Gawker
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twitterati
The Twitterati Get Run Over by a Google Street View Car
No one can escape Google's roving eyes — not even the Twitterati! Pierre Omidyar, Ryan Block, John Byrne, and others used Twitter to rid themselves of whatever scraps of private dignity remained: More » -
the way we were
Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg in Prep School
Where did Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg learn his imperious ways? Before he dropped out of Harvard, our social overlord was schooled in ruling others at Phillips Exeter Academy. Via a fellow Exonian, a leaked pic: More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by gerbilsoutofexile...is cheap and easy: I always pictured the dorms at Harvard to be more butler service/leather club chairs/hardwood floors and less cheap wood furniture/70's... 2 Responses | Other threads
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privacy
Your MySpace Rant Will Go Down on Your Permanent Record
If you write something on the Internet, you can't later claim it was private. That's the surprisingly commonsensical ruling in the case of Cynthia Moreno, a California college student who sued her hometown newspaper. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by badasscat: While I'm totally down with the idea that anything you write in public on the internet is, well, public... is... 7 Responses | Other threads
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geeks gone wild
Steve Jobs's Flack Backstage with the Boss
When Steve Jobs is away, his PR mice will play! A tipster sent us this photo of Apple flack Katie Cotton snuggling up to Bruce Springsteen — apparently at a recent concert in San Jose.
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By Owen ThomasComment by m4ximusprim3: Am I doing it wrong? Because I don't see the boss. or the flack. 6 Responses | Other threads
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google maps
Angry Mob Too Rich For Google Street View
It's not just philandering husbands who fear Google Street View's roving cameras; the residents of a wealthy British village have taken to the streets as well. Literally. More »
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By Ryan TateComment by ellagood: because theives use google to find their targets... 8 Responses | Other threads
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leaks
Mark Zuckerberg's Status Update: Paranoid as Hell
Is Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg hunting leakers? His internal memo about CFO Gideon Yu's departure got forwarded to bloggers. Perhaps he was hoping that would happen, and not just so his spin would get out. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by clipper: Geez, did this guy piss in your cheerios or something? 3 Responses | Other threads
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google maps
Cheating Husband Said Caught Via Google Street View
A woman, checking out a female friend's house on Google Maps, was surprised to see her husband's Range Rover parked out front, complete with blingy hubcaps, reports The Sun. A divorce is underway.
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By Ryan TateComment by twoeightnine: What kind of dumbass parks his unique and easily identifiable car in front of his lover's house? Either he wanted... 12 Responses | Other threads
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crime
Prison Official Sacked Over Facebook Friends Behind Bars
Nathan Singh, a 27-year-old U.K. prison warden, has been fired for making friends with 13 criminals on Facebook. Singh was suspected of smuggling cell phones to his Facebook pals. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by poppedcollar: I like the standard prison uniform in the U.K. Look at them, all dapper and non-threatening looking. Who knew you'd... 1 Responses | Other threads
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real estate
Google's Larry Page Goes on Eco-Friendly Construction Rampage
To build the new, Google must tear down the old. As must its billionaire cofounder Larry Page, whose neighbors believe he's illegally tearing down houses in Palo Alto to make room for a gargantuan eco-mansion. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by QADude: Any house that size isn't eco-friendly, no matter what fancy materials are used. This is just another one of those... 1 Responses | Other threads
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meltdowns
Nouriel Roubini Copters His Way Back Home
Who's the most popular guy in the midst of the worst economic crisis in decades? Why, none other than Nouriel Roubini, New York University's own Dr. Doom. He just got back from a world tour. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by HoneyDiores: The cottage industry in doomsaying is a racket. Doom is a product and a vision that can be as easily... 1 Responses | Other threads
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google
How Google Will Invade Your Privacy While 'Protecting' It
The geniuses at Google, the world's most arrogantly clever ad sellers, have announced plans to target ads to Internet users based on their "interests." You can opt out — but there's a catch. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Skyler David Insler: Google is a scapegoat here. Every advertising network and online media company has similar practices. In fact, from Google's opt-out... 2 Responses | Other threads
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twitter
Mark Zuckerberg Outs Himself on Twitter
