Science

On Thursday of this past week a large number of websites had a very unpleasant experience. As a user went to popular sites like NBC, CNN, Huffington Post and others, they were instantly redirected to a Facebook error page.

If you click the Okay button, you were then taken to a blank page. In short the error resembled some sort of page hijacking hack.

The problem was quickly isolated to Facebook Connect, their popular Single Sign-On platform and Facebook jumped into action, fixing the problem. But now, as it turns out, Facebook might face a more serious problem.

I first realized this problem on Thursday night with a client's site. This was before any articles were written or tweets had even gone out. Even if the articles were out, it wouldn't have been much help. Why? Well this client doesn't use Facebook Connect. The only Facebook code loading on the pages is the Facebook Like button. As soon as I removed that code everything went back to normal.

So now you maybe saying that the problem was related to Connect and not Like, so why did this site have an issue? Well apparently Facebook uses Connect in their like button. An article in Salon makes that exact same connection:

Not so fast! We should stop and think about what really happened. By demonstrating a direct connection between our Facebook logins and the Facebook Like buttons on non-Facebook pages, Facebook inadvertently advertised exactly how much it potentially knows about all our Web browsing habits.

Credit:

weather.com

It's dry. Its very, very dry. As matter of fact, it's now so dry that this year has officially rivaled the Dust Bowl of 1936:

The 2012 drought disaster is now the largest in over 50 years, and among the ten largest of the past century, according to a new report released by the National Climatic Data Center today.

As The Weather Channel reported in an exclusive preview of the report Sunday, data computed from the Palmer Drought Severity Index shows that 54.6 percent of the contiguous 48 states was in drought at the end of June, the highest percentage since December 1956, and the sixth-highest peak percentage on record.

And for those that don't know what the Dust Bowl looked like, here's a sample:

When it comes to irrigation, we do have much better technology today than we did in the 1930's. Hopefully that technology holds.

So what do you think; are we headed to a repeat of the 1930's?

Data mining the social and purchasing trend of online users has been a growing practice and one that has a very eerie "big brother" feeling. The FTC has just concluded a report into the practice and is pushing for tougher laws to allow users to opt out of such practices:

The agency, the Federal Trade Commission, called on Congress to enact legislation regulating so-called data brokers, which compile and trade a wide range of personal and financial data about millions of consumers from online and offline sources. The legislation would give consumers access to information collected about them and allow them to correct and update such data.

The agency also sent a cautionary signal to technology and advertising companies regarding a “Do Not Track” mechanism that allows consumers to opt out of having their online behavior monitored and shared. It warned that if companies did not voluntarily provide a satisfactory Do Not Track option, it would support additional laws that mandate it.

The recommendations, part of a sweeping set of guidelines in an F.T.C. report on Monday, represent the government’s latest move to address the issue of consumer privacy.

Hopefully Congress listens to the recommendations and moves to protect the end user, but I'm not very optimistic. We are dealing with an issue where big money will play a vital role, especially through campaign contributions and lobbying. When those forces are put into play the people always end up on the losing end.

This is something I never thought of, the stronger hand of our government, at the behest of the Patriot Act, actually hurting us on the tech front. It turns out that is exactly what is happening:

Cloud computing is a gold mine for the U.S. tech industry, but American firms are encountering resistance from an unexpected enemy overseas: the PATRIOT Act.

The Sept. 11-era law was supposed to help the intelligence community gather data on suspected terrorists. But competitors overseas are using it as a way to discourage foreign countries from signing on with U.S. cloud computing providers like Google and Microsoft: Put your data on a U.S.-based cloud, they warn, and you may just put it in the hands of the U.S. government.

Cloud computing is a huge boom right now. Instead of having to buy one big server, you get little slices of servers all over the place and they can work together as one. Think of it as turning a computer into an actual service, where you use what you need and only pay for that.

Need more power? Not a problem as the cloud will instantly grow to what you need.

