Facebook’s latest mobile acquisition: It’s all about your data

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The social network’s intentions, noble or otherwise, are to increase the pool of application makers who build Facebook hooks into their apps.

With the purchase of Parse, Facebook has instantly moved from consumer social network to business service provider, playing host to the back end of thousands of mobile applications. In so doing, the company has bought access to data it could otherwise not touch.

On Thursday, Facebook announced that it agreed to acquire 2-year-old Parse for an undisclosed sum, though multiple reports peg the value at $85 million in cash and stock.

Parse serves as host to “tens of thousands” of iOS, Android, Windows, and HTML5 apps. The company offers mobile developers a convenience by taking care of back-end needs around data storage, people management, and notifications, all in exchange for a reasonable monthly fee.

When the deal closes, Facebook will become the new landlord to app makers who have chosen to make their home on Parse’s platform. It will also inherit an entirely new revenue stream, though that seems to be the least of Facebook’s interest in the mobile-attuned company.

With Parse, Facebook, once wading in the shallow end of the mobile ecosystem, has dived into the deep end and caused a splash so large that many will question the company’s intentions, while others will cry of ecosystem pollution.            More

White House Planning MASSIVE Anti Gun Social Media Campaign – Let’s Intervene!

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The White House is using a Social Media service which is scheduling a massive Twitter/Facebook campaign.

The campaign is designed to trigger automated messages on the pages of people who sign up at a designated time.

Here is the URL for the campaign (DO NOT GIVE THEM YOUR INFO):
http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/preventing-gun-violence/action?utm_campaign=nowisthetime

They are going to “Twitter-bomb” Twitter and create a strong presence on Facebook.

What we are proposing (hat tip: Reddit) is to take over their proposed hashtag.

If you are on Twitter use the hashtag #NowIsTheTime on all of your Tweets. This is the hashtag they will be using.

If you’re reading this site you can use the Tweet button at the top of the post to share any story on Twitter with the #NowIsTheTime hashtag prepopulated.

Go to our Self Defense Story Archive and Tweet as many stories as you can using the Tweet button at the top of each story (which will automatically include the hashtag). Do this EVERY DAY while the new gun control bill is being debated in Congress. Show them what law abiding citizens with guns actually do.

The White House is planning to use social media to make it appear they have more support than they do, don’t let them!

Use #NowIsTheTime on all of your tweets, take it over. If you don’t have a Twitter account, create one now. You can do so anonymously.

This plan is being organized on Reddit, Click Here to read the post.

OWN THE LANGUAGE AND OWN THE DEBATE!

Facebook Home isn’t where your privacy is

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CNET – Facebook’s latest attempt to get you to spend more time with its services bodes ill for the privacy-minded, but not all hope is lost.
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When Mark Zuckerberg and friends debuted Facebook Home yesterday, they downplayed the ever-growing importance your data has for the company. While the Facebook-obsessed may love Home, chances are your privacy won’t feel welcome at all.Facebook has earned a reputation for developing new products and features that are respectful of user privacy, and then slowly, sometimes with great subtlety and sometimes with mastodon-like lumbering, walking those policies back to a decidedly less-respectful state.

There’s little indication that Facebook Home will be any different. At the Facebook Home question-and-answer session that followed Thursday’s announcement, Zuckerberg said, “Analytics are made anonymous and used for half a percent of the user base.” He added that that’s the same as Google and Apple, which sounds reasonable, right?

The catch is that the more you share on Facebook, the more Facebook learns about you, and Facebook Home is designed to make you want to share even more.

Privacy and security researcher Ashkan Soltani agrees, and he explained that Facebook Home bridges the gap between passive data collection and active data-creating activities — such as when you “Like” something in Facebook. “It’s in the middle of every interaction on your device,”

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Most Absurd Comment of the Day – Maxine Waters: “Over 170 Million Jobs Could Be Lost” Due To Sequestration

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The very Socialist Congresswoman, Maxine Waters,  claims over 170 million jobs will be lost because of Sequestration… quite a feat considering there are only 156 million people employed in the US.  As of April 2009 (the only numbers I could quickly get my hands on), the specific number was 154,731,000 in the civilian workforce. There are also approximately 1,500,000 in the military workforce… by my count, that’s 156,231,000. So Maxine Waters is saying that if sequestration happens – every working American will lose their job…

What utter nonsense!