Privacy concerns with Facebook

When I joined Facebook I felt comfortable sharing personal information because Facebook's privacy settings were very good, allowing the user to fully control every bit of information you publish to Facebook. But times have changed! Facebook has changed direction and privacy seems to be a mere afterthought now.

Facebook started off with an attitude of respecting the user's privacy, which was great. Unfortunately they have changed their privacy settings over time to make it increasingly difficult to protect everything you publish on Facebook.

Facebook's privacy changes in April - frowned upon

Their latest privacy changes (announced at Facebook's F8 conference in April) were frowned upon by most analysts. It's almost as if Facebook does not listen to their users at all, ignoring any backlash after a major privacy update.

Facebook's new Instant Personalization Pilot Program lets you share your information with third party websites... I'm not comfortable with that at all. Facebook always seem to make the changes regardless of whether their users like it or not and users only find out afterwards, once it's already been done. Then those who are concerned about their privacy have to quickly jump around and "fix" the privacy settings (again) but it's getting more and more difficult to do that.

Opting out

Case in point, I was logged into my Facebook account and then visited another website Engadget (or it could have been Mashable, can't remember), then Facebook granted access to apps from those sites automatically. I then visited my Facebook Applications Settings page and that website was already listed there! At no point did I give explicit permission to share information with external sites. Facebook gladly did that "on my behalf". I had to manually visit the Facebook application page for that site and block the application explicitly. So they're making it tougher to 'opt-out' as time goes by.

Facebook is feature-rich but please respect my privacy

Facebook makes sharing info with friends a pleasure and there's a multitude of other fantastic features that the social networking site offers. But a lot of users are uninformed about Facebook's persistent drive to open everything up for all to see, since that will obviously have financial benefit for Facebook due to marketers having access to your info/preferences for better advertising revenue.

The flip side of the coin is that it's perhaps convenient for the user to visit different websites and always be recognised on those websites since you're already logged in to your Facebook account. The part that I have a problem with... is the fact that I'm having less and less of a CHOICE in the matter. I'd prefer to opt-out beforehand instead of trying to solve a privacy issue afterwards.

Instructions on how to protect your privacy after Facebook's latest privacy changes in April

Opt out of Facebook's Open Graph personalization - WikiHow
Opt out of Facebook's Open Graph personalization - AllFacebook
How To Opt-Out Of Facebook’s Instant Personalization - Electronic Frontier Foundation

With Twitter the situation is different because you know from the start that everything is public, so you (should) only make statements you are willing to make in public anyway. But with Facebook there's a trust that was initially established between Facebook and the user, based on the initial strict privacy settings that was available. That trust is now being tampered with.

If Facebook loosen up their privacy settings to such a degree where I'm left without any control over the (access to) information I publish on Facebook, I'll have no choice but to consider closing my account.

Facebook plans privacy summit

It was announced today that Facebook will be holding a privacy summit after a large group of users, critics and lawmakers showed their dissatisfaction about the growing Facebook privacy issues. I hope something positive comes out of this because Facebook is a great social networking platform, if the privacy issues are addressed.

Video: Funny look at what Facebook would be like if played out in real life



Related links
How to Keep Your Privacy Safe(r) on Facebook - PCWorld
Facebook: Confirm or Deny? - TechNewsWorld
Are you a victim? - MyBroadband Read more on "Privacy concerns with Facebook"!

Circumnavigating the world in an autogyro

Norman Surplus, departed on 22 March from Larne, Northern Ireland, to attempt to circumnavigate the globe in an autogyro called "Gyrox". It has never been attempted before. An autogyro (or gyrocopter) uses an unpowered rotor in auto-rotation to develop lift and an engine-powered propeller, to provide thrust.

Challenges

The trip is expected to take approximately four months and cover over 43000km, stopping over in 26 countries along the way. Considering the nature of the adventure and proposed travel route, some severe weather conditions should be expected along the way. It's quite a brave attempt considering that an autogyro has an open cockpit! Not to mention the long stretches of open water that need to be covered. To make this possible, Norman's gyro was fitted with extra fuel tanks which will extend the normal 300 mile range to 800 miles. Then there's the challenge of relying solely on the pilot's own visuals since he's not allowed to use instruments to navigate (gyro rules). Finding fuel in remote parts of the world may also present to be a problem.

Video - Gyrox autogyro circumnavigation of the globe


Gyrox Goes Global from Gyrox Goes Global on Vimeo.

Motivation

Norman recently beat a bout of cancer and this motivated him to embrace life more intensely. He will raise funds for Bowel Cancer UK during the trip.

