Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
AN IRISH MEP has called on the European Commission to investigate the legality of Facebook’s new ‘graph search’ feature.
The feature, which is being rolled out to the site’s billion users gradually, allowed users to search their Friends list or the general user database to identify people based in certain areas, or who work at a certain place, and who share common hobbies or interests.
It also allows users to enter ‘human language’ phrases – like “TV shows that my friends watch”, or “restaurants that are liked by people who live in Galway, Ireland”- and returns results accordingly.
Though the tool can only use information that users have already supplied it, and does not show information which users have opted to keep private, the new feature has met with an uneasy response from some – and prompted a popular Tumblr called ‘Actual Facebook Graph Searches’ highlighting some of the data that the tool can find.
Labour MEP Phil Prendergast said she was marking European Data Protection Day (today, January 28) by asking the European Commission whether the new feature could breach a citizen’s right to the protection of their personal data.
Prendergast said she was also calling on the Commission to issue proposals “to prevent potentially dangerous, embarrassing or misleading information from being discovered” using the new search tool.
This was important because some of those interests could be “established and attributed to users by data-mining means other than explicit choices on the part of the users, as is the case with the Facebook ‘Like’ tool”, she said.
“It would seem possible from the search function introduced already in the US, that essentially Facebook’s software will make presumptions about a person based on their online activity.
“However more worryingly, they will publish that presumption and make it available for private and commercial exploitation.”
Prendergast said this would cross the line between the explicit act of pressing the ‘Like’ button on certain pages, something a user had obviously consented to do, and display personal information based solely on guesswork.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
None of your business lol
@Scorpionvenomm: p!ease send your answers with a SAE to. IMRO lawyers c/o ….
Does running a plex server off a seedbox and granting my friends streaming access count?
Because I’ve never done that.
@Guy Incognito: and people will say what’s a seedbox lol
@Scorpionvenomm: Why, it’s simply a pretty window planter for small shrubs of course!
@Guy Incognito: ooooo so cool and edgy!
@Seth Cheffetz: Back off to IPT with you
@Guy Incognito: Do you not need a physical server for plex?
@Tommy Hawk: I wouldn’t know about such things, but a lot of the seedbox hosts have a one click Plex installation these days. Feral is an example. That’s what I’ve heard anyway.
@Guy Incognito:
@Guy Incognito: \yes
@Scorpionvenomm: a seedbox judge?
Thats what we grow plants in under our front window judge? Very low tech!
@Guy Incognito: haha, I also don’t do that.
Wouldn’t know how. I used to tape songs off the radio though….the 80s version of illegal downloads
@SeeMack:
Press down play & record. You had to be on the ball though to pause for the ad breaks. I remember waiting by the radio for ages waiting on Golden Brown by the Stranglers to come on.
@Tweed Cap: tommy tiernan does a good joke about that
@SeeMack: Torrents are outdated by a decade ffs.
@Jane: Tommy Tiernan has a good joke?
@SeeMack: Me too & gave out sh* te if the dj didn’t shut up before the song started.
@SeeMack: “Home taping is killing music”… Don’t take know! Oh.. Wait
@Tweed Cap: then the damned DJ would talk over the intro!
@Jane: Tommy Tiernan… Good joke! Surely you jest woman.
@saiteksaitek6@gmail.com: Torrents are very much alive
If the TV and movie companies embraced the download culture and inserted YouTube style ads in to the streaming, they would get revenue from the streaming. Or, create alternate Netflix apps. Or, secure their content with blockchain. New age solutions for a new age problem.
Android boxes aren’t illegal and it’s not illegal to stream content on them.
@Dermot Lane: that depends on the content
@Dermot Lane: streaming is downloading so it is technically illegal
@Jesus Christ: nope because EU law has a loophole that if the downloaded content is not permanently stored then its not illegal which makes streaming all good
@Ian McNally: I thought the EU law changed recently so that steaming (temporary download) became illegal.
@darren: how is streaming illegal? You stream from Netflix. You stream from YouTube. All those videos on Facebook and new sites and about every goddamn ad infested site are streamed so how exactly is streaming illegal???
@Jesus Christ: technically but so many apps to stream and download at same time.
@Jay Coleman: sorry streaming copyright protected material from illegal sources.
@Jesus Christ: Ha good one, JC bringing in technicalities !
@darren: no Darren. Sharing the content is illegal. Streaming the content isn’t. Big legal difference.
So 21% of people don’t know how to download torrents??
@Rob Cahill:
Rob, I’ll level with you. I don’t know what torrents are.
@Rob Cahill: Torrents are outdated by a decade ffs.
