Carmelo Fontana < weblog >

Compare New and Old Privacy Policy

2009-12-22T04:57:00.000-08:00

It isn't always easy to compare the latest version of a on-line document with the prior... especially when the old document is promptly removed for legal reasons. If you need a Delta-View (a redline) combined with a Feedburner to catch up with all TOS and Privacy Policy modifications by major Internet companies, well, Tosback.org is a great tool.

Here, for example, it is the new paragraph added by Facebook in the new Privacy Policy:

"Certain categories of information such as your name, profile photo, list of friends and pages you are a fan of, gender, geographic region, and networks you belong to are considered publicly available to everyone, including Facebook-enhanced applications, and therefore do not have privacy settings. You can, however, limit the ability of others to find this information through search using your search privacy settings."

Mediaset Wins Injunction Vs. Youtube (UPDATED)

2009-12-17T20:21:00.000-08:00

This post is in Italian... Sorry :)

Leggo il post di Matteo Flora, consulente di Mediaset, che diffonde il comunicato della vittoria di Mediaset contro Youtube nel contenzioso riguardante la rimozione di contenuti Mediaset su Youtube.

Queste alcune mie considerazioni "a caldo", cosi' come postate in commento al blog di Matteo:

Davvero non capisco cosa ci sia di "storico" nel fare rimuovere da Youtube contenuti gia' accertati "illeciti". E non ci voleva certo il giudice ad accertare che "il Grande Fratello" sia un prodotto proprietario. Quanto alla responsabilita' (per "contributory/secondary infringment" forse, vista la qualifica di editore) di Youtube, la decisione ristabilisce una nozione di controllo che riporta la giurispurdenza italiana ai tempi di Napster.
Comunque il dispositivo della decisione e' ASSOLUTAMENTE OVVIO

[-- l'immediata rimozione di immagini fisse o video relative al "Grande Fratello" decima edizione;

-- di terminare immediatamente la violazione dei diritti connessi al GF;

-- il respingimento delle richieste di entrambe le parti.]
Infatti, pittosto che una costosa lite dinanzi all'AGO Mediaset avrebbe, altrattanto efficaciemente, potuto invocare una rimozione (Take Down) con una DMCA Take Down Notice (regime interamente recepito dai TOS di Youtube). E avrebbe probabilmente potuto trovare un accordo con Youtube sulle modalita’ per l’identificazione dei contenuti ritenuti infringing. Del resto fanno cosi’ content provider della rinomanza di Lucas Film, Universal Studios, CBS, etc. etc. Ancora, molti di questi content provider sono riusciti a concludere con Youtube accordi di rev-sharing relativi agli ads collocati nelle pagine con contenuti proprietari oltre ad includere nei video meccanismi di promozione diretta dei propri contenuti. La scarsa conoscenza del mezzo e la ricerca di una sentenza di grande risonanza mediatica hanno invece portato a questa strategia (processuale e di business) poco lungimirante e difficilmente remunerativa, IMHO. Sono in attesa di vedere come nel merito Mediaset quantifichera’ i danni… considerando che potrebbe vedersi eccepire, in compensazione, le addizionali revenues generate dalla maggior diffusione dei propri contenuti. Noto a margine che in Italia non esistono neppure i treble damages da applicare al willful infringement… Per cui: se l’effetto positivo e’ superiore alla effettiva diminuzione degli ascolti o del valore dell’opera protetta: niente danno e la sanzione dovra’ essere solo ingiuntiva…. Cioe’ la stessa cosa che si sarebbe potuta ottenere in via non contenziosa compilando un modulo di poche righe. Ma, come si dice... À la guerre comme à la guerre!

UPDATE Preciso che non si tratta di compensazione in senso tecnico, come domanda o eccezione riconvenzionale (nel qual caso sarebbe necessario un credito). Ma si tratta di un effetto di limitazione/eliminazione del danno (compensa in senso economico), da valutarsi ai sensi del 1223 e ai sensi del 1226 c.c.. In mancanza di “conseguenze economiche negative” Mediaset ha diritto solo alla tutela ingiuntiva e i danni morali... Visto che nel nostro ordinamento non esistono danni punitivi.

