Rapleaf, Where Everybody Knows Your Name
Earlier this month, we found out that some of the most popular apps on Facebook were sharing user data they shouldn’t have been. While many of the apps involved did not share this information intentionally, it still violated Facebook policy. To explain the gravity of the issue:
The main issue with passing around this UID is that it can later be combined with other data floating around the Internet about you. RapLeaf, a company that compiles data about web users and sells it, was able to connect these UID’s with data they already had. This allowed them to form a better picture of the individuals they were tracking. This data collection is really where the privacy issue lies.
So, companies like Rapleaf know your Facebook UID. Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but it does pose a problem when that UID is connected to other identifying information. According to WSJ, Rapleaf is one of the few companies that not only collects and sells data about website users, but has no problems storing your name with the data.
This makes RapLeaf a rare breed. Rival tracking companies also gather minute detail on individual Americans: They know a tremendous amount about what you do. But most trackers either can’t or won’t keep the ultimate piece of personal information—your name—in their databases. The industry often cites this layer of anonymity as a reason online tracking shouldn’t be considered intrusive.
It’s one thing to take a bunch of anonymous information about a person and use it for ads or statistics, but once you start tossing in names and UID’s things start to get a little disturbing. What do you think?
Digg Lays Off 25. Games Their Own System.
Earlier this year, Digg dropped 10% of their staff. In an effort to remain relevant, they completely redesigned and refocused the site. Regular Diggers didn’t like the changes one bit. Now, Digg has lost their Chief Revenue Officer Chas Edwards and plans to fire 25 more employees. This amounts to about 37% of their current staff. In a blog post by Digg CEO Matt Williams, he explains the new cuts:
Unfortunately, to reach our goals, we have to take some difficult steps. The fact is our business has a burn rate that is too high. We must significantly cut our expenses to achieve profitability in 2011. We’ve considered all of the possible options for reduction, from salaries to fixed costs. The result is that, in addition to lowering many of our operational costs, I’ve made the decision to downsize our staff from 67 to 42 people.
About the same time we are finding out about Digg’s financial troubles, it looks like they may have been gaming their own system. According to @LtGenPanda, an avid and vigilant Digg user, It seems that Digg manipulated their own system to benefit publisher partners. In response, Digg explained that they only used these accounts to test for spam vulnerabilities. Digg Founder Kevin Rose says “We’ve used test accounts since day one and will continue to use them as we validate our various spam/promotion algorithms.”
GetGlue Gets Serious About Rewards and Integration
Yesterday, GetGlue announced partnerships with USA, Syfy, ESPN, and 20th Century FOX to launch GetGlue Rewards and showcase exclusive site integration. USA viewers will get exclusive badges for checking in to USA’s top shows. They will also be able to earn branded fan stickers and secret stickers for shows like Psych and Burn Notice. Syfy will include deep integration with GetGlue on the website for their live Ghost Hunters Halloween event. You will be able to earn special badges, interact with other users on the site, and check-in using a special widget on the site.
In addition to a trailer sticker, a special sticker for those who watch the during its opening weekend, and a sticker that rewards fans for watching the movie in theaters after the opening weekend, 20th Century FOX has integrated GetGlue’s check-in widgets onto each movie’s Facebook page. Fans will be able to check-in to GetGlue directly from the movies Facebook Page and interact with other fans.