@Tweed Cap: Download UTorrent, after the install visit 1337x.to. That should keep you going for 6 months
@saiteksaitek6@gmail.com: far from it mate… far from it. Maybe the way you used torrents might be outdated.
@Rob Cahill:
I am surprised it is so high
@Chief: Torrent content is mostly entertainment for average advanced users so no big deal if someone use it (or not). There are more advanced p2p networks where you may find much more interesting stuff and this is cool.
@Rob Cahill: seem to remember torrents from the distant past
@Rob Cahill: torrents are so yesterday, I don’t recommend using Usenet. :)
just about anything i have ever streamed, I have owned a copy but the media has perished in some ways. I don’t feel guilty for watching something that i have already paid for.
@Living The Laws: ahh here. I bet you taped music off the radio in the 90s
@Living The Laws: So you use streaming sites/apps, but only watch movies you have had on DVD in the past ? Pull the other one.
@Tommy Roche: i’m fairly limited in what I am prepared to watch.
@Morgan Freeman: lol. in the late 70s and early 80s moar like
@Living The Laws: Absolute honesty here, I stream everything I watch. Saving the guts of €1500 over subscriptions I had up to about 18mths ago. Watch very few movies, mainly sports and series at the weekends.
@Rónán ~ Could you do a fact check please?
I was told by “InFact” (Irish branch of federation against copyright theft) that the crime in Ireland is not downloading or streaming down, but is actually uploading, seeding & streaming up.
This is just for video, with music it’s illegal up and down.
The same way as the guys in the markets & car boot sales flogging dodgy DVDs & Blu-ray. It’s supply not consumption that’s the crime.
I recall Ray Foley bragging about it on Today FM.
This was the case ten years ago. Is it still the same
Their phone number is 01 882 8565
INFACT is a trade organisation representing distributors.
@OU812:
I have heard that too, not sure whether it is true or not but it is definitely a story that does the rounds
@OU812: Thanks for the suggestion. Will see if I can take a look.
“we won’t tell” lol, no doubt the state has access to email addresses and phone numbers of everyone commenting on the journal.
@sixmile:
Don’t forget to put on your tinfoil hat today and to bring your iodine tablets with u just in case.
@Nick Allen:
did you think of that all by yourself?
@Nick Allen: “put on your tinfoil hat” – and everything you can find on wikileaks is a fantasy, but we want to get Assange because we love his writing and offer him to write more – CIA
@sixmile:
I did, but the inspiration came from a really stupid comment on the journal
If the BBC broadcasts it’s content free to air, but it was not meant to be picked up in Ireland, would it have been illegal to try to get these programs using an aerial? If companies pump out content online, if someone can pick it up, should that be illegal. Or should the companies do more to protect their content? They are still making obscene amounts of money, but perhaps they want more.
@David Knight:
Picking up content online which is against the terms & conditions of the site which is providing the content is illegal. The BBC content is not free to air. It requires a UK TV license and you need to confirm that u have a UK TV license when u access BBC iPlayer
@Nick Allen: Only watching adds is legal people ! WATCH ADDS !! SPEND MORE !! PAY TAXES !!
@Nick Allen: You can pick up BBC with a satellite dish throughout most of Europe for free and most of the boxes allow a record onto a flash drive afaik. Met a Brirish gent on a campsite in France where I had a dish on a tripod and had all the British stations. He was disgusted that I was watching for free. But that’s not my problem. Same goes for all content, streamed or otherwise, it’s nothing to do with me if it’s freely available.
In my day if you wanted to rob music you had to run the gauntlet of the Virgin Megastore security gorillas.
If the tv/sat companies etc didn’t rip people off people might be inclined to remain with them but when they charge you more and more every year or so when they repeat the same sh#t all the time what do they expect,if they want people to come back to them they need to change themselves and give us good value.
No such thing as ‘illegal’ downloads.
Please use the correct PC term ‘undocumented’ downloads.
There are shows I’ve streamed that I would have been quite happy to pay for but they were never released in Ireland/Europe and if they did end up later getting a release I did pay for them. It’s case of not meeting the demands of a changing market. Having region locked content just doesn’t work in this day and age. We’ve seen a change with how big tv shows air. We use to have to wait weeks if not months for a big US show to debut here but now you’ve got shows like Game of Thrones etc airing right after they air in the US.
Anime is a good example of fans wanting content that just wasn’t available – people outside of Japan wanted the content so took it upon themselves to subtitle tv shows and films into English, Spanish etc Most fans sites would then remove shows that had been offical licensed for translation, not always but generally fans were good about it and we now have more and more offical content being translated and made available. Rather than freaking out about the pirating companies should be looking at that demand and exploring options to make it available at a reasonable cost to fans. There are legal issues like writers and musicians residual rights/royalties in tv shows etc that has caused delay for older shows but anything being made now should be made with the intention of being distrusted globally.
