Thursday 04-02-15

New Apps Allow Smartphone Users To Live Broadcast Any Unfiltered Video Content
 
Live stream video is going mainstream as two new apps are placing real-time broadcast ability in the hands of any smartphone user – although many are unknowingly broadcasting their home addresses.
Personalized live stream video available on Meerkat and Twitter’s Periscope app (iPhone only currently) allow users to immediately broadcast themselves directly to social media. Live video produced by individuals on smartphones is expected to enable more “video aggregation” from citizen journalists and allow unfiltered content to directly reach streaming users.
Tech experts are still unsure how the new live streaming apps will be used, but they say that’s just part of social media.
“When it comes to new tech nobody knows what it’ll be used for, even to the companies — everyone asked what the point of Twitter was when it was released,” said CNET’s Ian Sherr. “It’s almost purposefully open-ended.”
The consumer reaction to the Periscope-Meerkat competition was skewed, with Twitter’s Periscope app quickly gaining popularity, breaking into the U.S. iPhone top-30 chart by Friday night.
“This is a rare feat for a social media app, and it demonstrated that Periscope had immediate and broad consumer appeal,” CNET’s Jason Parker writes.
Periscope allows users to broadcast their exact GPS location, even showing the direction their phone is facing. But Periscope viewers of any broadcast can zoom in and see the exact location — with street names and building positions labeled – of where the smartphone user is recording the video. The “reliably precise” location of the recording smartphone is shown on a map just below the video the user is shooting.
Twitter, which sees itself “very much as a tool of free speech,” has made it clear that content supporting terrorism is not tolerated, but tech experts say that “instantaneous” live feeds always leave open the possibility of such use and that it’s “unlikely” Twitter would filter criminal content, said Sherr.
“When you make technology like this available to everyone, then this is the risk that you accept,” he said. “I guarantee you something crazy will happen, but it’ll be more important to see how the company responds.”
U-Stream, Twitch, Livestream and Bamboozler have all previously enabled users to broadcast personalized live content, but now the focus is on how fast and how wide of a net this video can branch out on social media networks.
CNET’s Sree Sreenivasan says “citizen journalists covering major demonstrations” and individuals’ simplified ability to record and broadcast any content can only be judged after users get their hands on the newer, mainstream technology.
He said that “video aggregation” and people’s ability to record and view archived video will determine which live stream app is successful.
“The key is to get these tools out there, and get people using them” said Sreenivasan. “Once you release a product you lose control of it to some extent…You’ll have criminal elements as well as finding folks for uses you didn’t imagine.”

http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2015/03/31/new-apps-allow-smartphone-users-to-live-broadcast-any-unfiltered-video-content/

Facebook is accused of tracking all users even if they delete accounts ask never to be followed
 
A new report claims that Facebook secretly installs tracking cookies on users’ computers, allowing them to follow users around the internet even after they’ve left the website, deleted their account and requested to be no longer followed.

Academic researchers said that the report showed that the company was breaking European law with its tracking policies. The law requires that users are told if their computers are receiving cookies except for specific circumstances.
Facebook’s tracking — which it does so that it can tailor advertising — involves putting cookies or small pieces of software on users’ computers, so that they can then be followed around the internet. Such technology is used by almost every website, but European law requires that users are told if they are being given cookies or being tracked. Companies don’t have to tell users if the cookies are required to connect to a service or if they are needed to give the user information that they have specifically requested.
But Facebook’s tracking policy allows it to track users if they have simply been to a page on the company’s domain, even if they weren’t logged in. That includes pages for brands or events, which users can see whether or not they have an account.
Facebook disputes the accusations of the report, it told The Independent.
“This report contains factual inaccuracies,” a Facebook spokesperson said. “The authors have never contacted us, nor sought to clarify any assumptions upon which their report is based. Neither did they invite our comment on the report before making it public.
“We have explained in detail the inaccuracies in the earlier draft report (after it was published) directly to the Belgian DPA, who we understand commissioned it, and have offered to meet with them to explain why it is incorrect, but they have declined to meet or engage with us. However, we remain willing to engage with them and hope they will be prepared to update their work in due course”.
The report does not have any legal standing, and was written by independent academics.
With respect to its European data, Facebook is regulated by the Irish Data Protection Commissioner, who checks that Facebook is acting within the EU’s Data Protection Directive. As part of that regulation, Facebook is regularly audited.
Facebook has a page on its site that gives users’ information about cookies and how they are used on the network. The company makes clear that cookies are used for the purposes of advertising and other functions, and that users can opt out of such tracking if they wish to.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/facebook-accused-of-tracking-all-users-even-if-they-delete-accounts-ask-never-to-be-followed-10146631.html