Generally speaking, boycotts are still a viable protest option, but they will only work best if demands are clear, concise and most importantly, achievable. In situations where the enemy is a massive conglomerate, it is best to forgo the boycott strategy and focus your energy, as well as dollars, on supporting political or social movements that are aligned with your convictions and can swing the political pendulum in the direction you want it to go.

Imagine if you woke up one day to find your blog had been renamed without warning by your hosting service and your user name given to someone else.  Or what if Twitter decided to give your username away?

According to IEEE Spectrum‘s Steven Cherry these things can happen. To find out how much ownership we really have over our online identities, Cherry interviewed technologist and journalist Tristan Louis on his weekly podcast who talked about what he learned after studying the Terms of Service agreements for sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Ironically, Louis told Cherry that if Twitter wanted to collect all of Cherry’s podcasts and sell them to the highest bidder, or take all of his tweets and put them into a book, it could legally do so. While Louis said Twitter’s TOS are actually very readable compared with other sites filled with legalese, its terms put Twitter, and not users, in control of content on the site.

Louis said Facebook, which is commonly blasted for its privacy policies, says it will at least alert users before moving them to another account name, as well as give them a right to challenge the decision.

To hear Cherry’s podcast with Louis, go to IEEE Spectrum.

I hadn't given much thought to who owns social identities; I just assumed that I owned my presence, my online "brand" if you will. Is there anything we can do to protect ourselves?

The FBI recently released documentation showing that former Yankees owner George Steinbrenner was an FBI informant.  The FBI documents reveal that the late Yankees owner assisted the FBI in a terrorism investigations in 1978 and 1981.  It is not clear from the information in the documents what specific case Steinbrenner was informing on or what information he gave the FBI.  

Later Steinbrenner was pardoned by the Reagan administration for illegal campaign contributions to Nixon’s re-election in 1972.  There is no clear evidence that Steinbrenner was pardoned because of his cooperation with the FBI but the correlation is worth noting.

[source]

Just thought I'd share...

I'm throwing away all of my chairs

Microsoft is in advanced talks to acquire Skype, which revolutionized telephone calls over the Internet, for $8.5 billion, including the assumption of debt, according to people involved in the negotiations.

A deal is expected to be announced Tuesday morning, these people said, although they cautioned that the talks could still fall apart. A spokesman for Skype declined to comment, and calls to Microsoft were not returned.

The acquisition would be Microsoft’s largest ever and it is the software giant’s effort to gain a foothold in the world of voice and video communications. Microsoft would be able leverage Skype’s more than 600 million registered users into using its other products. For example, it could be connected to Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Kinect systems,  and integrated into the company’s flagship product, Office, as a way for business users to better collaborate.

If the deal holds, it would be an impressive move by Microsoft and shows that they aren't going to sit around and get left behind. I'm interested, however, to see what plans they have to make the move profitable...