Facebook Big Brother - Personal is Public

2009-12-20T17:33:00.000-08:00

Berlusconi's Smile Crashed - UPDATED

2009-12-13T13:19:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning (9 hours later than people in Italy) and I see this picture.

The person who punched Berlusconi (actually hit him with a small statue of the Milan's Duomo), Mr. Massimo Tartaglia, has been under psychological treatment for more than 10 years. Hence, I'd rather not talk about any political significance of such violent action.

Also, I woke up this morning and I read this article on the New York Times about how political opinions displayed on social networks are monitored by the CIA and the Department of Defense.
Here is the remainder of my considerations:

On Facebook, one hour after the punch, a group in support of Massimo Tartaglia was created and over ~~19,000~~ 22,000 (increased 3,000 by the time I posted this blog) people joined in the next 3 hours. Are there so many people who hate Berlusconi? Apparently yes...
On Twitter (#Berlusconi) the event is receiving huge global coverage at a pace of about 50 twits every minute throughout the last 3 hours. Comments are not flattering for Berlusconi who is not very loved even abroad.
All these people who participated in sharing or commenting the news about Berlusconi are disclosing very sensitive data about their political opinions. Are they aware of the risk of being recorded or profiled? I'd go on out a limb and say no...
Last but not least --security services where art thou? Isn't it unbelievable that anybody could plant a jab in the face of the Italian prime minister?

UPDATE: The group in support of Tartaglia was deleted. Facebook groups about Berlusconi are monitored by the Government. Fake groups in support of Berlusconi were created by changing the title of big existing groups (some created for charity). The situation has never been so bad for freedom of speech in Italy... not in the last 61 years.

EU Ratifies WIPO Internet Treaties

2009-12-14T17:00:00.000-08:00

The EU formally ratified the WIPO Copyright Treaty and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (together known as the "Internet Treatisies"). In practice, this is not a revolution for the applicable regulation since: 1) many EU member States were already and directly parties to these treaties; 2) the content of the WIPO Internet Treaties was mostly included in the Directive 2001/29/EC (Copyright Directive - implemented by all the 27 EU members).

However, this ratification has a symbolic meaning because it is the first time that the EU holds the status of contracting party in the field of copyright. This surely represents a strong endorsement of the WIPO's role in reinforcing international copyright protection and the rights of performers and phonogram producers on the Internet and other digital networks.

Possible Conversation With My Brother

2009-12-11T19:46:00.000-08:00

Net Neutrality - Guess the Quote!

2008-08-19T22:29:00.000-07:00

While watching Lessig's last presentation, I thought - hey this is quite a crisp definition of Net Neutrality: "NN guarantees access to content and applications that people want to choose, not the content and the applications that network providers choose for them." Indeed, "neutrality is the spirit of the Internet" - so that, everybody is free to access any web site, at anytime from anywhere.

So, from another perspective -what's the risk of a non-neutral network?

The answer is in the following quote, and I bet you'd never guess who said that:

"Would you be OK with the post office opening your mail, deciding they didn’t want to bother delivering it, and hiding that fact by sending it back to you stamped “address unknown – return to sender”? Or if they opened letters mailed to you, decided that because the mail truck is full sometimes, letters to you could wait, and then hid both that they read your letters and delayed them?"

Check your guess here!

La Baia e il Tubo (UPDATED)

2008-08-16T13:20:00.000-07:00

Italy and some Italian corporation have recently started a war (in the courtroom, of course) against two of the most representative Internet players - the Pirate Bay and Youtube. The two cases have been harshly criticized in the blogosphere as an assault to freedom of expression and an attempt to weaken the increasing importance of the Internet as a powerful alternative to mainstream media and government propaganda.

My personal opinion: although I can envision the risk of a drift towards a stricter policing regime, the immediate reason of such lawsuits is well grounded on a rather prosaic level: money (or should I say the lack of...).

The old media tycoons are suffering significant revenue losses both from the advertising and the copyright royalties.

Direct sales of hard copies of copyrighted materials (software, movies and music of course) are suffering a perennial downturn. Although the majors are cutting their losses, through on-line distribution, the hostilities against file-sharing have not ceased at all.

