Category Archives: Internet

Securing Gmail (Updated)

Posted on April 17, 2012 by Michael Froomkin

Coding Horror, Make Your Email Hacker Proof has lots of good advice about how to secure your Gmail account.

This is all good advice, even if two-factor authentication is not a panacea.

Plus, when you print out that last-ditch backup paper to put in your wallet…don’t label it. Why make it easy for the guy who steals your wallet?

Update: A friend writes,

I followed the instructions, first on the desktop.

Then, it locked out my Gmail account on my iPhone, because I need to do one more step since smartphones “apps” cannot ask for verification, only a password.

(That part is missing in this “Coding Error – Make your Email Hacker Proof” article because it is only for the desktop. If you use Gmail also on your mobile device, you need to do the below):

So I read further and found that you need to the 2 step authoriztion by following these steps (watch the video).

This gives you a long “application specific password” which is different from your password you use when you login to Gmail from a browser on a desktop (not your mobile device). You only need to type it in once.

Now my Gmail works on my iPhone. Terrific!

Posted in Internet, Sufficiently Advanced Technology | Comments Off on Securing Gmail (Updated)

Open Access Research – The Money Quote

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Michael Froomkin

The NIH public-access policy has substantially increased public access to research results with benefits as described below that far outweigh the costs. Similar benefits can be expected from extending such a public access policy to other major federal funders.

from Committee for Economic Development, The Future of Taxpayer-Funded Research: Who Will Control Access to the Results? issued last week.

Posted in Econ & Money, Internet, Law: Copyright and DMCA, Readings | 1 Comment

QOTD: “Facebook Is a Man-In-The-Middle Attack”

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Michael Froomkin

Eben Moglen has the bon mot (or is mot juste the better term?) — Moglen: Facebook Is a Man-In-The-Middle Attack

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Behold, The Internet Jeremiad

Posted on February 2, 2012 by Michael Froomkin

John Battelle:

The web as we know it is rather like our polar ice caps: under severe, long-term attack by forces of our own creation.

— It’s Not Whether Google’s Threatened. It’s Asking Ourselves: What Commons Do We Wish For?.

What really bugs me about this is that I pretty much agree with him.

(Vocabulary reminder for those needing it.)

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A Different View of the New Google Privacy Policies

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Michael Froomkin

I thought this post on the Google privacy changes by the uber libertarian technophile Technology Liberation Front was interesting, given that so much of what one reads is of the TIME TO FREAK OUT variety.

Key bits:

Although we have yet to see it play out in practice, this likely means that if you use Google services, the videos you play on YouTube may automatically be posted to your Google+ page. If you’ve logged an appointment in your Google calendar, Google may correlate the appointment time with your current location and local traffic conditions and send you an email advising you that you risk being late.

At the same time, if you’ve called in sick with the intention of going fishing, that visit to the nearby state park might show up your Google+ page, too.

The policy, however, will not include Google’s search engine, Google’s Chrome web browser, Google Wallet or Google Books.

…

… arguable is the operative word. There indeed may be enough significant user backlash that Google backs off. In the last six months we’ve seen at least two instances of rapid market correction–Netflix’s decision not to go through with structurally separating mail and online video rental accounts and Bank of America’s reversal of its plan to charge online banking fees. Both occurred before the government could step in a provide its own (and no doubt clumsy) remedy.

Then again, there’s a significant body of research that suggests that, in spite of their own complaints, users may opt to accept greater benefits and convenience in exchange for more disclosure about their habits. With this mind, it will serve consumers best if companies like Google are allowed to experiment with the privacy paradox to find where actual boundaries are, rather than hamstringing potential innovation by pre-emptively and blindly setting them.

Posted in Internet, Law: Privacy | Comments Off on A Different View of the New Google Privacy Policies

Google+ Likely Roadmap ++Ungood

Posted on January 20, 2012 by Michael Froomkin

I found John Battelle’s astute analysis of Google’s earnings call pretty depressing:

The lead quote had to do with Google+, pretty much, not the company’s earnings, which ended up being a miss (Google is blaming fluctuations in foreign currency for much of that, and I have no idea whether that’s true, false, or silly).

But here’s my question: When is Google going to release actual engagement numbers for Google+? Because in the end, that’s all that really matters. As I have written in the past, it’s pretty easy to get a lot of people signing up for Google+ if you integrate it into everything Google does (particularly if you do it the way they’ve done it with search).

But can you get those folks to engage, deeply? That’d be a real win, and one I’d give full credit to Google for executing. After all, it’s one thing to get the horse to water…another to have it pull up a chair and share a few stories with friends.

Battelle's Search Blog is a prime source for thoughtful analysis of what Google is doing, and there’s more in the post, Google+: Now Serving 90 Million. But…Where’s the Engagement Data!.

I found it depressing not because Google missed its earnings numbers and the stock sank 9% overnight (I don’t own any, perhaps to my detriment), nor because they are playing fast and loose with business disclosures (hardly a surprise), but because it signals to me that Google’s push to force users into Google+ will only intensify.

And I don’t like that at all.

Posted in Internet | 1 Comment