Federal Trade Commission: if Facebook cries, Twitter does not laugh

Earlier this week, Facebook settled with the Federal Trade Commission for ‘false and deceptive’ claims about privacy. Zuckerberg has admitted ‘high-profile mistakes’ in handling this matter, and agreed – for the future – to get consumer approval before changing privacy and sharing settings. Of course, there are plenty of ways to circumvent that. But one thing that is slightly harder to go around is 20 years of privacy audit. Yes: during the next two decades Facebook will have to undergo periodic evaluations of its privacy-related practices by third-party auditors. (Hell, that’s being awfully optimistic. Given the present social media bubble, we don’t even know if Facebook will be still around in 5, let alone 20 years…)

novembre 30, 2011 | Filed Under social networks | Leave a Comment

How to escape the data gulag: a visual novel about online distributed social networks

You’ve probably heard about the Freedom Box. Also, you have heard about Diaspora*. And sure as hell you have heard that a growing number of persons – and among them, little ol’ me – are becoming increasingly concerned about the centralization, manipulation, and expropriation of users data by Internet Behemoths. So by now you should be aware of the fact that a budding movement of freedom activists, scientists, and lawyers are working on valuable alternatives to the « data gulags » such as Google and Facebook. These alternatives are called distributed social networks. If you’ve never heard about those, here’s your chance to catch-up with the cool kids: an animated online comic novel explaining exactly what a distributed social network is and how you can create one. It is based on a project by computer scientist J. David Eisenberg and artists Sterling Gee and Bruce Mercado. Enjoy and please circulate widely.

Click to play What’s a Distributed Social Network?

novembre 20, 2011 | Filed Under social networks | Leave a Comment

Cultures et sociabilités en ligne (slides séminaire EHESS 2011)

Hier, mercredi 16 novembre 2011, première séance de mon séminaire EHESS pour l’année universitaire 2011/12 : Étudier les cultures du numérique : approches théoriques et empiriques. Le séminaire a lieu le 3e mercredi du mois de 17 h à 19 h en salle 587 (bât. Le France, 190-198 av de France 75013 Paris). Précision : j’espère que l’EHESS va nous trouver une autre salle : hier elle était pleine à craquer. Ce qui est une bonne nouvelle pour moi, mais pas pour les étudiants qui ont dû suivre le cours assis par terre… Enfin, voilà les slides de ma présentation « Cultures et sociabilités d’Internet : par delà le dualisme en ligne / hors-ligne ».

novembre 17, 2011 | Filed Under social capital, social networks | Leave a Comment

A century of McLuhan: understanding social media

I was among the invited speakers of the McLuhan centenary conference McLuhan100 Then Now Next at the University of Toronto. So I’m back from a full week of scientific research, art, concerts, and conversations with great contemporary media scholars such as Ian Bogost, Barry Wellman, Arthur Kroker, Jay Bolter, Derrick de Kerckhove, Peppino Ortoleva, Mike Wesch, Joshua Meyrowitz, Michaël Oustinoff, Hervé Fischer. But enough with the name dropping. Here’s my own presentation (slides+text), where I mix up McLuhan, Merton, Facebook and Teilhard de Chardin. Enjoy.

McLuhan and social media

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novembre 13, 2011 | Filed Under social capital, social networks | Leave a Comment

[Vidéo] Insurrections augmentées : l’impact des médias sociaux sur les émeutes (updated 12/11/11)

Le samedi 5 novembre 2011, l’association Ars Industrialis a organisé au Centre Pompidou un séminaire sur « La guerre civile numérique ». Le rencontre visait à identifier les bonnes questions relatives à ce thème, qui fait couler beaucoup d’encre depuis quelques temps (v. par ex. le livre de Paul Jorion). [Update 13 novembre 2011: la vidéo de ma présentation + les diapos sont finalement en ligne!]. La présentation est basée sur la recherche effectuée avec Paola Tubaro sur les émeutes britanniques de 2011.