Diaspora and Tent: open alternatives to Facebook

After several weeks of shocking revelations about Facebook accounts being hacked to say things their users never intended, needless to say I’m quite depressed about the state of social networks. I am actually considering shutting down my Facebook page since I can no longer be sure what I’m reading there is what my friends actually put there or instead the work of some outside (or inside) hacker.

There’s Google Plus, of course, but who’s to say that it couldn’t fall under the same spell (or under the same misfortune) that Facebook did?

What if there was another alternative, completely free and open? Sort of like an “RSS on steroids” that would share the content I created from a server I managed? What if it took the best of blogging, Twitter, and Facebook and tied it together with a flexible content-protection system that emulated “friends” or “circles” only it worked across separately-owned servers?
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Thirty years of computing

I was at a dinner this evening and shared a table with two retired IBMers. We began trading technology stories and I bragged about being one of the first to use the IBM PC. My dad bought it for the family back in 1982.

Only after getting home did I realize that this year marks the 30th anniversary of my use of computers. Our first PC lasted a year or two before my brothers and I upgraded it with a new motherboard, doubling its speed to a blazing 8 MHz. A subscription to Computer Shopper magazine and few years of part-time-job salary saved up and we had added our first hard drive, an incredibly fragile 10 MB model. Then it was two truly ahead-of-their-time 19.2 Kbps Fastcomm modems, two phone lines, and we had our own bulletin board system in 1987 (another anniversary at 25 years ago this year) with over 300 users.

Thanks again, Dad, for bootstrapping my career!

Costco marketing email has fake unsubscribe link

I signed up for Costco’s emailed specials a while back and decided today that I didn’t need them anymore. Mousing over the “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of the email didn’t seem to do anything so I decided to look at the message’s HTML to find out why.

It turns out Costco’s unsubscribe link isn’t a link at all, but is just made to look like one. Here is the code:

< p > In the past you provided Costco with your email address=C2=A0 [EMAIL REDACTED]. Occasionally, you will receive brief advertising ann=
ouncements regarding special items and services. If you no longer want to r=
eceive these advertisements, please click < a > < span style=3D"text-decoratio= n:underline;color:#069" >unsubscribe< /span >< /a >.=20

It’s a span, not a link. Here’s how it renders in Thunderbird:

There’s an “update email preferences” choice also in the email but, like the unsubscribe “link,” it isn’t real and doesn’t go anywhere, either.

I think Costco is a great company and I trust them. Still, I’m curious about why Costco felt the need to include fake links in their marketing email.

How the Hacked by Mitt Romney page got its name


I’ve seen comments out there about the “cute” URL the Hacked By Mitt Romney page has, http://www.facebook.com/MittYouDidntBuildThat.

The truth is I would’ve loved to call it simply http://www.facebook.com/HackedByMittRomeny but Facebook would not let me for some strange reason. As I mentioned before, I went through a ridiculous number of iterations until I landed on the current address, so many of them that I began to take screen shots of the rejections.

http://www.facebook.com/YouDidntBuildThat:

You Didn’t Build That


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No opting out of Facebook sponsored stories


A few days ago I wondered if Facebook had ignored my “dont-put-my-name-in-ads” Social ad setting when I appeared to endorse Mitt Romney without me knowing. It turns out that Facebook users have no way to opt out of being listed in a Sponsored Ad. Thus Facebook can use your name as fodder for any advertising campaign that is seen between your Facebook friends.

From Facebook’s page explaining Sponsored Ads (emphasis mine):

Sponsored stories
Many of the things you do on Facebook (like “liking” a Page) are posted to your timeline and shared in News Feed. But there’s a lot to read in News Feed. That’s why we allow people to “sponsor” your stories to make sure your friends see them. For example, if you RSVP to an event hosted by a local restaurant, that restaurant may want to make sure your friends see it so they can come too.

If they do sponsor a story, that story will appear in the same place ads usually do or in your News Feed under the heading “Sponsored” or something similar. Only people that could originally see the story can see the sponsored story, and no personal information about you (or your friends) is shared with the sponsor.

