In the age of oversharing, what don't companies know? Google reads your emails, Facebook promotes ads based on your interests, Amazon predicts what you'll buy, and even newcomer Pinterest knows what you want for your wedding.
It's estimated that American consumers spend 35.3 hours per month online, with one out of every five minutes spent on social networking sites. The rest of that time is presumably split between shopping, researching, reading, watching videos, gaming and more.
Each of these online activities is an opportunity for companies to mine data about you.
For example, after reading this, you may decide to share this article on Facebook and Twitter and search Amazon for books on online privacy. Tomorrow, your Gmail account and Facebook may show ads for online security software, you may receive a paid tweet for anti-spyware services, and Amazon could email recommendations on popular books about the Internet and privacy. It's a general example, but it clues you in on how your actions can ripple out to your entire online experience.
With much of our personal information willingly and publicly shared, companies use this data to give us what they think we want and need. Here at CreditKarma.com, we're firm believers in the safety and privacy of your online information, and wanted to share with you what you should know about online companies while cruising the Internet this very moment.
1) "They know what you're going to buy before you do." Target recently came under fire for exposing a young girl's pregnancy to her father when the retailer predicted her pregnancy based on her recent purchases, and mailed her a catalog for expectant mothers. Target's so-called "pregnancy prediction" score sounds unsavory, but it's not uncommon. Many retailers use complex algorithms to identify shopping patterns and categorize people into certain customer profiles based on purchases, and use that to push more relevant ads to you.
While retailers have always kept records on customer shopping habits, two factors have changed the game: The technology to analyze patterns and predict behavior, and the traceability of online shopping. Sites have tools that give insights into trends and preferences about you as part of a larger consumer demographic. For example, if you're buying cocoa butter lotion and prenatal supplements, retailers like Target may soon send you ads for strollers and cribs.
Online retailers can also drop browser cookies -- markers that identify specific users and track browsing activities -- as consumers shop online. Based on that data, a site can show you ads it predicts will appeal to you even as you're browsing other sites. As you're reading news on Yahoo!, you could see sales from luxury goods website Gilt on the sidebar, as prompted by your splurges there last week.
2) "They know about your financial troubles." Banks and lenders can data-mine social media networks for financial information on consumers, from your financial woes to your recent pay raise. How? Well, you just tweeted about it.
Your public tweets, Facebook statuses and Tumblr posts are fodder for banks, lenders and anyone looking for telltale financial indications about you. Ken Lin, CEO of CreditKarma.com, wrote a Mashable article explaining that banks and lenders could be looking for changes in your financial circumstances, what your friends' financial standing is, and upcoming life changes like a marriage or divorce. It's a prime opportunity to learn about your finances and tailor marketing efforts toward you. For example, tweeting about your latest bankruptcy could trigger an issuer to show advertisements for a secured card; on the other hand, tweeting about your 720 credit score could trigger ads for rewards and travel credit cards.
Not surprisingly though, social media hasn't affected the underwriting process; banks and lenders won't deny you a mortgage if you tweet about your poor credit score. However, it could affect opportunities with future employers, as evident in recently exposed hiring practices in which employers demanded Facebook passwords from their employees.
3) "They'll change the whole website according to you." One of the more beneficial perks of the Internet is the high degree of personalization it yields. Knowing your preferences and habits means sites can also tailor your user experience to your liking. For example, flash deal and deep discount sites like Gilt and Groupon have dozens of variations of their daily email tailored to different profiles of customers.
Here at CreditKarma.com, we take every measure to protect your financial information while we also tailor the website experience based on how you interact with different components of the site. A consumer interested in saving money and a consumer trying to build their credit score are going to have two very different experiences at CreditKarma.com.
The more you shop at online retailers or use websites, the more they "learn" your interests to cater specific deals and coupons you're most likely to be interested in. Even Facebook's privacy settings, as hotly contested as they've been, passively saves your preferred settings as you interact with the site to make it as convenient as possible for you the next time you visit.
"In the end, consumers should be aware that any public information is fair game in this economic environment, and social media may be the newest cautionary landscape," Lin writes.
As our online activity inhabits a gray area where public intersects with private, the onus is ours to protect ourselves.
Remember that all the information we share, no matter how innocuous, can be a marker of your financial, demographic or consumer profile. It shapes your online experiences from what advertisements you'll see, to how a website will be presented to you and, of course, to what your professional and personal peers think of you.
In short, follow an altered version of your mother's advice: If you can't tweet anything nice, don't tweet anything at all.
