Digital Marketing and Social Media collected ideas thoughts and news
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Friday, February 24, 2012
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Fwd: Google Exploited Loophole To Track Safari Users' Browsing Habits
Google Exploited Loophole To Track Safari Users' Browsing Habits
Was Google's workaround necessary? Google exploited Loophole To Track Safari Users' Browsing Habits
Shaylin Clark | Staff Writer
Exploit allows advertisers to set third party cookies despite Safari's privacy settings.
Google has made plenty of news lately over concerns with how they handle user privacy. Now it looks like they may have been circumventing privacy settings in Apple's Safari browser -- on computers and iOS devices alike -- in order to track users' web browsing habits for the purposes of advertising.
Is real privacy even possible on the internet anymore? What do you do to protect yourself from online snooping from advertisers and marketers? Let us know in the comments.
According to a report by the Wall Street Journal Friday morning, Stanford researcher Jonathan Mayer discovered that Google and other advertising companies were employing a workaround that allowed third party cookies to be installed by tricking Safari into thinking that the user had submitted a form which allowed the advertisers to set a tracking cooking on the user's browser. According to the Journal's researchers, this behavior occurred in Safari both on iOS devices, and on computers (presumably both Windows and Mac versions of Safari). Here's the Journal's explanation of how the exploit works.
Watch the Video >>
Here are the full results of Jonathan Mayer's investigation.
Google, however, insists that the Wall Street Journal is blowing the situation out of proportion. They say that the code in question was designed to allow certain features such as "Like" and "+1" buttons to function in Safari the way they do in other browsers (which allow third party cookies by default, unlike Safari). The workaround was only meant to apply to Google users who were signed in and allowed Google to show them personalized content. That the code allowed other advertisers to set their own cookies as well. Google says that once the Journal brought this to their attention, they disabled the code and began deleting the cookies.
In response to a request for comment, Google sent us the following statement from Rachel Whetstone, Senior Vice President, Communications and Public Policy:
The Journal mischaracterizes what happened and why. We used known Safari functionality to provide features that signed-in Google users had enabled. It's important to stress that these advertising cookies do not collect personal information.
Unlike other major browsers, Apple's Safari browser blocks third-party cookies by default. However, Safari enables many web features for its users that rely on third parties and third-party cookies, such as "Like" buttons. Last year, we began using this functionality to enable features for signed-in Google users on Safari who had opted to see personalized ads and other content--such as the ability to "+1" things that interest them.
To enable these features, we created a temporary communication link between Safari browsers and Google's servers, so that we could ascertain whether Safari users were also signed into Google, and had opted for this type of personalization. But we designed this so that the information passing between the user's Safari browser and Google's servers was anonymous--effectively creating a barrier between their personal information and the web content they browse.
However, the Safari browser contained functionality that then enabled other Google advertising cookies to be set on the browser. We didn't anticipate that this would happen, and we have now started removing these advertising cookies from Safari browsers. It's important to stress that, just as on other browsers, these advertising cookies do not collect personal information.
A request for comment was also sent to Apple, but they have not yet responded. Business Insider, citing "an industry source who we believe understands Google's perspective" suggests that Google's intent was not malicious. Rather, they set out to solve a specific problem concerning their advertising business: Safari behaves differently than every other web browser, and that behavior impacts how Google's ads work. The problem, this source suggests, is that the workaround was likely developed and implemented without thought toward how it would look from a public relations perspective.
Is it possible that Apple is partly to blame for making Safari function differently than other browsers? Should Apple bear any of the blame for the loophole that made Google's workaround possible? Let us know in the comments.
In sum, it seems likely that Google is not actually out to spy on their users. Nevertheless, the situation is intensely problematic for Google. The company has already caught significant flack for planned updates to their privacy policy. Moreover, Google (as well as other internet giants like Facebook) has long been fighting an uphill PR battle to convince people that they are not engaged in Big Brother-esque monitoring of people's internet habits.
