Thursday, June 27, 2013

F.T.C. Member Starts ‘Reclaim Your Name’ Campaign for Personal Data


The revelations this month about government surveillance programs that collect the phone logs of people in the United States and can monitor e-mail traffic abroad are provoking a larger debate on the rights of consumers to control the collection and sharing of data about them.

One industry under the microscope is data brokerages. These are business-to-business companies that collect thousands of details — like the shopping habits, vacation preferences, estimated income, ethnicity, hobbies, predilections for gambling or smoking and health concerns — about millions of consumers, the better to help marketers identify potential new customers as well as maintain their already loyal clients.

Although some of these companies do permit people to opt out of their marketing databases, most do not have systems to allow consumers to see records held about them and correct possible errors. Because of this lack of transparency, federal regulators and privacy advocates have long warned about the potential for such data-mining to discriminate against consumers based on sensitive details like financial or health information.

Now Julie Brill, a member of the Federal Trade Commission, has proposed an industrywide initiative to give consumers access to their own records held by data brokers. She envisions an online portal where data brokers would describe their data collection practices and their consumer access policies.

Ms. Brill has come up with a handy nickname for her proposed effort: “Reclaim Your Name.”

“Reclaim Your Name would empower the consumer to find out how brokers are collecting and using data; give her access to information that data brokers have amassed about her; allow her to opt-out if she learns a data broker is selling her information for marketing purposes and provide her the opportunity to correct errors in information used for substantive decisions – like credit, insurance, employment, and other benefits,” Ms. Brill said in a speech on Wednesday morning at the Computers, Freedom and Privacy Conference in Washington.

Here’s a link to the full text of Ms. Brill’s speech.

Over the last year, legislators in the House and Senate have separately opened investigations into the practices of some leading data brokers with the goal of increasing oversight of the industry. Participation in a voluntary “Reclaim Your Name” program of the kind Ms. Brill proposed might help the industry mitigate government efforts toward greater regulation.
By Natasha Singer | New York Times

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Emanon Presents: A Tribute to @WuTangClan

Dedicated to the Wu-Tang Clan celebrating 20 years

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Sunday, June 23, 2013

The Imaginary Big Business of Haters

Let's start this post here and pick it up Monday.

Saturday, June 22, 2013

Sisters in the Park

Sisters in the Park from Anthony Chiles on Vimeo.

Helena and Hermia, two of the iconic four young lovers in William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, here portrayed by the beautiful Judy Shaw {Helena} and the lovely Jacinda Bridger {Hermia} Let me give you some liner notes. This little filmstrip was filmed in Springfield, OH last March; across the street from the legendary State Theater, which served as centerstage for a thrilling production of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream {which featured Judy and Jacinda in knockout performances} I shot this as an intended promotional short. Clearly that did not happen. IDK why. From the lost and found SD card bin of yours truly.

Thursday, June 20, 2013

How to Create an Instagram Video in 7 Simple Steps

Instagram video, a new feature of Instagram 4.0, is now available for download, and we tested this new and super-easy video shooting and sharing capability. Watch this quick video of how to create your own videos using the new Instagram 4.0. {Android Forever}

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Facebook Now Lets You Comment With a Photo


Facebook has started to roll out photo comments, a new feature that allows you to comment on posts with images rather than words.

Originally built during a Facebook employee hackathon, photo comments are starting to roll out globally on the web as well as the Facebook mobile site. Users can't yet leave photo comments within Facebook's mobile apps, but they are viewable. The feature is expected to come to those apps in a future update.

Monday, June 17, 2013

Google Launches Balloons to Bring the Internet to Remote Regions

Google is launching huge balloons to bring the Internet to remote and difficult terrain — think mountain ranges, archipelagos and jungles — beginning with New Zealand.

Last week, Google launched 30 Internet-enabling balloons in the Canterbury region of New Zealand, with plans to launch 20 more. The balloons, which resemble white, effervescent jellyfish, use a combination of wind, solar power and "complex algorithms" to stay in a fixed part of the sky, says project leader Mike Cassidy. The balloons communicate with antennas placed on the ground tens of thousands of feet below to provide Internet access to those areas.

The balloons are similar to the Internet-powered blimps Google has been testing on a smaller scale in parts of Africa and Asia. Initiatives developed by Google and other parties have also looked to satellites and highly placed antennas to achieve the same ends. Google has been working on this particular project, dubbed "Project Loon," for two years, according to Wired.

Google says its ultimate goal is to bring Internet to the two-thirds of the world that do not have or simply can't afford Internet access.
By Lauren Indvik Mashable

Thursday, June 13, 2013

'Brunch On Sundays': Pooping Is Something Even Girls Do

A long-standing rumor maintains that girls do not, in fact, poop. Prepare to be shocked by the fact that not only do they poop, some girls aren't afraid to poop in front of people.

The second episode of "Brunch on Sundays" (watch the first here) follows three girls discussing their pooping habits, and could, in fact, start a revolution of women who will stop remaining silent about their bodily functions. Including -- no, especially -- with guys they have sex with.

 Poop.

Cheerios Parody "Just Checking" Response to Haters


Apparently, not even an adorable little girl can melt the heart of a bigot. After a fierce, racist backlash on YouTube, the comments for the Cheerios ad featuring a mixed-race couple had to be disabled, prompting many of us to ask, "What the hell is wrong with people?"

 In response to the controversy, Kenji (who also directed the hilarious Homo Thugs series) created this parody that ups the ante on bigots and tells the haters to "eat it." The spoof was co-written by Mark Normand and Eddie Lombardi, stars comedians Hollis Witherspoon and Joyelle Nicole Johnson, and features the adorable Adriana Barnett.

Sunday, June 9, 2013

Witnesses to the Beginning of What is Probably the End of 'I Told You So'