Your Show my social actions in Facebook Ads setting only controls ads with social context. It does not control Sponsored Stories, ads or information about Facebook’s services and features, or other Facebook content.

I’m guessing that whomever is hacking accounts for Romney is doing it almost exclusively to put these names in the ads. It’s probably not just to pad the page fan numbers as any old fake accounts could do that. It seems very closely tied to the advertising. Advertising, as I have said before, is one of those things that Facebook tracks very, very closely.

More Romney hacking stories


Got this in last night from a victim of Romney Facebook hacking:

I had been off my Facebook account for about a month, when I suddenly started getting messages from friends that my site had pro-Romney and Republican Party stuff on it! I don’t have a phone that has texting so I had not made a mistake with a mobile phone application.

This is appalling. The Republicans have stooped to violating indivual expression.

And this one came in yesterday:

My mother ran up the stairs and told me my cousn, [NAME REDACTED], is a Romney supporter and had liked his page. At first I thought, she’s older, perhaps it was a mistake.

Literally hours later I got several phone calls from friends, family, and colleagues asking me is I was now “turning”. I couldn’t believe it. Someone had falsely liked Romney’s page under my profile. I have been apart of many events to rally for the Obama vote so imagine the tone of some of those people when they called me. I’ve spent several hours explaining myself. This is a huge violation and I’m not surprised if Romney is behind it.

The sad thing is, my cousin doesn’t even know how to remove a like.

Overnight the Hacked by Mitt Romney page gained 89 more users (Real? Fake? Hard to tell anymore.). I’ve already been Slashdotted, so what other site could be driving traffic? Reddit? Fark? Anyone know?

Harvey Point in the news again

The Harvey Point CIA base in eastern North Carolina is in the news again today after Mark Bissonnette’s bin Ladin book mentioned training that took place there. Apparently a replica of the bin Ladin compound was built there and made it into Terraserver.

After nearly half a century of explosions, folks in Perquimans County have become blasé about the sharp cracks and house-shaking rumbles that roll out of the secretive, government-owned peninsula in Albemarle Sound.

They scarcely bat an eye when a truckload of blackened, bomb-shredded cars rolls out, or a Boeing 727 passenger jet, minus wings and tail, rolls in on the back of a giant trailer.

Last week, though, news broke that a full-sized replica of the house and compound where Osama bin Laden had been killed had been built on the peninsula. That was different. Even longtime residents flocked to the Internet, clicking on a website where satellite images had been posted to finally get their first real look at Harvey Point Defense Testing Activity.

via Rural N.C. county learns of its role in Osama bin Laden’s death – Local/State – NewsObserver.com.

State fans: treat visiting fans with respect

My nephew posted a link to this Letter to the Editor from an Florida State fan who was treated rudely at the recent NCSU-FSU football game.

My friends and I were just four of the 11 FSU students who bought tickets for the NC State game last weekend. We made the 10 hour trek and had a great time, besides going to the actual game. Sure, the loss was tough but what truly ruined the experience was the hatred we received from NC State fans.

This letter may have simply been a “sour grapes” response to the Wolfpack’s win but I think there’s more to it than that. I can also say that I’ve been appalled at how some N.C. State fans have treated visiting fans, particularly before football games.
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Please stop letting kids wear short dresses

Kelly and I joined our friends at this weekend’s homecoming game at our old high school. At halftime, the school held its traditional homecoming queen ceremony (for some reason neither Kelly nor I can remember there being a homecoming king). We were both a bit shocked at how short all the homecoming queen contestants’ dresses were. They were not much more than tight-fitting shirts. One girl’s mother was down there in a dress just as short as her daughter’s. Neither one was rocking the look, to say the least.

We saw a glimpse of this look as we drove past an N.C. State football game earlier this year. A stream of girls walked by wearing cowboy boots and hats and dresses that barely covered their butts. It screamed “desperation” to me and I didn’t find it at all attractive.
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