Facebook enabling IPv6 on beta site next month

Article source: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/facebook/facebook-enabling-ipv6-on-beta-site-next-month/12014

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Facebook clarifies changes to its privacy policy

“Some of our users and a number of journalists mistook the proposed update to our SRR for changes to the way we collect or use data,” Facebook said in a post on the site. “Our Data Use Policy (which used to be called our privacy policy) governs how we collect and use data. We are not proposing any updates to that document at this time.”

Little has slowed Facebook’s ascent to the top of the social-media world. What began as a dorm-room project for Mark Zuckerberg and his Harvard classmates grew into a phenomenon that has amassed more than 800 million active users.

But if Facebook has had an Achilles heel, it’s been concerns about how user data is used.

Because it’s a free service, Facebook depends on targeted advertising and a cut of the micro-payments users make in games and other apps running on the site. Users’ activity on the site is used to paint a picture of them, and shared by Facebook to help those advertisers pick their targets.

Web privacy advocates, including some government officials in the United States and elsewhere, have repeatedly expressed unease with the sheer amount of data Facebook possesses about its users and how that data may be used.

It’s obvious that the company wants to tamp down user concerns about that in advance of its arrival on Wall Street. In its filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the word “privacy” was used 35 times.

That document, which is required for companies filing to go public, was obviously largely positive about Facebook’s upside. But when required to acknowledge potential downsides, Facebook wrote that if users ever widely became concerned about their privacy and use of their data, they could lose some of them.

Facebook writes that it must avoid adopting “policies or procedures related to areas such as sharing or user data that are perceived negatively by our users or the general public.”

CNNMoney: Facebook strips ‘privacy’ from new ‘data use’ policy explainer

In a set of bulleted posts Friday, Facebook outlined the tweaks it has made in response to user feedback and explained items it says raised concerns.

– In a change first noted last month, the document now uses the term “Data Use Policy” instead of “Privacy Policy.” Facebook says this reflects a change that was made last year because they “believe the name is more descriptive of the information the document provides.”

– Language that said “you or other that can see your content and information” was removed for a different definition of how and when apps can access data about your friends. It adds links to more information and how users can control that.

– Facebook also clarified language saying that people should not “tag users if you know they do not wish to be tagged” in photos. That passage doesn’t change how tagging works, but is merely meant to be a guideline, the company said.

– The changes remove a line saying that Facebook reserves the right to deny or limit access to users outside the United States. The site says that line was unclear and meant to reflect places where services are legally unavailable, or places where Facebook is banned.

The document also included a not-so-subtle swipe at one of Facebook’s chief competitors.

“Unlike other Internet companies, we propose updates to our SRR and give our users an opportunity to comment before they go into effect,” Friday’s announcement said.” Your insights and perspectives are really valuable to us, enabling us to respond to your questions and make substantive changes to address your concerns before changes are implemented.”

Earlier this year, Google (which has launched social platform Google+ as a Facebook rival) rolled out significant changes to its privacy policy. While Google went out of its way to publicize the changes to users, feedback was not as aggressively sought and did not appear, at least publicly, to lead to any major changes.

Facebook users can comment on the latest round of proposed changes until April 27, the post said.

Article source: http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/20/tech/social-media/facebook-privacy-policy/index.html

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Extole Selected as Facebook Preferred Marketing Developer (PMD) Based on …

        Traeger Communications
        Jennefer Traeger, 720-988-6149
        jtraeger@traegercommunications.com

Article source: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/extole-selected-as-facebook-preferred-marketing-developer-pmd-based-on-proven-ability-to-build-facebook-apps-2012-04-20

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Perez Snagged by Baseball’s Twitter Policy

Elaine Thompson/Associated PressIndians pitcher Chris Perez believes in expressing himself freely.

Indians pitcher Chris Perez keeps his Twitter page very active, posting about music and baseball and carrying on conversations with fans. And just because one of his posts ran afoul of Major League Baseball’s Twitter policies and he was fined $750, Perez says he won’t stop sharing his thoughts that way.

According to The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Perez got a letter from baseball’s new discipline guru, Joe Garagiola Jr., on Wednesday informing him of the fine, saying one of his posts “demonstrated a reckless disregard for the players on both clubs.”

Perez’s sin was this post, following a game against the Royals that featured a pair of hit batsmen and three ejections:

Huge team win tonight; time for a sweep to tell the Royals it’s not “Our Time”, it’s #TribeTime. P.S.You hit us, we hit you. Period.

