Today the BBC reports Identity 'at risk' on Facebook yeah and that's news?

I hang out on Twitter a lot and it always amazes me how there is such a band wagon "fashion" approach to some of this technology, you know a real sheep follow concept going on.

People have been flabbergasted that GASP you could have details stolen on the internet, OMG shock bloody horror, that is such HUUUUUGE news!

Reality check.

To quote: "Anyone with a basic understanding of web programming can write an application." Uhh duh, so that's not happened in the previous 18 years or so of the public Internet? - It's rife!

Seriously though, phising and various other methods of data-mining have existed forever, where there is data available on the Internet a hacker will always try to retrieve it, that's the job description, am I one? No, I'm not, but I've understood that since day 1, it's so obvious it hurts, is it just me?

I've heard people talking of closing accounts, never using FB again not doing this not doing that, goodness me it's barfable really.

Two key things here:

1. Never put your DOB online
2. Never put YOU information online (I mean official YOU stuff, address, financial stuff)

It's quite simple, if you put personal data online, you can expect to be targeted no matter what the platform, if you put your trust in an online platform you are a fool, they are all crackable.

I'll be continuing to use FB and the Internet, I'll just tread with caution as I always have, and if I were you I would not follow "fashion", that's silly. Do we need a nanny do guide us through these treacherous waters? No, we just need not be fashion victims and be self-responsible, and in most spheres in mind, if you follow fashion you are blind.

Rant over.

P.S. this is not targeted at anyone in particular, just generalised.

Technorati Tags: accounts facebook fashion flock hack job phising privacy sheep twitter facebook privacy accounts fashion twitter sheep flock job hack phising

I had an email in my inbox this morning from Eaon Pritchard who has designed an awesome logo for MediaCampBUCKS 07.

Eaon went for a “populist” and “web2.0” look which is perfect for the event, nice one Eaon!

If you have not heard about MediaCamp yet, we (that’s you) are hosting the event at BCUC, just 30 minutes west of London, which is a piece of cake to get to from any direction, on October 20.

MediaCamp is a free un-conference where the whole event is driven by the participants themselves, it is set to be a real mix-up of people too, coming from marketing, academia, b2b, bloggers, sound-designers, networkers, agencies, the whole range of peeps getting together to learn and share.

This MediaCampBUCKS 07 is heavily focussed on new-media tools, and how we can embrace them in our careers, instruction, business etc.

Sign up on the wiki to attend, sponsor or present.

MediaCampBUCKS07

What do you think of the logo yourself?

Technorati Tags: advertising camp conference education hr knowledge learning marketing media mediacamp medicampbucks medicampbucks07 networking policy privacy secondlife sessions sharing social teaching unconference university web2.0 mediacampbucks07

So today I had a business lunch in the centre of London with a friend of mine, Mike. We are both what you might call “eager beavers” when it comes to using new technology and might even go so far as to call ourselves new-media operators and thinkers.

Certainly today we were operating and discussing new-media technologies, for example we created an audio interview which will become available on the internet through an RSS feed along with being streamed somewhere at some point. We then went on to discuss online social networking tools one of which being the current big-gun Facebook.

Mike was asking if I had seen the footage concerning data-mining and the connection of some of the venture capital funds for the company, and I hadn’t. He then forwarded me the link to the YouTube video below.

So, personally I must say if this is true, so what?

Every time I place something about me on a site, a blog, a forum, I’m accepting that it could be used in some way for other data purposes, and more than likely it is, is that something I should care about, is that just the way the modern world works?

As a disclaimer, I’ve not personally researched the story behind the video, nor will I, as I’m not bothered, isn't it the point that I'm sharing I'm an atheist, or I'm straight, or I am male, or I like music, with everyone?

I’ll continue to use Facebook.

What’s your take on it?

Technorati Tags: data facebook fbi federal human media mining new new-media privacy social data mining facebook human fbi federal social media new new-media privacy