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facebook-logoMuch like the Beacon incident before it, I have mixed feeling about this latest kerfuffle over Facebook’s changes to its privacy policy.

On one hand, I just don’t see what the big deal is. People act like Facebook is taking away all their “rights” or possessions, which is just silly. They were just clarifying how information would be used. In one sense, I feel like saying ‘Chill out. And if you don’t like Facebook’s policies, go use some other social networking site for God’s sake!’

On the other hand, I appreciate the fact that some people are far more sensitive about these things and are seeking to collectively pressure Facebook to change its approach to information use and ownership, and I’m fine with that. In fact, like the Beacon hullabaloo, it’s an example of what Berin Szoka and I have argued is the power of voluntary persuasion and social pressure to remedy privacy concerns before we call on government to adopt coercive, top-down, ham-handed, one-size-fits-all regulatory solutions. As we noted in our recent paper about the looming threat of online advertising regulation:

there are many indirect pressures and reputational incentives that provide an important check on the behavior of firms and the privacy policies they craft.  Just as the Internet increases the ways advertisers can reach audiences, it increases the power audiences have to influence advertisers.  For example, when Facebook introduced its Beacon program in 2007, which shared users’ online purchases with their friends without sufficient warning about how the program worked and the ability to opt-out of the program, the response was swift and effective:  Users “collectively raised their voices” and “the privacy pendulum [swung] back into equilibrium” [according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau.]  Within two weeks of the Beacon program being first deployed, Facebook had created an opt-out procedure.

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Women Play Video Games?

by on September 16, 2008 · 31 comments

The Washington Post reports today on a trend that I thought we all knew about, but one I’m glad the mainstream media is finally realizing.  It turns out that people who play video games are not just virginal teenage boys with acne problems.  No, even 20-something, attractive women play video games.

The Post’s Mike Musgrove reports on the mother and daughters of the Burguieres family of Bethesda, Maryland.  Of course in good journalist fashion Musgrove uses the Burguiereses to illustrate a larger point, he even points to the relevant stats:

It used to be that this all-woman crew wouldn’t fit the standard image of the video game consumer. But the perception of gamers as being mostly young guys isn’t so true anymore. Women and girls make up 40 percent of the gamer population, according to the Entertainment Software Association.

The most interesting point brought up in the article on this demographic trend—one that most gamers realize has been happening for quite some time—is Musgrove’s observation that women once were not naturally accepted members of the gaming community.  It’s a great point, but one that can be extended to tech community in general.

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