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MegaUpload Data Reprieve: Safe Until Mid-February
(first published as MegaUpload Data Reprieve: Safe Until Mid-February on Technorati.)
I will admit one thing. During the first baby days of MegaUpload, I was one of its first users to share some of my personal and favorite files to friends and family, from photos to home videos to even a few audio and music files. The time was around mid-2000s when MySpace and Facebook were also still at their baby steps and the term cloud computing was still brand-new to the general public.
With Facebook’s rise to popularity with its array of file-sharing features from creating albums to sharing videos and audio some years later, that was the time that I pulled out from using MegaUpload as Facebook made file-sharing easier, more secure, more open, making sure that anything that I upload and share to my friends and family are not illegal or copyright-protected files.
Knowing MegaUpload is an Asia-based company, being an Asian-American myself, Asia in general are infamously known for distributing pirated and illegal copies of copyright-protected material from other countries, primarily from the U.S. With that in mind, that is one thing that MegaUpload failed upon in terms of servicing users using their servers to share files that may be illegal or copyright-protected, not just to other users, but in general, to the masses.
Today, with various cases against MegaUpload piling up almost everyday since the U.S. federal prosecution’s shutdown of the long-time file-sharing service, all the personal files of legitimate users are all in danger of deletion. The lawyer representing MegaUpload stated that the service will remain open until mid-February, probably to give the users a chance to re-download all their stored files and save them. Sadly, even if that was the case, users still have no way to access the site to save their files.
The two weeks additional time may probably mean the time given for MegaUpload, the servers that hosted the file-sharing service, and the U.S. government to go through negotiations on how to go about saving customers’ files that are already stored in those servers. The two weeks may also probably involve both parties using some of these users’ files for court hearings and trials as proof of their stance towards the case, both prosecution and defense.
Keeping the latter in mind, these parties should first request permission from the legitimate users regarding the usage of their files as evidence (unless if they were copyright-protected, which may have already been selected by the government for their side of the case) as they are personal and private files. Both MegaUpload and the U.S. authorities do intend to secure all the data still stored in those servers, however sifting through these files from the illegal/copyright-infringed files would take way longer than the two weeks given and the fear of users losing these files forever is still on the rise.
If MegaUpload is in danger with the law today, other file-sharing services, such as RapidShare, may also be the next target by the U.S. Authorities. Other open file-sharing services, such as YouTube, Vimeo, Dropbox, and other cloud-based services may also meet the same fate. It may seem that SOPA/PIPA have already been postponed by the legislature, however it seems that the contents in those bills are already being enforced without the general public being aware of it.
This is just the beginning.
Teens Migrating to Twitter— for Privacy?
(first published as Teens Migrating to Twitter— for Privacy? on Technorati.)
We all know teenagers in general since all of us have been in that age period. In every generation, they are an easy target when it comes to introducing items and concepts that would eventually become the latest, long-running trends.
Anything the media promotes as the latest, hottest trends to arrive this year, teenagers get easily hooked in to these trends for various reasons, mainly just to keep with the times and to survive peer pressure. One of the major Social networking communities such as Facebook, MySpace, and lately Google+ have been taking internet communication by storm, but microblogging services such as Twitter and Tumblr are not falling behind.Even if that was the case, the term “microblogging” is still not quite part of the teens’ technological vocabulary just yet due to various reasons: privacy issues, too many older users, and most of all, it’s way too public.
But who is to say that social networking as a whole would not catch on towards older users, in particular, parents of teenagers from age 40 and up? Though larger social networking services, Facebook in particular, have the advantage of keeping every profile page as private as they can with only access to trusted friends.
The only disadvantage to Facebook is that once they set up a username for their URL, it can no longer be changed, no matter how many times that users change their display names in their profiles to avoid getting discovered through search results. As a result, not-so-wanted individuals, such as parents, siblings, or any family member, can easily track them down and “add” them in their Friends list.
In addition to that, not very many individuals are familiar with Facebook’s sometimes not-so-user-friendly features in terms of customizing security and privacy, which can be really frustrating for the non-tech-savvy user. Lastly, a user can’t have more than one account; in order to have multiple accounts, that user must also have multiple email addresses in order to create these other accounts.
Lately, teens now turn to simple microblogging services, in particular Twitter, in order to make their presence in the internet without being discovered by certain close loved ones, like family and some close friends.
Twitter allows users to change their usernames as many as they want without limits, have multiple accounts, still share photos and videos in different ways, not to mention that they can follow their favorite celebrities on their happenings without any form of restriction. Best of all, a user’s tweets doesn’t have to be completely public and have the power to provide access to anyone whom they trust. Twitter’s customizing settings are also easy to use and to navigate, making the service one of the most user-friendly for the non-tech savvy folk.
In a study conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, a nonprofit organization monitoring tech-based habits of the general public, 16% of youth from ages 12 to 17 used Twitter as of last July. Two years before, that same percentage was just 8%. Another survey conducted by the organization also showed that nearly one in five 18- to 29-year-olds have grown to using Twitter on a regular basis.
One teen at a study stated that being on Facebook is like shouting to a crowd, while Twitter is like speaking to a room. Teens also stated to the Pew researchers that, like peer pressure in school, they feel social pressure on Facebook, in which they have to feel obliged to “friend” someone whom they don’t know very well or may feel uncomfortable with.
Twitter, on the other hand, helps teens maintain their privacy and easily be able to share their thoughts, their photos and videos or any cool discoveries to their most trusted friends without having it spread to friends of friends or even family members.
Today, teens use Twitter for a variety of reasons. Privacy and security has become the primary reason why.
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