MEDIA CURRENT: YOU SHOULD BE PARANOID

By David Rosen

Sometimes paranoids are right to worry. Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) recently exposed a common practice long hidden by wireless carriers: they track your every keystroke and movement through software known as Carrier IQ (CIQ).

As Franken warned, “The average user of any device equipped with Carrier IQ software has no way of knowing that this software is running, what information it is getting, and who it is giving it to—and that’s a problem.”

Carrier IQ, located in Mountain View, CA, was founded in 2005 and is backed by a group of VCs. Its software is installed on about 150 million wireless devices through licensing agreements with AT&T, HTC, Nokia, RIM (BlackBerry), Samsung, Sprint and Verizon Wireless. It runs on a variety of different operating systems, including Apple OS and Google’s Android; however, it does not run on Microsoft’s Windows.

According to the company, its software is designed to improve mobile communications. CIQ is used to help businesses with GPS tracking of mobile devices and coordinate employee travel.

Running under the app functions, CIQ doesn’t require the user’s consent (or knowledge!) to operate. On Android phones, it can track a user’s keystrokes, record telephone calls, store text messages, track location and more. Most troubling, it is difficult to impossible to disable. (A report by the Electronic Freedom Foundation details how CIQ works.)

The controversy over CIQ came to light a few weeks ago when Trevor Eckhart, a security researcher exposed the extent of information accessible by the software; Eckhart has been attacked for working for a firm that is a potential rival to Carrier IQ. Nevertheless, his findings are disturbing.

Carrier IQ initially denied that there was anything suspicious about its software.  However, further analysis revealed a bug in the software that allowed SMS messages to be captured.

Making matters worse, Carrier IQ attempted to silence Eckhart with a cease-and-desist letter, demanding he replace his analysis with a statement disavowing his research. Bowing to online pressure, it withdrew the letter.

Concerns about CIQ’s tracking functions came to national attention last week when Sen. Franken questioned FBI director Robert Muller before the … Read the rest

WHAT’S IN MY INSTAPAPER: SUNDAY MORNING LINKS

By Scott Macaulay

Here are some links that caught my eye this week.

The Workbook Project has a new Transmedia Talk Podcast. Topics include “The Web is Dead,” Foursquare, and the Transmedia panels at SXSW 2011.

Also at the Workbook Project, Mark Harris on why he shot his forthcoming The Lost Children fiction feature as a doc.

Sarah Kessler at Mashable: “New Neutrality — Seven Worst-Case Scenarios.”

There’s been a lot of interest in NYC writer Tao Lin over at The Rumpus. I haven’t read him, so I can’t comment. But here’s an intro at Salon that also discusses the new ways he’s figured out how to monetize his work. An excerpt:

In early November 2009, Lin held an “experimental contest” on his blog that invited users to bid a certain amount of money via Paypal — any amount they chose — on a prize package of Tao Lin goodies. The catch: Lin’s prizes would go to the highest bidder, but entrants would not get their money back if their bid lost. Lin posted a video that showed off the prizes: A “unique drawing of a Sasquatch holding a hamburger,” which he notes has the “crying hamster stamp of authenticity” (a small doodle Lin puts on all his artwork and also signs books with); a Tao Lin T-shirt; an unpublished draft of a short story; an error-filled galley copy of Shoplifting From American Apparel; and a small Moleskine journal filled with Lin’s notes. “You can find out exactly what I do by getting this and looking at my to-do list,” he declares in the video. One finds all of this thoroughly ridiculous until learning that the last Moleskine notebook he sold on eBay went for $80. He is making real money off of this shwag. Lin says, “I probably make $700 a month from selling stupid things on my blog.”

If you’re wondering, in fact, how much writers make to see if they make more than independent filmmakers, then head over to The Rejector for a detailed piece entitled, yes, “How Much Does a Writer Make?”

At Arron La, a developer… Read the rest

SOFT SELL

By Filmmaker Staff

Filmmaker and its friends recommend our favorite apps, programs and Web services.

WHAT’S IN MY INSTAPAPER (SUNDAY MORNING LINKS)

By Scott Macaulay

Here are a few links I sent to my Instapaper account and have been reading this weekend.

* When we queried a few filmmakers for a column on software and apps in the new issue of Filmmaker, I noted the number of respondents who had migrated to the Android operating system. I recalled meeting an Android developer at SXSW this year, and he told me he was planning for the platform’s rapid rise. He also said that he was an Apple fan too, and he felt the competition would be a good thing for both platforms. There’s an exchange along these lines going on between Robert Scoble at his Scobleizer blog (“Why I Can’t Kick the iPhone Habit”) and Louis Gray (“Why I Turned in My iPhone and Went Android”). For those interested in the future of mobile platforms and how choice is playing out in the marketplace, they are worth a read. (Related from Barrons: “How Google’s Android Could Overtake Apple’s iPhone.”)

* Via Derren Brown’s blog, night owls are smarter than other people.

* I’m just starting Tom Bissell’s Extra Lives, his book on videogaming, and noted Chuck Tryon’s blog post about the history of Roger Ebert’s relationship to the medium and what that has to say about media criticism. (For those who don’t know, Ebert has recently stirred up a lot of debate in the blogosphere over his since revised statement that “Video Games Can Never be Art.”)

* At Boing Boing, Cory Doctorow notes Brazil’s copyright law, which levies fines against rightsholders who prevent fair use of their materials through implementation of DRM.

* This is from nine days ago, but if you missed it, the attempt by a law firm and group of producers, including those behind The Hurt Locker, to sue filesharers, has hit legal roadblocks.

* I recently watched Lucy Walker’s well-made and compelling documentary on nuclear weapons, Countdown to Zero. As a kid I was terrified by nuclear war — I still remember watching Fail Safe on TV. As a political science major in college Graham Allison’s … Read the rest

THINKING ABOUT GOOGLE TV

By Scott Macaulay

At Google’s IO Conference this week, the search giant announced several new products and platforms, including the latest Android operating system, Froyo (named after “frozen yogurt”), and, perhaps most significantly for filmmakers, Google TV. At the heart of Google TV is a simple notion: right now we watch a lot of TV after it is broadcast on our computer simply because a) its creators have placed it there and b) it’s easy to find what we want to watch through internet search. But, if we could watch it on our TV screens? Wouldn’t we rather view it there? At his No Film School, Ryan Koo titles his report, “Google TV has been what independent filmmakers have been waiting for.” He writes:

Google just announced Google TV, a device/spec that obliterates the line between “TV” and “computer.” Suddenly it’s going to be a lot easier to get content from around the web onto your TV — because your TV has full access to the web. Sure, some TVs and devices support limited web functionality today, but with Google TV it will no longer be a matter of which widgets your set-top box or Blu-ray player supports, because Google TV is a full operating system (powered by Android) that can access any website (including Flash-based content) and run applications (from day one, you’ll be able to run Android apps like Pandora). While I think there will be problems with how the OS organizes this wealth of content, the fact is that Google TV is going to make it a lot easier to get independently-produced content onto the big (home) screen.

Koo goes on to make some interesting points. The first is that YouTube Rentals could become the go-to outlet for independent filmmakers as the service will offer the path of least resistance when it comes to ability to upload, distribute and then monetize one’s film. One problem that the YouTube rental program has had so far is that viewers aren’t conditioned to pay rental fees to view films on their desktop browser. Higher quality video on their flat-screens, however, will be a … Read the rest