The only things on G+ that are made public without a choice is your name, gender, and a picture of your choosing. If you're worried about that information being more than what you'd like to share with the general public, you've got bigger issues and probably shouldn't be on a social networking site in the first place. To chalk those peices of info up to "zomg, they're giving away our private info to anyone!" is just fear-mongering. Please stop and stay on your lawn.

Legitimate concern, I suppose.

1) So what? The information isn't leaving google. It's just making sure I don't have to look an ad targeted at demographics that have nothing to do with me. If I'm going to see adds, I prefer them to be about things I like.
2) This is an option that can be disabled.
3) If you're too lazy to configure your profile, don't have one. The only info that you can't make private (and control EXACTLY who sees it (hard to do in FB)) is your name and Gender.

In other words, if you don't want to be social, don't have a social networking account. If you don't want your information used for tailoring ads to you, then plan on paying for your service.

Uh oh, I bet there's going to be a lot of pissed off 4channers. Who wants to bed Telstra gets DDOSed soon? :P

There's already a browser extension that allows you to manage your FB lists a la Google+ circles.

http://lifehacker.com/5817472/circle-hack-displays-your-facebook-friends-in-circles-like-google%252B

This is what qualifies as news? I know /. has been slipping a bit lately, but seriously?

If you're running Linux, you probably don't have any viruses. It seems to me that uninstalling programs you don't use every couple months would be a lot easier than re-installing the OS... ever.

Despite that, I've been running my install of Win7 for over a year now, practice general maintenance, and it's still running as smooth as ever. Having to re-install an OS every year is either the sign of a poorly designed OS or just plain laziness.

Apple favoring corps over users. Gee, didn't see that one coming.

I suppose it could be, but I think the backfire potential and the severity (which is pretty low, really) of the hacks points to some kids having fun and trolling the "big guys" more than it does a government op to drive legislation.

I mean, if you really want to put the tinfoil hat on, just look at 9/11.

I wasn't agreeing or disagreeing with what they're doing, just pointing out that there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason behind the attacks other than that they think it's fun.

How many entities do these guys have to hack until people start to realize that they don't have a goal? They're hacking what they feel like hacking when they feel like hacking it. They hack companies they like, they hack companies they don't like, and they hack government servers. They're in it for the lulz (like they say) and nothing more. That's why they take requests, go "oh, that sounds fun" and then hack the shit out of something.

They are not hacktivists. They don't care about "good" and "evil". They just want to have fun. And they are.

It's been useful for a long time, you just didn't know how to use it properly.