To the layman this might not seem that important, but it is. Cloud storage is actually becoming common in smart phones. Instead of having to buy larger memory cards, you can store your documents on a cloud drive and access them from anywhere. The technology is still relatively new, so expect it to grow rapidly. as matter of fact, expect it to grow a lot:

In the next year or so there's a good chance cloud computing will be part of your life if you know it or not. There's actually a big chance that it already it.

A new post from Tea Party Nation founder, Judson Phillips, was just posted. In it Phillips shows the kind of archaic thinking the Tea Party has and why it is the kind of thinking that will keep America behind in a 21st century economy: (subscription required).

The remaining roughly $27 million was used to connect 150,000 new subscribers in “underserved communities.” Why is the government out spreading broadband? This is something the private sector needs to be doing.

I live right next to one of these "underserved" communities. Just a couple of miles from me there is no broadband internet, unless you are willing to pay the outrageous prices for satellite internet.

The area I'm talking about is farm land. They have phone and cable, but no broadband. For the "private sector" that already has lines running there, adding the service would be a lot cheaper than someone creating a new service, yet they don't want to. Why? Because the cost per home would be much higher than in denser communities. I guess America's farmers are supposed to be left off the internet. No checking seed prices, weather forecasts or getting trade reports for them.

Now this area I'm talking about was going to get broadband internet a few years ago and it was the private sector doing it. They were going to have fiber optics, as was the rest of our county. Of course with the private sector comes local ties and friendships, which can easily lead to some bad things. That was exposed here in Butler County, Ohio, when the Dynus Corporation and a bunch of county officials decided to bilk the people and local banks for millions of dollars.

Just before dawn this morning the space shuttle Atlantis landed marking the end of the 30 year old space shuttle program. Here's the video of the final landing:

I still remember the first launch like it was yesterday. It's really sad to see this program disappear given it's iconic stature in American culture. Hopefully the next program will be more exciting than the space shuttle program was, but I really don't think it will be.

Sen. Al Franken is still on a rampage over the recent news of Apple iOS devices recording their users every moves and now he will be holding a hearing:

Senator Al Franken (D-MN) has stepped up his pressure on Apple CEO Steve Jobs, announcing on Monday that he will hold hearings on the recent revelation that Apple iPhones and iPads are secretly tracking and storing their users' locations.

"The same technology that has given us smartphones, tablets, and cell phones has also allowed these devices to gather extremely sensitive information about users, including detailed records of their daily movements and location," Franken, Chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law, said in a statement posted on his website.

"This hearing is the first step in making certain that federal laws protecting consumers' privacy-particularly when it comes to mobile devices-keep pace with advances in technology," he added.

Franken said he has invited representatives from Apple and Google to attend the hearing, titled, "Protecting Mobile Privacy: Your Smartphones, Tablets, Cell Phones and Your Privacy." The hearing is scheduled for May 10.

I can’t wait to see who shows up and what they have to say. Hopefully more members of Congress, from both sides of the aisle, will get in on this.

Following up on my previous post about iOS 4 powered devices logging your every move, I just noticed this story from Time:

The Michigan chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has accused the MSP of using devices to extract information from the cellphones of drivers they've pulled over without the owner's knowledge, thereby violating Fourth Amendment rights. Mark Fancher, an ACLU attorney told reporters that cellphones "can contain information that many people consider to be private, to be beyond the reach of law enforcement and other government actors... There is great potential for abuse here by a police officer or state trooper who may not be monitored or supervised on the street."

These devices, the Cellbrite UFED, have been in use since before 2008. It doesn’t matter if you password protect your phone or not – it will retrieve the data in about 30 seconds. What 4th amendment?

The police aren’t the only ones you have to worry about either. Curious spouses, private investigators or anyone at all. The data is stored in your phone in very unsecure manner. Got a stalker? Great – just let him grab your phone in a bar. Now he’ll know everywhere you have been and can figure out a pattern.

All we can hopeful now is that some one in Congress will take notice and do the right thing. Steve Jobs needs subpoenaed and forced to answer about this egregious invasion of privacy. If he refuses to answer there, then it’s time for the DOJ to take action. This isn’t an issue of right or left, but rather right or wrong.