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Just How Concerned with Privacy Are Facebook Users?

PeopleBrowsr shared a rather interesting report with us this week, looking at privacy related tweets during the center of this year's Facebook "privacy storm." The firm studied the public's reaction to Facebook's open graph-related announcements that set off the majority of the Facebook privacy controversy back in April.

Are you concerned for your privacy as a Facebook user? Let us know.

The report specifically compares the general public's (or at least the portion that uses Twitter) thoughts about Facebook privacy with the media sensationalism around the story. The firm studied tweets with references to privacy, along with other keywords like Facebook, Open Graph, Zuckerberg, and Google.

"We are the last generation to know privacy as it was," says Brian Solis, Chief Data Analyst for PeopleBrowsr. "As Facebook moves human connections and society into a more public spotlight, people and the press will push back. But this will move things forward collaboratively. Over time I believe the debate will evolve into a series of productive forums and memes that explore the risks of living in public and the rewards for participation."

Some of PeopleBrowsr's findings from the study:

- Prior to the F8 conference on April 24, privacy tweets hovered between 1,000-3,000 references per day, then spiked to 9,000 on the day of F8

- On April 25 (day after the conference), privacy-related tweets fell to 3,500 – then surged to 7,500 when politicians joined the fray. Around May 25, privacy discussions hit the ceiling in this study with 20,000 unique discussions.

- In terms of context, Facebook dominated the landscape for mentions of #privacy

- Conversations followed media reports

"We see that even on the day when privacy took center stage, the media sensationalized the topic. But the public, at least those on Twitter, did not flood the streets with 140 character picket signs. 9,000 tweets does not seem to account for the millions of Twitter users or the 500 million people who have Facebook accounts," says Solis.

That last statement is true on a couple of different levels. For Solis' purpose it does not appear to indicate that the majority of Facebook users were that concerned. However, it is also worth noting that the majority of Facebook users are not necessarily active Twitter users. Facebook has over 500 million people. It's not a flawless argument, and the findings should be taken with a grain of salt like any such study. That said, Twitter is generally viewed as a good indication of public opinion, as trending topics often reflect pop culture and news at large. If there is something significant happening, you can generally find people talking about it on Twitter.

Besides, Facebook's numbers continued to grow. Diaspora (the "Facebook alternative") will be here soon. I'm willing to bet that will have little impact on Facebook's growth as well.

Do you think the privacy discussion around Facebook was overblown? Share your thoughts.

Publ.Date : Thu, 02 Sep 2010 17:17:59 -0400

Skype for Windows Gets Ten-Way Video Calling

Skype released an update to Skype for Windows, which allows you to make group video calls with up to ten people. This is in beta.

There is also a new design. Skype's Peter Parkes writes, "You'll notice that the new-look Skype is sleeker, neater and crisper than before, and we're proud of the work our interface designers have done to refine and mature the interface for this version. We've also added Skype Home, where you can follow your contacts' mood messages, set your profile picture and mood message, receive account notifications and learn more about using Skype."

Other improvements include:

- Skype Home experience

- Offline instant messaging

- New contact search and add experience

- Enhanced call experience under problematic conditions

- Post call experience

Skype Video Calling with up to ten people

This version of Skype can be downloaded here. Remember, everyone participating in the video call has to be using this version.

Publ.Date : Thu, 02 Sep 2010 17:16:40 -0400

MusOpen Uses Diaspora Model to Set Classical Music Rights Free

You may have heard about Diaspora, a Kickstarter project that aims to be an open replacement for Facebook users that don't like Facebook's dealings with privacy. There is another interesting Kickstarter project called MusOpen, which aims to buy and release rights to a large amount of music, or in other words, open source it.

A volunteer with the project named Ben Givens reached out to WebProNews with some information about it. He says they're close to completing it, but they're still looking for feedback.

What MusOpen does is hire orchestras to record digital performances of symphonies by composers like Beethoven, Brahms, Sibelius, and Tchaikovsky. This music is in the public domain, but as the EFF points out, many modern arrangements and recording of them are copyrighted.

"That means that even after purchasing a CD or collection of MP3s of this music, you may not be able to freely exercise all the rights you'd associate with works in the public domain, like sharing the music using a peer-to-peer network or using the music in a film project," says the EFF.

That's where these unique performances come in.

"The process depends somewhat on the amount raised," Ben tells us. "Assuming we get near our goal...we will create a voting system where every donor submits and votes on music. The winning ideas will determine the type of ensemble and amount of music. If the donors want a set of symphonies, we will speak to well known orchestras, probably in Europe to save money, and record it there. Otherwise we may mix an orchestra and smaller ensembles."

MusOpen

"Distributing the music will take place primarily on Musopen.org or through our twitter account," he says. "We have partnerships with the OLPC project and Wikipedia so we'll likely add music to those as well."

"I'm volunteering for Musopen to help spread the word about this project specifically as I feel very strongly in its potential," Ben says. "There are no full time people working on it, the entire group consists of dedicated volunteers who have day jobs."

MusOpen was founded by Aaron Dunn, who has a team of advisers and a music editor. There are also volunteers like Ben who work on the site and spread the word about it.

