Wires Crossed #57 – 21 October

Facebook Sued Over Wiretapping?
Can’t say we’re surprised, but an American woman is suing Facebook over its most recent faux pas – being able to track your Internet browsing history even when you have logged out of the social networking site. What is interesting is the Brooke Rutledge of Mississippi is using US Federal wiretaps laws as the backbone of her case. We thought there must be any one of a number of privacy issues at stake, but we guess if wiretapping covers it, then wiretapping it is. Rutledge is hoping for her complaint will form a class action, which being America, isn’t just wishful thinking, but more likely a foregone conclusion.

Adele Thought Record Execs Were Pervs
There’s something funny – both in a weird and comical way – about the British singing sensation Adele ignoring emails on her MySpace page from recording executives because she thought they might be perverts. Back in its heyday, when MySpace was king and Facebook was just a glimmer in Mark Zuckerberg’s eyes, Adele uploaded some of her songs on her MySpace page. Execs from several companies, including Sony, liked what they heard and let her know via her URL. But she refused to answer, thinking they might have more nefarious motives. Luckily a friend of hers persuaded Adele that maybe the contacts were kosher. As the cliché goes – the rest is history.

Samsung Gets A (minor) Win In Apple Lawsuits
We almost feel like calling up “Ripley’s Believe It Or Not”, such was our amazement that some of the claims surrounding Apple and Samsung ongoing lawsuit(s) have been dismissed in favour of Samsung. To be fair, they were minor matters compared to some of the big claims that have been alleged against Samsung by Apple. Still, it’s still nice to report that they’re getting somewhere with regard to the plethora of legal entanglements these companies have gotten themselves into over the lucrative smartphone market.

Move Over Jenny Craig, Here Comes Twitter
It seems social networking offers up more than just a way to keep in contact with your friends and family. A US Senator from Missouri, Claire McCaskill, used Twitter to embarrass herself into losing weight by tweeting about her obesity problems publically. She used the tweets to keep herself motivated to get fit and healthy and posted updates on how she was going over a five month period. McCaskill eventually reached her goal weight by losing 22 kilograms, and believes that Twitter was one of the main reasons for her success.