial ability to type…which I learned in high school in the 70's.
If it hadn’t been for typing on typewriters, and then being able to quickly cycle through the myriad of instruments that came along quickly (e.g. IBM selectrics, daisy wheels, word processing typewriters, simple computers, Wordstar, WordPerfect, etc etc) then I wouldn’t have had a career.
We always had a joke, back in the day: “They’ll take my typewriter from my cold dead hands.” Well, it didn’t really come to that, but the sentiment still stands.
Read the article MASHABLE/RIP Typewriters: Last Manufacturer Closes Its Doors
READ MORE COMMENTS: April 2011
