We should never forget about cookies and their dangers…nor should we forget that cookie-monsters are always trying to figure out how to make their datamining code sneakier, harder to detect and harder to remove.
Though, not all is sad on the technology front: Gabe Newell recently explained Valve’s philosophy…piracy happens less when companies treat their customers like, well, valued customers. I know this is anecdotal only, but my highly limited experience confirms the veracity of this philosophy.
And for something neat:
HT: Hacker News
Xanthippa's Chamberpot 
February 1, 2012 at 20:32
It’s taken me a while to catch up on this ceanorsvtion, having just organised a networking event for 15 low carbon community projects in the Cheshire and Warrington area I’m a bit behind on reading and emails. The prospect of digital mentors intrigues me and I’m sure I know lots of communities who could benefit. I’m going to go away and read the summary now and see how low carbon communities / climate change groups can benefit. Using online tools is another way we can reach communities and allow them to participate in climate change initiatives, it’s an extra dimension to the methods of participation we already use and we need to support groups to learn how to use the technology to their best advantage. Tonight I’ve got a telephone meeting with a community project in London who are interested in participating in the Low Carbon Communities Conference in October. They can provide a venue and willing volunteers but they’ll need a “digital mentor” of some kind to help them with the technology and tools they’ll need if the event is going to be more than just an opportunity to watch events from a distance.