POSTS WITH TAG: privacy

Technology Tech Talk

Thousands of Leaked Twitter Passwords Mean No One's Safe

Posted by Maressa Brown
on May 11, 2012 at 4:04 PM

social media keys on keyboardWhen experts can't figure out how passwords to one of the most popular social media sites are getting leaked, you know online privacy is hopeless. Last week, the usernames and passwords of more than 55,000 Twitter users were leaked in a "data dump," which has even the most web-savvy befuddled.

Twitter claims that as many as 20K of the leaked accounts were just duplicates, and lots more were spam accounts that had already been suspended. So that's reassuring, right? And the site also sent out password resets to accounts that were affected, while, in the meantime, they're looking into what happened. Still ... there's speculation that the accounts' info was obtained via phishing attacks that fooled users into providing details. Drrr.

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Technology Inspiring

Facebook and Organ Donors Team Up to Save Lives (VIDEO)

Posted by Maressa Brown
on May 1, 2012 at 3:07 PM

facebook organ donor screenshotFacebook is offering a whole new way to overshare. Thankfully, it has nothing to do with your relationship status, whether (or not) you're expecting a baby, or allowing us to write 1,000-word status updates. Instead, starting today, you can post on your timeline that you're an organ donor, and Facebook will help you sign up with official organ donor registries.

Incredible! Might this mean that Mark Zuckerberg actually wants to use his power for good -- not just evil world domination?! Guess so. But it sounds like we have two other people to thank even more so, being that Zuck's big organ donation idea was supposedly inspired by his med student long-time GF Priscilla Chan and the late Steve Jobs, whose life was extended by years following a liver transplant. Now he's telling ABC News that "even one individual can have an outsized impact on the challenges facing another, and on the world."

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Big Kid That's Criminal

Divorced Mom Who Baptized Her Kids Committed a Terrible Parenting Sin

Posted by Deborah Cruz
on Apr 10, 2012 at 3:22 PM

 

baptism

If there was ever a case for parents discussing and deciding a child’s religious upbringing BEFORE the child is born, this is it: A Tennessee mother, Lauren Jarrell, faces criminal contempt-of-court charges and possible jail time for baptizing her two children, ages 4 and 6, without the knowledge or consent of her ex-husband, Emmett Blake Jarrell.

The mother knew that the father did not want the children baptized until they were old enough to fully appreciate the significance of baptism, but she blatantly disobeyed a court order and did it anyway. Apparently, this was an issue with the couple from the start, as they had consulted a minister about it before they were even married. Is it any wonder the father did not sit back and take this lightly?

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Technology OMG

Here’s Reason #4,351 to Stop Taking Naughty Pics of Yourself

Posted by Janelle Harris
on Apr 10, 2012 at 1:40 AM

SextingAs if there aren’t enough factors on the line when it comes to taking naked self-portraits, one more has cropped up in the news. A really vindictive thief at a city bar in eastern Sweden swiped an unsuspecting 21-year-old woman’s cellphone from her back pocket, which is criminal in and of itself. But, upon discovering that she had stored pics of herself in the buff—and didn’t password protect them—the pickpocketing jerk posted the photos to the victim’s own Facebook page

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Technology Eye Roll

Uproar Over Creepy 'Girls Around Me' App Is Completely Hypocritical

Posted by Maressa Brown
on Apr 3, 2012 at 1:24 PM

girls around me stalking app screenshotYou might not have caught it, but this past weekend, there was a ton of buzz about a freaky app recently pulled from the iOS App Store called Girls Around Me. Long story short, the app -- developed and later pulled by a Moscow-based company called i-Free -- mashed up publicly available Facebook and Foursquare data and displayed it on a map for users to track/research women checked in nearby. In other words, if you're kinda careless or lazy about your privacy settings on either Facebook or Foursquare, you could have very easily landed on some creeper's Girls Around Me map. They might have even been able to see your interests, college background, job, etc. aka whatever you share on your Facebook profile publicly.

