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Facebook users became much more protective about who sees sensitive information about them, even as they were urged to share more about themselves on the social network, according to an unusual seven-year study by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University.
The study followed the privacy settings of roughly 5,000 Facebook users who were part of the university network on Facebook between 2005 and 2011. It is among the first longitudinal efforts aimed at gauging how Facebook users try to protect their information. The study showed how over those years, Facebook made changes that elicited increasing amounts of data. For example, the social network tripled the data fields its users could fill out. It introduced Timeline in 2011, encouraging users to fill in much more personal history, including whether they were expecting a baby or had acquired a new car. Its diverse applications offered users the opportunity to share what news articles and books they read. And it let them “tag” one another, effectively allowing one user to post information about a Facebook “friend.” But even as Facebook encouraged more sharing, users became less likely to reveal to strangers certain pieces of sensitive, fine-grained personal information like dates of birth and what high school they attended, the survey found. There was a similar decline in users revealing their phone numbers and instant-messaging addresses to others in the university network who were not their Facebook “friends.”
Study: Facebook Users More Protective Even as They Reveal More About Themselves
Verizon activated a record number of iPhones in its fourth quarter — 6.2 million. It was the carrier’s strongest quarter for iPhone sales since it first began offering the handset in 2011, one in which Apple’s handset accounted for about two-thirds of its new smartphone activations.
The iPhone 5 was a key driver of these sales, but not just for its promise of 4G LTE speeds and Apple’s latest handset design. Its debut on Verizon allowed the carrier to offer the iPhone 4 free-on-contract. Fielding questions at the Deutsche Bank 2013 Media, Internet & Telecom Conference this week, Verizon CFO Fran Shammo said the iPhone 4 drove a lot of the company’s fourth-quarter activations. “… This past fourth quarter, you … had really one thing happen that never happened before, especially with Verizon Wireless, and that was for the first time ever, because of the iPhone 5 launch, we had the 4 at free,” Shammo said. “So it was the first time ever you could get a free iPhone on the Verizon Wireless network.” And just as the iPhone 5 helped spike LTE subscriber numbers, so, too, did the iPhone 4 drive 3G subscriber numbers.
Verizon CFO: People Like Free iPhones
Cars will soon be so linked into wireless networks they will be like giant rolling smartphones — with calling systems, streaming video, cameras and apps capable of harnessing the unprecedented trove of data vehicles will produce about themselves and the humans who drive them. The battle over who can access all this data is an awkward undercurrent amid recent announcements by car manufacturers touting their new, Internet-capable vehicle systems.
Low on gas? Soon a gas station app may know before you do. Tires need rotating? Your car may wirelessly alert your dealership when it’s time. Ready for a lunch break? Your car can make a reasonable guess based on the hour. A savvy restaurant app may soon use additional detail, such as whether the person in the back seat is watching a Disney movie, in deciding to offer an advertisement featuring a Happy Meal and directions to the nearest McDonalds.
Web-connected cars bring privacy concerns
The House Commerce subcommittee on Communications and Technology will hold a hearing March 14 to examine the construction of the nationwide broadband network for first responders.
The committee did not announce witnesses but said members will hear from FirstNet and private sector groups that want to partner to "improve the connectivity, reliability and security" of the network. “Last Congress we took concrete steps to improve emergency communications when we passed the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act,” Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.) said. “This hearing will provide oversight to ensure that both public safety officials and the public have access to effective, open lines of communication during an emergency."
House to hold hearing on public safety network House Communications Subcommittee to Conduct Oversight of FirstNet and Emergency Communications (Hearing Announcement)
The Senate Commerce Committee will hold a hearing March 12 to examine the policies of the Federal Communications Commission. All five commissioners are scheduled to testify.
Senate to hold FCC oversight hearing
In the face of increasing government-led crackdowns on social media, Google should not force Internet users to reveal their real names for some services, including its Google+ social network, said Vint Cerf, a senior Google executive known as a "father of the Internet."
