Did Google Get Off Easy With $7 Million ‘Wi-Spy’ Settlement?
Seven million dollars. That’s how much Internet giant Google will pay to settle a multi-year investigation into its controversial “Wi-Spy” data collection practices. The furor erupted in 2010 when Google disclosed that it had collected Wi-Fi data from unsecured wireless networks as its “Street View” vehicles crawled major cities worldwide, photographing buildings for a ground-level view on Google Maps. On Tuesday, Google agreed to pay $7 million to 38 states and the District of Columbia to settle the matter. To put that in perspective, Google generated revenue of about $50 billion last year, or nearly $6 million per hour. Big Internet companies like Google and Facebook frequently push the boundaries of user privacy. But the “Wi-Spy” case was particularly alarming to consumer advocates, because it raised the specter of Google’s “Street View” cars — which had already raised privacy concerns — roaming around major cities vacuuming up personal data, including snippets ...
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Lessons from Facebook’s Instagram Photo Flap
If you don’t follow tech news, you may have missed a bit of a kerfuffle this week involving Instagram, the popular photo service purchased by Facebook for $1 billion in April. Earlier in the week, Instagram announced plans to share your photos with advertisers, in some cases without notice or compensation. Instagram’s goal was clear: the service has tens of millions of users, but like its parent company Facebook (which has 1 billion users), Instagram is looking for ways to make money off of its users’ content, in this case photos. Keep in mind that at the time Facebook bought Instagram, it was generating zero revenue. Here’s the language in Instragram’s proposed policy that set off alarm bells: To help us deliver interesting paid or sponsored content or promotions, you agree that a business or other entity may pay us to display your username, likeness, photos (along with any associated metadata), and/or actions you take, in connection with paid or sponsored content or promotions, ...
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Platform upgrade IDs game breakthroughs, offers rewards
Social media isn't just about sharing photos or quippy status updates. Social media is also about gaming, and an upgrade to the MediaBrix platform may help advertisers increase the engagement factor between gamers and their games. Called Breakthrough Moments (BTMs), the platform identifies when a gamer reaches a certain point in a game - a breakthrough moment - and that moment is then rewarded, through MediaBrix's new Rewards product. Why is this type of ad/reward scenario important? According to a recent MediaBrix study Facebook users spend about half their social network time using Facebook apps or playing games; about 250 million Facebook users are playing social games, and with the mobile explosion, even more gamers are logging on from tablets and smartphones to play. "We have always believed in delivering meaningful advertising experiences that engage users and add to the experience during gameplay and we're excited to add Rewards to our product suite," said Ari Brandt, ...
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Why Mark Zuckerberg Is Pushing for Immigration Reform
America has always been a nation of immigrants, but today, there is general agreement that the U.S. immigration system is broken. The southern border remains porous, there are 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the shadows, and tens of thousands of the most promising immigrants are forced to leave the country thanks to outdated visa rules. Now, some of the wealthiest and most successful tech executives and investors in the country — led by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg — are calling for immigration reform. “We have a strange immigration policy for a nation of immigrants,” Zuckerberg wrote Thursday in the Washington Post. “And it’s a policy unfit for today’s world.” Zuckerberg has joined forces with top executives and founders from Google, Yahoo and LinkedIn to launch a new organization called FWD.us, with the goal of influencing the current debate. Several top venture capitalists are also participating. “To lead the world in this new economy, we need the most ...
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Why Mark Zuckerberg Is Pushing For Immigration Reform
America has always been a nation of immigrants, but today, there is general agreement that the U.S. immigration system is broken. The southern border remains porous, there are 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the shadows, and tens of thousands of the most promising immigrants are forced to leave the country thanks to outdated visa rules. Now, some of the wealthiest and most successful tech executives and investors in the country — led by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg – are calling for immigration reform. “We have a strange immigration policy for a nation of immigrants,” Zuckerberg wrote Thursday in The Washington Post. “And it’s a policy unfit for today’s world.” Zuckerberg has joined forces with top executives and founders from Google, Yahoo, and LinkedIn to launch a new organization called FWD.us, with the goal of influencing the current debate. Several top venture capitalists are also participating. “To lead the world in this new economy, we need the ...
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