Latest Podcast



Featured Articles

Ofcom helps protect customers against unexpected roaming charges

Ofcom helps protect customers against unexpected roaming charges

UK service providers must notify customers when they connect to a different network

New rules from UK telecoms regulator Ofcom will protect customers when they use their mobile phone on a foreign network. In addition, customers will be alerted if they are inadvertently roaming, perhaps because they're near an international border.
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

Global smartphone market is set for recovery, says new forecast

A new forecast from research specialists Canalys shows the smartphone market is set to recover next year. Worldwide shipments declined by 12% last year but that decline is expected to slow to 5% this year.
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating
Vodafone and Three plan to merge their UK businesses

Vodafone and Three plan to merge their UK businesses

New Hutchison/Vodafone network would be biggest UK operator

Vodafone Group plc and CK Hutchison Group Telecom Holdings Limited have agreed to combine their UK telecommunication businesses, respectively Vodafone UK and Three UK. The merger will create a large new network operator to compete with Virgin Media O2 and EE.
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

UK mobile payment service Paym to close in March 2023

UK mobile payment service Paym will close on 7th March 2023. The service, which allowed users to make and receive payments using their mobile phone numbers, was launched in 2014.
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating
Qualcomm legal action moves forward in the UK

Qualcomm legal action moves forward in the UK

Which? seeks payout for Samsung and Apple smartphone owners

Consumer protection organisation Which? has been given permission by the UK's Competition Appeal Tribunal to represent Apple and Samsung smartphone buyers in a legal case against chip manufacturer Qualcomm.
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating
RSS

Opinion Articles

Friday, September 23, 2011

Don't worry about Facebook Timeline... worry about your data, wherever it is

Mark Bridge writes:

I’m glad I don't work for Facebook. One minute everyone loves you, the next minute they hate you. Multiply that by the 500 million people now using Facebook every day and I’d be pretty insecure.

Introduce a new feature or change the design and there’ll be protests that use Facebook itself as a forum. Oh, the irony. Yet within milliseconds Facebook may also be struggling to cope with the unexpectedly high usage.

And then there’s the suspicion about any new services. Which brings me nicely to Facebook Timeline.

Announced yesterday, Facebook Timeline is designed to help me share my entire life online. At the moment it’s only available to developers but it’ll go public in the next few weeks. Along with that announcement, made at Facebook’s f8 developer conference, came news of new partnerships and potential applications - ‘social apps’ - that’ll work with Timeline.

Browse through a newspaper or book online and you’ll automatically share your reading material with your friends (assuming you opted in, naturally). Listen to music or watch a video and it’ll become part of your Timeline. In fact, from going for a jog to playing online games, you can automatically share large chunks of your life in your Timeline. Not just from your PC but from your mobile phone as well.

Online timelines aren’t a new idea, of course. Dipity launched its timeline service a few years ago, while Memolane launched publicly this year. But neither of these have the same scale or the same level of developer involvement as Facebook.

Cue the outcry. “Share too much online and you’ll attract unwanted real-world attention”. Quite possibly. If someone sees from your Facebook profile that you go running every Thursday morning, they could break into your house when you’re out. Then again, they could simply see you walking away from the house.

Yes, if the opting-in part goes wrong you might end up with another Facebook Beacon.  But Facebook isn’t really doing anything with data that other companies aren’t.

If you have a supermarket loyalty card, your supermarket knows what you buy and where you buy it. There’s every possibility you’ve given them permission to sell the data to someone else, too. Buying cat food?  The same brand every week?  Try our new flavour, with extra crunch. Or extra squeak. Would you like to buy our pet insurance?  You’re going on holiday soon, aren’t you?  Why not put kitty in our cattery?

The difference with Facebook is the potential amount of information that could be shared. But assuming you read the opt-in terms - and assuming there are no embarrassing security issues - you shouldn’t be especially worried. If you don’t want to share, don’t do it.

Ultimately, if you don’t like Facebook, close your account.  (It’s the new ‘not owning a television’, so I’m told).

However, I’m not ruling out the possibility of headline-grabbing privacy worries when Facebook Timeline goes live. Some people may well be shocked by the amount of information they’re sharing online - and the patterns in their history. If so, Facebook Timeline may turn out to be a valuable - and timely - lesson.

Print
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Rate this article:
No rating

Leave a comment

This form collects your name, email, IP address and content so that we can keep track of the comments placed on the website. For more info check our Privacy Policy and Terms Of Use where you will get more info on where, how and why we store your data.
Add comment

Recent Podcasts

Podcast - 24th August 2011

It's another big news week for the mobile industry. HP is dropping its webOS phones and tablets, Skype is buying a mobile messaging company, Symbian introduces 'Anna' and RIM has three new sociable BlackBerry devices.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

Podcast - 19th August 2011

It's becoming increasingly important for companies to keep records of mobile phone calls and text messages - and in some cases it's also a legal requirement. In this week's podcast, Ian Hook from Compliant Phones explains the challenges and reveals the answers.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

Podcast - 17th August 2011

There's big news this week as Google announces plans to buy Motorola Mobility, Apple gets Samsung's new tablet banned and HTC invests in audio technology.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

Podcast - 12th August 2011

A few years ago, VoIP – the ability to make calls over the internet - promised to change the way mobile phones were used. Tanveer Sharif, CEO and co-founder of international call service Vopium, joins us this week to talk about the subject.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

Podcast - 10th August 2011

This week's podcast covers Ofcom's survey into 'smartphone addiction' and the rest of the UK's top mobile industry headlines, from new BlackBerry devices to anti-Android hostility.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating
RSS
First4748495052545556Last

Follow thefonecast.com

Twitter @TheFonecast RSS podcast feed
Find us on Facebook Subscribe free via iTunes

Archive Calendar

«November 2024»
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun
28293031123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
2526272829301
2345678

Archive

Terms Of Use | Privacy Statement