Tag Archives: privacy

With privacy there is no middle ground

Lots of posts the past few days about the current Facebook privacy issues. Mark Zuckerberg is under attack. Not just for the latest Facebook update, but also personally for an alleged chat session that suggests he isn’t very respectful towards … Continue reading

Posted in advertisement trap, business model, Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, privacy nightmare, social networks | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

The web needs to be bigger than Facebook

I’ve thought a bit about the announcements that Facebook has just made to make the entire web ‘social’. GigaOm has a good writeup about that here. On the surface their attempt at socializing the web fits a transformation of a  … Continue reading

Posted in Facebook, privacy, user centric web | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

It’s time we take responsibility when it comes to a fundamental human right like privacy

[disclosure: a bit of shameless self promotion below] Last month the BBC contacted me about a feature they were preparing for their Fast Track show. They invited me over to give my opinion on a trend where people are using … Continue reading

Posted in advertisement trap, Mark Zuckerberg, privacy, social media | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

An open letter to Mark Zuckerberg

Dear Mr. Zuckerberg, You are the CEO of one of the most fastest growing and remarkable companies in the world. You’ve created a place where 350 million people get together online and have a great time. A place where 350 … Continue reading

Posted in Alexander van Elsas, Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, privacy | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

An open letter to Eric Schmidt

Dear Mr Schmidt, You are the CEO of one of the most innovative, successful and remarkable companies in the world. I deeply admire what Google has achieved in the past years. You’ve created the best search experience in the world, … Continue reading

Posted in Alexander van Elsas, Google, personal, privacy | Tagged , , | 40 Comments

To be free we need to break free of web 2.0 thinking

You’re meeting someone at a party for the first time. He introduces himself to you. “Hi. I’m Tim Eastwood. I’m 29 years old, live in San Francisco. I’m married to Laura, have 3 children Joe, James, and Jenny.” During the … Continue reading

Posted in business model, Facebook, privacy | Tagged , , , , | 15 Comments

Two falses do not make a right

If a woman is raped, do you feel it’s her fault because she was dressed sexy and flirting a bit? If a tourist gets mugged on the streets of New York, would you agree that it’s his own fault because … Continue reading

Posted in on-line advertisement, privacy, sharing, social networks, SocialAds | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Important characteristics for a social operating system

Facebook is quickly making moves to become a web platform, a social operating system if you will. This is not something unexpected. Already in 2007 there were people thinking about a social operating system (see here, here, here). Nova Spivack … Continue reading

Posted in business model, Facebook, privacy, user centric web | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments

The difficulty I have with privacy controls on Facebook

I’m not a regular user of Facebook. I’ve joined a long time ago, have given it a few tries and then stopped using it. There are many reasons I don’t use it. I’ve written a post a long time ago … Continue reading

Posted in business model, Facebook, on-line advertisement, privacy, Social Advertisement | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Shifting the balance of power inside out solves many web 2.0 issues

What are the most important aspects for a User-Centric web to me? In a User-Centric web: I get to own my data and my interactions I control my privacy Services travel along with me, instead of me traveling to those … Continue reading

Posted in business model, Google, Google Wave, privacy, user centric web | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

The fundamental problem of ‘owning’ user data

I do not often agree with Facebook, but I do agree with their decision to make privacy settings of their users more important than opening up the vast amount of data they track to 3rd party developers. Marshall Kirkpatrick writes … Continue reading

Posted in business model, Facebook, freedom, privacy, social networks, web 2.0 | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Questions

Networks and destinations 1. If everything becomes open and connected, what will happen to the big destinations? 2. Why is the web rapidly evolving into uncountable databases with connections, instead of one database where everything connects? 3. If all services … Continue reading

Posted in business model, human behavior, interaction, privacy, social media, social networks | Tagged , , , , , , | 11 Comments

The Facebook business model is the root cause of a lack of transparency

Mark Zuckerberg just announced that Facebook will revert back to the old terms of service as too many people complained about the new ones. I think it is a honorable that Facebook is retracting a pretty bad plan. It is … Continue reading

Posted in advertisement trap, business model, Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, privacy | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

Mark Zuckerberg is answering the wrong question, and we fell for it again

There has been quite a bit of uproar about Facebook changing their Terms of Service. Unfortunately, no one is asking the right question, thus letting Mark get away with answering the wrong one. The section that created this uproar reads: … Continue reading

Posted in advertisement, business model, Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, privacy | Tagged , , , , | 23 Comments

Privacy is not dead, it is distributed unevenly

A famous oneliner from the CEO of Sun, Scott McNealy, in 2001 was “Privacy is dead, get over it”. It sounds true. This generation is growing up with Google, social networking, and having all relevant data on the web. We … Continue reading

Posted in Facebook, Friendfeed, Google, privacy, Robert Scoble, web 2.0 | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

It is naive to think our online lives are not connected to real-life

There seems to be a strange disconnect between our online and offline lives. Different rules, norms and values seem to apply. It is as if our online personality is not connected to our real life. We act differently and feel … Continue reading

Posted in human behavior, on-line advertisement, privacy, social media, social networks | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments

Our need for interaction locks us up

MySpace has over 200 Mln registered users. Facebook follows fast with 140Mln registered users, and they are adding an astonishing 600.ooo new users every day. A rough estimate suggests that more than half a Billion people are registered in social … Continue reading

Posted in business model, Facebook, interaction, myspace, privacy, web 2.0 | Tagged , , , , , | 17 Comments

Facebook may become the next online ‘smoking’ addiction

What if Facebook becomes the new web? This could become a reality for many users worldwide, given their unbelievable growth of 600.000 new users every day. Facebook already has 140Mln registered users. If they continue to grow at this rate … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 9 Comments

Facebook Connect a privacy tool? Yeah Right!

A good article by Brad Stone at the NY Times entitled “Facebook aimes to extend its reach across the web”. Brad talks about Facebook Connect: Facebook Connect, as the company’s new feature is called, allows its members to log onto … Continue reading

Posted in business model, Facebook, privacy nightmare, social media, social networks | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

5 dangers of social media

Few people seem to realize or care about the dangers social media brings to our lives. Our online habits are changing rapidly from a closed, private behavior towards an open and sharing culture. While this brings us lots of good, … Continue reading

Posted in business model, Facebook, privacy, social media, social networks | Tagged , , , | 12 Comments