On the other hand, the market for on-line advertising has become more and more relevant (Google is constantly increasing its ads revenues), in spite of the traditional advertisement on radio, television and newspapers, which is progressively loosing its share. In fact, the money spent by advertisers tends to be steady and the overall advertising market is not really growing. Thus, it is the same old pie, except that slices are shared differently.

However, both in the Mediaset v. Youtube and in the Pirate Bay case, the problem is not limited to a friction among opposing commercial interests. The situation is way more complicated because Italy and its government interests are complicated.

In Mediaset, it is enough to say that the plaintiff is -somehow- the Italian prime minister, Berlusconi. There is no need to explain his interest in communication and public opinion. Moreover, in Italy some of Berlusconi's main opponents are leveraging the Internet and Youtube to drive their political activities.

As The Pirate Bay is concerned, there are too many things to say.

Access to the Pirate Bay web site has been blocked from Italy and do you know where is the URL re-directing? To a website hosted in England and owned by Pro-Music, namely the majors' association who is "behind" the lawsuits.

This is not quite all: when accessing the Pirate Bay site from Italy, Pro-Music is able to collect information about every user and his cookies-- using such cookies it is possible to access the user's profile in the Pirate Bay database, perhaps giving a look to what files such user recently downloaded, uploaded or searched.

This is enough evidence to bring a strong case in court, of course if we assume it was acquired lawfully.

P.S.

I found a video-demonstration of how it is possible to hack Th Pirate Bay users' identity. Click here!

*UPDATE*

The Italian URL www.thepiratebay.org is not re-directing any more to the Pro-Music web site. The reverse DNS now says "localhost"...

Meanwhile some Italian associations brought the issue before the Privacy Authority. We'll hear about the Pirate Bay again...

WHO IS HIDING IN THE BAY?

Video by www.byoblu.com

The Pirate Bay case - UPDATE

2008-08-23T19:36:00.000-07:00

The URL www.thepiratebay.org, accessed from the Italian ISPs, is not re-directing any more to the Pro-Music's web site. The reverse DNS now says "localhost"...

Meanwhile, an Italian association (ALCEI) brought the issue before the Privacy Authority. We'll hear about the Pirate Bay again... and perhaps it will be possible to understand who (and on what legal basis) gave such order to redirect the traffic (since the Court did not).

TV vs. Web

2008-09-05T12:20:00.000-07:00

We all know that: the Web is much better than the TV. Have a look at this video to find out why...

Yahoo! (s)Mash(ed)

2008-08-29T12:32:00.000-07:00

Yahoo! announced they are going to shut down Mash, the social networking site started less than one year ago. Yesterday, Yahoo! sent a message to Mash’s users warning them to save all profile information somewhere else, since after September 29 Mash won’t be there anymore: “we hope you had fun with it” and sayonara to everybody!

Mash is (or was…) a nicely designed SNS, it just got out there too late. In fact, there is no more room for general/all-purposes SNSs. Market’s needs have been saturated by Facebook (which is BTW celebrating its 100 Million users).

On Facebook, you can search and find most of the people you are in touch with… and eventually you keep more easily in touch with people who use it…

If you are wondering when was last time you e-mailed your old friend who is not on FB, the answer is: longer than others who are on FB: this just is one of the indirect effects of the Network Effect).

However, more and more professionals, teenagers and families keep in touch with Facebook. A law firm is also recruiting on Facebook.
General SNSs (i.e. Facebook) have recently turned into an enriched version of a phonebook, and people use them just like one.

The value of a phonebook is inherently related to its completeness and distribution (AKA the Network Effect). In the SNSs case, both completeness and distribution rely on users activity, which is costly. O.k., filling user’s profile, adding friends and uploading pictures may be fun too, but doing it multiple times may become an hassle. Anyway, swinging from a SNS to another is time consuming and there isn’t really reason to do it.

On the other hand, some SNSs are pursuing another strategy to gain a spot in the market, namely specialization. Facebook’s internal networks or groups are not specific enough to satisfy users' needs. Sometimes, the features of a SNS just don’t match a specific purpose or taste of its users.

Thus, people who share a common interest, or come from a certain location tend to aggregate around a specialized SNS. There are plenty of examples.