Facebook almost bought Twitter for $500 million last year. The deal didn't happen — but the service found a fan in 24-year-old Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. This morning, he revealed himself as "finkd" on Twitter. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Social Crimer: As of this comment-time, Zucky (aka Finkd) has made 16 "updates," two of which use the word "neat." Neat. 2 Responses | Other threads
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twitterati
The Twitterati Watch Bono Wave, Wearing a Snuggie
What, precisely, about Twitter leads people to admit to things like buying a Snuggie or mooching off a multinational media conglomerate? Here's what Caroline Waxler, Sarah Lacy, and others said in the 140-character confessional: More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by jorel845: I wonder who we'll discover on twitter next - Gillian Anderson? I hope it's Gillian Anderson. 1 Responses | Other threads
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great moments in pr
How Mark Zuckerberg TOSsed Facebook Under the Bus
Only lawyers and nerds get excited about debating a website's terms of service. And yet Facebook managed to turn a change in its legalese into a PR nightmare. Here's an anatomy of the debacle. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by FunNaturalFun: Dear World,Anything you post to the internet, in any public forum, on any webpage, is pretty much accessible to anyone,... 7 Responses | Other threads
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google maps
Cheney's Veil Lifted on Vice President's Residence
Hope and change has come to Google Maps. The official residence of the vice president, obscured until Dick Cheney's last days in office and residence, now shines in satellite sunlight. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Aaron Altman: What is that thing in the lower center of the photo? Looks like a croquet mallet about to strike... 8 Responses | Other threads
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blagosphere
Rod Blagojevich Signs Another Document
The question isn't why crazy-corrupt Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was impeached; it's why it took so long. It turns out the guy has a popular touch! A very popular one. And an update! More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by bluebears: you fucking east coast elitists sicken me. this is just how politicians role in the midwest. I mean unless they're... 9 Responses | Other threads
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real estate porn
The House Built on a Ponzi Scheme
Alleged $50 billion swindler Bernie Madoff has been confined to his house between the hours of 9 p.m. and 7 a.m. Ah, but which house?
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By Owen ThomasComment by ClockOnTheStove: Looks like the model home built by the Bluth Company. 4 Responses | Other threads
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Shana Madoff
Hedge-fund fraudster's niece disappears from Facebook
In trouble with the law? First, get a lawyer. Second, delete your Facebook page. Shana Madoff Swanson, couture-loving niece of accused Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff, has followed that script.
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By Owen ThomasComment by OhYesTheyWillForChicoAndTheMan: Hmmm... is Heather Goldman related to Oscar Goldman of the Six Million Dollar Man fame? 1 Responses | Other threads
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your privacy is an illusion
It's official: We no longer trust Google with our privacy. [SFGate]
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your privacy is an illusion
Verizon employees snooped on Obama's cellphone account
It wasn't his BlackBerry, it was a non-smartphone. But Verizon has confirmed that several employees used their access to view President Change's private records for a cellphone account. Verizon's spin is that the account had been inactive for several months, and the phone didn't have email or data capability, so the damage wasn't that bad. I'm hoping for a statement from Sprint: "At least our employees would have snooped the right phone."
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By Paul BoutinComment by Pragmatic: I've worked for Verizon in the past and any customer service rep, usually third party companies contracted by Verizon, have... more » | Other threads
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your privacy is an illusion
Google CEO has no time for your privacy
Is Google becoming the king of the Web? Well, duh — that happened about five years ago, before anyone really noticed. But activist groups, now and again, worry about whether Google knows too much about us. Yesterday, Consumer Watchdog's John Simpson quizzes Google CEO Eric Schmidt about whether his company is doing enough to guard our privacy. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by ShreemayiDexamenus: I don't understand why anyone expects Google to protect your privacy on search. They are not a utility. They are... 1 Responses | Other threads
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your privacy is an illusion
A Facebook cheat sheet for Obama's team
The New York Observer pulled together a crib sheet of Facebook facts from the personal pages of chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and others likely to end up on Obama's team. It's a bit snoozy, since no one admits anything shocking. Current Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who may be reappointed, lists his interests as "espionage, defense policy, national security and Soviet studies." The only surprise on the list is John Kerry, who claims Animal House as a favorite movie.