You can track the Gyrox via the SPOT GPS.

Related link
Autogyro circumnavigation of the globe - Norman's website
GyroxGoesGlobal - Norman's blog
Norman Surplus - Facebook Read more on "Circumnavigating the world in an autogyro"!

MWeb announce cheap uncapped broadband

MWeb significantly cut broadband prices today with a new full range of uncapped packages. This is truly fantastic news to South Africans since these sort of prices have been long overdue. South Africa is now slowly but surely getting in line with the rest of the world as far as broadband prices go.

South Africans are used to data caps where you have to constantly monitor your bandwidth usage every month to ensure you don't go over your data limit. When you do go over the monthly limit you are either cut off completely or you have to top-up your data (Gb's) at additional costs. Usually an expensive exercise.

However, with MWeb's new uncapped ADSL packages, those days are over. Now you can download as much as you want for a fixed price, the way it should be! There were other uncapped products in the market before this but they were quite expensive. MWeb's new packages are quite affordable.

MWeb's new uncapped packages
(Can sign up from 22 March, available from 1 April)

CONSUMER products: Shaped, month-to-month)

Data only (therefore excluding line rental from Telkom)

• Uncapped ADSL 384Kbps: R219
• Uncapped ADSL 512Kbps: R299
• Uncapped ADSL 4096Kbps: R539

All inclusive (data and line rental)

• Uncapped All-inclusive 384Kbps: R349
• Uncapped All-inclusive 512Kbps: R599
• Uncapped All-inclusive 4096Kbps: R899

BUSINESS products: Unshaped, 12 month contract)

Data only (therefore excluding line rental from Telkom)

• Uncapped ADSL 384Kbps: R499
• Uncapped ADSL 512Kbps: R699
• Uncapped ADSL 4096Kbps: R1 999

All inclusive (data and line rental)

• Uncapped All-inclusive 384Kbps: R629
• Uncapped All-inclusive 512Kbps: R999
• Uncapped All-inclusive 4096Kbps: R2 259

Shaped - Web browsing and emails get priority on the network
Unshaped - All protocols on the network have the same priority, so whether you're browsing the web or downloading on a peer-to-network, you should get similar download speeds

Cheap, cheaper, cheapest

These are the cheapest uncapped broadband packages currently available in South Africa and will surely start a real price war amongst Internet Service Providers. MWeb is a big player and they have the ability to shake up the market. They're getting their international bandwidth from both the SAT-3 and SEACOM undersea cables. With the arrival of more undersea cables to South Africa, like WACS and EASSy during the next two years, wholesale prices for international bandwidth are expected to fall dramatically which in turn will lead to even cheaper packages for consumers of broadband in this country.

Terms and Conditions strongly worded - could put of power users!

MWeb's ADSL Terms and Conditions page (as on 18 March 2010) made me frown, especially paragraph 5.6 and 5.10:

5.6 You may not restrict, inhibit or interfere with the ability of any person to access, use or enjoy the Internet or the ADSL Services, or create an unusually large burden on our network, including, without limitation, continuously uploading or downloading streaming video or audio; continuous FTP uploading or downloading

Well, with an uncapped product I definitely expect to be allowed to listen to online radio streaming all day long if I wanted to, same goes for video streaming! Also, no continuous downloads allowed? That would effectively eliminate all power users. It will therefore be interesting to see how seriously MWeb enforces these conditions because if they do, I for one can't sign up with MWeb.

5.10 You may not use the ADSL Service for unattended automated operation, unless otherwise agreed. You may stay connected as long as you are actively using that connection. You further agree not to use Internet applications for the purpose of simulating network activity to avoid session inactivity disconnection.

Par 5.10 is simply ridiculous and hails from the days of dialup connections. The whole point of using ADSL is to be connected 24/7 in the first place.

Proof is in the pudding

One concern is that MWeb is not exactly renowned for their support levels if compared to other medium-sized ISP's and considering that they will get an influx of people signing up for these new packages, they will have to up their service levels considerably.

Network stability and contention ratios are also very important factors. Cheap broadband means nothing if your online experience suffers due to constant irregular browsing/download speeds. Hopefully MWeb won't have these issues because with these low prices MWeb is clearly vying for the position as market leader in the consumer broadband space in South Africa. It will be interesting to see what the rival ISP's come up with during the next few months!

The only other drawback is that Telkom owns the 'local loop' (lines from exchanges to your residence) and they charge a hefty line rental fee for it. It would be great if Telkom could lower (or drop!) the line rental in future because then South Africans will end up paying broadband prices that are truly in line with first world countries.

