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Most people's understanding of what can actually be done with the data provided by our mobile phones is theoretical; there were few real-world examples. That is why Malte Spitz from the German Green party decided to publish his own data collected from August 2009 to February 2010. However, to even access the information, he had to file a suit against telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom.

The data were contained in a massive Excel document. Each of the 35,831 rows of the spreadsheet represents an instance when Spitz's mobile phone transferred information over a half-year period. Seen individually, the pieces of data are mostly inconsequential. But taken together, they provide what investigators call a profile -– a clear picture of a person's habits and preferences, and of his or her life.

The profile reveals when Spitz walked down the street, when he took a train, when he was in an airplane. It shows when he worked and when he slept, when he could be reached by phone and when was unavailable. It shows when he preferred to talk on his phone and when he preferred to send a text message. It shows which beer gardens he liked to visit in his free time. All in all, it reveals an entire life.

Companies like Google, Microsoft, Facebook, they know more about you than your significant other. They know what you’re searching for and when, what sites you visit, who you email, who you constantly check up on, who you ignore, and who knows what else. With all that data sitting on a server somewhere, they all try to do the same thing: sell you more junk.

Want airport full-body scanners to go away? Get your hands on an image of a politician and post it online. You can make friends who work in airport security, apply for work at airport security, or get into a database. Whatever it takes. The first politician's dick that makes it online will make these machines go away. Guaranteed.

In the midst of recent controversies over Facebook’s privacy settings, it is easy to forget how much personal information is available from other sources on the internet. But the government remembers. EFF recently received a number of documents from the CIA and the FBI highlighting the government's ability to scour not only social networks, but record each and every corner of the internet. These documents were released in the second of a series of government disclosures resulting from EFF’s Freedom of Information Act lawsuit in which EFF, with the help of UC Berkeley’s Samuelson Clinic, sought information on the procedures and guidelines employed by government agencies when conducting social network monitoring or investigations.

http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/08/government-monitors-much-more-social-networks

People believe that Facebook and the web in general should be able to protect the information we post online. This goes against the fundamental design of Facebook, social media, and the web itself. We should be relying on ourselves for our privacy, and not turning Facebook into our scapegoat.

Privacy is dead. Facebook, social media, and the web itself are designed to share information. While you can be angry about Facebook’s lack of communication over the privacy issue, to believe that information on Facebook or other social networks is inherently private or “yours” is just wrong.

Protecting our privacy starts with us, not Facebook. The privacy wall did not exist in the first place. The web makes the transmission of information easier than ever. Social media makes spreading that information even simpler. The web is a network of information, and information has no walls.

http://mashable.com/2010/05/16/in-defense-of-facebook/

Mark Zuckerberg: Yeah so if you ever need info about anyone at Harvard.
Mark Zuckerberg: Just ask.
Mark Zuckerberg: I have over 4,000 emails, pictures, addresses, SNS.
[Redacted Friend]: What? How'd you manage that one?
Mark Zuckerberg: People just submitted it.
Mark Zuckerberg: I don't know why.
Mark Zuckerberg: They "trust me".
Mark Zuckerberg: Dumb fucks.

Facebook has gone rogue, drunk on founder Mark Zuckerberg's dreams of world domination. It is time the rest of the web ecosystem recognizes this and works to replace it with something open and distributed.

It is time to find a way to let people control what and how they would like to share. Facebook’s basic functions can be turned into protocols, and a whole set of interoperating software and services can flourish.

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/05/facebook-rogue/

Back in January 2009, David Bond packed a rucksack, kissed his pregnant wife Katie and toddler Ivy, climbed into his Toyota Prius and drove away from home. Nobody knew where he was going -- he didn’t even know himself. One thing he was sure about was this: "I'm going to leave my life behind and disappear," he said.  In the days that followed, he was being followed by detectives.

It was Bond himself who persuaded the detectives to follow him. "I told them I was making a film about privacy and surveillance, and wanted to be hunted." He wondered if it was possible, in surveillance Britain, to keep himself to himself for a month. "I promised I wouldn't sue them, whatever they did, as long as they didn't cause my family any distress. 'We'll have you in four days,' they laughed."

Bond spent a long time finding the right detectives for his project, talking to countless retired coppers before he found Duncan Mee and Cameron Gowlett of Cerberus. Ordinarily, they work as investigators for major companies and law firms, scrupulously following the letter of the law as they trail organised gangs, often in unstable parts of the world. How hard could it be to find Bond?

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/the_way_we_live/article7096105.ece