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By Paul BoutinComment by sample032: If their moment is now, does that mean it's all downhill from here? 1 Responses | Other threads
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software as a disservice
Vista is so secure, no one uses it
Pity the poor Microsoft employees in charge of protecting Windows from third-party apps with security holes. The only code they can fix is Microsoft's. But as John Markoff reports this morning, Microsoft's boldest move to protect Windows Vista users totally backfired: More »
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By Paul BoutinComment by WagCurious: Come on! Every single Android app asks you a dozen security questions before it launches ("Should this app have access... 5 Responses | Other threads
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your privacy is an illusion
Virgin Atlantic fires 13 over Facebook posts
After flight attendants called passengers "chavs" — British slang for rude louts — and criticized the airline's safety practices on Facebook, Virgin Atlantic fired 13 of them. See? Facebook layoffs! [BBC News]
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By Owen ThomasComment by jacob: Airlines seem to be really insecure about their image. But I wouldn't disagree that Chavs ("white trash") tend to travel... 2 Responses | Other threads
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your privacy is an illusion
Zillow chief's home a secret
A flack at Zillow recently tried to interest me in the online real-estate startup's listings of celebrity homes. A fun topic, and one that might distract reporters from talk of the company's finances after a recent layoff. (Zillow is infamous in real-estate circles for its questionably accurate estimates of home prices.) I asked her: What about the celebrity home of Zillow CEO Rich Barton? The answer I got: Zillow only lists celebrity houses which are up for sale. But Barton has been happy to use his personal residence to generate publicity for the site before, blogging about the sale of his previous Seattle home. Why so shy now? More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by sample032: Could a trust protect assets from a tax that Obama might try to get passed? Maybe the Zillow CEO... 1 Responses | Other threads
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caption contest
Elevation's new partners
Even Bono's privacy is an illusion. A picture of the U2 rocker (and venture-capital investor at Silicon Valley's Elevation Partners) with two comely teenagers, Hannah Emerson and Andrea Feick, was leaked to the Daily Mail via Facebook. (The site has notoriously bad security on its online photo albums. Know someone who knows someone who knows someone? You can see their pics, no problem.) We now understand why Wikipedia cofounder Jimmy Wales likes to pal around with Bono; great minds think below the belt. Can you think of a better caption? Leave it in the comments. The best one will become the post's new headline. Friday's winner: kgbeat, who turned Jason Calacanis's two-fingered salute into the answer to the question, "How many rounds of layoffs are planned at Mahalo?" -
your privacy is an illusion
Twitter bug reveals friends-only messages
Be careful what you Twitter — especially if you think the website will keep it secret for you. In 1999, Scott McNealy, then Sun's CEO, said, "You have zero privacy anyway. Get over it." Webheads have been diligently trying to prove him wrong since, with online tools that zealously guard our privacy. And yet they keep proving him right, with senseless coding errors which destroy the very privacy they try to protect. The latest example: Twitter. A Hungarian website, Webisztán, has found a simple exploit for Twitter. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by ValdemarLibolo: Man I just tested that and you're right! Enter a random commonly-used nick and you see everything...(tho not that exciting,... more » | Other threads
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your privacy is an illusion
Wealthy wantrepreneur Sam Lessin shows face in public
Drop.io founder Sam Lessin, the son of Croesus-rich Wall Street investment banker turned venture capitalist Bob Lessin, is obsessed with privacy, the chief selling point of his file-sharing startup. Which is why a video he and 19 of his closest friends filmed themselves cavorting at his father's vacation home in Cyprus ended up splashed all over the Internet. And why, after he'd successfully rendered himself infamous, he turned out at a journalist-infested birthday party thrown for CNET News reporter Caroline McCarthy and Scott Kidder, an employee at Valleywag publisher Gawker Media. Sure, Sam — keep telling everyone how important privacy is. And don't stop walking in front of cameras. He's shown here, at left, with a companion who's much more skilled at keeping his identity secret. (Photo by Random Night Out)
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By Owen ThomasComment by narnio: i liked it when carlson covered the alley. more » | Other threads
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your privacy is an illusion
LinkedIn shuttle throws employees' privacy under the bus