-Originally posted on Forbes
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
How to Influence People and to Win Facebook Friends
Instead of picketing outside company headquarters, an advocacy group is using Facebook ads to try to influence people whose profiles identify them as employees of Freddie Mac or JPMorgan Chase.
The anti-foreclosure ad campaign, which launches today, asks Freddie and Chase employees to talk to their CEOs about a veteran -- a former Marine -- who's facing eviction in California.
"This is not any sort of attack on the employees there," said Jim Pugh of Rebuild the Dream, which is running the ad campaign. "We're trying to let them know what's happening."
The ad that targets Freddie Mac employees features a small picture of CEO Charles Haldeman's face, and the message, "Freddie Mac did what?? Freddie Mac is evicting a former Marine who's been trying to pay his mortgage. Tell CEO Haldeman to work out a fair deal with him!" according to a copy of the ad provided by Pugh.
The JPMorgan Chase ad is similar, but with a Chase logo instead of an executive's face.
We've contacted Freddie Mac and JP Morgan Chase spokespeople for comment, and also reached out to Freddie Mac and JPMorgan Chase employees on Facebook. If you've seen one of these ads, please let us know.
Targeted online advertising is nothing new. (As anyone who has changed their Facebook status to "engaged" can tell you, a simple update can bring a deluge of new ads.) But political campaigns and advocacy groups are increasingly adopting the same microtargeting tactics that companies use.
Rick Perry's campaign, for instance, targeted faith-focused ads to people in Iowa who listed themselves as Christians on Facebook, and ads featuring his wife to the state's female conservatives, Politico reported.
According to FEC data, Endorse Liberty, a super PAC that supports Ron Paul, has led the way on Facebook expenditures, spending a total of $241,508 through January 2012.
And it's not just Facebook and Google where campaigns and activists are doing microtargeting. The music site Pandora announced last year that it would be selling political ad space targeted to the zip codes of particular listeners, the Wall Street Journal reported.
There's nothing inherently problematic about targeted ads. Campaigns have been using direct mail to target particular voters for decades. Digital targeting can be a cost-effective way of spending advertising dollars, especially for smaller groups, like Rebuild the Dream, which sees the ads as a great way to get more bang for their buck in terms of reaching their intended audience. (The group also launched a special donation drive specifically for the Facebook ad buy.) ProPublica even used Facebook ads to try to find sources for our 2009 series, When Caregivers Harm.
But as the ability to use data to reach particular people grows more sophisticated, targeting risks crossing privacy lines, as demonstrated by a recent New York Times article on how Target knew a teenage customer was pregnant before her father did.
What's clear is that if all this microtargeting translates into electoral gains, the scale and sophistication of these efforts will continue to grow, and the data science that gained traction in 2008 will become a regular part of campaigning. In the meantime, the Obama campaign's already substantial data team continues to hire statistical modeling analysts and analytics engineers.
The increasing ease and flexibility of online targeting also raises new questions about how politicians are presenting themselves to different audiences, how much campaigns need to tell their supporters about the personal information they collect -- and what will happen to the massive databases of voter information collected during the 2012 presidential campaign. Will they be sold? Passed on to other politicians?
Rebuild the Dream, which focuses on economic issues, was launched by MoveOn.org in 2011, but has been independent since January, Pugh said. The group's president is former Obama green jobs adviser Van Jones.
Pugh worked on the Obama campaign's digital analytics team in 2008 while also trying to finish a Ph.D. dissertation in robotics, and later did similar work for the Democratic National Committee. He said he was not sure what kind of reaction the ads would receive.
"I would imagine that people are fairly used to targeted ads at this point," he said. But while people who work in politics and advocacy may be used to receiving Facebook ads targeting specific causes, "It's hard to know in advance how unusual it will seem to the employees of Freddie Mac and JP Morgan Chase."
The anti-foreclosure ad campaign, which launches today, asks Freddie and Chase employees to talk to their CEOs about a veteran -- a former Marine -- who's facing eviction in California.
"This is not any sort of attack on the employees there," said Jim Pugh of Rebuild the Dream, which is running the ad campaign. "We're trying to let them know what's happening."
The ad that targets Freddie Mac employees features a small picture of CEO Charles Haldeman's face, and the message, "Freddie Mac did what?? Freddie Mac is evicting a former Marine who's been trying to pay his mortgage. Tell CEO Haldeman to work out a fair deal with him!" according to a copy of the ad provided by Pugh.
The JPMorgan Chase ad is similar, but with a Chase logo instead of an executive's face.
We've contacted Freddie Mac and JP Morgan Chase spokespeople for comment, and also reached out to Freddie Mac and JPMorgan Chase employees on Facebook. If you've seen one of these ads, please let us know.
