scott buscemi

Google and Facebook both published responses to the PRISM accusations. You can find Google’s response on their blog and Facebook’s by way of a Zuck status.

As I read through them, I noticed something that others have noticed - they’re remarkably similar. In fact, it may seem as if they’re using a generic script and basing their response off of that.

Here’s some comparisons:

—-

Google: “As Google’s CEO and Chief Legal Officer, we wanted you to have the facts.”
Facebook: “I want to respond personally to the outrageous press reports about PRISM”

Google: “we have not joined any program that would give the U.S. government—or any other government—direct access to our servers”
Facebook: “Facebook is not and has never been part of any program to give the US or any other government direct access to our servers”

Google: “We had not heard of a program called PRISM until yesterday.”
Facebook: “We hadn’t even heard of PRISM before yesterday.”

Google: ”Our legal team reviews each and every request, and frequently pushes back when requests … don’t follow the correct process”
Facebook: “we review each request carefully to make sure they always follow the correct processes”

Google: ”this episode confirms what we have long believed—there needs to be a more transparent approach”
Facebook: “We strongly encourage all governments to be much more transparent”

Google: “we understand that the U.S. and other governments need to take action to protect their citizens’ safety. But the level of secrecy around the current legal procedures undermines the freedoms we all cherish”
Facebook: “It’s the only way to protect everyone’s civil liberties and create the safe and free society we all want over the long term.”

——

After first viewing the PRISM slides, I thought they were fake. After all, a program that large couldn’t cost the government just $20m/year. However, there are six examples above where the responses by two large companies have been nearly the same. In addition, even Apple responded to the accusations within just a few hours of the leak! It wasn’t in the middle of the day - it was late into the evening.

Something is up.

I don’t know what is happening, but I do not like it.

For the past week, I’ve had a small phrase on my whiteboard. Every once in awhile, I’ll look up and stare at it. For some reason, it gave me comfort.

I don’t know what’s happening, but I like it.

After graduation, I’ve been making every attempt to “get my life together.” There are many opportunities and choices to be had, yet I need to focus my efforts and figure out where I’m most comfortable. Currently, I thought the phrase would help me during this transition period. It’s been quite scary lately, to be honest.

Yet, this morning, I woke up, stared at the phrase, and was disgusted. I’ve had it wrong for a whole week. Here is the revised version:

I know what is happening, and I do NOT like it.

PRISM, along with the many corporate data mining programs, are meant to keep us “safe” or deliver ads based on our every preference. But is that really what we want? Do we want tons of organizations knowing all about us without … telling us what they know?

There’s a lot of people on Twitter saying, “Who’s surprised by this? I always assumed the government was tracking our every move?” 

Does that make it okay? 

No.

It’s time for us to reconsider how our data is being stored. It’s been tried before (see Diaspora*), but normally these efforts haven’t been widely accepted into the mainstream. With every Facebook scandal, millions of people go up in arms… then continue to use the service.

I don’t have the answers right now. But I’m not sticking with my old phrase. I do not like this. 

Remember omgpop? The creators of Draw Something who were acquired  by Zynga for $200m? 

They were all fired today, along with all of the other 520 employees.

I learned via Facebook I was laid off today and @omgpop office is closed. Thanks @zynga for again reminding me how not to operate a business

— Ali Nicolas (@ali_nicolas) June 3, 2013

BRUTAL! I asked @omgpop where they were heading now that they’re gone, and this is the official response I received: 

@swb1192 To a bar, as quickly as possible!

— omgpop (@omgpop) June 3, 2013

It’s amazing how a company can go from $200m acquisition to VPs learning they were fired by Facebook and closed doors.

politicians should focus on solving problems, not instilling values.

i’m still trying to figure out life after graduation. it’s strange not having a rigid schedule or some sort of syllabus that tells me exactly what i’m supposed to do today, tomorrow, and the next day. 

there’s something so liberating about being graduated and free. at the same time, there has been a massive amount of responsibility thrown upon my shoulders. i am no longer shackled by school. i am free to roam about and do whatever i please. i am an adult.

now it’s time to do something real.

Today, Facebook showed off their new concept for mobile phones: people THEN apps, rather than apps then people.

Except, there’s a catch. It’s “Facebook then apps”. If more apps are able to plug into the front-end of Facebook home, it’ll make more sense. But right now, “people” are just represented by a mini-version of Facebook.

I just set up an entire VPS with cPanel from scratch in about 4 hours with a cloud hosting company.

Before I started, I went onto GoDaddy’s website, logged into one of my client’s accounts, and clicked a button to remove a hosted domain (something that most control panels complete automatically). 

My VPS is up and running (and awesomely fast). GoDaddy operation? “Pending Removal” still. 

Putting your users into a queue is no way to make website developers happy.