JaysonAmbrose.com

This is a message for people who are concerned with their privacy after uploading pictures to Facebook:

Stop using the Internet. It is just simply not for you.  Don’t use email anymore, because any message you send is stored on your ISP’s server, the destination server, probably on a backup or two in some data center somewhere.  The message itself is readable by sinister criminals looking to steal your identity.  If you created a profile on Facebook with all your personal details, and pictures of your dog, and whatever, then your expectation of privacy is non-existent.

For those of you that are concerned that Evil Facebook is claiming to own your pictures of your dog, and your deep, dark secret status updates:

Get over yourself. Your pictures and videos are worthless, and even if Facebook had claimed sole ownership of it (which they never did), what do you think they will do with it?  Sell t-shirts with your picture on it, or sell DVDs of your birthday party, and not cut you in for at least a few points on the back end?  Understand what is Facebook’s potential business model: your participatory information.  That is, they want to know what you are doing, where you are doing it and when you are doing it.  This is the raison d’etre for Facebook Connect.  They just announced that they will sell crowd-sourced market research data to corporations.  They need you to participate.  For this to work, certain information needs to stick around, and they want to keep it.  This explicitly does not include anything you marked “private”.  If you have marked stuff private, see my first point.

If you don’t like it, close your account. Facebook is a FREE service that allows you communicate with your friends, share pictures and videos, and all kinds of other fun and useful stuff.  Close your account and go to MySpace or Linked In (who’s terms read like a non-exclusive content licensing deal, potentially in perpetuity).  Don’t enter ANY user-generated content site, who will universally claim the sole ownership of your goofy video, and WILL re-purpose it in every conceivable way.

I like Facebook.  I don’t think they are evil.  I think they have a cool product, and they can’t seem to make any money.  If I can passively provide data to help them make a buck, then all the power to them.

Just don’t represent me to my friends that I endorse schlock.

Media Technology, Social Media Facebook, licensing

I am doing some research into Facebook privacy, and stumbled upon this option in the Facebook privacy policy.

Users must explicitly opt out of being included in “Social Ads”. For those who are not familiar with this concept, picture your profile mug in a sidebar ad suggesting you heartily endorse this event or product.

In the Social Ads tab, change Appearance in Social Ads to No one.

I’m really very surprised about the lack of “Hey! WTF?” that this feature has gotten, especially after the Beacon debacle and other Facebook criticisms.

Online Advertising, Social Media Facebook, Krusty the Clown, privacy, social ads

I am putting together a series of blog posts that originally started as essays I had written while at university from 2004 to 2006. One paper I wrote in 2005 was:

“The Future of Music Business, Law and Technology: A Critical Analysis of
Related Articles on the Topic of Digital Music.”

Quite a mouthful.

The related articles mentioned in the title were all written within a short time frame (2000, 2004 and 2005), yet also within three significantly different climates. The first was written before the explosion of Napster, the second at the height of Napster Mania, and the third just as the iTunes Music Store was gaining momentum.

I have decided to revisit the topics discussed in these papers and to reflect on the last several years. I wrote the first version of this paper before many had heard of Facebook, MySpace or YouTube, and well before they sold for billions (Facebook pending…). New bits are in bold. Read more…

Digital Music, Media Technology, Social Media digital distribution, Facebook, MySpace, Social Media, Social Networking