Writing in a rare blog post, the social network site's founder and chief executive said he “founded Facebook on the idea that people want to share and connect with people in their lives, but to do this everyone needs complete control over who they share with at all times”.
But he added that while overall the site had a good history of being open about privacy, "I am the first to admit that we have made a bunch of mistakes".
He also admitted that the site's executives "can always do better" on the controversial issue.
His comments came after the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) accused Facebook of systematically invading user privacy on seven specific counts, including when the social network had changed settings to make more of its users' information publicly visible.
The new plan to settle the compaints marks a major step on the social network’s road to its initial public offering, which had been widely expected to value the company at $100 billion.
Facebook will now be “required to obtain consumers’ affirmative express consent before enacting changes that override their privacy preferences”.
This will effectively make all major future privacy control changes opt in. Facebook must also submit to privacy audits every 2 years for the next 20 years, stop any access to content on deactivated accounts, and present its policies on privacy or security of user data more clearly.
Although new settings can apparently be added without requiring users to opt in, new services will now require users to explicitly give their consent if they are to take part. Facebook Places, for example, which allows users to check-in online to physical locations, was cited as an example of a service that Facebook would not now be able to turn on for all users without their consent.
Zuckerberg conceded that the site had made major mistakes with users’ privacy, citing the launch of the ‘Beacon’ system which showed users’ friends their shopping habits, and the company’s previous changes to privacy policies.
He claimed, however, that “When I built the first version of Facebook, almost nobody I knew wanted a public page on the internet. That seemed scary. But as long as they could make their page private, they felt safe sharing with their friends online. Control was key”.
Zuckerberg put the social network’s success down to making it “easy for people to feel comfortable sharing things about their real lives”.
“Overall, I think we have a good history of providing transparency and control over who can see your information,” he wrote.
"That said, I'm the first to admit that we've made a bunch of mistakes. In particular, I think that a small number of high profile mistakes, like Beacon four years ago and poor execution as we transitioned our privacy model two years ago, have often overshadowed much of the good work we've done.
"I also understand that many people are just naturally skeptical of what it means for hundreds of millions of people to share so much personal information online, especially using any one service."
He added: "Even if our record on privacy were perfect, I think many people would still rightfully question how their information was protected. It's important for people to think about this, and not one day goes by when I don't think about what it means for us to be the stewards of this community and their trust.
Facebook has always been committed to being transparent about the information you have stored with us – and we have led the internet in building tools to give people the ability to see and control what they share.
"But we can also always do better. I'm committed to making Facebook the leader in transparency and control around privacy."
The new agreement with the FTC “means we're making a clear and formal long-term commitment to do the things we've always tried to do and planned to keep doing - giving you tools to control who can see your information and then making sure only those people you intend can see it”, Zuckerberg said.
The social network will now also have two Chief Privacy Officers; former lawyer Erin Egan will be responsible for Policy, while Michael Richter will become Chief Privacy Officer, Products. Richter is currently Facebook's Chief Privacy Counsel.
Overall, the changes are set to alter Facebook’s development of new products, as well as its attitude to users. FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said ”Facebook’s innovation does not have to come at the expense of consumer privacy. The FTC action will ensure it will not.”
The proposals will now be put to a 30-day consultation period. They are likely to meet the majority of the concerns raised be European privacy regulators, although those issues remain unresolved.
Wednesday 30 November 2011
Monday 28 November 2011
Friday 25 November 2011
Nokia: The giant with its fingers crossed (The Independent)
Finnish firm Nokia still sells more phones than anyone – but after being outwitted by Apple and co, the firm's future rests on the success of a new model.
Remember Nokia? Before Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone in January 2007, the Finnish firm bestrode the handheld mobile device market like a colossus. There's at least half a chance you owned one of its phones, given that Nokia was regularly responsible for five of the top 10 handsets sold in the UK in any financial quarter.
Its devices were simple, with intuitive keypads that became as familiar as the qwerty keyboard. They were reliable: a dropped phone rarely cracked, and a dropped call rarely occurred. They were ubiquitous: someone in your office always had a Nokia charger when you needed one. The Nokia 3210 sold 160 million units, the Nokia 1100 250 million. In some parts of the world, "Nokia" means mobile phone, just as "Hoover" means vacuum cleaner.