Targeted online advertising is nothing new. (As anyone who has changed their Facebook status to "engaged" can tell you, a simple update can bring a deluge of new ads.) But political campaigns and advocacy groups are increasingly adopting the same microtargeting tactics that companies use.
Rick Perry's campaign, for instance, targeted faith-focused ads to people in Iowa who listed themselves as Christians on Facebook, and ads featuring his wife to the state's female conservatives, Politico reported.
According to FEC data, Endorse Liberty, a super PAC that supports Ron Paul, has led the way on Facebook expenditures, spending a total of $241,508 through January 2012.
And it's not just Facebook and Google where campaigns and activists are doing microtargeting. The music site Pandora announced last year that it would be selling political ad space targeted to the zip codes of particular listeners, the Wall Street Journal reported.
There's nothing inherently problematic about targeted ads. Campaigns have been using direct mail to target particular voters for decades. Digital targeting can be a cost-effective way of spending advertising dollars, especially for smaller groups, like Rebuild the Dream, which sees the ads as a great way to get more bang for their buck in terms of reaching their intended audience. (The group also launched a special donation drive specifically for the Facebook ad buy.) ProPublica even used Facebook ads to try to find sources for our 2009 series, When Caregivers Harm.
But as the ability to use data to reach particular people grows more sophisticated, targeting risks crossing privacy lines, as demonstrated by a recent New York Times article on how Target knew a teenage customer was pregnant before her father did.
What's clear is that if all this microtargeting translates into electoral gains, the scale and sophistication of these efforts will continue to grow, and the data science that gained traction in 2008 will become a regular part of campaigning. In the meantime, the Obama campaign's already substantial data team continues to hire statistical modeling analysts and analytics engineers.
The increasing ease and flexibility of online targeting also raises new questions about how politicians are presenting themselves to different audiences, how much campaigns need to tell their supporters about the personal information they collect -- and what will happen to the massive databases of voter information collected during the 2012 presidential campaign. Will they be sold? Passed on to other politicians?
Rebuild the Dream, which focuses on economic issues, was launched by MoveOn.org in 2011, but has been independent since January, Pugh said. The group's president is former Obama green jobs adviser Van Jones.
Pugh worked on the Obama campaign's digital analytics team in 2008 while also trying to finish a Ph.D. dissertation in robotics, and later did similar work for the Democratic National Committee. He said he was not sure what kind of reaction the ads would receive.
"I would imagine that people are fairly used to targeted ads at this point," he said. But while people who work in politics and advocacy may be used to receiving Facebook ads targeting specific causes, "It's hard to know in advance how unusual it will seem to the employees of Freddie Mac and JP Morgan Chase."
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Pinterest Now Ranks 3rd on Social Networks
That didn’t take long: Pinterest is now comfortably in third place in terms of traffic for social networks, trailing Facebook and Twitter.
Experian said Pinterest saw its traffic jump 50 percent in February compared with January, vaulting it past more entrenched social networks such as LinkedIn, Tumblr, and Google Plus.
Facebook not only held onto the top spot, but retained dominance in average minutes per month, clocking 405, compared with 89 for Pinterest, according to comScore.
Perhaps helping Pinterest’s leapfrogging over Google Plus to take the number three spot is connecting to Facebook. The search giant remains frozen out of that due to AdSense not yet complying with Facebook’s advertising rules, among other issues.
Pinterest seems to be gaining many users from virality on Facebook, where users see news feed stories about their friends activating accounts on the pinning site. But so far the demographics are still skewed on the number three site, according to our sibling blog Social Times, which said:
The image bookmarking site has grown exponentially since the site launched in March 2010. There were 21.5 million total visits to the site during the week ending January 28, 2012, which is nearly 30 times the number of total visits that Pinterest had received six months earlier. From January 2012 to February 2012, traffic went up 50 percent.
The crowd is 60 percent female (which is a different number than we’ve reported previously) and 55 percent of them are between the ages of 25 and 44. California and Texas provide the most traffic, but Pinterest has more visitors from the midwest, northwest, and southeast than sites like Facebook and YouTube.
Home decor, fashion, and food are all popular categories on the site, but “hobbies and crafts” in particular is the category to watch. Pinterest users outnumbered visitors to other hobbies and crafts sites in 19 states. The baby boom and boomerang generations were most likely to spend time in this category, with Pinterest capturing 10 percent of this audience.
Experian’s analysts say that social media communities are becoming less about friendships and more about common interests: a new facet of the overall movement toward social personalization.
