Lawsuit Demands Answers About Social-Networking Surveillance

From EFF

San Francisco – The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), working with the Samuelson Law, Technology, and Public Policy Clinic at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law (Samuelson Clinic), filed suit today against a half-dozen government agencies for refusing to disclose their policies for using social networking sites for investigations, data-collection, and surveillance.

Recent news reports have publicized the government’s use of social networking data as evidence in various investigations, and Congress is currently considering several pieces of legislation that may increase protections for consumers who use social-networking websites and other online tools. In response, the Samuelson Clinic made over a dozen Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests on behalf of EFF to the Central Intelligence Agency, the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, and other agencies, asking for information about how the government collects and uses this sensitive information.

“Millions of people use social networking sites like Facebook every day, disclosing lots of information about their private lives,” said James Tucker, a student working with EFF through the Samuelson Clinic. “As Congress debates new privacy laws covering sites like Facebook, lawmakers and voters alike need to know how the government is already using this data and what is at stake.”

When several agencies did not respond to the FOIA requests, the Samuelson Clinic filed suit on behalf of EFF. The lawsuit demands immediate processing and release of all records concerning policies for the use of social networking sites in government investigations.

“Internet users deserve to know what information is collected, under what circumstances, and who has access to it,” said Shane Witnov, a law student also working on the case. “These agencies need to abide by the law and release their records on social networking surveillance.”

For the full complaint:

http://www.eff.org/files/filenode/social_network/social_networking_FOIA_…

Contacts:

Marcia Hofmann

Staff Attorney

Electronic Frontier Foundation

marcia@eff.org

Shane Witnov

Law student

Samuelson Law, Technology, and Public Policy Clinic

switnov@berkeley.edu

Link to the original article

[Via http://freedominfo.wordpress.com]

Facebook application Step 1: Retrieving user information

As a first step in our Facebook application, we’ll be retrieving some basic information about a logged in user who is visiting our application.

fbuser = User.objects.get_current()

# Get some specifics about the user

user_details = request.facebook.users.getInfo([fbuser.id], ['first_name, current_location']);

name = user_details[0]['first_name']

current_location = user_details[0]['current_location']

This is pretty straightforward. First we get a user object for the logged in Facebook user using the User.objects.get_current() method.

Then we’ll use the user’s ID to gather some basic information about the user, i.e. first_name and current_location. It’s important to note that the user information that can be retrieved depends whether you’re passing a session variable.

While the method doesn’t require a session key, without one you’re limited to the following:

• uid
• first_name
• last_name
• name
• locale
• affiliations (regional type only)
• pic_square
• profile_url

The same restrictions are in place if the user has not yet installed our application.

If you have a session key and the user has installed our application, the sky’s the limit. See the Users.getInfo documentation for a complete list of what’s available.

As always, I welcome comments and constructive criticism. I am by no means an expert at this so I can already anticipate there are better ways to accomplish the things I’m trying to do.

[Via http://dash30.wordpress.com]

I'd Do Well With Kids.

My Facebook convo with Andrea Y. about a new and upcoming interview: Melissa

did i tell u i got an interview at the ROM

ive been waiting 3 yrs for this almost

Andrea

thats fantatic

when is the interview?

Melissa

Tues

Andrea

good luck with it!

Melissa

thank u!

Andrea

what was the position?

Melissa

Program facillitator

basically working with kids

i cant wait

other than the fact that I cuss like a sailor, I think I’d be perfect for the job.

Andrea

just change your swear words- say fudge instead of fuck… not only will you be saving yourself, the kids will think you have treats

Melissa

i cant do fudge, unless “packer” follows it.

i figure I can write them on their work instead of “Good Job!!!”

Andrea

“way to go!”

“super star!”

Melissa

hmmm

how about “way to gonads!” and “super semen!!!!!!”???

[Via http://melissadesa.wordpress.com]

Couple's son, 2, taken into care by social workers after they 'refused to feed him junk food’

It is the Doctor who is to be prosecuted and his licence to practice canceled.

Story:

A two year-old boy was taken away by social services and put into foster care after his parents, Paul and Lisa Hessey, refused to follow doctors’ orders and feed him junk food, they have claimed.

The Derbyshire couple, both 48, had been concerned about heath of their son, Zak as he was not eating properly.

Mrs Hessey and her lorry driver husband, took their son, who weighed just 17 lbs, to Chesterfield Royal Hospital in July.

The couple rejected the medical advice to feed Zak a diet of junk food, to fatten him up.

“They said we had been negative about eating. That was because they had been telling us we should feed Zak crisps, chocolate and cakes to get calories into him,” said Mrs Hessey.

“I was questioning that approach. We eat proper home-made food at our house and just have chocolate and cakes as a treat.”

Doctors said they wanted to undergo a series of tests over a fortnight and the couple, of Bolsover, near Chesterfield, agreed to have him put under observation.

But in a decision that surprised the couple, a social worker from Derbyshire County Council later said that Zak needed to go into foster care so they could “assess his needs” and determine how he ate.

The couple, who have four other children aged under 10, were told that if they challenged the decision, social services would “go straight to court” where “all your parental rights would be taken away”.

“I was absolutely devastated, I broke down in tears,” said Mrs Hessey.

“I was scared out of my wits.

“They kept saying, ‘if you love Zak and you want the best for him, then you’ll agree to this voluntarily’.”

After he was placed into foster care, they were later able to negotiate, through lawyers, to spend three hours a day with him during the following week, but only in the presence of social workers.

