Thread: Invasive Internet Practices are about to be a thing of the past.

I have seen so many blogs and forum posts all over the net about a person's internet privacy, and how some of the famous search engines are being hauled over the coals etc. It's becoming a strong put off when using the net for many users. In the US however, the government has made a call to arms.

Google, Apple and even Microsoft were among the list of technology companies that now face retribution if an online customer's privacy is not protected.

The federal government has put Google, Microsoft, Apple and other technology companies on notice: Give consumers a way to prevent advertisers from tracking their movements across the Web — or face regulation.

Read more here: Internet privacy controls challenge tech industry

What do you think about this all. Do you think that maybe, with the US government cracking down on this, that it could somehow make everyone that is not from the US feel safer when they are browsing the net?

yea, but this is always happening i live in the usa they are always coming out with new laws about the internet to regualte it.

Do you have any worries or fears surfing the net? Or do you feel that it's all just unnecessary laws?

There is no real fear if you use commen sense, but most people don't use commen sense so laws are important

How would you define the right and wrong way to browse the web? This sounds really similar to giving people advice about how to make sure you don't pick up a virus on your PC by making sure you visit trusted sites, I know, but it just seems really silly (well to me at least) why people would either deliberately sell someone's personal information to a third party, or find ways to get a persons information using all sorts of software.

They do it to make and sell them as leads.

I don't see any laws in the US on the horizon that would actually cause any of us IM a problem, for the most part.

lets take one of the biggest sites out there
facebook
and lets look at social tagging where you tag photos
This means that FB can collect information about you and your family/friends/coworkers, neighbours, schoolmates, etc, (all those photos at family birthdays and frat parties, etc), based solely on connecting facial recognition technology with knowing what name to put with what face. FB then runs those photos of your “connections” against their own database of photos to see which of those faces in your photos have a FB account, even if you didn’t ID them. So all that fake “Tagging” people’s faces is just for the convenience of your viewers on your FB account.
Then you can ponder, if you know history and the evil that exists in the world, the power Facebook controls over a half billion people (that’s correct, a half billion). You should consider measuring how it ties in every bit of your personality, your friends and family, and stores that information, and continues to mine (scan/search) that info based on your photo appearing anywhere on the internet, and then builds a permanent profile about you.
I’m not talking about “contact information”, we’re talking about revealing everything about you, connecting the dots, categorizing you instantly in a variety of areas (are you conservative or liberal?) and innocuous information that you would never believe would come back to haunt you – or information you don’t want people to know. It’s all attached to a database record of you on Facebook’s servers, and it will be more complete than any nefarious force (hacker, dictator, corporate power, whoever) could ever dream of.
Those who think Facebook’s all about “marketing”, think again. Stop and think how many major corporations can screw up your life because you’ve become dependent on what they offer… for example: cellphone companies, utility companies, banks, investment firms, political parties, transportation sources like airlines, trains and buses. If you think your life is automated safely and comfortably, with the government and mulit-national corporations putting your happiness and safetyy first and showing you how to depend on them for their services, then jump on the FaceBook juggernaut. It’s as easy as voting for GW Bush in 2004, because he had our best interests at heart.
Write on Facebook everything you’re doing, post your pics. No worries! Some believers in Facebook will moronically say “it’s just family photos and I have “privacy settings” checked.”
Really? Then continue. Show them everything. Want to keep something private about an innocent family member, like a young niece or child in your family circle? Don’t worry, put up a birthday party picture with their face in the shot, and guaranteed Facebook will have as much information on your little niece within a few months as there is available. Don’t forget, she’ll be starting her own “personal site” soon, so it’s just a simple “connect the dots” with Facebook pinpointing her face that is now recognized in a family photo you posted (without identifying her) a year or two earlier.
It’s just connecting the dots, and they aren’t dots YOU have laid down. They’re dots placed by your Facebook group… and the applications they sucker you into playing, like the cunning “question party” game that tricks your connection into mentioning you in a series of questions, even using terms to “compliment” you into answering. (Yep, my wife’s Facebook account has almost ten comments from high school mates saying she was the “prettiest girl”. Then they post that on my wife’s FB wall, and try to lure her to answer or even see the what was written about her. So, does curiosity kill the cat? Or does curiosity on Facebook just pan out to be “innocent fun for all?

Wow, It really puts it all in perspective doesn't it? Maybe then social media sites like facebook should be kept for business, but then again, that might not pan out as well either. I guess all I can really say is that I am glad I am still anonymous on the web. Well, my real name anyhow. I would not be happy if I knew someone knew everything about me, and knew about everything I did, without me telling them.