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Lauren Weinstein's Blog

July 30, 2010
0:07
FTC in Charge of Net Ads? -- and Opt-In vs. Opt Out
» ‎ Lauren Weinstein's Blog

Greetings. Word is that the U.S. FTC (Federal Trade Commission) is seriously toying with the concept of establishing some sort of Internet do-not-track list to ostensibly control Web ads that involve behavioral targeting and/or user tracking. Outside of the fact...
July 29, 2010
5:26
ICANN Touts DNSSEC As Tool to Fight Internet Criminals
» ‎ Lauren Weinstein's Blog

ICANN said the DNSSEC would eventually allow Internet users to know with certainty that they have been directed to the Web site they sought. This upgrade will help disrupt the plans of criminals around the world who hope to exploit...
July 27, 2010
0:15
Why Im Using Google Buzz More and Twitter Less
» ‎ Lauren Weinstein's Blog

Greetings. Without any conscious effort to change my patterns of applications usage, Ive noticed of late that Im using Google Buzz much more and Twitter considerably less -- this despite the fact that Im (for now, anyway) following fewer people...
July 21, 2010
19:04
Our Responsibilities on the Web That Never Forgets
» ‎ Lauren Weinstein's Blog

Greetings. The New York Times has published an important article on the subject of the Nets long memory, and the impacts on reputations and other aspects of peoples lives when previously posted materials exist essentially forever online. Regular readers know...
July 20, 2010
22:37
Trusting Your Friends -- and Trusting the Cloud
» ‎ Lauren Weinstein's Blog

Greetings. Internet cloud-based services, both for data storage and as computing resources, are expanding rapidly, and have become a flash point of controversy among some persons in the computer science and privacy fraternities. On various discussion lists and forums, dialogues...
July 19, 2010
0:03
The Google Search Secrets in Plain View
» ‎ Lauren Weinstein's Blog

Greetings. As Ive mentioned previously, I tend to receive several hundred e-mails daily that relate to Google one way or another, many of which contain requests for advice regarding perceived or real Google-related issues. I try to help when I...
July 15, 2010
23:08
Truth via Captions: Whats Under Their Kilts?
» ‎ Lauren Weinstein's Blog

Greetings. A few weeks ago in Why Web Video Captioning Is So Important, I mused on the importance of captioning to Web videos, and emphasized why YouTube users should take advantage of various YouTube captioning tools (automated and manual) to...
July 03, 2010
4:05
ICM Registry and Deceptive Dot-Ex-Ex-Ex Polls
» ‎ Lauren Weinstein's Blog

Greetings. One of the techniques that ICM Registry has been using to try demonstrate public demand for a dot-ex-ex-ex top level domain (TLD) has been touting various poll results. Right now theyre pushing a new CNN poll that seems to...
July 02, 2010
21:15
Law Enforcement Controls Access to New Minneapolis Public Wi-Fi Network
» ‎ Lauren Weinstein's Blog

Greetings. With much fanfare in mid-June, Minneapolis announced the activation of a free public Wi-Fi network, with 117 outdoor hotspots, for use by residents and visitors alike. Just one problem. At the apparently explicit request of law enforcement, you cant...
June 30, 2010
23:58
Major Published Article on Microsoft vs. Google Privacy Issues
» ‎ Lauren Weinstein's Blog

Greetings. Fairly recently, I was interviewed for an article to appear in Redmond magazine (The Independent Voice of the Microsoft IT Community). The topic of the article was presented to me essentially as Who has bigger and scarier privacy problems,...
5:39
Blaming Google and Android for Calling ID Spoofing
» ‎ Lauren Weinstein's Blog

Greetings. An article on Slashdot today seems to blame Google and Android for the ease with which two Caller ID spoofing programs can manipulate Caller ID and gain illicit access to ATT (and other) voicemail systems. It even attempts to...
June 28, 2010
0:48
Why the New Federal Trusted Internet Identity Proposal is Such a Very Bad Idea
» ‎ Lauren Weinstein's Blog

Greetings. Last Friday, in White House Proposes Vast Federal Internet Identity Scheme, I posted a brief thumbnail expressing my major concerns regarding the expansive federal Internet Trusted Identity proposal. Here are a few details explaining why Im taking such a...
June 26, 2010
5:11
White House Proposes Vast Federal Internet Identity Scheme
» ‎ Lauren Weinstein's Blog

Greetings. The White House has just released the draft of a rather chilling document -- tellingly hosted on Department of Homeland Security servers -- that proposes the creation of a vast, federally-led Trusted identities in Cyberspace infrastructure that would potentially...
June 25, 2010
18:54
ICANN Moves Forward with Dot-Ex-Ex-Ex, while ICM CEO Plans for Big Bucks and Censorship
» ‎ Lauren Weinstein's Blog

Greetings. As predicted in ICANN Likely to Approve Dot-Ex-Ex-Ex Domain for Chumps!, it is now reported by AP that ICANN is moving ahead towards final approval of the dot-ex-ex-ex TLD (Top Level Domain). Note in the AP piece how the...
0:22
ICANN Likely to Approve Dot-Ex-Ex-Ex Domain for Chumps!
» ‎ Lauren Weinstein's Blog

Greetings. Word is that tomorrow ICANN is likely to reverse itself yet again, and (under continuing lawsuit threats from the would-be TLD-operator who desperately wants to cash-in on this fiasco) unwisely approve a dot-ex-ex-ex top-level domain. Every word that I...
June 24, 2010
23:23
VidMe Announces Private Video Sharing -- But Fails Big Time
» ‎ Lauren Weinstein's Blog

