Ryan Calo, a residential fellow at the Center for Internet & Society, is quoted on reactions to Facebook's privacy policies in this article on investments in Internet privacy startups. Alejandro Martínez-Cabrera of the San Francisco Chronicle reports:
Amid the recent public backlash to the way some of the titans of the Internet handle users' personal data, a slate of ambitious online startups are aiming to squeeze into the fields of social networking and search by touting a stronger focus on privacy.
Four New York University students, for instance, set out in April to create Diaspora, an "anti-Facebook" of sorts. Their platform will aim to provide the same functionality as the popular social network, but will run on open-source software and won't depend on centralized servers, effectively giving users control of their information.
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This is not the first time that Facebook has been in the spotlight because of privacy-related issues, but WhatApp.org co-creator Ryan Calo - whose site reviews Web applications based on their privacy, security and openness - believes people have reacted much more strongly this time than in the past.
- Date Published:06/01/2010
- Original Publication:San Francisco Chronicle - Bloomberg