There will always be those who steal but the vast majority just want access to the content and are happy to pay for netflix style sites or sit through ads like youtube if only they are given the option.
Says you. I’ll die before I consent to watch an ad.
Nice try Mr FBI
You can’t illegally stream in Ireland… There’s absolutely nothing anywhere in Irish legislation that even mentions it from a viewer perspective.
People tend to download illegally because of the ridiculous disparity in when something airs in two different countries – it can take weeks, months or sometimes never air in one country and of course they still want to watch it!
The main reason for shows being downloaded right now is probably the fact that spoilers are almost impossible to avoid.
Arrow for example is one of the top illegally downloaded shows in the world now. It airs in America one day and everyone watching live-tweets it, talks about it, blogs about it etc. Then around the world you have to wait a full week for it to come out. How do you avoid the spoilers?
Besides, the majority of people who regularly stream or download shows will eventually buy it on dvd.
@Amy Wallis: that and the fact that the TV companies are siloing you into their packages. Excellent example being Sky Atlantic being Sky only and BT Sport only on Eir. God help anyone who loves Game of Thrones and live Airtricity league.
@Darren Bates:
Thats how all commerce works. Different companies sell different products and they try to make their product more attractive than their competitors.
This wont do anything except drive people on to the deep web which is untraceable or hey just go to proxybay
Zamunda dot net is a good site and often used.
Why is ireland being singled out????
There’ll be new sites the next week.
@Eddie Mc Keown: because we are the best boys in class of Europe.
what ? who ? whats the internet ?
For every site taken down / IP address blocked 10 new ones will pop up in their place.
“No Never..” yeah right
People who can afford it pay and consume in high quality. Downloaders cannot afford it, in the majority, and have to mess about with malware and a rubbish experience etc. The fractious nature of where the quality content is at multiplies the problem. Netflix boss welcomed downloaders as future consumers. Hollywood is booming like never before, yet an entire underclass is being created (by these studios from greed) with no access to popular culture. Further exclusion will lead to social problems…nothing on the box, what to do? When the studios sort out an egalitarian solution to popular media consumption is the time to discuss illegal downloads. See how little their income stream grows if they succeed in shutting down this bothersome troublesome downloading.
@General Info: fractious nature of content refers to multiple separate subscriptions required
@General Info: Eh where do you get Malware from a video file? Setup something like Sonarr, add your shows and off ya go. Only pulls down the video files, and does it automagically on release. You don’t even bother going to the sites….
Yes for a number of reasons, ease (and availability) without having to worry about Geo blocking or some other such outmoded nonsense.
The cost of “renting” from on demand services such as Google play is also prohibitive especially considering I already subscribe to Netflix and Amazon prime, the copyright holders have adapted to a certain extent but alot more needs to happen
poll issued by the Gardai.
all the time and I care less if you tell anyone. If entertainment companies were so concerned about this practice, why do they make it so easy. It’s hilarious that the new TV licence fee cajoling advertising campaign heavily Focus’s on people who use laptops, watch set boxes etc are liable to pay licence. If I refuse point blank to pay for utter rubbish produced by RTE, what in heaven’s name makes them think I or anyone would pay it for streaming, legally or otherwise
Daily…while living in Asia you can watch outrageous violence during daytime tv but the f word or similar is censored to a degree that sometimes you have no idea what the hell is being said!
“Home taping is killing music”. Remember that. Oh…wait…
Never. I couldn’t live with the shame.
I love Rugby, don’t have much time for Soccer, horse racing Golf etc.
To get to see all Rugby matches, I need to an annual subscription to SKY Sports, BEin, and one or two other services, just to watch 10 hours a week. Either that or find a single site that streams all the matches. These all tend to be free.
Sporting organisations and media content developers need to get with the times and allow customers to buy what they want, when they want. The days of forcing your customer to buy 90% of what they don’t want just to get the 10% they do are over.
Guess it’s time to invest in some vpn sites ? App a friend told me if you use a vpn you can access all these sites? Wouldn’t condone it myself but heard some people do.
Who years ago recorded off the radio
All the time
@Austin Rock: Looking forward to the extradition warrant to some US backwater state that carries the death penalty for basically everything
@Austin Rock: Save me a seat on the plane. Ill be along shortly :p
If there was a decent On Demand service that had a vast content library then that would be excellent…. such a thing doesnt exist yet :(
No but tell me more…
have your say