Pinterest hits both targets with a Facebook integration as well as an open community where users can explore and share images with people outside their networks.
While Pinterest and Facebook work together as partners rather than rivals, the number one social network has duly noted the popularity of pinning, adding it to timeline pages. Right now, you can only pin one thing at a time to a page, and the capability doesn’t yet extend to profiles as a native feature.
However, a third-party application called Friendsheet transforms Facebook profiles into a Pinterest-like interface. We wonder whether the recent liking of this app by Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg signaled the beginnings of talks toward a possible acquisition of the startup.
Experian said Pinterest saw its traffic jump 50 percent in February compared with January, vaulting it past more entrenched social networks such as LinkedIn, Tumblr, and Google Plus.
Facebook not only held onto the top spot, but retained dominance in average minutes per month, clocking 405, compared with 89 for Pinterest, according to comScore.
Perhaps helping Pinterest’s leapfrogging over Google Plus to take the number three spot is connecting to Facebook. The search giant remains frozen out of that due to AdSense not yet complying with Facebook’s advertising rules, among other issues.
Pinterest seems to be gaining many users from virality on Facebook, where users see news feed stories about their friends activating accounts on the pinning site. But so far the demographics are still skewed on the number three site, according to our sibling blog Social Times, which said:
The image bookmarking site has grown exponentially since the site launched in March 2010. There were 21.5 million total visits to the site during the week ending January 28, 2012, which is nearly 30 times the number of total visits that Pinterest had received six months earlier. From January 2012 to February 2012, traffic went up 50 percent.
The crowd is 60 percent female (which is a different number than we’ve reported previously) and 55 percent of them are between the ages of 25 and 44. California and Texas provide the most traffic, but Pinterest has more visitors from the midwest, northwest, and southeast than sites like Facebook and YouTube.
Home decor, fashion, and food are all popular categories on the site, but “hobbies and crafts” in particular is the category to watch. Pinterest users outnumbered visitors to other hobbies and crafts sites in 19 states. The baby boom and boomerang generations were most likely to spend time in this category, with Pinterest capturing 10 percent of this audience.
Experian’s analysts say that social media communities are becoming less about friendships and more about common interests: a new facet of the overall movement toward social personalization.
Pinterest hits both targets with a Facebook integration as well as an open community where users can explore and share images with people outside their networks.
While Pinterest and Facebook work together as partners rather than rivals, the number one social network has duly noted the popularity of pinning, adding it to timeline pages. Right now, you can only pin one thing at a time to a page, and the capability doesn’t yet extend to profiles as a native feature.
However, a third-party application called Friendsheet transforms Facebook profiles into a Pinterest-like interface. We wonder whether the recent liking of this app by Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg signaled the beginnings of talks toward a possible acquisition of the startup.
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Party up, Pinterest users.
Your beloved social image-bookmarking site has just reached (another) all-time high.
According to marketing service Experian, which recently released its 2012 Digital Marketer: Benchmark and Trend Report, Pinterest is now the third most popular social network on the web, behind Facebook and Twitter.
According to VentureBeat, just five months ago, in November 2011, Pinterest had occupied the number seven spot on Experian's list of top visited social networking sites, trailing behind Facebook, Twitter, Tagged, LinkedIn, MySpace, and myYearbook.
But since then, the site's been hitting huge milestones at a fast clip. Earlier this year, TechCrunch reported that the site hit 10 million monthly unique U.S. visitors faster than any other site in the history of the web. And Pinterest kept growing. About a month later, its traffic rose 52 percent, from 11.7 million unique visitors in January to 17.8 million in February.
Looking at Pinterest's growth over a longer period is even more mind-blowing: Experian pointed out that the nearly 21.5 millon visits the site received during the week ending January 28, 2012, was nearly 30 times the amount it received just six months earlier, during the week ending July 30, 2011.
Are you surprised by how quickly Pinterest has grown? Let us know in the comments! But before you do, make sure you flip through the slideshow (below) to check out 27 gorgeous Pinboards you need to follow. Then, visit our slideshow of tools that will turn you into a Pinterest pro! If Pinterest isn't your cup of tea, we've also got a roundup of 11 Pinterest-like sites that might cater to your specific interests.
According to marketing service Experian, which recently released its 2012 Digital Marketer: Benchmark and Trend Report, Pinterest is now the third most popular social network on the web, behind Facebook and Twitter.
According to VentureBeat, just five months ago, in November 2011, Pinterest had occupied the number seven spot on Experian's list of top visited social networking sites, trailing behind Facebook, Twitter, Tagged, LinkedIn, MySpace, and myYearbook.