Over the past five years, however, the company has been edged out of the top end of the market by Apple, and out of the mid-market by phones using Google's Android operating system (OS); in the business bracket, it was buried by BlackBerry. Nokia has lost more than £53bn since 2007 and watched its market value fall by 75 per cent.
Mike Butcher, editor of TechCrunch Europe, describes the contrast between Nokia and its rivals vividly. "Steve Jobs launching iPhone was incredible to watch," he says. "He'd stand up there like he was the fifth Beatle and unveil an amazing, sinuous mobile smartphone. Then you'd go to a Nokia event and they'd launch a phone called something like the ZX27493."
In February, Nokia's CEO, Stephen Elop, wrote a now-notorious memo to his staff, in which he recounted the parable of a man standing on a burning oil platform in the North Sea. "He could stand on the platform, and inevitably be consumed by the burning flames," the email read. "Or, he could plunge 30 metres into the freezing waters. The man was standing upon a 'burning platform', and he needed to make a choice... Nokia, our platform is burning."
Elop's leap into the choppy waters consisted of 4,000 job cuts and a "strategic alliance" with Microsoft to produce new devices using the software giant's Windows Phone OS. This led, in turn, to the launch of the phone on which Nokia's hopes now rest: the Lumia 800, which reached stores yesterday. At £366 per handset, the Lumia 800 is a sleek, high-spec device designed to compete with the likes of the iPhone, the Samsung Galaxy or the HTC Sensation.
It syncs your contacts directly to Facebook, links remotely to your Xbox, and has a decent Nokia-built maps application. The Lumia 710 (£235) is being launched simultaneously with the mid-market in mind. Both phones run not on Nokia's own smartphone OS, Symbian, but on Windows Phone 7.5 Mango. When Nokia launched the Lumia at its Nokia World event last month, it was described as "the first real Windows phone".
Nokia remains the world's biggest mobile phone manufacturer, and in fact its devices last year outsold the iPhone globally by almost two to one. But the Finnish firm's global share of phone sales last year fell below 30 per cent for the first time. In the developing world, it now has to contend with cheap Chinese knock-offs. In the developed world, it is struggling against the cultural tide.
As well as high-visibility advertising, Nokia is staging the UK's largest "4D" light and music event in history on the Thames. On the evening of 28 November, the Millbank area of central London will be plunged into darkness, and the Millbank Tower transformed into a canvas for a spectacular 4D projection and a performance by Canadian producer/DJ Deadmau5.
"A flagship device would normally demand about £5m of investment in its promotion," one industry insider estimates. "We're seeing maybe four times that spent on the Lumia 800."
"Mobile phones quickly became less about the device itself than about the ecosystem of applications," Mike Butcher explains. "As soon as the iPhone and the App Store launched, there was a huge proliferation of applications: clever map apps, bus timetables, you name it. Nokia was blind-sided. Their device strategy was totally scattered. They ended up with three different operating systems, their Ovi apps store didn't work properly, they didn't have a good mapping app, which was a big deal on the iPhone."
Google's Android OS compounded Nokia's woes. The company opened its own shop opposite the Apple Store in Regent Street in 2008, but failed to win over an indifferent public. It closed after less than two years.
Network operators want Nokia and the Lumia to succeed, to keep the mobile market competitive. Microsoft wants it to succeed, so Windows Phone can compete with Android and Apple. When Windows 8 launches next year, it will bring with it yet more advanced handsets for Windows Phone. "I saw the roster of devices that are coming out," says John Nichols, Nokia UK's marketing boss, "and it was one of the greatest days of my career."
The Lumia already boasts plenty of pre-orders, and the tech blogs have given it great write-ups. Gizmodo calls it "by far the best Windows Phone you can buy". Jack Kent, a mobile media analyst at IHS Screen Digest, agrees. "One phone won't turn things around," he says, "but it's the start of a comeback."