— Chris Perez (@ChrisPerez54) April 15, 2012

Perez said he disagreed with the Garagiola’s objections.

“To me that would be saying to the Royals, ‘Look out, I’m coming for you. And then hitting somebody. Inciting it,’” Perez told The Plain Dealer. “Looking back, nothing happened [Sunday]. We played a regular game. Nothing happened the rest of [Saturday], I pitched that night. I don’t see where the reckless disregard for the players safety was.”

The fine, he said, wasn’t going to change his view of how to express himself in 140 characters.

“It’s freedom of speech,” said Perez. “I felt I was within my rights as an American.”

Perez also took issue with being fined more than one of the players who was actually ejected in that game, Cleveland third baseman Jack Hannahan, who received a $500 fine for leading players off the bench after one of the hit batsmen incidents.

Article source: http://bats.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/20/perez-snagged-by-baseballs-twitter-policy/

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Josh Pastner’s comical Twitter mistake

If you were following the Memphis men’s basketball Twitter account closely on Tuesday night, you would have noticed a profoundly strange and intriguing tweet sent at 10:43 p.m. ET. It read as follows: “tony parker.” And that was it. The tweet was deleted a few seconds later.

Wait … huh?

The Memphis Commercial Appeal’s Jason Smith has the story, which is actually somewhat funny, even as it carries the threat of a secondary violation from the NCAA’s committee on infractions. (It’s not often that you use the words “NCAA violation and “funny” in the same sentence … wait. Nevermind. That actually happens all the time.)

So what happened? Turns out, Tigers coach Josh Pastner was attempting to use the Twitter search function to find information on Tony Parker, a 6-foot-9 forward ranked No. 26 overall in the class of 2012, who lists Memphis as one of his final choices (and who will announce his decision on Monday). But Pastner was distracted, accidentally typed the search term into the “compose new tweet” field, hit enter, and voila: secondary violation. Pastner painted the picture for Smith:

“We’re a couple men down and I’m very methodical in my hiring. Plus, you’re in a recruiting period and we’re making sure that we’re finishing up strong academically. So I was probably doing too many things at once,” Pastner said Wednesday.

“My wife was yelling at me because I was on the phone too loud. I was waking (the couple’s infant daughter) up and waking my wife up because I had the TV on. She was complaining that I not only woke my daughter up, but I also woke the baby inside her up because she’s pregnant.

“So I was waking everybody up, I was getting yelled at and on top of that I was thinking, ‘What’s going on with recruiting?’ and ‘Who am I going to hire?’ and I made a mistake.”

Did Pastner just throw his wife under the bus? I think he did! For shame, Josh. For shame.

Kidding, kidding. That scenario is so plausible it has to be true. And besides, we’ve all been there. I consider myself a Twitter “power user” (ick) and I still double-check every direct message I send to make absolutely sure I’m not sending it to the world, even if it’s totally innocuous. The search bar could be every bit as dangerous.

But still, that’s a mention of an unsigned recruit in a public forum, and that’s not allowed. The good news? Memphis self-reported the violation, and the NCAA will certainly recognize this for what it is — a simple, goofy, borderline endearing mistake. Hilarious, even.

Article source: http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/58180/josh-pastners-comical-twitter-mistake

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Nicki Minaj ‘Thinking About’ Returning To Twitter

Nicki Minaj plugged the plug on her Twitter account earlier this week, sending fans reeling and the Barbz are still waiting patiently for her return. The YMCMB star has been in London for the past few days promoting her sophomore album Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded and during interviews, the questions inevitably turned to her absence from Twitter.

Nicki Minaj Hits A Strip Club For ‘Beez In The Trap’ Video

On the Graham Norton Show (via Rap-Up) she sort of explained why she temporarily abandoned her Barbz. “A voice in my head told me to delete my Twitter and that’s what I did,” she said. “I had 11 million followers and I hope they will wait for me.”

In case you’re one of Nicki’s Barbz, suffering from withdrawal, it’s pretty much guaranteed that Nicki will return. Twitter allows you to deactivate your account for 30 days before removing it completely, and even then, they consult with celebs before nixing the account. It seems highly unlikely that Nicki would let those 11 million followers go.

When asked if she will return to the social networking site, Nicki tried to play coy, saying, “I don’t know yet, I’m thinking about it. I miss my Barbz, please bear with me.”

Tags Nicki Minaj, twitter

Article source: http://rapfix.mtv.com/2012/04/20/nicki-minaj-thinking-about-return-to-twitter/

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Md. becomes first to OK password protection bill

ANNAPOLIS, Md. –  Maryland is poised to become the first state to ban employers from demanding applicants or workers hand over their log-in information for social media sites like Facebook.