But since then, the site's been hitting huge milestones at a fast clip. Earlier this year, TechCrunch reported that the site hit 10 million monthly unique U.S. visitors faster than any other site in the history of the web. And Pinterest kept growing. About a month later, its traffic rose 52 percent, from 11.7 million unique visitors in January to 17.8 million in February.
Looking at Pinterest's growth over a longer period is even more mind-blowing: Experian pointed out that the nearly 21.5 millon visits the site received during the week ending January 28, 2012, was nearly 30 times the amount it received just six months earlier, during the week ending July 30, 2011.
Are you surprised by how quickly Pinterest has grown? Let us know in the comments! But before you do, make sure you flip through the slideshow (below) to check out 27 gorgeous Pinboards you need to follow. Then, visit our slideshow of tools that will turn you into a Pinterest pro! If Pinterest isn't your cup of tea, we've also got a roundup of 11 Pinterest-like sites that might cater to your specific interests.
Friday, April 13, 2012
Marine Who Criticized Obama On Facebook Recommended To Be Dismissed By The Board
Marine Corps officials are seeking additional guidance from the Pentagon regarding service members' use of social media amid discharge proceedings against a Camp Pendleton sergeant who criticized President Barack Obama on Facebook.
Joe Kasper, spokesman for Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., said Friday that Hunter's office was notified of the plans in a letter from a Marine Corps major general.
Hunter had urged authorities to withdraw discharge proceedings against Sgt. Gary Stein because he said the Pentagon's policy limiting service members' free is ambiguous about the use of social media.
A Marine Corps administrative board concluded after a daylong hearing Thursday at Camp Pendleton that Stein violated the policy when he posted anti-Obama comments and images on Facebook, including allegedly putting the president's face on a "Jackass" movie poster.
The board recommended that Stein be given an other-than-honorable discharge. That would mean Stein would lose his benefits and would not be allowed on any military base.
The board's recommendations go to a general who will either accept or deny them. If the general disagrees with the board, the case could go to the secretary of the Navy.
Stein's lawyers and Hunter and argued that the Pentagon policy is vague and military officials do not understand it.
Stein has said his opinions are his own and he put a disclaimer on his Facebook page saying so. His attorneys argued that service members have a right to voice their opinions as long as they do not appear to be presenting their views as being endorsed by the military.
"If there is anything good to come out of this, it's the fact that the Marines realize the guidelines need to be updated," Kasper said Friday. "It's just too bad it took all of this to get there."
The Marine Corps has said it decided to take administrative action after Stein declared on Facebook that he would not follow orders from Obama. Stein later clarified that statement saying he would not follow unlawful orders.
The military has had a policy since the Civil War limiting the free speech of service members, including criticism of the commander in chief.
Pentagon directives say military personnel in uniform cannot sponsor a political club; participate in any TV or radio program or group discussion that advocates for or against a political party, candidate or cause; or speak at any event promoting a political movement.
Hunter told Marine Corps officials in his letter supporting Stein that the policy "is both vague and contradicting in the context of new `social media.' In fact, nothing in the directive actually mentions social media and what activity is or is not approved for active duty service members."
He said the policy needs to be updated to reflect "the changing dynamics of social communication" that includes a forum for the interaction between friends, families and acquaintances.
During Stein's hearing, the prosecutor, Capt. John Torresala, said Stein ignored warnings from his superiors about his postings.
The government submitted screen grabs of Stein's postings on one Facebook page he created called Armed Forces Tea Party, which the prosecutor said included the image of Obama on the "Jackass" movie poster. Stein also superimposed Obama's image on a poster for "The Incredibles" movie that he changed to "The Horribles," the prosecutor said.
Torresala also said anti-Obama comments by Stein that were posted on a Facebook page used by Marine meteorologists were prejudicial to good order and discipline, and could have influenced junior Marines.
Stein's lawyers argued that the nine-year Marine, whose service was to end in four months, was exercising his First Amendment rights.
"We're truly surprised and disappointed but it was an honor to fight for a hero like Sgt. Stein and every other Marine's right to speak freely," Stein's defense attorney, Marine Capt. James Baehr, said after the hearing that ended close to midnight Thursday.
Stein told board members he loved the Marine Corps and wanted to re-enlist, Baehr said.
Stein said his statement about Obama was part of an online debate about NATO allowing U.S. troops to be tried for the Quran burnings in Afghanistan.
In that context, he said, he was stating that he would not follow orders from the president if it involved detaining U.S. citizens, disarming them or doing anything else that he believes would violate their constitutional rights.
