No.851
http://www.radiolab.org/story/trust-engineers/a recent investigation of social engineering at facebook by npr show radio lab
none of the techniques or experiments are going to be super new to people here. but it is an look into facebooks particular operations and an accessible starting point to introduce others to the subject.
No.956
First thing I notice is how the casual sound effects and language make me less interested in what they have to say.
The information given here is nothing new. It is clearly stated (and has been for quite some time) in the terms and conditions that everything you do while logged in is subject to analysis. I doubt more than a handful of people did more than get pissy when they heard about that. They didn't quit facebook, they didn't e-mail the company, they certainly didn't change their online habits. They were outraged and then got back to sharing their pictures.
The problem isn't with the fact that facebook treats its users as guinea pigs (well, that is a problem, but not the main one), the problem is: what will the data be used for? Selling shoes? making people communicate in a nicer way? Elect presidents?
And the scary thing, the really scary thing that people know but choose not to think about is that the US government and its allies can do that same sort of research and experimentation with most of the open web. If facebook is that large, imagine data from everyone that uses facebook + everyone that uses google + everyone that uses apple products + ...
No.1004
Listened to this last week. I like Radiolab on the whole, but this felt a lot like a /hailcorporate/ Facebook plug.
Sounded like the justification of privacy loss.
No.1008
>>1004>Sounded like the justification of privacy loss.Exactly. While they admitted discomfort with the idea of being used for such experiments and with having their data scrutinized in this manner, they couldn't help but try to justify it, like a nurse explaining the need for a foul-tasting medicine. Only in this case, the medicine is for an imaginary illness.
No.1012
Radiolab has been slacking. They need to mix it up.
I'd recommend Invisibilia, an off shoot podcast, for some cool discussions.