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Friday, August 12, 2011

Games Have Hit, But Wait A Sec People. Are You Paying Attention....?



I'm Going To Let You Finish.....

Okay I hate to rain on everyone's parade here but I just wanted to tell you who have never studied fallacies and rhetorical arguments and etc to watch out for the red herring effect. Case in point is facebook who has done a number on people's privacy by getting to them to agree to playing a game or using some other software. Pay close attention to what you are doing when you accept these license agreements and etc. Case in point A friend of mine shared this with me cause I have been editing and have not had a moment to look at it for myself. Here is the Permission list for Bejeweled Blitz Beta:

View basic information about your account
View your name, public profile URL, and photo
View your gender and birthdate
View your country, language, and timezone
View your email address
View the email address associated with your account
View a list of people from your circles, ordered based on your interactions with them across Google
View a list of people from your circles that you may want to engage with
The list is ordered based on your interactions with these people across Google
View public profile information for these people


Now that should make you really pause and think. Why is all of this necessary for me to enjoy games with my friends? What the hell are you even doing with all of this? Warning people think twice cause this is the red herring effect if I ever seen it. I give you something shiny and nice and while you enjoy its beauty I go in your back pocket and take your wallet. Hmm maybe I don't need Google Plus to play games on second thought. 

4 comments:

  1. The first few bits of that information aren't too bad. It's when they start digging deeper, for things like email addresses, friends' information, etc...

    I for one always double-check permissions before using any app, be it online, social, or mobile. It's a habit everyone should get themselves into.

    Also, why do they need your name? This is where the privacy concerns over Google's name policy come into play. I can be marketed to just as easily whether you know my name or not, and that is a BIG concern for some people.

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  2. They need your name for surveillance. Your information is way more valuable if they can pin to an actual person. Also when they turn this data over to say a government like Syria or Egypt (facebook anyone) they know exactly who it belongs to. Your information is far more valuable when connected your actual identity.

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  3. Lets play a game called Global Surveillance. Do you know yourself as well as Big Brother does? Race against time to escape the Thought Police before they uncover your thoughtcrimes! Fun for all ages.

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  4. Love it Brent to quote our fellow Revolutionary a contributor here Redgyrl "They are only interested in the present satisfaction not the end annihilation."

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