A correction on our previous post about LinkedIn's financial woes: Contrary to our tipster's assertions, plenty of LinkedIn employees use the company-provided shuttle bus from San Francisco to Mountain View. The bus even has its own Twitter account. That account is private — but it links to a public, annotated route map on Google Maps. CEO Dan Nye and marketing VP Patrick Crane, among others, have their home addresses listed. Other employees have left notes, in plain view, about their commuting preferences. "Your privacy is our top concern," LinkedIn's privacy policy states. But if the company is so slapdash about guarding its own employees, can it really be trusted to protect users? Here's an embedded version of the map: More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by QADude: Looks like their twitter has been Valleywagged! It no longer exists. more » | Other threads
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loopt
Michael Arrington offers to be your friend, if you have an iPhone
The folks at Loopt managed to garner a heaping helping of positive publicity from Michael Arrington by releasing a tool allowing readers of Arrington's TechCrunch blog to stalk each other out in the real world. And not only will it help you raise all sorts of privacy concerns among perfect strangers, Arrington himself will tell you where he is in the world at all times. So it shouldn't be hard to find him when he ditches the plebes at the next TechCrunch event for a Scotch-fueled afterparty. (Photo by Andrew Mager)
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By Jackson WestComment by wchan_sea_wat: Great! Now I'll be able to tell Mike everything. 1 Responses | Other threads
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your privacy is an illusion
Uppity German town vows to block Google Street View
"You can see everything in those photos! That is opening house and home to criminals!" says Molfsee town councilman Reinhold Harwart, who plans to block Google Street View trucks by demanding they get local street vendor permits, then denying the permits. Peter Schaar, Germany's Federal Commissioner for Data Protection (can we get one of those?) told the newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung that putting photos of people's houses on the Internet "will not do." Google spokeswoman Kay Oberbeck retorted in yet another German newspaper, "We don't need [no stinking] permits." (Photo by DDP)
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By Paul BoutinComment by Mouser_UK: there probbably a special branch of the german police who's job they are cutting in on ;-) As oposed to T... more » | Other threads
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your privacy is an illusion
National Security Agency spends $2 million on Google
Why did the citizen-spying National Security Agency pay Google $2 million? According to a contractobtained through the Freedom of Information Act and parsed by Blogoscoped, the NSA purchased "four Google search appliances, two-years replacement warranty on all of them, and 100 hours of consulting support." I know, kind of a letdown. But we sincerely hope that won't stop the conspiracy theorists from creating another paranoia-fueled video like the classic we've embedded below. More »
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Comment by gogetemguy: the fact that the NSA bought a GSA validates that... A) google marketing is really good and the GSA team can... more » | Other threads
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your privacy is an illusion
ISPs agree on how to spy on you
Verizon, AT&T and Time Warner Cable executives told Congress yesterday they would not track user behavior online unless given explicit permission, but that they would prefer to police themselves, instead of having to deal with government oversight. Because that would be Orwellian. [Wired]
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Comment by BarrettComfy: These guys have got us by the short and curlies. The broadband service providers realize that they control the... more » | Other threads
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your privacy is an illusion
Valley falls behind Europe in doggie-DNA law enforcement
The city of Vercelli in Italy joined Cologne, Dresden and Tel Aviv this week by adopting a canine DNA test to identify, you know, dog poop. It involves spit-sampling every dog in town to create a DNA database. Owners who don't pick up after their pups will be identified and fined. I'm warning you, folks: This is how it starts. Next thing you know your office manager will be spit-testing everyone to find out who put M&Ms in the espresso maker. It's still not too late to write in Ron Paul for President and stop all this. (Photo by Roofer 1) -
divya narendra
Guy who sued Facebook joins Facebook