The measure, which handily passed the legislature earlier this month, keeps managers from snooping on password-protected content, a practice advocates of the bill say violates privacy and intimidates job seekers and employees.

Robert Collins, a former corrections officer in Maryland, said he was asked for his Facebook account information while being recertified for his job following a leave of absence.

Collins, who lives in Baltimore, complied with the request, but said he felt embarrassed and violated as an interviewer roamed his private messages, pictures and posts.

“It almost seemed that my compliance was compulsory,” Collins said.

The voluntary social media screening for correctional officers, not all employees, is a natural extension of an already “inherently intrusive” background check for people working in law enforcement, said Rick Binetti, executive director of communications for the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.

The practice was used to screen people who would be working in jails for possible illegal activity and gang affiliations.

“I’m sure if you asked a correctional officer if they were working alongside someone who was known to show gang signs on their social media, that would create an uncomfortable working situation for them,” Binetti said.

A review by the corrections department last year assessed 2,689 applications, showing that seven candidates were rejected in part because of information found on their social media profiles.

Another candidate was rejected for the job solely because of content on a social media profile.

That candidate, along with others, used social media profiles that contained images of them showing known gang signs, according to the review.

In April 2011, a few months after the American Civil Liberties Union complained on behalf of Collins, the department issued a revised policy that asked job candidates to voluntarily participate in the review of social media use during their interview. The new policy stops short of asking for log-in or password information.

It is impossible to know exactly how often employers ask to tap into prospective workers’ accounts, but Bradley Shear, a Bethesda, Md.-based social media attorney, said he believes it is happening more and more frequently.

Only a handful of clients have contacted him because an employer asked to test drive their accounts, but Shear said many more cases of social media snooping exist. Those asked to turn over their information are just afraid to come forward.

“If you’re not willing to go public, the problem persists,” he said. “If you’re not willing to be a whistleblower, if you’re not going to come forward, it’s not going to stop.”

Collins, who no longer works for the Department of Corrections and is pursuing a degree in nursing, said he has talked to other people who have also been required to hand over their account information, but “they didn’t think anything of it.”

While the Maryland legislation is the first of its kind, lawmakers in at least seven other states have introduced legislation to limit employer access to social media user names and passwords, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

It is unclear if the measure will become law because Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley is still reviewing which legislation he will sign, a spokeswoman for the governor’s office said.

A companion bill that would have kept colleges and universities from requiring that students disclose account information passed the Maryland Senate, but saw no movement in the House of Delegates.

Democratic U.S. Sens. Chuck Schumer of New York and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut have also asked Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate whether asking for log-in information during job interviews violates federal law.

Allie Bohm, an advocacy and policy strategist for the ACLU, says the practice of asking to surf someone’s social media profile is akin to asking for the key to their house and going through their mail.

“We don’t want to create a situation where employers think it’s appropriate just because it’s online,” Bohm said.

Shear, who pushed for the Maryland legislation, said giving employers access to password-protected information not only violates people’s privacy, but hampers technology development, which relies on users to trust the security of the websites.

“There’s a whole generation of future leaders where they’re going to be our elected leaders, our judges, our lawyers, our business people,” Shear said. “Do we really want all those people to think it’s OK for the government to see our private content without any warrant or subpoena or anything like that?”

Facebook director for state public policy Will Castleberry applauded the bill.

“Asking employees or job applicants for their passwords is wrong,” he said in a statement.

Business representatives, including the Maryland Chamber of Commerce, argue that the bill is bad for business and that requests for log information are very rare.

While media have reported a few handful of instances around the country of employers asking for passwords, using third-party software to spy on profiles and requesting that applicants “friend” managers in order to vet their accounts, the practice is not widespread, said Elizabeth Torphy-Donzella, a labor and employment attorney with Baltimore-based Shawe Rosenthal LLP.

“I do not have one client that to my knowledge asked someone for their Facebook page and most of my clients would not even think of that,” she said.

Torphy-Donzella, who worked with the Maryland Chamber of Commerce to oppose the bill, said it takes away important access for employers who need to investigate harassment claims and other misconduct.

“It was drafted in a manner that didn’t take account of legitimate employer needs to request access to employee Facebook pages,” she said.

But Shear argues that the legislation is good for businesses because it prevents them from being liable for information, such as criminal or harassing behavior, that they could discover when reviewing employee profiles.