Cerf acknowledged that the search giant's sweeping push in the past 18 months to institute real-name authentication for Google+ and other services has sparked intense debate within its headquarters. But he argued that current name policy, which allows for some users to display pseudonyms, offers adequate "choice" in how users choose to represent themselves. Over the past year, the company has strongly encouraged users to merge their accounts on YouTube, Gmail and other Google properties into a single Google+ identity, the company's social network offering that asks users to use the "common name" they are known by in the real world.
Google services should not require real names: Vint Cerf
The controversial Federal Communications Commission proposal to break up joint sales agreements is alive and well at the agency despite the recent FCC announcement that it was putting the media ownership review on hold to permit study of the impact of the review on minority ownership.
“It [the JSA proposal] is very much on the table” said FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai at the NAB State Leadership conference in Washington. Commissioner Pai said his hope is that the JSA proposal is axed. “That would work tremendous hardship on broadcasters, especially smaller areas. We are talking about stations in the 100 or 200 biggest markets, which have a miniscule portion of the revenue of, say, a New York City station. A JSA or SSA can mean the difference between consolidating operations and saving costs” and going out of business. Commissioner Pai said he agreed with the NAB that it would be preferable to postpone the incentive auction, at least temporarily, if necessarily to make sure it was conducted properly:. “Whether it’s your car … or an incentive auction, you’d rather get it done right than right now.”
FCC’s Pai: JSA Overhaul Plan Still in Play
CBS Chief Executive Officer Leslie Moonves said the television industry is moving toward counting viewership over seven days in response to the growing use of digital video recorders and online viewing.
Nielsen, the New York-based company that measures TV audiences, will adopt a seven-day standard next year, an increase from the current three days, Moonves predicted at an investor conference sponsored by Deutsche Bank AG. CBS’s TV shows draw about 40 percent of their audience on digital video recorders, video-on-demand services and online, Moonves said. If a show is watched within three days of airing, the network is paid by advertisers for those viewers. Networks and advertisers are discussing whether later viewing should be discounted or if new ads should be inserted, he said. “We want Nielsen to count everybody,” Moonves said. “Ultimately, we want an eyeball to count as an eyeball no matter where you watch your television show.”
Nielsen to Expand TV Measurement to Seven Days, Moonves Says
Verizon Communications is working to resolve its relationship with Vodafone Group Plc this year, having weighed options that range from ending its wireless venture with its European ally to a full merger of the two phone companies, said people familiar with the situation.
The U.S. and U.K. mobile-phone operators discussed a full combination as recently as December, said two of the people, who asked not to be named because the matter is private. Those talks stumbled over disagreements on leadership and headquarters location, making a buyout or partial sale of Vodafone’s 45 percent stake in the Verizon Wireless subsidiary a likelier outcome, the people said. That stake is worth about $115 billion, according to analysts. Verizon is eager to take full control of the unit this year, giving the New York-based company greater influence over its most profitable division, according to the people. Vodafone has raised concerns about valuation and how to use any proceeds from a sale, they said. The U.K. company has explored possible uses for the funds such as making acquisitions in Europe, instead of just returning proceeds to shareholders, one of the people said. Such a deal would tighten Verizon’s control over a wireless business whose growth has outpaced U.S. rivals’.
Verizon Is Said to Seek to Resolve Vodafone Relationship
The Wi-Fi Alliance and the Wireless Gigabit (WiGig) Alliance have finalized their agreement to consolidate WiGig technology and certification development in Wi-Fi Alliance, the groups announced.
The groups, which have been collaborating for two years, announced a memorandum of understanding in December 2012 to unify their development of a wireless standard in the 60 GHz band. Sponsor members of Wi-Fi Alliance include Comcast, Apple, Microsoft, Motorola Solutions, Intel, Cisco Systems and Broadcom. Wi-Fi Alliance said it will continue work begun in WiGig Alliance on features that extend WiGig capabilities beyond baseline connectivity, to address a range of applications from high-definition WiGig Display, to peripheral connectivity and I/O cable replacement. The associations plan to stage WiGig interoperability testing events throughout 2013 and expect to introduce a baseline interoperability certification program in early 2014.
Wi-Fi Alliance Brings WiGig Into the Fold