My Experiment Opting Out of Big Data Made Me Look Like a Criminal is a fascinating look at how, and the consequences of, opting out of big data, and dealing with the results.

It’s even more interesting when you look at the Disconnect.me plugin for the number of trackers on the site…

Of course what you should remember is that this on the internet isn’t new. Companies have been tracking people since they realized business could benefit from (for example) knowing when someone got pregnant, whether it’s Facebook for advertising at you, your grocery store and their club cards, or Hank down at the general store making a little mark in the calendar on when to mention to you that he’s got a great deal on newborn diapers.

Friend posted today about Groklaw Shutting Down.

On Groklaw today, Jones has announced that she is shutting down the site and removing herself from the Internet. The reason? Recent moves from private e-mail services like Lavabit and Secret Circle to shut down their businesses in order to protect customers from government surveillance.

Thanks again NSA and american government! Stay awesome!

Zed Shaw pointed to a cool tool to show just what Facebook knows and publishes about you and your information. Time to go and reset those privacy settings.

Boing Boing has a great commentary on Real and how When RealNetworks Settled on DVD Copying, We All Lost, the RIAA and the death of fair use. Not that anyone would have used the RealNetworks software anyway, why bother when something like Handbrake is out there, but still, like the iTunes music store it's something legit for people who want to follow the law with their media.

Torrent Freak points out that the copy of The Pirate Bay that was posted has been brought to life, and is up and running over at btarena.org. Or at least I think it is. Hard to tell. Anyway, the 21G of torrents are up and going and alive and well out in the wild.