Facebook Control and Envy, Predicting the Future, etc.

I have a lot of links to pass on to you. The stack of pending items is so big that if I try to try an article on each topic I'll never get through it all. Instead, I'm going to try to clear the backlog by introducing each link briefly and then moving on.

"On Facebook, People Own and Control Their Information"
This blog posting by Zuckerberg isn't really new. I bumped into it while looking at something else more recent. Upon seeing the title, it struck me just how disingenuous it was. Then, deep in the article, Zuckerberg contradicts himself. Sorry buddy, you can't say that "people own and control their information" when in reality "There is no system today that enables me to share my email address with you and then simultaneously lets me control who you share it with and also lets you control what services you share it with." Both of those sentences are in the same article written by Zuckerberg. You can see what he wants, which is credit for trying to help keep control of your information, but he knows that reality is different. How deceptive.
http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=54434097130

"Is Facebook envy making you miserable?"
German researchers have found that Facebook users are miserable. The problem? Everyone is envious of others' vacation pictures. Women are envious of friends' physical attractiveness. Men are envious of others' accomplishments and status.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/22/us-facebook-envy-idUSBRE90L0N220130122?feedType=RSS&feedName=lifestyleMolt

“Witnessing friends' vacations, love lives and work successes on Facebook can cause envy and trigger feelings of misery and loneliness…” “…unprecedented platform for social comparison.” “Researchers from Humboldt University and from Darmstadt's Technical University found vacation photos were the biggest cause of resentment with more than half of envy incidents triggered by holiday snaps on Facebook.”

“It’s now possible to predict the future." 
"Not surprisingly, no one in the intelligence business is eager to talk about this.” With ubiquitous sensors, huge databases, and data mining algorithms, intelligence agencies either have or will soon have the ability to predict what each of us will do next. (If they do, can't they at least email us a to-do list each day? I'd hate not living up to the predictions others make of me.)
http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htintel/articles/20130122.aspx

"Student Expelled from Dawson College in Montreal for Finding Sloppy Coding"
In the no-good-deed-goes-unpunished department, a Dawson College student discovered a security flaw, reported it fully, then when he went later to test that the exploit had been fixed, was accused of hacking. The professors at the school fully supported expulsion, despite the student's critical role in finding the flaw. Was Dawson attempting a cover-up? Slashdot suggests that the Dawson faculty are stuck in the past, pre-Internet.
http://news.slashdot.org/story/13/01/21/1244225/student-expelled-from-montreal-college-for-finding-sloppy-coding

http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/01/20/youth-expelled-from-montreal-college-after-finding-sloppy-coding-that-compromised-security-of-250000-students-personal-data/

http://news.slashdot.org/story/13/01/23/2347231/cto-says-al-khabaz-expulsion-shows-cs-departments-stuck-in-pre-internet-era

Dawson College defends its actions:
http://o.canada.com/2013/01/22/dawson-defends-students-expulsion/
"We have to abide by this legal requirement not to divulge any personal information of any student..."

"Researchers Achieve Storage Density of 2.2 Petabytes Per Gram of DNA"
Suppose you wanted to leave a message for future generations? Instead of printing hardcopy and storing it on acid-free paper, or chiseling it out on a piece of stone, could the perfect storage place be inside your DNA? I'm sure the science fiction story has already been written (please leave a comment if you know of such a story) about leaving messages for future generations in DNA itself.
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/13/01/23/1927221/researchers-achieve-storage-density-of-22-petabytes-per-gram-of-dna

Uncle Sam wants you
to be a white hat hacker! In this bizarre development, it seems that the U.S. Government wants to encourage community hacking groups to sprout up all over America. Apple pie, baseball, and nmap. They go together likes peas and carrots. Bake sales and Metasploit, down on the corner at church!
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/13/01/23/1823208/us-government-announces-national-day-of-civic-hacking

"Google Report Shows Governments Want More Private Data"
Google continues to report on requests by governments to disclose private information and remove search results. As you would expect, the number of requests is rising.
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/13/01/23/1712213/google-report-shows-governments-want-more-private-data