“EPIC has filed a formal complaint to the Federal Trade Commission concerning Facebook’s manipulation of users’ News Feeds for psychological research. “The company purposefully messed with people’s minds,” states the EPIC complaint. EPIC has charged that the study violates a privacy consent order and is a deceptive trade practice. In 2012, Facebook subjected 700,000 users to an “emotional” test with the manipulation of News Feeds. Facebook did not get users’ permission to conduct this study or notify users that their data would be disclosed to researchers. In the complaint, EPIC explained that Facebook’s misuse of data is a deceptive practice subject to FTC enforcement. Facebook is also currently under a 20 year consent decree from the FTC that requires Facebook to protect user privacy. The consent decree resulted from complaints brought by EPIC and a coalition of consumer privacy organizations in 2009 and 2010. EPIC has asked the FTC to require that Facebook make public the News Feed algorithm. For more information, see EPIC: In re Facebook; and EPIC: FTC.”
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Daily Archives: July 4, 2014
Global MBA Ranking 2014
Via FT.com – Filter table by entering business school name or details. Charts Map Directory Profiler Methodology Continue Reading
The Double Edged Sword of Prison Video Visitation
Fulcher, Patrice A., The Double Edged Sword of Prison Video Visitation: Claiming to Keep Families Together While Furthering the Aims of the Prison Industrial Complex (April 30, 2014). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2461815 “Each year, the United States (“U.S.”) spends billions to house the country’s massive prison population. The need to board over 2.3 million incarcerated human… Continue Reading
Mapping a New Nation: Abel Buell’s Map of the United States, 1784
“On September 3, 1783, American and British representatives signed the Treaty of Paris that formally concluded the American Revolution and recognized the United States as an independent nation. In March 1784, only six months later, Abel Buell (1742–1822), an engraver from Connecticut, produced his New and Correct Map of the United States of North America, which,… Continue Reading
US overtakes Saudi Arabia as world’s largest producer of crude oil
Grant Smith, Bloomberg: ” The U.S. will remain the world’s biggest oil producer this year after overtaking Saudi Arabia and Russia as extraction of energy from shale rock spurs the nation’s economic recovery, Bank of America Corp. said. U.S. production of crude oil, along with liquids separated from natural gas, surpassed all other countries this year with daily output exceeding 11… Continue Reading
The deep and varied emotional life of zoo animals
Alex Halberstadt – New York Times – [snipped]: “Dr. Vint Virga happens to be a veterinarian, very likely the only one in the country whose full-time job is tending to the psychological welfare of animals in captivity. He works with zoos across the United States and in Europe, and like most mental-health professionals, he believes that his patients… Continue Reading
International Donation Programs for Special Libraries Around the World
“This list provides a place for institutions and programs that have little or no money to post their need for educational materials. We do not include private colleges (especially those that charge high tuition fees), foundations of corporate firms, individuals, or other well off entities. Our donors wish to send their materials to those most… Continue Reading
CIA Style Manual Available Online
Via governmentattic.org: “National Security Counselors law firm has obtained a copy of the CIA Directorate of Intelligence Style Manual, Eighth Edition, 2011. It is entitled Style Manual & Writers Guide for Intelligence Publications. The CIA Guide is not alone. Each of the members of the Intelligence Community IC have one or more Style Manuals to conform the reports… Continue Reading
Government Surveillance and Internet Search Behavior
Marthews, Alex and Tucker, Catherine, Government Surveillance and Internet Search Behavior (March 24, 2014). Available or download at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2412564 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2412564 “This paper uses data from Google Trends on search terms from before and after the surveillance revelations of June 2013 to analyze whether Google users’ search behavior shifted as a result of an exogenous shock in… Continue Reading
NSA tracking users of privacy applications and monitoring services
NSA targets the privacy-conscious – von J. Appelbaum, A. Gibson, J. Goetz, V. Kabisch, L. Kampf, L. Ryge. “The investigation discloses the following: Two servers in Germany – in Berlin and Nuremberg – are under surveillance by the NSA. Merely searching the web for the privacy-enhancing software tools outlined in the XKeyscore rules causes the NSA to… Continue Reading