“There’s no good reason to do this,” Shear said. “If you’re in HR and you’re doing it, you’re creating tremendous legal liability for your company.”

Article source: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/04/20/md-becomes-first-to-ok-password-protection-bill/

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RNC looks to Facebook for political edge

About the Ticker:

The latest news from CNN’s political team with campaign coverage 24-7.  For complete political coverage, bookmark PoliticalTicker.blogs.cnn.com as well as CNNPolitics.com.

Article source: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/04/20/rnc-looks-to-facebook-for-political-edge/

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LiveWorld Announces Its Acceptance into the Facebook (R) Preferred Marketing …

        LiveWorld
        Sales Contact:
        Jason Liebowtiz, 1-347-276-2644
        VP, Sales
        Jason@liveworld.com
        or
        IR Contact:
        David Houston, 1-408-615-8496
        dhouston@liveworld.com

Article source: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/liveworld-announces-its-acceptance-into-the-facebook-r-preferred-marketing-developer-pmd-program-in-the-pages-category-2012-04-20

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2012 Kentucky Derby Winner Picks: Twitter Reaction

Louisville is gearing up for the 2012 Kentucky Derby and there are plenty of big changes happening before the big day. However, outside of Louisville, there are plenty of attempts on Twitter to guess which horse will be the winner of this year’s race. Of the top Kentucky Derby contenders, there are a few that are mentioned repeatedly.

Tweeting Kentucky Derby fever

Around the country, anticipation over the 2012 Kentucky Derby is popping up. For instance @psych0_delic says, “I want to get all dressed up and go to a Kentucky Derby.” On the other hand, @Joshua_MacD says, “NBC Sports keeps doing promos for the Kentucky Derby. Does anyone who doesn’t have a horrible gambling addiction actually watch that?”

On that note, @Three_Tres claims, “Fav time of the year Baseball, NFL Draft, NBA playoffs, the Masters, and best of all Kentucky Derby prep races!!” Seriousness aside, one of the most popular retweets found on social media monitoring services was from @DosEquisManSays who says, “He won the Kentucky Derby… On a unicorn.”

Thankfully, there were still plenty of other Kentucky Derby picks mentions.

Amateur 2012 Kentucky Derby pick tweets

While the Wall Street Journal recently pushed an article called, “Kentucky Derby Prep Races: Essentially Meaningless,” others feel that this is untrue. Instead, many Twitter users were using third party advice about the results of Kentucky Derby prep races and tweeting their best guesses.

For example, @dividenddoug gives his ideas by stating, “My early Kentucky Derby contenders: 1) Union Rags 2) Alpha 3) Creative Cause 4) Bodemeister 5) Gemologist 6) I’ll Have Another.” In lieu of their own opinion, other users retweeted information from sources like @DerbyNation. Following that train of thought, @W_Long7 says his picks are, “I’ll Have Another… My Kentucky Derby pick.”

Recent 2012 Kentucky Derby picks tweeted

Online, picking the winner is serious for some Twitter users and they make part of their livelihood by watching every Kentucky Derby prep race. In general, pick experts are the same as anyone else – they are just guessing. Regardless, if you are looking are trying to figure out which horse will win the Kentucky Derby for entertainment purposes, evaluating which pick experts actually make the correct prediction can be a big part of the fun for non-gamblers.

Good examples of tweets from upcoming 2012 Kentucky Derby pick experts are similar to @DerbyPrediction, @HorseRaceOdds, and @HorsePrediction. These Twitter users are suggesting Take Charge Indy, I’ll Have Another, and Gemologist will be the top Derby winners.

Finally, if you want to show off your picks for the 2012 Kentucky Derby, go on Twitter and use the hashtags #TVG, #KyDerby, or #HorseRacing.

More from this Contributor:

2012 Kentucky Derby Games Online

TV Prep Races for 2012 Kentucky Derby

The Kentucky Derby’s Confusing Gambling Options

Top Pick Experts for the Kentucky Derby: Fan’s View

New Trend for Kentucky Derby Ticket Websites: A Fan’s View

Maryam Louise is a longtime resident of the Bluegrass State and has lived in the shadows of Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky over the past two decades. In addition to being a fan of horse racing, she has also had a chance to get to know jockeys, horse groomers, and betting clerks as an ESL instructor. Currently, she writes for KentuckyDerby.org and relies on her friends in the multiple facets of the equine industry for writing inspiration.

Article source: http://sports.yahoo.com/news/2012-kentucky-derby-winner-picks-twitter-reaction-091000575.html

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