The backlash against Google has been swift. In addition to the general public outcry, Consumer Watchdog has filed a complaint (PDF) with the Federal Trade Commission. Their letter calls Google's actions unfair and deceptive, accuses Google of violating the 2011 consent order concerning Google Buzz, and calls on the FTC to "take immediate action against Google." Consumer Watchdog has long had a beef with Google (e.g., a series of anti-Google videos that can be found here, here, and here). The consent order mentioned in Consumer Watchdog's letter has also been the subject of a suit filed against the FTC by the Electronic Privacy Information Center. That suit seeks the to force the FTC to block the rollout of Google's new unified privacy policy, which is currently scheduled for March 1.
Do you believe Google's story? Could this be a relatively innocent workaround that got out of hand, or is there something more sinister? What should happen to Google after this? Does this make you less likely to trust Google's new privacy policy? Let us know in the comments.
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Friday, February 17, 2012
Fwd: How Target Figured Out A Teen Girl Was Pregnant Before Her Father Did
Begin forwarded message:
From: David Wood <david.wood@gmx.co.uk>
Date: 17 February 2012 11:08:13 GMT
To: Emarketing <thehospitalitybiz.emarketing@blogger.com>
Subject: How Target Figured Out A Teen Girl Was Pregnant Before Her Father Did
How Target Figured Out A Teen Girl Was Pregnant Before Her Father Did http://smf.is/1GtWaY (via @summify)
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Foodspotting will start asking for explicit permission to scan your address book
Foodspotting will start asking for explicit permission to scan your address book
Published on The Next Web | shared via feedly mobile
As we continue to follow the fallout from Path's address book practices, other popular apps are starting to issue statements on the issue. This has turned into an industry-wide issue and Apple has stated it will now require "explicit permission" for apps that want access to your address book.
One popular app that has been proactive in reaching its users about the address book concerns is Foodspotting, which put up a blog post on the matter today. In it, the company states:
We wanted to reassure you that Foodspotting never has and never will use your iPhone contacts without your permission. The only time address book info is ever sent to Foodspotting is when you explicitly ask us to find friends from your address book by tapping, "Follow People > Find iPhone Contacts," and we never store any of this data on our servers.
Foodspotting goes on to say that it wants to make its address book practices more transparent so that its userbase doesn't have to worry about using its app moving forward.
Even though it's not storing your address book data when you use the "Find iPhone Contacts" feature of the app, the company will add a popup requiring you to give Foodspotting explicit permission to go through your address book.
The company says its current practice is took grab the names and email addresses of your friends from your address book to check against its server to see if your friends are on the service. Foodspotting says it immediately deletes the data once this check is complete and points out that "No phone numbers or names are transferred."
However, the data is currently transferred to Foodspotting in a way that's not so secure, which the company says it will address in a future update:
What are the concerns?
While your address book data is being sent to Foodspotting (which only takes seconds), there is a very slight chance that hackers could access your contacts' email addresses if they happen to be on the same wifi network as you and monitoring your activity. (When doing any online activities on an unsecure wifi network, you're subject to this sort of risk.) It only applies to Foodspotting users' iPhone Contacts when and if you are logged in and use "Find iPhone Contacts" before our next update.
While most mainstream users of the app have no idea that there are even concerns about the practices of apps grabbing a copy of their address books, it is great to see companies taking this opportunity to look at what they're doing and make it more secure. Whether most users won't ever realize there was a potential risk or issue before the next update, the ones that do will be more likely to suggest Foodspotting to their friends because of this kind of action and transparency.
SocialBro – A Tool You Need For Twitter.
SocialBro – A Tool You Need For Twitter.
http://www.returnondigital.com/blog/socialbro-a-tool-you-need-for-twitter
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Sent from Zite personalized magazine iPhone app.
Available for free in the App Store.
www.zite.com
The 17 R's of Savvy Mobile Marketing [INFOGRAPHIC]
The 17 R's of Savvy Mobile Marketing [INFOGRAPHIC]
http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/31103/The-17-R-s-of-Savvy-Mobile-Marketing-INFOGRAPHIC.aspx
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Sent from Zite personalized magazine iPhone app.
