Archive for September, 2007

Google calls for web-wide privacy laws

In a twist of irony, the largest information-gathering company in the world is calling for privacy laws to be established (and, presumably, enforced) by governments and corporations.

Maybe I’m a glass-half-empty kind of person, but doesn’t it seem odd that a huge company like Google – which gathers more and more personal data every second of every day and stores it on it’s growing network of computers for reasons it won’t reveal – would appeal to the least-trustworthy sources, governments and corporations, to be the gatekeepers of all the personal data harnessed from the Internet?

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Working And Expectations: A 2-Way Street

Today I came across a blog post entitled “How Not To Hire Someone Via Craiglist” and, while the post is talking about an ad on Craiglist, I feel like I’ve been reading this ad every day:

This job posting is fundamentally flawed. It casts far too big a net, so it will intimidate or exasperate the little fish (ie, people starting their careers), and the big fish (ie, people who truly qualified) either aren’t reading Craigslist or will smell a rat: “Compensation: Commensurate with experience.”

In particular, take a look at the requirements and expectations in the ad; while I am highly skilled in just about all the software mentioned and have some programming skills, I’m a graphic designer. This means that, while being adept at using the tools of the trade (in this case, software) to accomplish my goals is important, typing code at breakneck speed is not the defining characteristic of a talented designer. And, as far as I know, despite the plethora of WYSIWYG software out there, there isn’t one package that compensates for lack of imagination, poor production skills or originality.
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