Related links
MWeb scraps data caps - Gadget
MWeb throws down gauntlet to rivals - TechCentral
MWeb's uncapped packages - MWeb Read more on "MWeb announce cheap uncapped broadband"!

Netgear DG834GT router - 1.03.23 firmware released

The latest firmware version 1.03.23 has been released for the Netgear DG834GT 108Mbps Wireless ADSL router.

The previous firmware versions (specifically 1.02.19 and 1.03.22) were sub-standard and frustrating to use, mainly because of DHCP problems and reserved IP address issues. According to Netgear these issues have been addressed in the latest 1.03.23 firmware version.

I upgraded to 1.03.23 and did some tests on my home LAN; the DHCP issue has been resolved. Nice!

Problem - Cannot delete Firewall Rules

There's a new bug in this version: If you select a Firewall Rule you created and select 'Delete', it just displays a blank page in the router interface. It does not delete the firewall rule! I tested it in several browsers: Firefox, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer and Opera. Luckily you can enable/disable a Firewall Rule but if you have a long list of Firewall Rules then it would have been nice if you could delete them to manage the list better.

Related links
108 Mbps Super Wireless ADSL Router - Official product page
My comments on previous 1.03.22 version
My comments on previous 1.02.19 version Read more on "Netgear DG834GT router - 1.03.23 firmware released"!

Forbes announces richest man in the world - Carlos Slim

Mexico's telecoms magnate, Carlos Slim Helú (age 70), has been announced by Forbes as the richest man in the world, overtaking americans Bill Gates (54) and Warren Buffett (79). It is the first time a person from outside the USA leads the rankings since 1994 when Japanese billionaire, Yoshiaki Tsutsumi, held the top spot.

Carlos Slim's net worth is estimated at US$53.5 billion! Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft Corp holds the second spot with US$53 billion and Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, third spot with US$47 billion.

Top 10 richest people in the world (Source: Forbes)

South Africa's mining magnate, Patrice Motsepe, and Johann Rupert & family are tied at #421 with a net worth of US$2.3 billion each.

Other interesting facts

• There are 1011 billionaires in the world this year, up from 793 last year.
• Asia's richest person is Mukesh Ambani from India, ranked 4th
• Brazil's Eike Batista had the biggest increase in net worth from US$7.5bn to US$27bn
• Richest woman on list is Christy Walton (Walmart) at #12

The Forbes rankings are based on information including stakes in publicly traded and privately held companies; real estate holdings; and investments in items such as art, gems and yachts; and compiled as of the close of U.S. markets on Feb. 12.

Related links
The World's Billionaires - Forbes
Slim Overtakes Gates, Buffett to Become Forbes Richest Person - BusinessWeek Read more on "Forbes announces richest man in the world - Carlos Slim"!

Make your extensions work in Firefox 3.6

Firefox is my default browser. I use quite a number of Firefox extensions (add-ons) to do certain functions and I've come to rely on them quite a bit. However, when you upgrade to a later version of the browser, some of these extensions are not compatible anymore.

The reason is simple, these extensions are created by external developers and they can only fix the code or release later versions of their extensions, after the newest browser version has been released. Also, some developers don't update their code at all.

Problem - Incompatible extensions

I recently upgraded from Firefox 3.5.7 to Firefox 3.6 and found that two of my extensions didn't work anymore, GMail Manager and Easy DragToGo.

There are two ways to deal with incompatible Firefox extensions:

1. Set Firefox not to check the compatibility of the extension and ignore it altogether, or
2. Modify the compatibility version of the individual add-on/extension

Disclaimer: Please note that if you make any changes, you do them at your own risk!

I chose option 2 (see second section on that page) because option 1 doesn't always work with all add-ons and since you're modifying the individual add-on with option 2, there is less risk.

In short, I basically changed the value of <em:maxversion> to 3.6.* in the install.rtf file of each add-on, re-installed the updated add-on, restarted the browser and everything worked again.

Related link
Why I use Firefox (and list of extensions I use) Read more on "Make your extensions work in Firefox 3.6"!

Biggest Powerball jackpot won - R91 million!

Last night one very lucky individual won the biggest lottery prize in South African history, R91 million and change! No, it wasn't me.

[image source]

UPDATE 16 FEB - Winner claims prize

The winner of the R91m Powerball has been revealed as a 43-year old mother of two teenagers, from the Western Cape. She has requested to remain anonymous, for obvious reasons.

Related links
The R91 million winner has come forward
Powerball - New lottery game in South Africa
Powerball results
SA National Lottery Read more on "Biggest Powerball jackpot won - R91 million!"!