MySpace (which is still growing) is gradually specializing in music. Its users share an interest in famous as well as emergent bands’ productions. Thus, the features available for users’ profile customization match this purpose. Flickr is another good example: it is more than a photo sharing, is an active community of photographers. Thus, the quality/dimension of the pictures you can up/download is way superior to other SNSs. Orkut, of the Google family, is well established in a few countries (e.g. Brazil), where it is much bigger than Facebook. In fact, Orkut benefited of FB’s initial language deficiency and enjoyed a first comer advantage.

Therefore, SNSs new trends will be driven by the ability to interpret the concept of a hub, where people may find features and design able to satisfy an unexploited aggregating element. And of course, a huge amount of luck…

The Strange Case of Dr. User and Mr. Ads

2008-09-26T21:59:00.000-07:00

MySpace just came up with a brilliant idea (IMHO): a new advertising platform to "Promote You". Check it here.
Given the quasi-monopolistic situation of the web-advertisement market, it was key to establish direct relationships with advertisers, to get better returns for the huge inventory held with MySpace.
In fact, this is quite common for most of the big Internet services, which have an in-house department of ads sales, in order to fight Google position as main ads broker.
The original strategy undertaken by MySpace is to sign-up its own users as advertisers. In this way, MySpace is creating new ads demand, while granting very targeted service to its users/advertisers.
Although in theory everybody, including businesses, could place his ads on MySpace, because of the demographic of MySpace's users, it is more likely that the most active advertisers will be just the most engaged users. After all, we know that these users are artists, musicians who are already promoting themselves on MySpace. Now they might enjoy a more powerful tool to do so, and guess what, they will be paying for that.
I think this strategy may represent a partial solution to the shrinking of ads revenue coming from traditional advertisers, namely off-line business. Not to mention that having a relevant presence in the ads brokering market can surely be beneficial for such a concentrated market.

KIDS Act Passed Into Law

2008-10-14T22:10:00.000-07:00

The Keeping the Internet Devoid of Sexual Predators Act of 2008 is now law. The KIDS Act provides for an information exchange between the Attorney General and the social networking sites, in order to prevent known sexual predators from accessing such websites. In particular, Attorney General shall establish and maintain a secure system that permits social networking websites to compare the information contained in the National Sex Offender Registry with the Internet identifiers of users of the social networking websites. The new law has been promptly embraced by Facebook.

Europe Aims to Lead the Transition to Web 3.0

2008-10-03T02:42:00.000-07:00

Somebody may argue that the Internet is a living creature. In fact, instead of following a linear pattern like other sciences and technologies, the rhythm of its evolution progresses in terms of generations.

In the beginning there was the Web (nobody ever called it Web 1.0...) and, if you
are nostalgic about it, you may want to travel in the past and check a 2001 vintage "Google!" search . The exclamation mark was a must-have-it, during the age of Web 1.0.

Then Youtube, Twitter and Facebook took over and here you go with the second generation: the Web 2.0 - the most (ab)used expression to describe the articulated variety of internet services involving users' active participation. But this is history, already.

In fact, despite the eggheads cannot even agree on its precise definition, the Web 3.0 is a reality.
Moreover, such concept of Web 3.0 has already been embraced by the European Commission , which defined it as the Internet of Things, taking place through wireless interaction between machines, vehicles, appliances, sensors and many other devices. "Web 3.0 means seamless 'anytime, anywhere' business, entertainment and social networking over fast reliable and secure networks," said Viviane Reding, Commissioner for Information Society and Media. "It means the end of the divide between mobile and fixed lines. It signals a tenfold quantum leap in the scale of the digital universe by 2015. Europe has the know-how and the network capacity to lead this transformation. We must make sure that Web 3.0 is made and used in Europe."
I personally appreciate and welcome this attitude and look forward to seeing Europe leading the Web 3.0 revolution. However, if you actually read the Communication , you may notice that the challenges for the implementation of a fully integrated network deeply involve the European local authorities, the EU legislation and - last but not least - significant investments in infrastructures. Hopefully, the European bureaucracy will be able to keep pace with the Web re-generation cycle because, just in case you nobody told you, there are already more the a hundred thousand results for the Web 4.0.