Stein said he was removed from his job at the Marine Corps Recruiting Depot in San Diego last month and given a desk job with no access to computers.
Joe Kasper, spokesman for Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., said Friday that Hunter's office was notified of the plans in a letter from a Marine Corps major general.
Hunter had urged authorities to withdraw discharge proceedings against Sgt. Gary Stein because he said the Pentagon's policy limiting service members' free is ambiguous about the use of social media.
A Marine Corps administrative board concluded after a daylong hearing Thursday at Camp Pendleton that Stein violated the policy when he posted anti-Obama comments and images on Facebook, including allegedly putting the president's face on a "Jackass" movie poster.
The board recommended that Stein be given an other-than-honorable discharge. That would mean Stein would lose his benefits and would not be allowed on any military base.
The board's recommendations go to a general who will either accept or deny them. If the general disagrees with the board, the case could go to the secretary of the Navy.
Stein's lawyers and Hunter and argued that the Pentagon policy is vague and military officials do not understand it.
Stein has said his opinions are his own and he put a disclaimer on his Facebook page saying so. His attorneys argued that service members have a right to voice their opinions as long as they do not appear to be presenting their views as being endorsed by the military.
"If there is anything good to come out of this, it's the fact that the Marines realize the guidelines need to be updated," Kasper said Friday. "It's just too bad it took all of this to get there."
The Marine Corps has said it decided to take administrative action after Stein declared on Facebook that he would not follow orders from Obama. Stein later clarified that statement saying he would not follow unlawful orders.
The military has had a policy since the Civil War limiting the free speech of service members, including criticism of the commander in chief.
Pentagon directives say military personnel in uniform cannot sponsor a political club; participate in any TV or radio program or group discussion that advocates for or against a political party, candidate or cause; or speak at any event promoting a political movement.
Hunter told Marine Corps officials in his letter supporting Stein that the policy "is both vague and contradicting in the context of new `social media.' In fact, nothing in the directive actually mentions social media and what activity is or is not approved for active duty service members."
He said the policy needs to be updated to reflect "the changing dynamics of social communication" that includes a forum for the interaction between friends, families and acquaintances.
During Stein's hearing, the prosecutor, Capt. John Torresala, said Stein ignored warnings from his superiors about his postings.
The government submitted screen grabs of Stein's postings on one Facebook page he created called Armed Forces Tea Party, which the prosecutor said included the image of Obama on the "Jackass" movie poster. Stein also superimposed Obama's image on a poster for "The Incredibles" movie that he changed to "The Horribles," the prosecutor said.
Torresala also said anti-Obama comments by Stein that were posted on a Facebook page used by Marine meteorologists were prejudicial to good order and discipline, and could have influenced junior Marines.
Stein's lawyers argued that the nine-year Marine, whose service was to end in four months, was exercising his First Amendment rights.
"We're truly surprised and disappointed but it was an honor to fight for a hero like Sgt. Stein and every other Marine's right to speak freely," Stein's defense attorney, Marine Capt. James Baehr, said after the hearing that ended close to midnight Thursday.
Stein told board members he loved the Marine Corps and wanted to re-enlist, Baehr said.
Stein said his statement about Obama was part of an online debate about NATO allowing U.S. troops to be tried for the Quran burnings in Afghanistan.
In that context, he said, he was stating that he would not follow orders from the president if it involved detaining U.S. citizens, disarming them or doing anything else that he believes would violate their constitutional rights.
Stein said he was removed from his job at the Marine Corps Recruiting Depot in San Diego last month and given a desk job with no access to computers.
iOS, Android Affected By Facebook Security Hole
A security hole affects more mobile devices than previously reported, enabling theft of identity and other data from Facebook profiles.
Facebook had claimed that this security hole only affected devices that had their operating systems modified, or jailbroken. That assertion is false, as the vulnerability includes all Android and Apple gizmos.
The security hole was initially discovered by security researcher Gareth Wright, who used iExplorer, a free application that allows users to browse files on their iPhones or iPads as if they were storage devices.
He discovered a plain text Facebook access token — an encapsulation of a user’s identity and personal information — in Omgpop’s Draw Something mobile game.
After copying the access token and testing it with Facebook Query Language, he was able to access “pretty much any information” from his Facebook account.
He then accessed the directory for the Facebook app with iExplorer and accessed the com.Facebook.plist file, finding his login information in plain text. Wright sent the plist file to a local blogger he is friendly with, and the blogger was able to access his Facebook account and perform activities such as posting to his wall, liking pages, sending private messages, adding apps, and sending pictures via Draw Something.