“I thought I was doing the right thing going to the best people for advice when Zak began to lose weight,” Mrs Hessey said.

“Instead they basically accused me of neglecting him and implied it was all my fault.”

Eventually they went to court to try to get Zak back, and after four months, he was allowed to return home after gaining less than a pound in four months.

Social services eventually said they were good and caring parents.

A spokesman for Derbyshire County Council said: “We only take a child into our care either with the consent of the parents or following very careful consideration by a court.”

A spokesman for Chesterfield Royal Hospital added: “While we understand Mr and Mrs Hessey’s distress, Zak’s welfare was paramount and we believe we acted in his best interest.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/6713838/Couples-son-2-taken-into-care-by-social-workers-after-they-refused-to-feed-him-junk-food.html

[Via http://ramanan50.wordpress.com]

Al Tkatch of AHA MEDIA tries a Bourbon Burger from Burger King

In this photo and video, Al Tkatch tries a Bourbon Burger from Burger King

This was filmed by April Smith of AHA MEDIA on a Nokia N77 mobile cameraphone. April is passionate and skilled in making Nokia films by exploring mobile media production through the camera lens of a cellphone. For a better quality version of this video, please DM April Smith Twitter.com/AprilFilms or Facebook.com/AprilFilms

[Via http://ahamedia.ca]

Facebooking from HP? Its not a dream

Beberapa orang, berpikir bahwa untuk bisa aplikasi facebook mereka harus punya gadget yang bernama BLACKBERRY. Tapi ternyata tidak! Kita tidak perlu gadget yang mahal itu untuk facebook’an ria dari hape. Malahan, hape yang harganya 1 jutaanpun bisa melakukan ini semua. Believe it or not, it’s true.

Dari dulu, ada aplikasi walaupun hanya bookmark browser saja. Tapi sekarang, sudah ada yang benar-benar aplikasi facebook untuk hape symbian. Berikut listnya :

1. Snaptu

Snaptu adalah sebuah aplikasi freeware yang didalamnya terdapat aplikasi facebook, twitter, picasa, dan lain-lain. Kelebihannya adalah, program ini ringan dan tidak perlu mendaftar untuk menggunakannya. Untuk mendownloadnya, silahkan klik di sini. Atau bisa juga melalui m.snaptu.com langsung dari hape.

2. Mobile Tribe

Mobile Tribe adalah sebuah aplikasi multi fungsi juga seperti snaptu. Bedanya, dia terfokus pada beberapa aplikasi saja. Kemampuannya terletak pada fungsinya pada Facebook, MySpace, Orkut, Plaxo, Yahoo and Google. Program ini harus daftar terlebih dahulu sebelum menggunakannya. Untuk download silahkan langsung ke sini. Bisa juga dari hape langsung ke m.mobiletribe.net.

3. Mobile Facebook

Nah ini dia, rasanya satu-satunya yang ga perlu pake screenshoot tapi semua orang pasti tahu

ya, mobile facebook ini dapat diakses dari semua hape dengan menuju ke m.facebook.com. Disarankan, browser yang digunakan seperti Opera Mini untuk menghemat transmisi data. Opera mini bisa didownload di sini.

 

Nah, buat kamu facebookers mania, ada sebuah tips yang bisa digunakan. Baru-baru ini, Telkomsel mengadakan Telkomsel Mobile Campus, yaitu fasilitas dari telkomsel yang memungkinkan kita online dengan harga murah. Ga percaya? Silahkan cek harga GPRS’nya di sini. Bagaiman triknya? Berikut caranya :

1. Beli Perdana Simpati (Ingat simpati, bukan kartu As)
2. Aktifin flashnya (ketik flash kirim ke 3636)
3. Daftarkan kampus kamu (ketik KAMPUS (spasi) kode_kampus kirim ke 8888)
4. Daftarkan flash on versi kampus yang 10 ribu. ini yang paling menguntungkan (ketik FC ON 10k kirim ke 3636). harga lain bisa dilihat di website Telkomsel.

Kalo anda jeli, maka tarif per kilo-nya hanya Rp 0.3. Murah? Pasti murah Apalagi kalo anda punya internet unlimited.

[Via http://technomizer.wordpress.com]

Power

The power social networking websites have over today’s people has been brought to my attention! In August this year, 6,439,980 Australians were using Facebook! Isn’t that amazing?

It sure is.

This whole social networking thing is pretty cool. I mean, I love it. Twitter and Facebook and WordPress – it can’t get any better. But I hate the name. Social networking? Puh-LEASE! Everybody “socially networks” in REAL LIFE. In a sense. And the idea that “networking” gives, that we link up to other people via a network, is just disturbing. I, for one, don’t want to be “linked” with anybody. It’s ridiculous. Social networking websites are just for talking to other people. Telephones aren’t called social networks, are they? So why Twitter?

Moving on to more technology ranting, my older brother got his laptop courtesy of the Australian government today. He is in year nine. This is the very first time laptops have been government issued to students. And they have given them to the year nines. The year nines. Pointless.

I mean, yes, maybe I am just jealous, and maybe they shouldn’t give them to us year sevens because some of us can’t be trusted with our own laptops, but really. They should have given them to a grade that really needed them. Like year eleven, or year twelve, maybe. They’d use them for the HSC. Easy. But year nines? They don’t do ANYTHING. In terms of important exams, I mean. Nothing at all. And the government goes ahead and gives them all free laptops. Pointless.

It’s all just too ridiculous!

[Via http://booboomcgoo.wordpress.com]