Remember Nokia? Before Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone in January 2007, the Finnish firm bestrode the handheld mobile device market like a colossus. There's at least half a chance you owned one of its phones, given that Nokia was regularly responsible for five of the top 10 handsets sold in the UK in any financial quarter.
Its devices were simple, with intuitive keypads that became as familiar as the qwerty keyboard. They were reliable: a dropped phone rarely cracked, and a dropped call rarely occurred. They were ubiquitous: someone in your office always had a Nokia charger when you needed one. The Nokia 3210 sold 160 million units, the Nokia 1100 250 million. In some parts of the world, "Nokia" means mobile phone, just as "Hoover" means vacuum cleaner.
Over the past five years, however, the company has been edged out of the top end of the market by Apple, and out of the mid-market by phones using Google's Android operating system (OS); in the business bracket, it was buried by BlackBerry. Nokia has lost more than £53bn since 2007 and watched its market value fall by 75 per cent.
Mike Butcher, editor of TechCrunch Europe, describes the contrast between Nokia and its rivals vividly. "Steve Jobs launching iPhone was incredible to watch," he says. "He'd stand up there like he was the fifth Beatle and unveil an amazing, sinuous mobile smartphone. Then you'd go to a Nokia event and they'd launch a phone called something like the ZX27493."
In February, Nokia's CEO, Stephen Elop, wrote a now-notorious memo to his staff, in which he recounted the parable of a man standing on a burning oil platform in the North Sea. "He could stand on the platform, and inevitably be consumed by the burning flames," the email read. "Or, he could plunge 30 metres into the freezing waters. The man was standing upon a 'burning platform', and he needed to make a choice... Nokia, our platform is burning."
Elop's leap into the choppy waters consisted of 4,000 job cuts and a "strategic alliance" with Microsoft to produce new devices using the software giant's Windows Phone OS. This led, in turn, to the launch of the phone on which Nokia's hopes now rest: the Lumia 800, which reached stores yesterday. At £366 per handset, the Lumia 800 is a sleek, high-spec device designed to compete with the likes of the iPhone, the Samsung Galaxy or the HTC Sensation.
It syncs your contacts directly to Facebook, links remotely to your Xbox, and has a decent Nokia-built maps application. The Lumia 710 (£235) is being launched simultaneously with the mid-market in mind. Both phones run not on Nokia's own smartphone OS, Symbian, but on Windows Phone 7.5 Mango. When Nokia launched the Lumia at its Nokia World event last month, it was described as "the first real Windows phone".
Nokia remains the world's biggest mobile phone manufacturer, and in fact its devices last year outsold the iPhone globally by almost two to one. But the Finnish firm's global share of phone sales last year fell below 30 per cent for the first time. In the developing world, it now has to contend with cheap Chinese knock-offs. In the developed world, it is struggling against the cultural tide.
As well as high-visibility advertising, Nokia is staging the UK's largest "4D" light and music event in history on the Thames. On the evening of 28 November, the Millbank area of central London will be plunged into darkness, and the Millbank Tower transformed into a canvas for a spectacular 4D projection and a performance by Canadian producer/DJ Deadmau5.
"A flagship device would normally demand about £5m of investment in its promotion," one industry insider estimates. "We're seeing maybe four times that spent on the Lumia 800."
"Mobile phones quickly became less about the device itself than about the ecosystem of applications," Mike Butcher explains. "As soon as the iPhone and the App Store launched, there was a huge proliferation of applications: clever map apps, bus timetables, you name it. Nokia was blind-sided. Their device strategy was totally scattered. They ended up with three different operating systems, their Ovi apps store didn't work properly, they didn't have a good mapping app, which was a big deal on the iPhone."
Google's Android OS compounded Nokia's woes. The company opened its own shop opposite the Apple Store in Regent Street in 2008, but failed to win over an indifferent public. It closed after less than two years.
Network operators want Nokia and the Lumia to succeed, to keep the mobile market competitive. Microsoft wants it to succeed, so Windows Phone can compete with Android and Apple. When Windows 8 launches next year, it will bring with it yet more advanced handsets for Windows Phone. "I saw the roster of devices that are coming out," says John Nichols, Nokia UK's marketing boss, "and it was one of the greatest days of my career."