Yeah, it sounds totally sketch, and on one hand, it's a huge relief that the app is no longer available for download. (i-Free pulled it themselves.) But on the other hand, I can't help but wonder ... Why are people so weirded out by this?

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Big Kid Say What!?

Free Condoms for Middle School Kids Is Just Plain INSANE

Posted by Deborah Cruz
on Mar 20, 2012 at 1:33 PM

Schools should not be providing condoms to middle schoolers. This seems obvious, no? But not everyone agrees, it seems.

A school committee in Springfield, Massachusetts approved a policy that would make condoms available to kids over the age of 12 as part of a comprehensive reproductive health policy to prevent sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy.

That is one hell of a school supply. Can you imagine this popping up on your school’s “wish list” items? I wonder, will they have to ask the school nurse for condoms? Or maybe they will put them in one of those neat little dispensers in the boys' bathroom.

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Big Kid Rant

There's Nothing Wrong With Little Girls Wearing Bikinis

Posted by Deborah Cruz
on Mar 19, 2012 at 3:44 PM

little girl in a bikini at the fountainThere is a lot of controversy over whether little girls should be allowed to wear bikinis, or if bikinis should even be made for little girls, period. But for me, it has never been much of a heated topic.

I have two little girls, ages 4 and 6, and I have put them in bikinis since they were babies. We are not a bikini exclusive household, mind you. They also wear one-piece bathing suits and I also only buy the girls age appropriate and size appropriate bikinis. But still, they do wear two-piece suits. What's the big deal?

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Technology Tech Talk

Nosy Employers Want Your Facebook Password: What Should You Do?

Posted by Kim Conte
on Mar 7, 2012 at 5:17 PM

facebook passwordIt's nerve-racking enough to think about your boss looking at your Facebook profile (what if he/she doesn't think that photo of your dog wearing a sweater is as funny as you do?). But now comes news of a trend that's even more alarming: Some employers are actually asking their employees for their Facebook passwords so they can have unlimited access to their accounts. The practice is most common among potential employers and colleges requiring such information from applicants. But there's one report of an employee at the Maryland Department of Corrections who was asked for his password after working there for several years, and, likely, there are others.

Can you imagine having to hand over such private information? My blood is boiling at the very thought!

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Technology OMG

Facebook's Embarrassing Lube Ad Reminds Us to Be Careful What We Post

Posted by Linda Sharps
on Mar 1, 2012 at 8:00 PM

"What are you going to do with all this lube?! Wrestling match? Biggest adult party ever? If you are looking for a simply jaw-dropping amount of lube, Passion Natural Water-Based Lubricant is ready to get the fun started with this 55 gallon drum!"

So begins the greatly entertaining Amazon product description for this 55-gallon container of water-based lubricant that you can purchase for a mere $1,500 (currently on sale from $2,750!). The actual product info is funny enough, but the customer reviews are, if you'll excuse the term, the real money shot.

It's the sort of thing I'd post on Facebook for a laugh, and that's exactly what Nick Bergus did. Unfortunately, somewhere along the line someone—presumably Amazon—took the joke seriously, and turned his post into a sponsored story.

In other words, Nick Bergus is now the unwilling spokesperson for a giant tub of lube. Oh, FACEBOOK. 

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Technology Tech Talk

Block Your Web History Before Google Tracks You Down (Again)

Posted by Linda Sharps
on Feb 23, 2012 at 4:41 PM

Coming soon to a Google near you: a new unified privacy policy designed to "create a beautifully simple, intuitive user experience." At least, that's how Google describes it. According to some privacy advocates, it's a troubling change that will result in the invasion of users' personal information.

Starting March 1, Google's new privacy policy brings together 60 separate privacy documents into one. The idea is for Google to be able to deliver all kinds of personalization (like improved search results and, ahem, better targeted ads), but it also means your private search history will be now be shared across Google's services.

There are some benefits to sharing this information: for instance, Google could decide you're a snowboarding fan based on your searches, then recommend snowboarding videos when you visit YouTube. However, if this new policy ooks you out, there's an easy way to disable your search history.

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