The Graphic Artists Guild is officially withdrawing its support for the H.R.3261 Stop Online Piracy Act, a.k.a. the first American internet censorship bill. Sure, they were hot for protecting intellectual property, but since SOPA “may do more harm than good,” the Guild has come to its senses… after reading all those emails and tweets “expressing dissent” at them. The Graphic Artists Guild hasn’t donated a cent to SOPA, but here’s who has. You know what to do. Read more »
Since 2008, Facebook has provided detailed access to at least 24 personal profiles to the FBI, DEA and ICE, without the consent and often the notification of the users or their friends, which may not be constitutional. The number of Facebook search warrants granted by judges has already doubled since last year. Read more »
Civilization. Metropolis. Internet? Screened over the weekend at the London International Documentary Festival, the new documentary film Article 12 highlights the downside of human society’s third big move – plugging into the web and surrendering our privacy. No backsies! Read more »
Now fighting for official recognition, Sweden’s new Missionary Church of Kopism “worships” the “sacred” act of copying and sharing information. The religious group of radical pirates demand an end to their persecution by influential “copyright believers.” Yes, it’s real. Read more »
If it wasn’t enough that people tag photos on Facebook 100 million times a day, Big Brothering themselves silly, now there’s a handy-dandy new facial recognition web-trinket. You can’t run. You can’t hide behind a “don’t tag me” t-shirt. Facebook will track your mug down for you, in your friends’ albums. Dislike? You’ll have to disable it in Privacy Settings. Until then, enjoy the improved convenience of overexposing yourself and boring the world.
Nan Goldin made a career of photographing her friends withering from heroin and AIDS, her sister slipping into suicidal depression and the bloody eyes and heart-shaped bruises left by her lovers for the public. Now, the 57-year-old photographer says she is done sharing. Read more »
Frightened by technology, Sir Paul McCartney has succeeded in removing photos of his London mansion from Google Street View. The Sun reports that McCartney, who has “been careful about security” since Mark David Chapman shot bandmate John Lennon to death in 1980, “was unsettled when he heard Google users could get a 360-degree view.” Now, images of his town house, at 7 Cavendish Avenue, St Johns Wood, London, NW8 9JE, have been blacked out along with a significant portion of the block. Read more »
After complaints that their cameras were snooping over fences, Google Street View is being forced to lower their lenses by 16 inches and reshoot 12 cities in Japan. The new privacy mandate came a day after Greece halted the mapping service and weeks after UK media speculation that a woman filed for divorce after catching her husband cheating with Street View images. |New Launches|
A couple in Pittsburg is suing Google for adding images of their private property to the search engine’s ‘Street View’ map database. But the behemoth claims that all is fair game: “Today’s satellite image technology means that even in today’s desert, complete privacy does not exist.” |InformationWeek|
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