Wright installed the plist file on four other devices and the results were the same, so he contacted Facebook, which initially responded that the problem had already been reported and was being worked on.
He then tested the plist issue with several devices that would typically be used to illegally obtain user information, and Wright was able to collect more than 1,000 plist files in one week (he did not copy any of the data).
Facebook issued a long statement, blaming devices that were jailbroken, or modified, for the security hole:
Facebook’s iOS and Android applications are only intended for use with the manufacturer-provided operating system, and access tokens are only vulnerable if they have modified their mobile OS (i.e. jailbroken iOS or modded Android), or have granted a malicious actor access to the physical device.
We develop and test our application on an unmodified version of mobile operating systems and rely on the native protections as a foundation for development, deployment, and security, all of which is compromised on a jailbroken device. As Apple states, “Unauthorized modification of iOS could allow hackers to steal personal information … or introduce malware or viruses.”
To protect themselves, we recommend that all users abstain from modifying their mobile OS to prevent any application instability or security issues.
End of story? Not quite. Wright and The Next Web were both able to duplicate the security hole on devices that were not jailbroken or modified.
Wright posted:
I feel I should reiterate Facebook is playing this down and that’s fine, but saying it only affects stolen and jailbroken phones is not.
The biggest risk is from malware and viruses designed to slurp data from devices plugged into PCs, so despite what any other articles say, jailbroken or not, you are vulnerable.
When tested, this worked on locked, pass-coded, unmodified iOS devices.
The Next Web also shared its experiences:
As a matter of fact, we have duplicated the Facebook hack here at TNW labs (using our own devices) and it works perfectly well without a jailbreak.
If you read the Facebook statement carefully, however, it does cover its bases when it states that you are vulnerable if you have “granted a malicious actor access to the physical device.” That is absolutely true — your device would need to be accessed physically somehow, but it doesn’t mean that it would need to be stolen or that another person would even need to touch it.
Facebook had claimed that this security hole only affected devices that had their operating systems modified, or jailbroken. That assertion is false, as the vulnerability includes all Android and Apple gizmos.
The security hole was initially discovered by security researcher Gareth Wright, who used iExplorer, a free application that allows users to browse files on their iPhones or iPads as if they were storage devices.
He discovered a plain text Facebook access token — an encapsulation of a user’s identity and personal information — in Omgpop’s Draw Something mobile game.
After copying the access token and testing it with Facebook Query Language, he was able to access “pretty much any information” from his Facebook account.
He then accessed the directory for the Facebook app with iExplorer and accessed the com.Facebook.plist file, finding his login information in plain text. Wright sent the plist file to a local blogger he is friendly with, and the blogger was able to access his Facebook account and perform activities such as posting to his wall, liking pages, sending private messages, adding apps, and sending pictures via Draw Something.
Wright installed the plist file on four other devices and the results were the same, so he contacted Facebook, which initially responded that the problem had already been reported and was being worked on.
He then tested the plist issue with several devices that would typically be used to illegally obtain user information, and Wright was able to collect more than 1,000 plist files in one week (he did not copy any of the data).
Facebook issued a long statement, blaming devices that were jailbroken, or modified, for the security hole:
Facebook’s iOS and Android applications are only intended for use with the manufacturer-provided operating system, and access tokens are only vulnerable if they have modified their mobile OS (i.e. jailbroken iOS or modded Android), or have granted a malicious actor access to the physical device.
We develop and test our application on an unmodified version of mobile operating systems and rely on the native protections as a foundation for development, deployment, and security, all of which is compromised on a jailbroken device. As Apple states, “Unauthorized modification of iOS could allow hackers to steal personal information … or introduce malware or viruses.”
To protect themselves, we recommend that all users abstain from modifying their mobile OS to prevent any application instability or security issues.
End of story? Not quite. Wright and The Next Web were both able to duplicate the security hole on devices that were not jailbroken or modified.
Wright posted:
I feel I should reiterate Facebook is playing this down and that’s fine, but saying it only affects stolen and jailbroken phones is not.
The biggest risk is from malware and viruses designed to slurp data from devices plugged into PCs, so despite what any other articles say, jailbroken or not, you are vulnerable.
When tested, this worked on locked, pass-coded, unmodified iOS devices.
The Next Web also shared its experiences:
As a matter of fact, we have duplicated the Facebook hack here at TNW labs (using our own devices) and it works perfectly well without a jailbreak.
