social media | Ain't Complicated

Buzzed a la Google

I know this is long. And I know it’s about three favorite services on the Web: Google, Gmail, and Buzz.

But it really is an essential read. Even if you think privacy and security are passé in a pleasantly quaint and/or outright irritating sort of way.

On February 9, 2010, many Gmail users woke up to find a slightly different look to their inbox, along with some never-before-seen features. They were told that this was Google’s latest attempt at creating a social networking and messaging tool; it would be called Google Buzz. The company designed the service to seamlessly integrate with the company’s web-based email program, allowing its users to share links, photos, videos, status messages, and comments that would be organized in a “conversations” section of their inbox.

It seemed cool enough, but what many users didn’t know is that they were now sharing what was thought to be private information with other Gmail users.

Google executive Sergey Brin recently said that it was Google’s intention to “help bridge the gap between work and leisure,” but many parents feared for their children’s safety and strongly criticized Google for taking little to no account of privacy concerns for Gmail users who are underage.

[…]

Similar concerns have come up as a result of another Google feature that has yet to be disabled. Apparently by default, the mobile version of Google Buzz publishes a person’s exact location when they post any type of message to the service. This particular feature could be disastrous for many reasons, but especially if a user is in a situation similar to the woman discussed previously, i.e. has an abusive ex who can now track her down at a moment’s notice.

Not only that, but there are a thousand scenarios in which this could be dangerous for children. What if a young student updates Google Buzz using their mobile phone while walking home from school alone, unaware of the fact that complete strangers can be “following” them on the service? These are the types of concerns many believe Google isn’t taking into account or taking seriously enough.

[…]

“If your child has a Gmail account, talk to them about what Google Buzz is and how they should be properly using it,” Li said. “Please take action, which may be as dramatic as completely disabling Buzz on your child’s account. Do this as soon as possible, as I’m concerned that unsavory characters are already exploiting this parental control loophole.”

Now please read the full article: The Trials and Tribulations of Google Buzz.

Just Words

They're evidence. Make them count for good!

I stared. 😯

I was incredulous at the email. It was bad as a personal email. But sent to a multi-recipient list?!

Wow! Somebody was having a bad day! 🙁

Not only had the email departed the sender’s mind ahead of any grace and tact, it projected itself as mind-bogglingly dumb. I don’t mean that unkindly or disrespectfully. I’m simply saying its cargo excluded basic common sense.

The person who sent it issued a follow-up email 38 minutes later. It was an apology.

Very good! God bless him for his honesty, humility, and integrity.

But guess which email is more likely to be remembered?

Yeah. Too bad.

Words. Just words. Not sticks and stones, you know. But what dismay they can cause.

Words. Just words. Too often I want to excuse mine. And attack the other guy’s (if I deem them ill-advised or outright bad).

Words. Just words. But God doesn’t see the matter so lightly.

He will judge me by my words.

And by how they line up with His Word.

So….

“Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart,
be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD,
my strength, and my redeemer.”
Psalm 19:14

Full of sweet, nourishing honey — not stinging bees!

This whole deal was one of those wretched teachable moments (can we come up with a different term already?).

The lesson above leaps forward as Number One (or more).

Other lessons?

Be slow to react to email. Come to think of it. Don’t react.
Be slow. There’s no rush. Especially if you’re having a trying day.
Email is forwardable. How far will yours go? That may not matter to you now, but it likely will in a day or two. Or in a minute or two. Or less.
Email lists have the added danger of being archived on the Web “forever”!

There. I don’t want to give them all. What other lessons do you see?

This was to post last evening…but I didn’t get back to my computer and the Internet in time.

Did You Know?

Three words spoke to my heart this morning. May they continue to echo there:

No, you didn’t know that. But now you do. And that fits in with this:

Are you a twit if you don’t want to Twitter?

Last month, Alex Slater took it a step farther. He dumped his Twitter account and stripped the information on his Facebook page to a minimum. Though he has more than 600 “friends” on Facebook, he checks it much less often.

“Being exposed to details, from someone’s painful breakup to what they had for breakfast – and much more sordid details than that – feels like voyeurism,” says the 31-year-old public relations executive in Washington, D.C. “I’m less concerned with protecting my privacy, and more concerned at the ethics of a ‘human zoo’ where others’ lives, and often serious problems, are treated as entertainment.”

Yes, I have a Twitter account. No, I don’t have a raft-load of Facebook Friends. Yes, I think the above article is worth reading in full. No, I don’t plan to announce on Twitter that I had two cups of coffee and two Tylenol so far this morning.

Oh, and speaking of Facebook:

Fast-growing Facebook’s user base hits 200 million

Facebook also updated its display of site statistics.

According to these, more than half of its users log in to the site at least once a day, and the fastest-growing demographic is people over 35. About 70 percent of Facebook users are outside the United States (MySpace still claims to be the nation’s largest social network).

For those itching to know if they are popular enough: the average user has 120 “friends” on the site.

And speaking of friends, do friends let friends over-text?

Hammer time for cell phone used to run up $5K billA cell phone used by a Wyoming 13-year-old to run up a nearly $5,000 phone bill will text no more thanks to her angry father and his hammer. Dena Christoffersen of Cheyenne sent or received about 20,000 text messages over about a month, and her parents’ phone plan didn’t cover texting.

🙄

Meanwhile, some other “friends” are waking up around the globe:

Huge worm stirring to life

The dreaded Conficker computer worm is stirring. Security experts say the worm’s authors appear to be trying to build a big moneymaker, but not a cyber weapon of mass destruction as many people feared.

As many as 12 million computers have been infected by Conficker. Security firm Trend Micro says some of the machines have been updated over the past few days with fake antivirus software – the first attempt by Conficker’s authors to profit from their massive “botnet.”

So, this post begins by featuring a Friend. (And what a Friend we have in Jesus!)

Now it ends featuring someone else’s friend:

Woman finds cashiers check and returns it

But just as she was about to do her part for a cleaner planet and deliver the paper from the parking lot to a trash can, she noticed it was a real cashier’s check with a real signature.

“I couldn’t believe it. I almost passed out,” Curtis, who works as a loan negotiator, told The Associated Press on Wednesday. “I have never seen a check that big. Not in my possession, anyway.”

She immediately set out to find its rightful recipient….

Good day?!