1. Facebook could go bankrupt, and creditors might find the data Facebook has stored up to be one of its most valuable assets. These creditors might want to use the data in new and different ways than Facebook has. No company likes to contemplate its demise, so of course, Facebook probably isn't concerned about what happens in the event it dies -- after all, it would be gone and wouldn't have to deal with any public relations headache or other troubles created by angry consumers.

2. The government can obtain data maintained by third parties very easily -- with just a subpoena in most cases. So despite Zuckerberg's promise that "we wouldn't share your information in a way you wouldn't want," Facebook would have no choice in many instances but to do so.

3. In the past, Facebook has shared people's information in ways they didn't want. The privacy dust ups created by News Feeds, Beacon, and Social Ads are some examples. In the future, there's no guarantee that Facebook will never use data in ways people don't want.

Read the full article about the recent changes (and subsequent reversion) to Facebook's terms of service agreement.

It's a tumblr blog, using a theme made by Justin Ouellette, who is responsible for Muxtape and I Hardly Know Her.

Links from kottke.

]]> http://www.listsanddiagrams.com/archives/2009/02/and_thats_the_w.htm http://www.listsanddiagrams.com/archives/2009/02/and_thats_the_w.htm Sat, 14 Feb 2009 02:28:35 +1000

Killed my tomato plant in one day! That's not cool, Mr. Sun.

]]> http://www.listsanddiagrams.com/archives/2009/02/goddamn_heat.htm http://www.listsanddiagrams.com/archives/2009/02/goddamn_heat.htm Sun, 08 Feb 2009 14:11:48 +1000

Not really a laneway, is it? It's a lot bigger and a very different
festival to the one I went to two years ago, but still fucking fun.
Seen so far:
Tame Impala
Beaches
Emily Ulman

Still to come:
Jay Reatard
No Age
My Disco
Four Tet
Architecture in Helsinki
Girl Talk

Schedule clashes mean missing out on:
Pivot
El Guincho
Buraka Som Sistema
Mountains In The Sky

I am so glad I am at Laneway and not somewhere boring like an office

]]> http://www.listsanddiagrams.com/archives/2009/02/beaches_at_lane.htm http://www.listsanddiagrams.com/archives/2009/02/beaches_at_lane.htm Sun, 01 Feb 2009 15:11:44 +1000

A photo series of the remaining professional darkrooms in London, by Richard Nicholson.

]]> http://www.listsanddiagrams.com/archives/2009/01/last_one_out_pl.htm http://www.listsanddiagrams.com/archives/2009/01/last_one_out_pl.htm Sat, 31 Jan 2009 07:11:14 +1000

Muxtape is back! It's relaunched as a service for bands. At the moment they're testing it with 12 of their favourite artists (including of Montreal, Girl Talk and Dan Deacon) and will soon open it up to other artists.

It's as pretty as myspace is ugly.

]]> http://www.listsanddiagrams.com/archives/2009/01/muxtape_returns.htm http://www.listsanddiagrams.com/archives/2009/01/muxtape_returns.htm Wed, 28 Jan 2009 20:23:27 +1000

]]> http://www.listsanddiagrams.com/archives/2009/01/surveillance.htm http://www.listsanddiagrams.com/archives/2009/01/surveillance.htm Fri, 16 Jan 2009 18:50:07 +1000 How Porsche took hedge fund managers for a ride and made billions of dollars. Also the best layman's explanation I've read of "short selling" or "shorting", i.e. playing the stock market by betting that a company's value will go down.

I love all this financial stuff, it's like some kind of alchemy, closer to magic than science.

]]> http://www.listsanddiagrams.com/archives/2009/01/very_clever_fer.htm http://www.listsanddiagrams.com/archives/2009/01/very_clever_fer.htm Tue, 13 Jan 2009 21:56:00 +1000

By Gary Hustwit, who directed Helvetica, comes Objectified, a film about industrial design. I expect it's going to be very good.

I thought I would have blogged about The Ones We Love before because I've known about it for a while, but apparently not. Each photographer on the site shows six images of their loved one, as well as a hand-written note on their relationship. You can really feel the sincerity in the work.

Alta (White) by James Turrell.

These are all connected somehow - triangletriangle.com, hexagonhexagon.com, and hellojake.com, and they are all worth looking at.

Via Core77 - a nice, photo-heavy interview with Ben Ferencz and Nathan Freeman of Freeman Transport, who make handcrafted travel goods. The interview focuses on one of their products, a fixed-gear bike with a frame fitted with S-and-S couplings so that it can be broken apart and stowed in an airline-friendly bag. The pair talk about the unsustainable low prices we have come to expect of manufacturing and food, and the value in well-made goods.

Ben: The follow up is, “what do you think it should cost?” You think I’m insane for offering a product at x cost, you think it is unreasonable? What do you think it should cost? Then you get, “Well, you can get a X for $500.” Why would I buy heirloom tomatoes when I can buy regular tomatoes at Safeway for fifty cents a pound? Why support your local farmers. Their food is expensive but it’s more expensive to raise. And you think they are ripping you off? Does it look like they’re getting rich?

Nathan: I feel like what we’ve been victim to is that that in America we don’t have anyone helping us to educate about our consumption. We assume the market is taking into account our public safety and best interests. It’s definitely not. Regulation is there, but not from a body simply concerned with well-being. I think it becomes very American-centric that way. We are at a slight disadvantage to the rest of the world that does get the information.

Ben: If people aren’t thinking about where things come from they can have no respect for the items they purchase or the people that make them.

Nathan: We would like to take trade and manufacturing back to what it once was. Show some respect. Our generation can make it possible. But you can’t have it all. It is hard and it comes with a price unfortunately and that can be disappointing. At the end of the day though, we are trying to rebuild something that we want to get back.

It's a beautiful bike, and an interesting interview.

Found on The Year In Pictures, Stephen Schuster's Kelly, “a limited-edition photography book on a past relationship".

Anyone who has taken photos of a lover with whom they're no longer will likely find some of the images heartbreaking. I'd call that a testament to the honest emotion and care conveyed in the short series.