Sex sells... it sells better if viral

2009-03-04T13:49:00.000-08:00

I was on Youtube watching some random news about Berlusconi and Geddhafi playing best friends and at the end of the video I got prompted with a quite sticky advertisement by TripAdvisor. The idea is cool for at least three reasons. 1) Sex sells. 2) The message is funny and ironic. 3) Everybody got a bad experience in some crappy hotel.
I think this is a good example of a viral marketing campaign. In fact, the advertisement exactly captures the reasons why everybody will be likely to share this video with his friends, coworkers, etc....
The subject matter of the video (dirty stories in hotel rooms) is universal. It catches everybody's curiosity. Needless to say, the outfit of the actress is an essential component of the message itself.
The tone of the advertising is clever and ironic. Just after 10 seconds you'll find out that "dirty" is used in its literal meaning, out of any metaphor and regardless of the nuances suggested by the dramatic look of the actress.
And eventually, the punch line/call to action: check the list and send us your experience about dirty hotels. Well, I am sure that anybody who recently had a bad experience will be happy to be vocal about his complaints.
Therefore, if many people are following the suggestion, this collection of complaints is more than entertaining: it is useful information.
Perhaps, this is a good example of conversational marketing. I find this is gonna be an interesting evolution of the traditional viral campaigns. I believe that the main feature of this marketing strategy is to get the users to contribute directly to the message, acting as a "collective" testimonial. I am sure we will have to speak again about conversational marketing...

33 VIP Twitter Accounts Hacked

2009-01-07T07:02:00.000-08:00

Some weeks ago I got an account on Twitter.com - it's just another way to give-up my privacy, of course... but at least it is a fun way to do it - I told to myself - because you decide exactly the personal info you are giving up. Yesterday, I had to reconsider when I read on Twitter's blog that Obama's and Britney Spears' accounts have been hacked.
Somebody with an extraordinary sense of humor was twittering impersonating the legitimate owners of the hacked accounts... Sometimes, the twitter posts were so strange and non-sense to look absolutely real!

Facebook Offers to Settle Privacy Class Action

2009-12-09T13:02:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I received an interesting message from Facebook (not my friends on Facebook...):

Facebook is sending you this notice of a proposed class action settlement that may affect your legal rights as a Facebook member who may have used the Beacon program. [...]
Under the proposed settlement, Facebook will terminate the Beacon program. In addition, Facebook will provide $9.5 million to establish an independent non-profit foundation that will identify and fund projects and initiatives that promote the cause of online privacy, safety, and security. [...]

This was already on the media some weeks ago. Now, you can also read all the details and documents regarding this case HERE. Facebook admitted no liability for the Beacon case. It is very generous that Facebook offered to pay $9.5 to establish a non-profit...

".EU" TLD in 23 Language Characters

2009-12-10T12:00:00.000-08:00

Now we can register a domain name with all kind of Cyrillic or Greek characters, such as "Удача.eu"(*) or "Καλήτύχη.eu"(*). This is good news!

I frankly think it is a very good ~~marketing~~ idea to spread ".eu" TLD names locally. This solution will also benefit of all the proud users of á, â, é, ê í, î, ó, ø, ö, ø, ô, ú, ü, etc. It is a good thing... Perhaps, not really a game changing feature, but it will help many people to use the web in their own language.
However, I doubt that such use of the ".eu" TLD will also help the global audience to reach these websites.
One issue is as obvious as important: keyboards. Not everybody will be able to use the international characters unless clearly displayed on a keyboard.
I suppose that Internet browsers will have to start working pretty soon at some version of an integrated virtual keyboard, possibly with translation features. It's not a bad idea to drop a request to Mozilla...

(*) Both domain names mean "Good Luck."
Please do not squat this URLs :)

Privacy Means User's Education

2009-12-09T15:18:00.000-08:00

A couple of years ago Sophos made an interesting research showing that 41% of Facebook users were happy to disclose information to strangers.

Today, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, commenting the new privacy settings on Facebook, argues (among the other things) that despite the new settings allow improved privacy it is not at all easy to understand the best protective configuration.

Again, the problem ends up being that users often aren't aware of what they need to do to protect their privacy. Probably because not everybody is entirely aware of the risks of data mishandling or identity theft.