Available for free in the App Store.
www.zite.com
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Google Knowledge Graph Could Change Search Forever
Google Knowledge Graph Could Change Search Forever http://smf.is/1GgigW (via @summify)
Monday, February 13, 2012
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Article: 42 New Digital Media Resources You May Have Missed
42 New Digital Media Resources You May Have Missed
http://mashable.com/2012/02/11/42-new-digital-media-resources/
(Sent from Flipboard)
Friday, February 10, 2012
How social media is making polling obsolete
How social media is making polling obsolete
http://gigaom.com/cloud/how-social-media-is-making-polling-obsolete/
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Sent from Zite personalized magazine iPhone app.
Available for free in the App Store.
www.zite.com
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Segmentation - Understanding Women Workers
Understanding Women Workers http://smf.is/1FToNi (via @summify)
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
20 Free Tools To Evaluate Soci... (prdaily.com)
20 Free Tools To Evaluate Social Media
http://prdaily.com/Main/Articles/10711.aspx
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Sent from Zite personalized magazine iPad app.
Available for free in the App Store.
www.zite.com
Sent from my iPad
SEO Predictions For The Year 2... (sub-url.eu)
SEO Predictions For The Year 2012
http://www.sub-url.eu/?p=1423
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Available for free in the App Store.
www.zite.com
Sent from my iPad
10 Ways Social Media is Transf... (jeffbullas.com)
10 Ways Social Media is Transforming our World
http://www.jeffbullas.com/2012/02/06/10-ways-social-media-is-transforming-our-world/
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Sent from Zite personalized magazine iPad app.
Available for free in the App Store.
www.zite.com
Sent from my iPad
Statistics of How Consumers Ch... (soshable.com)
Statistics of How Consumers Choose Businesses
http://soshable.com/statistics-of-how-consumers-choose-businesses/
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Sent from Zite personalized magazine iPad app.
Available for free in the App Store.
www.zite.com
Sent from my iPad
Five Trends: How Brands Integr... (web-strategist.com)
Five Trends: How Brands Integrated Social, Mobile, and Web into 2012 Super Bowl Advertisements
http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2012/02/06/five-trends-how-brands-integrated-social-mobile-and-web-into-2012-super-bowl-advertisements/
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Sent from Zite personalized magazine iPad app.
Available for free in the App Store.
www.zite.com
Sent from my iPad
Future of SEO: Change, Converg... (searchenginewatch.com)
Future of SEO: Change, Convergence, Collaboration
http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2144350/Future-of-SEO-Change-Convergence-Collaboration
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Available for free in the App Store.
www.zite.com
Sent from my iPad
The future of customer service... (econsultancy.com)
The future of customer service and social media: infographic
http://econsultancy.com/uk/blog/8937-the-future-of-customer-service-and-social-media-infographic
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Sent from Zite personalized magazine iPad app.
Available for free in the App Store.
www.zite.com
Sent from my iPad
Monday, February 6, 2012
Online Learning Portals
 SimplyZesty (@SimplyZesty)06/02/2012 17:32 5 Online Learning Portals Which Lets Anyone Become A Web Developer bit.ly/x5lXzz #in |
15 Twitter Tools to Boost Your Online Presence and Productivity
15 Twitter Tools to Boost Your Online Presence and Productivity http://smf.is/1FFypo (via @summify)
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Getting mobile web basics right in travel is still a target rather than an achievement
Getting mobile web basics right in travel is still a target rather than an achievement http://smf.is/1FwpE0 (via @summify)
Friday, February 3, 2012
Thursday, February 2, 2012
@sallyshalam, 02/02/2012 15:48
 sally shalam (@sallyshalam)02/02/2012 15:48 For the umpteenth FRICKIN time. Hotels PLEASE incude press contact details on website. Press page not just for showing off press coverage |
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
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