Greetings. Ive said it often -- once data is on the Internet, never assume that it can ever really be completely controlled or removed. The latest example of this axiom in action is a new video service announced with much...
June 21, 2010
22:52
Why Web Video Captioning Is So Important
» ‎ Lauren Weinstein's Blog

Greetings. The New York Times has published a good article about Web video captioning, which provides me with a convenient hook to briefly discuss this very important topic. I cant emphasize enough why captioning is so vital for the entire...
June 18, 2010
21:54
Googles Wi-Fi Crucifixion, an Open Mike, and Public Is As Public Does
» ‎ Lauren Weinstein's Blog

Greetings. As I noted recently in Highly Illogical: The Hysteria Over Googles Wi-Fi Scanning, the unseemly and opportunistic attacks, lawsuits, and now perhaps even criminal prosecutions of Google over their accidental recording of unencrypted Wi-Fi payload data seem to call...
June 15, 2010
5:05
My Upcoming Internet Issues Interview on China Radio International (CRI)
» ‎ Lauren Weinstein's Blog

Greetings. Ive been booked as part of panel to discuss Internet issues on China Radio Internationals Today show airing live this Wednesday, 16 June, from 1000-1100 Beijing Time (thats 1900-2000 Tuesday, 15 June, Pacific Daylight Time). China Radio International (CRI)...
May 28, 2010
10:20
Highly Illogical: The Hysteria Over Googles Wi-Fi Scanning
» ‎ Lauren Weinstein's Blog

Greetings. I dont find many opportunities (nor do I have much inclination) to channel characters from Star Trek, but I can only imagine Mr. Spocks likely bemusement related to the shrill and illogical brouhaha over Googles Street View Wi-Fi scanning....
May 13, 2010
2:12
ACTA Discussion Show Audio from Coast to Coast AM Radio Now Online
» ‎ Lauren Weinstein's Blog

Greetings. A number of persons have requested the show audio from my extensive discussion of the many risks inherent in the process and particulars of ACTA (the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) from Coast to Coast AM radio last Sunday night. I...
May 11, 2010
22:31
Strangling the Net: Stripping DMCA Protections from YouTube
» ‎ Lauren Weinstein's Blog

Greetings. An amicus curiae brief was filed a few days ago by the Washington Legal Foundation in the ongoing Viacom vs. YouTube/Google lawsuit. Even by the normal standards of our adversarial legal system, this brief is startling not only in...
May 10, 2010
21:52
Summary of ACTA Discussion from Coast to Coast AM Last Night
» ‎ Lauren Weinstein's Blog

Greetings. Coast to Coast AM has already posted their summary of my ACTA discussion from last nights show (which turned out to be a 2.5 hour segment including listener questions). [Update (May 12, 2010): Complete show audio is online here....
May 09, 2010
11:25
ACTA Treaty Abominations on Coast to Coast AM Radio Tonight (Sunday)
» ‎ Lauren Weinstein's Blog

Greetings. This is just a quick heads-up that Ive been booked tonight (Sunday, 9 May) onto Coast to Coast AM -- the nationwide/global late night radio program -- for what will probably be a rather extensive discussion of the international...
May 08, 2010
21:38
New York Times Joins the Obnoxious Autoplay Audio Ad Club
» ‎ Lauren Weinstein's Blog

Greetings. Last November in How to Sink a Major Web Site with a Single Ad, I noted how ABC News had begun using an autoplay ad format that starts blasting audio from an accompanying video advertisement as soon as an...
April 29, 2010
19:44
Steve Jobs Posts Unconvincing Manifesto Against Adobe Flash
» ‎ Lauren Weinstein's Blog

Greetings. Steve Jobs has posted a rather detailed condemnation of Adobes Flash, and has attempted to explain why he hasnt permitted Flash into the iPhone/iPod/iPad ecosystem. While I would happily see Flash being supplanted over time by HTML5/H.264, HTML5/Ogg Theora,...
April 27, 2010
9:06
Atrocious Ethics Galore in the Lost iPhone Case
» ‎ Lauren Weinstein's Blog

Greetings. An extremely interesting analysis of the ongoing lost next-generation iPhone case has appeared over on Daring Fireball -- its very much worth reading. I agree very much with the thrust of that article. And now lets bring some ethical...
April 24, 2010
0:21
Video: Solving Your Facebook Privacy Problems in 2.5 Minutes (with a Bit Of Style)
» ‎ Lauren Weinstein's Blog

Greetings. Privacy-related concerns surrounding Facebook continue to escalate. Now anxiety levels are boosting even more rapidly with the unveiling of Facebooks new Instant Personalization system and its potential for massive expansion of personal information gathering from -- and sharing with...
April 20, 2010
3:00
Beware the Google Voice Phishing Attack!
» ‎ Lauren Weinstein's Blog

Greetings. Earlier today a reader sent me an example of a phishing attack that they (and I) had not seen before. Before I could do much with it, someone else sent me another example of the same attack. Neither of...
April 17, 2010
7:23
Saving Internet Anonymity -- The Struggle is Joined
» ‎ Lauren Weinstein's Blog

Greetings. Whats the fundamental problem with cyberspace -- that is, the Internet? There are various issues to choose from, but if you didnt put anonymity near the top of your list, youre not alone. Yet the drumbeat from the self-appointed...
April 16, 2010
23:24
Privacy Questions About the New Google Cloud Print Service
» ‎ Lauren Weinstein's Blog

Greetings. Google Labs has just published preliminary specifications (and an associated call for comments and feedback) for a print anywhere service that they are implementing, called Google Cloud Print. The project has the very laudable goal of reducing OS print...

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