The Unknown Studio

I love food. And I love going out and eating it. But, because I’m on something of a diet and money-saving kick, I haven’t had the opportunity to go very much lately.

This young lady (now added to the blogroll) eats out a lot, and takes really excellent pictures of the things she and her friends eat. Here’s a sample of her photography This is a photo from the Capo website:

She’s basically an unpaid restaurant reviewer, and I love reading her posts. You will too. And if you’re looking for a place to eat just about anywhere in the world, see if she’s been there first.

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Turns out some aspects of Beacon were/are probably illegal. Check out this analysis.

Another member of a professorial mailing list I’m on asked whether Facebook may have violated the Video Privacy Protection Act of 1988. Nicknamed the “Bork Bill” (a newspaper published his video rental records during his confirmation hearings), the VPPA protects your privacy in the videos you rent and buy. Well, guess what? One of Facebook’s Beacon partners was Blockbuster, so some of the items that wound up in people’s news feeds were the names of videos they’d bought. Oops.

I dug a bit into the legalities of the issue, and this is roughly what I came up with: Facebook and Blockbuster should hunker down and prepare for the lawsuits. Their recent move to allowing a global opt-out may cut them off from accruing further liability, but there’s probably an overhang of damages facing them from their past mistakes. I should note that this isn’t my usual area of law, so salt the analysis appropriately. Caselaw on the VPPA is thin, but there might be other rules of information privacy law out there that would significantly change the bottom line.

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There is only Mr Deity:

From Crackle: Mr. Deity and the Evil – Season 1, Ep 1

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This article got me thinking about what Social Insurance Numbers in Canada are used for. The Privacy Commissioner of Canada has a good little fact sheet on SIN use, and who can ask you for it.

Your SIN is a confidential number that is restricted to income reporting purposes. There are a select and limited number of federal government departments and programs specifically authorized to collect the SIN.

When it comes to what you can do when asked for your SIN by some agency other than the feds, the Privacy Commissioner offers the following advice:

• Ask if you are required by law to provide it (see list below);
• Ask why the person needs it, how it will be used and to whom it will be given;
• Your SIN is not a piece of identification. If it is not required by law (and you are not satisfied with the explanation), tell the person you prefer not to use the SIN and offer other identification;
• If the organization refuses to give you the product or service unless you give your SIN, complain to the Privacy Commissioner of Canada;
• If you would like better legal protection for your SIN, call or write your federal Member of Parliament.

More information on authorized uses of your SIN can be found here. Know your rights.

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My good pal and business partner Andy believes that Zuckerberg and his pals will have “a tough row to hoe” when it comes to monetizing the FB platform. Facebook’s valuation right now is at about $15 billion. This is all based on the notion that there’s some way to make an awful lot of money off the system.

But, like Andy said, it won’t be easy. Read/WriteWeb agrees:

There is a myth floating around that contextual advertising is going to help Facebook justify its $15 billion valuation. The myth goes something like this: because Facebook knows everything about us, it will always be able to serve perfect ads. However, the reality is more like the following:

• Facebook does not know much about us
• The data that Facebook has is not structured
• People are not coming to Facebook to click ads

Like the author says, monetizing the beast isn’t impossible, and there’s certainly a team of bright folks running the FB show. The next few years will be very interesting on the social networking tip.

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I’m not much of a wine connoisseur, though I like to pretend I am. I guess I’m just one of those people who really enjoys an occasional glass of wine with a meal. Or snack. Or on its own.

Every time I wander into a liquor store planning to buy beer or some equally blue-collar potable, I end up walking away with two bottles of wine: one red, one white.

I did this yesterday. I bought some Alexander Keith’s… And a bottle of House Wine (a blend of many reds, totally out-of-this-world good), as well as a South African Viogner called Fairview which I haven’t tried yet (you’ll all learn soon enough I’m really into Viogners when it comes to white wine).

Oh, I also bought a bottle of Merlot the other day. I don’t really like Merlot, but it was the only red available at the store from the, get this, Wayne Gretzky Estates Winery. I think myself and the fellas over at www.oilernation.com will likely buy a few more bottles of the stuff and judge it.

Even though those blue-collar shills only really like beer.

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