If you read the Facebook statement carefully, however, it does cover its bases when it states that you are vulnerable if you have “granted a malicious actor access to the physical device.” That is absolutely true — your device would need to be accessed physically somehow, but it doesn’t mean that it would need to be stolen or that another person would even need to touch it.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Facebook Is Stressful For Step-Parents
Did you know that there is no delineation for a stepparent on Facebook? When you fill out your profile, your parental choices are only "mother" and father." No "stepmother". No "stepfather". There are no "stepchild" choices, either. Only "daughter" or "son". Pleasantly, there is a space in the virtual universe where a stepparent is not estranged or considered a third wheel -- we are full-fledged members of our virtual families.
Facebook forces the universal question faced by all stepfamilies. How do you define your family? Our profiles are force us to answer tough questions. We are offered three life choices:
1. Step kids can choose the "Mother" or "Father" button.
As often happens in a divorced family, the children are forced to make the toughest decisions. Facebook presents a similar conundrum. Do you list your stepparent as a mother or father? Does this listing denounce your loyalty to your biological parent? What a terrible position to be faced with on Facebook!
The children that choose to click on the "mother" or "father" buttons are brave souls. They are teaching us a universal lesson -- love is infinite. There is plenty to go around. Love does not understand the concept of competition because it is abundant. Loving one person does not mean that you do not love another. As is often the case, these kids may be teaching their parents a lesson.
2. They can also ignore their stepparents.
The easy decision is to ignore your stepparents by not including them in your Facebook profile and pretending they do not exist. Many stepparents will tell you that they feel as if they are invisible, and exclusion from your children's profile is painful. It hurts. Once again, it is tough to ask your children to choose between their parents. A child's loyalty to their biological parents is completely normal. The lesson is for the stepparent to rise above the profile. Our main job is to offer compassion, devoid of ego or competitiveness. It is a great lesson that we teach our children through our dignity and silence.
3. Stepparents can select the "Son or Daughter" button.
Does the stepparent click on the "son or daughter" button on their profiles? Fears abound. You do not want to anger the biological parent. Yet, you do not want to ignore your stepchildren. For those that accept the challenge and click on those buttons, it is a message to the world that you love your children and consider them your full-fledged family. No exceptions. No explanations.
There is a lesson here for the biological parents. If you feel anger when you see these profiles, understand that you are giving in to your ego that loves to create fantastical fears. Do you have a limit to the number of people that can love your children? Can only certain people love your children? Maybe more love is a good thing. Perhaps anyone that wants to love your children is welcome.
Remember that Facebook profiles can always be changed. Where your family is now does not dictate where they may be a year from now. It is one of the beautiful things about Facebook and life.
Facebook forces the universal question faced by all stepfamilies. How do you define your family? Our profiles are force us to answer tough questions. We are offered three life choices:
1. Step kids can choose the "Mother" or "Father" button.
As often happens in a divorced family, the children are forced to make the toughest decisions. Facebook presents a similar conundrum. Do you list your stepparent as a mother or father? Does this listing denounce your loyalty to your biological parent? What a terrible position to be faced with on Facebook!
The children that choose to click on the "mother" or "father" buttons are brave souls. They are teaching us a universal lesson -- love is infinite. There is plenty to go around. Love does not understand the concept of competition because it is abundant. Loving one person does not mean that you do not love another. As is often the case, these kids may be teaching their parents a lesson.
2. They can also ignore their stepparents.
The easy decision is to ignore your stepparents by not including them in your Facebook profile and pretending they do not exist. Many stepparents will tell you that they feel as if they are invisible, and exclusion from your children's profile is painful. It hurts. Once again, it is tough to ask your children to choose between their parents. A child's loyalty to their biological parents is completely normal. The lesson is for the stepparent to rise above the profile. Our main job is to offer compassion, devoid of ego or competitiveness. It is a great lesson that we teach our children through our dignity and silence.
3. Stepparents can select the "Son or Daughter" button.
Does the stepparent click on the "son or daughter" button on their profiles? Fears abound. You do not want to anger the biological parent. Yet, you do not want to ignore your stepchildren. For those that accept the challenge and click on those buttons, it is a message to the world that you love your children and consider them your full-fledged family. No exceptions. No explanations.
There is a lesson here for the biological parents. If you feel anger when you see these profiles, understand that you are giving in to your ego that loves to create fantastical fears. Do you have a limit to the number of people that can love your children? Can only certain people love your children? Maybe more love is a good thing. Perhaps anyone that wants to love your children is welcome.
Remember that Facebook profiles can always be changed. Where your family is now does not dictate where they may be a year from now. It is one of the beautiful things about Facebook and life.
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