The Lumia already boasts plenty of pre-orders, and the tech blogs have given it great write-ups. Gizmodo calls it "by far the best Windows Phone you can buy". Jack Kent, a mobile media analyst at IHS Screen Digest, agrees. "One phone won't turn things around," he says, "but it's the start of a comeback."
Wednesday 23 November 2011
Wednesday 16 November 2011
Scientists boost battery strength with small holes
Batteries for phones and laptops could soon recharge ten times faster and hold a charge ten times larger than current technology allows.
Scientists at Northwestern University in the US have changed the materials in lithium-ion batteries to boost their abilities.
One change involves poking millions of minuscule holes in the battery.
Batteries built using the novel technique could be in the shops within five years, estimate the scientists.
Fast movers
A mobile phone battery built using the Northwestern techniques would charge from flat in 15 minutes and last a week before needing a recharge.
The density and movement of lithium ions are key to the process.
Dr Harold Kung and his team at Northwestern said they have found a way to cram more of the ions in and to speed up their movement by altering the materials used to manufacture a battery.
The maximum charge has been boosted by replacing sheets of silicon with tiny clusters of the substance to increase the amount of lithium ions a battery can hold on to.
The recharging speed has been accelerated using a chemical oxidation process which drills small holes - just 20-40 nanometers wide - in the atom-thick sheets of graphene that batteries are made of.
This helps lithium ions move and find a place to be stored much faster.
The downside is that the recharging and power gains fall off sharply after a battery has been charged about 150 times.
"Even after 150 charges, which would be one year or more of operation, the battery is still five times more effective than lithium-ion batteries on the market today," said lead scientist Prof Harold Kung from the chemical and biological engineering department at Northwestern.
So far, the work done by the team has concentrated on making improvements to anodes - where the current flows into the batteries when they are providing power.
The group now plans to study the cathode - where the current flows out - to make further improvements.
A paper detailing the work of Prof Kung and his co-workers has been published in the journal Advanced Energy Materials.
Scientists at Northwestern University in the US have changed the materials in lithium-ion batteries to boost their abilities.
One change involves poking millions of minuscule holes in the battery.
Batteries built using the novel technique could be in the shops within five years, estimate the scientists.
Fast movers
A mobile phone battery built using the Northwestern techniques would charge from flat in 15 minutes and last a week before needing a recharge.
The density and movement of lithium ions are key to the process.
Dr Harold Kung and his team at Northwestern said they have found a way to cram more of the ions in and to speed up their movement by altering the materials used to manufacture a battery.
The maximum charge has been boosted by replacing sheets of silicon with tiny clusters of the substance to increase the amount of lithium ions a battery can hold on to.
The recharging speed has been accelerated using a chemical oxidation process which drills small holes - just 20-40 nanometers wide - in the atom-thick sheets of graphene that batteries are made of.
This helps lithium ions move and find a place to be stored much faster.
The downside is that the recharging and power gains fall off sharply after a battery has been charged about 150 times.
"Even after 150 charges, which would be one year or more of operation, the battery is still five times more effective than lithium-ion batteries on the market today," said lead scientist Prof Harold Kung from the chemical and biological engineering department at Northwestern.
So far, the work done by the team has concentrated on making improvements to anodes - where the current flows into the batteries when they are providing power.
The group now plans to study the cathode - where the current flows out - to make further improvements.
A paper detailing the work of Prof Kung and his co-workers has been published in the journal Advanced Energy Materials.
Monday 14 November 2011
Google Music store ‘missing Sony and Warner’
Invitations to the US event, which is taking place this Wednesday 16 November, have gone out to journalists and industry executives,
Google is understood to have only signed one deal with Universal Music Group, which has just acquired EMI, to provide music for its download store.
According to technology site CNET, executives from the label will be present at the event this week. However, Sony Music and Warner Music are understood to have not yet signed.
Negotiations between the remaining two major labels and Google are continuing as the music industry is keen for a new service to rival Apple’s iTunes.
Google declined to comment.
The download store is expected to be US-only at launch but will gradually roll out to the UK and other territories.
Google is trying to ensure that it can offer its Android mobile users a full movie and music offering.