Publ.Date : Thu, 02 Sep 2010 16:57:19 -0400

Google, Facebook and Boxee Respond to Apple

Update 2: Swisher reports that Facebook blocked API access to Ping after failing to strike an agreement with Apple, so Apple removed the feature after launch. She credits "sources familiar with Facebook's platform" with this information.

Update: With regards to Facebook and Ping, Dan Frommer points out that the screenshots Apple used in its prsentation actually did show Facebook integration. MG Siegler also notes that he actually was able to connect to Ping with Facebook, but then it disappeared. It appears that Apple may have pulled Facebook from it at the last minute. Siegler writes:

I can tell you for sure that yesterday Facebook Connect was a part of Ping — because I used it.

When I first loaded iTunes 10 yesterday and started up Ping, connecting with Facebook was the first thing I did to find friends. At first, I will say that it didn’t work. I hit the Connect button, entered my credentials, and nothing happened. But I tried again and it worked perfectly. I found a handful of Facebook friends who had just started using Ping as well and connected with them.

He also claims that he's still connected to the Ping app from within Facebook and that while Facebook isn't on iTunes, it's still live.

Original Article: At Apple's music event yesterday, where the company launched a new version of iOS, a new version of iTunes with a new social network (Ping), a new line of iPods, and a new version of Apple TV, Steve Jobs took a shot at Google involving numbers of smartphone activations.

Last month, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said that Android gets over 200,000 devices a day.

"People throw out a lot of numbers about how many devices they're activating per day," Jobs is quoted as saying. "We are doing 230,000 activations a day. We think our friends may be counting upgrades - if we were counting upgrades, that would be way higher."

Fortune has a quote from a Google spokesperson responding to those comments: "The Android activation numbers do not include upgrades and are, in fact, only a portion of the Android devices in the market since we only include devices that have Google services."

Ping, the iTunes social network, is like Facebook or Twitter meets iTunes. That's the way Jobs described it in the announcement, anyway. While that may be the case, and it may even resemble Facebook, there is no integration with either Facebook or Twitter (or other social networks).

Kara Swisher was able to speak to Jobs about this, who said Facebook wanted "onerous terms that we could not agree to." When asked about integrating Facebook Connect to help people find their friends, Swisher quotes him saying (or shrugging rather), "We could, I guess."

She also got this statement from Facebook on the matter: "Facebook believes in connecting people with their interests and we've partnered with innovative developers around the world who share this vision. Facebook and Apple have cooperated successfully in the past to offer people great social experiences and we look forward to doing so in the future."

Om Malik at GigaOm calls Ping "the future of social commerce". "From a content perspective, there are three different types of media we love to talk about: movies we see, music we listen to and books we are reading," he says. "These are accepted social norms. In fact, many relationships are made on the basis of collective love of a movie and many friendships have started with mixed tapes."

Boxee, whose Boxee Box is due out in November, had some comments on Apple's Apple TV announcement. These two are now direct competitors. On the Boxee blog, Avner Ronen writes:

We think people want to be able to watch anything that they can watch on their computer, only on their bigscreen TV. There is an overwhelming consumer expectation that the content we can consume in our cubicles, our dorm rooms, and in our laps should be available in our living rooms, in full 1080p with a gorgeous interface. It’s a simple premise, but the challenge is to do it in a way that makes sense in that space, so you can put your feet up, grab a remote and start watching. No keyboards, mice, windows or labyrinthine menus. It should be calm and it should be beautiful. And it *must* be open.

We all watched the Apple announcement. We walked away feeling strongly confident about the space it left for Boxee to compete. We have a different view of what users want in their living rooms. We are taking different paths to get there. The Boxee Box is going to be $100 more expensive than the Apple TV, but will give you the freedom to watch what you want.

We think it’s worth it.

NewTeeVee has a comparison of Apple TV, the Boxee Box, and Roku, which some have also said is superior to the new Apple TV.

Publ.Date : Thu, 02 Sep 2010 16:38:24 -0400

NZ Police Clear Google In Street View Scandal

When it comes to Street View and the collection of sensitive WiFi data, Google is, at least to some degree, safe from serious penalties in New Zealand. A police investigation has determined that the company didn't violate any laws.

Privacy Commissioner Marie Shroff referred the matter to police in June, which seemed to put Google in a precarious position. Logic dictated that Shroff wouldn't call in law enforcement for no reason, after all.

But fortunately for the search giant, New Zealand police said in a statement today, "An investigation by Police has determined that there is no evidence to suggest a criminal offence has been committed."

Detective Senior Sergeant John van den Heuvel of the Police National Cyber Crime Centre just suggested, "Anyone using Wi-Fi needs to ensure they have appropriate security measures in place. People should not underestimate the risk that information they broadcast might be accessed by others, either inadvertently or for more sinister purposes."

Google Now the ball is back in the privacy commissioner's (figurative) court, and she hasn't made clear whether her office will take further action or not.

We'll be sure to report any other noteworthy developments that occur.

Publ.Date : Thu, 02 Sep 2010 16:08:01 -0400

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