If you log into Facebook, you'll see that they're opening profile pages to search engines, allowing anyone's profile page to appear in Google search results. I'm sure thousands of high schoolers are crying foul at this moment, worried that the "I fall asleep in AP Bio" group they joined will get them in trouble. But is it really that big a deal? Is it an invasion of privacy? I don't think so, and I want to take a few minutes to outline my position on net privacy.
Ever since I started full-time work, I've realized how much information about you is on the internet. If you haven't Googled yourself, do it right now. And if you have an uncommon name (like myself) you might be surprised with the results. Under my own name, I have a few op-eds I wrote while at Stanford, some forum posts about my time as a high school debater, and for some reason, some non-existent webpages in another college organization I was briefly a part of. But, in the grand scheme of things, this information is not that big of a deal. If you look at the myriad of Yellowpages, or reverse phone lookup websites, you'll find that your address, phone number, and even previous addresses all appear. I did it for my father and I was surprised that data shows our residence in Maryland, Connecticut, and Missouri (all true). The Yellow Pages is a directory that has existed in print form for many years and nobody had a big problem with this. If you did, you could not list your number. You could opt-out.
For some reason, putting information on the internet causes a greater fear. I don't blame critics - with an address on the internet, anyone across the world could find where you live, as opposed to a local Yellow pages where local residents would be able to access that information. But, this is the trade-off we see with the benefit of the internet and search engines like Google. Google, in an effort to provide more and more quality results, can understand that a query for your name, or even a phone number, will return a result that a user, ultimately wants. Yes, it borders on stalking, but we do it for celebrities all the time, why not extend it to our own lives. At the core, this is transaction of valuable information that a user ultimately wants. Sure, it's unsettling at first, especially if something embarrassing comes up. There are appropriate escalations for that, such as removing the content at your own behest. But at the same time, that is the beauty of the internet as well - it is dynamic and ever changing. Back to the main point - I'm a supporter of the greater access of information on the internet. I think it ultimately pushes humans closer together.
The end.
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
In-Flight Messaging: Invasion of Privacy or the Wave of the Future?
Besides offering in-flight movies and TV for its commercial flights, Virgin Airlines is also allowing its passengers to chat with each other. Tech Diary from the WSJ recently did a hands-on investigation of this new service, and the results are nothing short of hilarious.
"11F rocks!" Oh. My. God.
"11F rocks!" Oh. My. God.
OLH -> Skyline -> Page Mill
Wilmot and I rode from Arastradero up Old La Honda, and on Skyline to Page Mill. According to Google maps, the route is 23.4 miles, which took us over 2 hours, since I'm slow as hell on the uphills. Going down Page Mill was exhilarating and a bit scary; at one point I saw that I was going 36mph! I wore my brakes down a whole bunch on that downhill. This is a map of the route.
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Thursday, September 06, 2007
Anonymity and Access to Information
If you log into Facebook, you'll see that they're opening profile pages to search engines, allowing anyone's profile page to appear in Google search results. I'm sure thousands of high schoolers are crying foul at this moment, worried that the "I fall asleep in AP Bio" group they joined will get them in trouble. But is it really that big a deal? Is it an invasion of privacy? I don't think so, and I want to take a few minutes to outline my position on net privacy.
Ever since I started full-time work, I've realized how much information about you is on the internet. If you haven't Googled yourself, do it right now. And if you have an uncommon name (like myself) you might be surprised with the results. Under my own name, I have a few op-eds I wrote while at Stanford, some forum posts about my time as a high school debater, and for some reason, some non-existent webpages in another college organization I was briefly a part of. But, in the grand scheme of things, this information is not that big of a deal. If you look at the myriad of Yellowpages, or reverse phone lookup websites, you'll find that your address, phone number, and even previous addresses all appear. I did it for my father and I was surprised that data shows our residence in Maryland, Connecticut, and Missouri (all true). The Yellow Pages is a directory that has existed in print form for many years and nobody had a big problem with this. If you did, you could not list your number. You could opt-out.
For some reason, putting information on the internet causes a greater fear. I don't blame critics - with an address on the internet, anyone across the world could find where you live, as opposed to a local Yellow pages where local residents would be able to access that information. But, this is the trade-off we see with the benefit of the internet and search engines like Google. Google, in an effort to provide more and more quality results, can understand that a query for your name, or even a phone number, will return a result that a user, ultimately wants. Yes, it borders on stalking, but we do it for celebrities all the time, why not extend it to our own lives. At the core, this is transaction of valuable information that a user ultimately wants. Sure, it's unsettling at first, especially if something embarrassing comes up. There are appropriate escalations for that, such as removing the content at your own behest. But at the same time, that is the beauty of the internet as well - it is dynamic and ever changing. Back to the main point - I'm a supporter of the greater access of information on the internet. I think it ultimately pushes humans closer together.
The end.
Ever since I started full-time work, I've realized how much information about you is on the internet. If you haven't Googled yourself, do it right now. And if you have an uncommon name (like myself) you might be surprised with the results. Under my own name, I have a few op-eds I wrote while at Stanford, some forum posts about my time as a high school debater, and for some reason, some non-existent webpages in another college organization I was briefly a part of. But, in the grand scheme of things, this information is not that big of a deal. If you look at the myriad of Yellowpages, or reverse phone lookup websites, you'll find that your address, phone number, and even previous addresses all appear. I did it for my father and I was surprised that data shows our residence in Maryland, Connecticut, and Missouri (all true). The Yellow Pages is a directory that has existed in print form for many years and nobody had a big problem with this. If you did, you could not list your number. You could opt-out.
For some reason, putting information on the internet causes a greater fear. I don't blame critics - with an address on the internet, anyone across the world could find where you live, as opposed to a local Yellow pages where local residents would be able to access that information. But, this is the trade-off we see with the benefit of the internet and search engines like Google. Google, in an effort to provide more and more quality results, can understand that a query for your name, or even a phone number, will return a result that a user, ultimately wants. Yes, it borders on stalking, but we do it for celebrities all the time, why not extend it to our own lives. At the core, this is transaction of valuable information that a user ultimately wants. Sure, it's unsettling at first, especially if something embarrassing comes up. There are appropriate escalations for that, such as removing the content at your own behest. But at the same time, that is the beauty of the internet as well - it is dynamic and ever changing. Back to the main point - I'm a supporter of the greater access of information on the internet. I think it ultimately pushes humans closer together.
The end.
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
In-Flight Messaging: Invasion of Privacy or the Wave of the Future?
Besides offering in-flight movies and TV for its commercial flights, Virgin Airlines is also allowing its passengers to chat with each other. Tech Diary from the WSJ recently did a hands-on investigation of this new service, and the results are nothing short of hilarious.
"11F rocks!" Oh. My. God.
"11F rocks!" Oh. My. God.
OLH -> Skyline -> Page Mill
Wilmot and I rode from Arastradero up Old La Honda, and on Skyline to Page Mill. According to Google maps, the route is 23.4 miles, which took us over 2 hours, since I'm slow as hell on the uphills. Going down Page Mill was exhilarating and a bit scary; at one point I saw that I was going 36mph! I wore my brakes down a whole bunch on that downhill. This is a map of the route.
View Larger Map
View Larger Map
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
