Social media and privacy

Shelly Palmer blogs about privacy and Twitter, as regards marketing companies mining the data:

But those systems pale in comparison to the kinds of data we�re giving about ourselves on personalized media like social networks and Twitter. Imagine if through some sort of Semantic Web application a company could glean information not only on what info you offered, and tags you�d left, but also the things you were passionate about, what you�d been writing and saying, asking for and complaining about. Imagine if the company could handle the complaint or fuel the delight of that passionate, highly involved (ok, �engaged�) fan � how much might she crow about you, then, an not only increase her loyalty but also help spur others into the fold?

Then a report that aspiring applicants to colleges may be using Facebook to sabatoge in other potential classmates.

And finally a report (in Hungarian, alas) reporting an �exploit� in Twitter. It�s really simple, actually. Apparently subscribing to a feed of a friend of a person who has a �protected status� (meaning, only friends can see what they�re saying) provides a view into the �protected� conversation. A yawn compared to the current top-of-mind exploit, but it�s worth noting, in case you haven�t noticed: There is no privacy.

Alex Eckelberry