Facebook Publishing Settings

2009-12-11T19:16:00.000-08:00

Facebook keeps asking me if I intend to change my privacy settings or stick with the old ones. Well, I tried to choose the latter but it looks like my decision was not convincing for Facebook... In fact, when today it prompted me again with the same question (and I replied in the same way) I found that my "old" settings were not the old ones whatsoever. So, I patiently had to go back, review and re-uncheck everything... because, in case you had any doubts, the default settings are such that you share everything.
So, why don't they just come clean and start asking whether you want to manage your publishing settings?

SMILE, not SCRATCH (When You Pick a Domain Name)

2008-08-27T11:51:00.000-07:00

It would be great if you’d enter our naming competition. We’re currently calling our online language exchange service Lingolink; unfortunately, the lingolink.com domain is already taken and the owner is not willing to sell it to us.

Once the service is up and running the winner of the "competition" will receive a special mention on this blog!!! (Exciting, isn't it?!) To enter, by Friday, Sept 5, please send me your top five names. Feel free to include your friends, co-workers and family members as well. Make it a fun, brainstorming event :o)

Through the name of the service we want to communicate the following characteristics:

We connect people from around the world through language exchange.

We’re an on-line market for the buying and selling of language services.

We’re the go to place where people have fun and make friends from around the world.

On our site users feel that we are using technology for learning unlike anyone else. This is the best way to practice speaking a language.

Users say “aha” after using the service. “I finally understand what that word means.”

We’ll most likely pick the name that meets the following criteria:

Needs to possess these qualities

Simple –- one easy-to-understand concept

Meaningful –- customer instantly “get it”

Imagery –- visually evocative, creates a mental picture

Legs –- carries the brand, lends itself to wordplay

Emotional –- empowers, entertains, engages, enlightens

Deal-breakers

Spelling-challenged — you have to tell people how to spell it

Copycat – similar to competitor’s names

Random – disconnected from the brand

Annoying – hidden meaning, forced

Tame – flat, uninspired, boring, non-emotional

Curse of knowledge – only insiders get it

Hard-to-pronounce – not obvious, relies on punctuation

I can't wait to receive your suggestions!

PS. This is my avatar...

Creative Commons Meet in Rome...

2009-12-09T13:41:00.001-08:00

And this time I am gonna make it!

New Template!

2009-12-08T10:21:00.000-08:00

I've just uploaded this new template for the blog... much nicer, I think.

Pick a Name!

2008-08-13T04:40:00.000-07:00

In these days I am going to pick a name for my start-up. It is a language learning service, but I'd prefer some name unrelated to the nature of the service.

My concern is to find something which is short, sexy, easy to spell and to remember. Besides, since it would be an international service, I'd like to avoid anything that could sound awkward or offensive in other languages... like cin cin, which is nice if you are in Italy, not so much in Japan... or cozza, a shellfish in Italy, not edible in Germany.

I look fwd to hearing what you'd pick!

Write your suggestion here!
P.S.

My new favicon.

TOS, in Beta

2009-03-02T12:23:00.000-08:00

These last few weeks have been intense. Among the others, I've been crafting the Terms Of Use and the Privacy Policies of Ukindi.com. Of course I started looking at other websites' TOS and PP, as a I needed a good comparable. Not so much to use the actual language (which BTW is not copyrightable, as legal language...) but mostly to understand about best practices and market trends... Of course, I chose the best moment to take over this task - the following day I finished my first draft, Facebook took down its TOS... Now they say it is because FB is a democratic SNS. I suppose it is sort of a revolution -- when did people start actually reading the TOS?

Anyway, I am preparing a second draft... and I start thinking that I will never be actually ready with a final, solid, definitive version of the TOS. Both the features of the websites and the users' interaction will be constantly changing, and envisioning a thorough regulatory framework is not easy.
Sometime I wish it would be possible to have legal conditions in BETA... which is basically what the following language is meant to be: "We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to change, modify, add, or delete portions of these Terms of Use at any time without further notice, provided that the Company will post the changes to these Terms of Use on this page and will indicate at the top of this page the date these terms were last revised. Your continued use of the Site after any such changes constitutes your acceptance of the new Terms of Use."