Word: socializing
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Damrosch’s purpose in “Tocqueville’s Discovery of America,” however, is not solely to demystify the man behind the famous work of social science. The anecdotes about Tocqueville serve a greater purpose: to illuminate the ideas and thought processes of an author who wrote the text that continues to define American democracy across the world...
Facebook is in the business of connecting people all over the world, but the social-networking giant is on the verge of losing one of its most influential friends in Germany - the Minister of Consumer Protection - because of a disagreement over the site's privacy regulations. Ilse Aigner effectively declared war on Facebook on April 5 when she wrote a provocative, open letter to Mark Zuckerberg, the website's 25-year-old founder. "I was astonished to discover that, despite the concerns of users and severe criticism from consumer activists, Facebook would like to relax data protection regulations...
...What could turn a self-confessed social-networking addict so virulently against Facebook? Last month, the website announced a planned test to start sharing users' personal details with handpicked third-party websites to help those sites better personalize their services to people. Aigner complains that Facebook users won't necessarily be notified when this happens and the onus will be on them to use the opt-out function to stop their personal details from being passed on. And that, she says, leaves many people, especially youngsters, in a vulnerable position, since they may not be aware that their personal data...
...Germans, who take their privacy seriously. "Data Protection War - Consumer Groups Call for Facebook Boycott," screamed the headline in the mass-market daily Bild. The Federation of German Consumer Organisations, which represents 42 consumer groups, accused Facebook of repeatedly flouting privacy regulations and advised users to switch to another social-networking site...
...Germany's privacy laws also cover social-networking sites. Under the Telemedia Act, a website must get a user's permission before passing personal data to a third party for other purposes. The consumer protection ministry says this applies to foreign Internet companies operating in Germany as well. "Facebook may have its headquarters in the U.S., but it has to respect German privacy laws because it is doing business in Germany," says Holger Eichele, a ministry spokesman. "Facebook has up to 7 million users in Germany, it publishes its guidelines in German, and it's clearly operating in the German...