Is there really a such thing as "privacy" on the Internet?

Since we were talking about privacy this week in class, I wanted to post some valuable information that I found on the Internet about how to increase your privacy settings while using Facebook. Ever since I took the MIS 555 Information Management class here at Depaul, I have been more guarded with the information that I am willing to share via the Internet. One of my professors also reinforced the thought in my mind as he shared with us his difficulty in getting his undergrad students to understand that employers are using the Internet, especially the social media sites to gain information on potential job applicants. I will admit that I have talked to various people who think that what they post on Facebook is not going to be shared publicly, but all you need is one "friend" to tag an embarassing picture of you or post something to your wall that you don't want others to see.

I came across the following site which shares 10 Privacy Settings every Facebook user should use. I definitely think that it's worth a look at.

1). Use your friends lists
2). Remove yourself from Facebook search results
3). Remove yourself from Google
4). Avoid the infamous photo/video tag mistake
5). Protect your albums
6). Prevent stories from showing up on your friends feeds
7). Protect against published application stories
8). Make your contact information private
9). Avoid embarassing wall posts
10). Keep your friendships private

http://www.allfacebook.com/2009/02/facebook-privacy/

Love or Hate iPhone maps?

I must admit that I love my iPhone for the most part and I do love the Google maps on my phone. It has helped me find my favorite restaurants, find my way back home after I missed my turn, and helped me out of more jams than I could ever imagine. However, I noticed the last time that I was traveling down the Tri-State trying to find the nearest Subway before class that I noticed that there was this weird pin that showed up on my map and had someone else's name on it. I didn't think much of it until I came across this article on Tech Crunch "Google Injects Ads and User-Generated Content Into iPhone Maps"

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/10/03/google-injects-ads-and-user-generated-content-into-iphone-maps/

As we were talking about User-generated content this week in class, after reading this article I had to think "What was Google Thinking?", why would this be of any value to your users? If anything, this just reinforces in my mind how big companies start to make stupid mistakes and ultimately lead to their demise when they don't have their customer's best intentions front of mind.