Month: April 2018

Has social media reached a key inflexion point?

This is a very interesting read.

I’ve seen more folk have chosen to leave Facebook, but equally that it’s not a major negative spiral effect. Many are staying because of peer pressure, for example, parents needing to stay in touch with each other and no other equal or better competitor.

However, I believe many would agree that they’re taking slightly more care over their online privacy after the various misuses of personal data that have happened.

I found the sub commentary about the young using data apps and increasing wealth gaps very intriguing, and believable.

That sort of analysis is most interesting because we’re not going to give up being online, using mobile devices or wanting to be social. They’re all either essentials of our lives now.

We will equally see significantly more focus on security, privacy and the individual’s rights in coming years.

Social media needs to grow up much more to regain a lot of lost trust, both from its users and those who fund it.

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/social-media-facebook-mark-zuckerberg-google-data-privacy-a8315986.html

Brexit – still not a good idea in my view

These two articles at the bottom of this post cover misuse of data by Leave.EU and the impact of Brexit on immigrants.

Data misuse is, to my mind, whether in law or not, criminal. The new GDPR legislation is enshrining in law how personal information can be used and allowing individuals rights to manage their data. And the individuals are not necessarily and do not have to be EU citizens either…

That such misuse may have lead some to vote leave and swayed the vote the wrong way, in my opinion, means that a review of that decision is an absolute necessity. Whether that then leads to a new referendum, a nullification of the decision or some other outcome, is all moot. But action is required – if only to ensure British politics is not sullied more than it has been over this fiasco.

As to the impact on immigrants, I know it has been received negatively, so Michael Gove saying it hasn’t is just his perception, not the reality (or perception) of all who have been affected by this process.

If anything the government posts have only highlighted how out of touch from the immigrants they really are.

Read an make up your own minds, but do read and get engaged.

Brexit: ‘Rife misuse of data by Leave.EU, MPs told: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-43793546

Michael Gove: Brexit’s not made UK less welcoming to immigrants: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-43821484

If you’re on Facebook and in the EU, you may want to think about what to do

Facebook seems to be trying to avoid the GDPR legislation which comes in to effect on 25th May 2018.

At least that’s how I understand it from this BBC report: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-43822184

GDPR is the update to some 20 year old legislation drafted before Facebook, Twitter and many, many technological advancements which all go to impact our individual privacy.

Its wide ranging, gives a lot of control back to the individual and really should become a global item if not becoming enshrined as a human right.

By attempting to side step that process, I think Facebook only shows its colours even more clearly than it has ever done before.

Think on as to whether you feel your privacy is safe in their hands.

Busy day

I had planned to do some posts, some automated. (You mean you thought I posted all of these “live”?) Unfortunately work didn’t allow me much time to think today.

It was fun doing a GDPR based workshop answering various questions both about the legislation and how were working to address it. More of that to come.

The rest of the day was head down in my comms role, with a brief journey home, which was superbly pleasantly interrupted by a call from Kerstin which allowed us half an hour to catch up on all sorts and organise a meet up on her birthday in May.

Then more GDPR and comms calls and finally sit down to eat whilst watching Never go back (Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher) which is a brilliantly way to end such a day.

Now for a settle down with a good book and then sleep.

Good night y’all.

Sir Patrick Stewart: My Star Trek and X-Men characters would be anti-Brexit

I am passionately anti-Brexit and still have some hope the bad decision can be reversed.

It’s good to see people like Sir Patrick positing that fictional characters, as much as he himself, would be anti-Brexit and want to change this outcome.

I am an advocate for positive change, but Brexit never struck me as positive. regardless of which stance you have, “taking back control”, “anti Europe”, “anti immigration” or something else, to me they are all taking a negative stance against something which actually is a positive.

Harmonised regulations mean, in general, that we find travel between countries is easier. Mobile phone roaming changes were instigated by the EU. Immigration has always resulted in a stronger Britain, I mean, think about dogs. Which is stronger? A mongrel or a purebred? Mongrels win every time. Mixing the genes – whether the real gene pool or that of society – results in a stronger outcome.

I applaud Sir Patrick and will keep pushing to say remove this change that only benefits those who own businesses and want to remove the EU controls that make them behave as they should.

https://news.sky.com/story/sir-patrick-stewart-my-star-trek-and-x-men-characters-would-be-anti-brexit-11332439

Google loses right to be forgotten case in the UK

Privacy is important for all, regardless of who you are and what you’ve done, we are all due some degree of privacy. The degree will of course primarily lie on how much celebrity you have – not just the positive sort as we get from film, TV or other people in the entertainment industry, but also those who gain notoriety for other things.

But at some point that notoriety should and does fade, unless you work hard to stay in the spotlight. If the spotlight has moved on, then you should equally have the online search history fade over time.

This is what was argued for in this case and the defendant won. Which is good. I know some will say (s)he did wrong and should ever remain tainted. What if you had something happen to you, deliberately or otherwise? Would you want that taint to remain on your forever? I doubt it.

That’s why this is important and is part of what will shape how we all are affected by privacy decisions now, and in the future.

This is a good decision.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-43752344

Large organisations need to listen to staff

Thankfully I work at a company where a lot of listening happens. IBM often  has “jams” where feedback is requested from the teams, open and honest, and sometimes reinforced by being able to be anonymous.

This strengthens us as the weird, wacky, sensible and positive ideas that often prove to be the winning move in a company’s long term survival, come from such beginnings.

I’ve played games for many, many years, been a developer (albeit for only 18 months as I found it wasn’t for me), been in retail, support and training, all of which have more similarities than most might feel they would or should in respect of how to solve any problem that is in front of you.

have a read of the two blogs below – and especially think through the rubber duck debugging one, I have to say I have used that sometimes, even when writing to find the obvious thing that you’d otherwise have missed. ???

Rubber duck debugging: https://rubberduckdebugging.com/

UE4 confessions blog: https://allarsblog.com/2018/03/16/confessions-of-an-unreal-engine-4-engineering-firefighter/

Appalling treatment of Windrush immigrants

I was discussing this situation with  colleague earlier today and we were both horrified that the outcome of some of the Brexit work, would have this impact on people that had lived here for several generations.

Its good then that the government and the Prime Minister in particular are planning to address this, but I don’t see a definitive response that stops this occurring at all – at least not yet. There’s couched language that says those who should be here will stay.

Why not all who came over as Windrush immigrants just blanket say they can stay? They’ve been here long enough to say that.

Amber Rudd’s statement that this is appalling should have happened sooner.

I hate how this country has moved to a stance of “anyone not from here, should go away”. The murder of the 14 year old girl by a 16 year old boy, stabbings galore – 35 since the start of the year.

These are all signs of a country that is losing control as far as I can see.

So sad.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-43780621

Wetherspoon pub chain shuts its social media accounts

I’m not sure that closing all social media accounts is the best way to go, but certainly the scaling back of use is a good thing.

Its most telling that Weatherspoons has cited trolls as the key element, as I can understand that teaching people to be nicer online and even if you disagree with someone, don’t start calling their personal traits out as part of that disagreement.

We can all be nasty when we’re effectively unknown or even anonymous, but most would not if they could and would be traced and worse still, possibly prosecuted.

And remember, some folk have been prosecuted for their online actions.

Play safe, be nice and we can all get along much better with less nonsense.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-43781281