Harvard alum Divya Narendra is on Facebook, one of his classmates noticed today. The social network started at that Ivy League school, so his joining it wouldn't be notable — except Narendra started ConnectU, the social network from which Narendra and his cofounders say fellow Harvard man Mark Zuckerberg stole the idea for Facebook. The other two founders are Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, who rowed in the Beijing Olympics and are also very tall. Narendra didn't take advantage of Facebook's excellent privacy features and has his profile exposed to the entire New York network. Narendra has been less vocal than the Winklevosses about ConnectU's continuing fight with Facebook, but according to his Facebook wall, which we've pasted below, Narendra's friends still can't believe he joined the site. Also below: Guess which company Narendra did not include in the "Education and Work" section of his profile:
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Comment by ScalaWag: What a bullshit headline. I first thought he joined Facebook as employee, otherwise big fucking deal. 1 Responses | Other threads
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your privacy is an illusion
1 in 10 colleges checks applicants' online profiles
From a Kaplan survey, 10 percent of admissions officers surveyed at top-tier colleges admit to using social network profiles as an additional tool to evaluate applicants. Within that group, 38 percents say the kids' online profiles negatively affected their chances of getting in. Some of the admissions officers interviewed say that they don't go out of their way to peek into the students' lives online but wouldn't hesitate to Google more information. [Chicago Tribune] (Photo by star5112)
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Comment by Migrant Blogger: Does Dartmouth still require that you do a keg stand before they let you in? more » | Other threads
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your privacy is an illusion
Indian government now knows where all its Blackberry users are
Various agencies in the Indian government — including its intelligence bureau — together have managed to crack Blackberry's encryption to monitor and track the ubiquitous mobile devices. Blackberry users communicating with each other or other devices on most of India's phone networks — though currently not with its state-owned telcos — can be monitored. Research in Motion did not contribute any technical data to the Indian government and has not yet commented. [IT Examiner] (Photo by Editor B)
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Comment by WhiteStar: As heise.de reports, they did NOT break the encryption, just the propritary protocol used for the non-enterprise server solution. more » | Other threads
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hackers
How visiting 4chan busted the alleged Palin hacker
Federal agents searched the apartment of a University of Tennessee student on Sunday they believe might be thehackerscript kiddy who broke into Republican VP nominee Sarah Palin's Yahoo account and then posted its password to the subversive discussion board site 4chan.org. The feds pinpointed the accused's IP address after contacting the proxy service he used in an attempt to disguise his identity. Gabriel Ramuglia, who runs the proxy service, told Portfolio that only one of his users had activity which matched what the feds were looking for: someone who "visited Yahoo Mail, 4chan.org, and the Web addresses that were visible in the posted screenshots." More »
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Comment by ROIpositive: CACajun: "Thanks to a clueless (r) Congress, guessing someone's password and telling people about it is now a crime." Actually...you don't... 3 Responses | Other threads
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your privacy is an illusion
Facebook mining your Wall posts for more marketing data
Popular socialnetworkutility Facebook has updated Lexicon, the tool for marketers and advertisers to monitor what users are saying about topics or products. It now scans the publicly available updates made by users, such as posts to each other's "Walls," and now the new Sentiment feature produces visual displays of related terms — the better to position your brand and spin discontent by buying ads targeted to the very keywords Facebook users are typing into their profiles. More »
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By Jackson WestComment by BobDope: Remember when hippies thought flowers would stop all the wars? In this story, the algorithms represent flowers. more » | Other threads
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4chan
How a b-tard hacked Sarah Palin's Yahoo account
A member of the 4chan online community going by the handle "rubico" has claimed responsibility for hacking into Alaska governor Sarah Palin's Yahoo account. Reports allege Rubico is a college student with a father in the Tennessee state legislature. In his post, Rubico explains that all he had to do was find Palin's birthdate on Wikipedia, her ZIP code using the US Postal Service Web site, and find the answer to a security question — where did Palin meet her husband? — using Google search. 4chan links are not permanent, so we've copied Rubico's account, below. More »
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Comment by giddieup: just more proof that some ppl are just clueless how to protect their online accounts. i wonder if her bank... 1 Responses | Other threads
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Fri Jul 10
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