CIA, FBI push ‘Facebook for spies’

Via CNN.com

By Larry Shaughnessy
CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) — When you see people at the office using such Internet sites as Facebook and MySpace, you might suspect those workers are slacking off.

A social-networking site for the world of spying officially launches for the U.S. intelligence community this month.

But that’s not the case at the CIA, the FBI and the National Security Agency, where bosses are encouraging their staff members to use a new social-networking site designed for the super-secret world of spying.

“It’s every bit Facebook and YouTube for spies, but it’s much, much more,” said Michael Wertheimer, assistant deputy director of national intelligence for analysis.

The program is called A-Space, and it’s a social-networking site for analysts within the 16 U.S. intelligence agencies.

Instead of posting thoughts about the new Avenged Sevenfold album or Jessica Alba movie, CIA analysts could use A-Space to share information and opinion about al Qaeda movements in the Middle East or Russian naval maneuvers in the Black Sea.

The new A-Space site has been undergoing testing for months and launches officially for the nation’s entire intelligence community September 22.

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MySpace Launches a Self-Service Ad Solution; MySpace Music Can’t Be Far Behind

Via Mashable

MySpace appears to have soft launched their self-service advertising platform this evening. First spotted by Nick O’Neill over at SocialTimes, the platform would appear to be targeted at MySpace’s large musician community, offering them options for targeting users based on a number of demographic and interest-related characteristics.

As opposed to most ad networks where the advertisements link to external web pages, the ads on MySpace’s self-service solution link to profiles on the social network. That would make sense given the focus on musicians, especially with the launch of MySpace Music – the company’s new digital music venture with the record labels – set to happen any day. With artists soon able to monetize their pages by selling music, ringtones, concert tickets, and merchandise, it would make sense to offer them an option to reach more users through ads.

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Judge: School can suspend students over fake MySpace profile

Via ARS Technica

By Jacqui Cheng | Published: September 22, 2008 – 07:55AM CT

A federal judge has ruled that a Pennsylvania school can suspend two eighth-graders who created a fake MySpace profile of their principal depicting him as a pedophile and a sex addict, among other things. The September 11 ruling said the students’ civil rights were not violated despite their actions taking place off school grounds because the language used on the profile was “lewd and vulgar,” and because it was akin to speech that promoted illegal actions. Given the recent prevalence of fake MySpace profiles meant to taunt or harass others at school, this ruling could help decide future cases related to student speech online.

The story goes back to March 2007, when a profile representing the principal of Blue Mountain Middle School, James McGonigle, popped up on MySpace. The profile didn’t explicitly identify McGonigle by name, but used a photo of him taken from the school district’s website and labeled him as principal. Among McGonigle’s alleged interests listed on MySpace were “f****** in my office” and “hitting on students and their parents.” The profile also had a statement with the headline “HELLO CHILDREN,” that read (in part), “yes. It’s your oh so wonderful, hairy, expressionless, sex addict, fagass, put on this world with a small d*** PRINCIPAL I have come to myspace so I can pervert the minds of other principals to be just like me.”

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MySpace Launches MyDebates to Add Interactivity to the Presidential Debates

Via Mashable

September 16, 2008 – 9:00 pm PDT – by Doriano “Paisano” Carta Add a Comment

With the Internet already playing a crucial role in this year’s election, it’s not altogether too surprising that MySpace and the Commission for Presidential Debates (CPD) have teamed up to launch MyDebates.org. The website will allow viewers to interact and become more engaged during the upcoming Presidential debates, which begin on September 26th and will also include a debate between Vice Presidential candidates – Sarah Palin and Joe Biden

Virtual Toolkit for Voters

MyDebates will contain an arsenal of useful tools for voters as they watch the debates unfold. Some of the tools and features available will be scorecards measuring where you stand on the issues, polling, national statistics in real-time, and live video streaming.

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MySpace Music Sounds Like Advertiser Heaven

Via Mashable

September 14, 2008 – 11:38 am PDT – by Paul Glazowski Add a Comment

As we noted last Friday, MySpace Music will be stepping up its content offerings substantially later this month, with partnerships made between itself and the major record studios Sony BMG, Universal and Warner going further than an ordinary “commercial deal.”

The social network is calling the effort a “joint venture,” according to Jeff Berman, president of sales and marketing. Indeed, the network has made known several arrangements with major advertisers – Sony Pictures, McDonald’s, State Farm, and Toyota – that will be very clearly visible to listeners. As Adweek’s Gregory Solman notes, spots will land in places alongside customized tools, wrapped around the music player and as skins laid upon user playlists, and in free download sponsorships.

Advertising is certainly an expected presence within the MySpace Music environment. The broader network rakes in more than half a billion dollars in revenue through banners and the like. Still, the level of marketing being outlined today shows that the experiment is geared to reap the biggest impact possible from the get-go while offering music fans an ounce of familiarity in the way they listen to and download songs and albums. Ads of course will not invade the music download and ownership experience, but all else seems to be open season.

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MySpace Launches New Option to Record Videos via Webcam

Via Mashable

by Adam Ostrow

MySpace is rolling out a new feature this evening to allow users to capture and upload videos with their webcams. Similar to offerings from YouTube and Facebook, MySpace’s video capture feature allows users to hit a “record” button, which in turn accesses the webcam on their computer. From there, users can either upload the video to MySpace or re-record until they’re happy with it. Like other videos on MySpaceTV, those uploaded through webcam can be embedded elsewhere on the social network or on third-party web sites.

Although MySpace is a distant #2 to YouTube in terms of online video, the webcam feature could have unique appeal to the site’s audience, which is still a haven for musicians and entertainers. Giving those users the ability to send quick video bulletins to their fans makes a lot of sense, and could perhaps improve MySpace’s marketshare, at least by a few decimal points.

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Hurricane In Louisiana? This Time, FEMA Is Prepared. This Time, FEMA Has MySpace Widgets.

Via Tech Crunch

by Michael Arrington on September 1, 2008

FEMA isn’t screwing around this time. There’s a hurricane hitting the gulf coast, and they are not going to take the blame if things go wrong.

They’ve evacuated 2 million people, for example.

And now, they’ve got widgets, which have been created by the Department of Homeland Security. Earlier this evening, MySpace says, Homeland Security phoned MySpace’s Chief Security Officer, Hemanshu Nigam who then called President (and hacker extraordinaire) Tom Anderson to quickly fast-track the project. Within a couple of hours Tom had posted a message to all MySpace users with links to information contained in the widget.

I’ve installed the FEMA widget on my MySpace page (sidebar, on the left, please excuse the music but it’s how I roll). It helps people locate victimes by directing them to FEMA’s National Emergency Family Registry and Locator System, allows people to make donations, and tracks the approach of Hurricane Hanna. It will be available in both English and Spanish.

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