A few weeks ago Google announced a movie rental service for UK Android users.
Google is understood to have only signed one deal with Universal Music Group, which has just acquired EMI, to provide music for its download store.
According to technology site CNET, executives from the label will be present at the event this week. However, Sony Music and Warner Music are understood to have not yet signed.
Negotiations between the remaining two major labels and Google are continuing as the music industry is keen for a new service to rival Apple’s iTunes.
Google declined to comment.
The download store is expected to be US-only at launch but will gradually roll out to the UK and other territories.
Google is trying to ensure that it can offer its Android mobile users a full movie and music offering.
A few weeks ago Google announced a movie rental service for UK Android users.
Saturday 12 November 2011
Friday 11 November 2011
Facebook will be forced to get approval from its 800million users before exposing profiles
Facebook is close to a settlement with U.S. federal regulators that would require the internet giant to obtain approval from its 800million users before making changes that expose their profiles to a wider audience.
Currently, Facebook can alter elements of the site which it believes will improve the social network and then leaves it to users to reset anything they don't like - a process known as 'opting out'.
However, if an agreement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is approved, the firm would have to get explicit consent from each of its users before changing its privacy settings, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Citing unnamed sources who were familiar with the situation, the Journal said Facebook has agreed to make the changes to resolve a two-year investigation by the FTC.
Companies introducing a feature or service generally prefer an 'opt out' system because fewer people take the steps required to get out of the changes.
The FTC opened its probe into Facebook after the website made changes that automatically showed users' names, pictures, hometowns and other personal information available for anyone to see.
That upset people who had deliberately programmed their privacy settings to confine that information to a specific group of friends or family.
As part of its proposed settlement, Facebook would also submit to government reviews of its privacy practices for 20 years, according to the Journal.
The audits are similar to the scrutiny that Google agreed to undergo earlier this year.
That agreement settled an FTC investigation into Google's handling of people's personal information in February 2010 when it launched a service called Buzz to counter Facebook.
Buzz exposed the email contacts of unwitting users, a breach that the FTC considered to be a deceptive practice. Google is now in the process of closing Buzz to focus on another social network called Plus that debuted in June.
Speaking earlier this week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he believes the website's changes over the past year have given users greater control over their privacy.
He said: 'I think we're going to need to keep on making it easier and easier, but that's our mission, right?'
'I mean, we have to do that because now, if people feel like they don't have control over how they're sharing things, then we're failing them.'
Read more http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2060262/Facebook-forced-approval-800million-users-exposing-profiles.html?ITO=1490
Currently, Facebook can alter elements of the site which it believes will improve the social network and then leaves it to users to reset anything they don't like - a process known as 'opting out'.
However, if an agreement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is approved, the firm would have to get explicit consent from each of its users before changing its privacy settings, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Citing unnamed sources who were familiar with the situation, the Journal said Facebook has agreed to make the changes to resolve a two-year investigation by the FTC.
Companies introducing a feature or service generally prefer an 'opt out' system because fewer people take the steps required to get out of the changes.
The FTC opened its probe into Facebook after the website made changes that automatically showed users' names, pictures, hometowns and other personal information available for anyone to see.
That upset people who had deliberately programmed their privacy settings to confine that information to a specific group of friends or family.
As part of its proposed settlement, Facebook would also submit to government reviews of its privacy practices for 20 years, according to the Journal.
The audits are similar to the scrutiny that Google agreed to undergo earlier this year.
That agreement settled an FTC investigation into Google's handling of people's personal information in February 2010 when it launched a service called Buzz to counter Facebook.
Buzz exposed the email contacts of unwitting users, a breach that the FTC considered to be a deceptive practice. Google is now in the process of closing Buzz to focus on another social network called Plus that debuted in June.
Speaking earlier this week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he believes the website's changes over the past year have given users greater control over their privacy.
He said: 'I think we're going to need to keep on making it easier and easier, but that's our mission, right?'
'I mean, we have to do that because now, if people feel like they don't have control over how they're sharing things, then we're failing them.'
Read more http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2060262/Facebook-forced-approval-800million-users-exposing-profiles.html?ITO=1490
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
