Everything Facebook: An Update By Maria Asselin-Roy Facebook constantly seems to offer. With more and more updates the site is growing continuously, and thus is keeping us students online for hours. Facebook is said to now be bigger than Google, and with great websites come great responsibility. Here are the latest updates and controversies on Facebook today. On September 23 Facebook proposed several new changes regarding its privacy. The new changes are within the statements of the rights and responsibilities one needs to create or modify an account. So basically, for anyone that actually reads the small print there are more rules and regulations regarding yours plus other users safety. Also, Facebook has made changes on friend requests. Before this, you could either confirm or ignore a request. Now, the “ignore” button has been replaced by “not now.” When someone is confirmed to be your friend, they will automatically see all of your public posts. So, with the “not now” button, Facebook took the one step rejection and made it into two steps. By pressing “not now”, Facebook will ask if you know this person, and if you don’t know them, they will be blocked. If you want to actually deny a friend request, you have to go to the requests page. (the area that Facebook sends the “not now” people to) You can find the requests page by going to friends, and then the find friends area. On the same day, Facebook had it’s worst outage in four years. There was an outage on September 22 and September 23, both outages were unrelated. 500 million users could not ss the site fo . Facebook [= hard to keep up with all the new changes officials say that this was not due to any sort of virus, but “a number of things were going wrong at once.” With this, the recent “like” button has raised privacy concerns. As stated earlier, Facebook is growing rapidly. Part of this fast expansion is because many other websites have links where you can “like” this on Facebook. However, federal privacy authorities are saying that the “like” button on outside websites are violating Canada’s privacy laws. This is because any outside organization may collect or use personal information for their own commercial activities. For example, if someone liked an item on an outside website, this action would be shared on Facebook and possibly on the outside website. Facebook has also launched it’s new “places location feature” in Canada. This will allow users to check in to places using their GPS on their phones. Users can tag their location, and check to see if any friends are in the area. This application can help friends connect with each other, and businesses can also use it to attract customers. This can be handy to find friends nearby at real locations, or discover new places recommended by friends. With the new privacy settings, you can choose who will see this information and what information is shared. To “check in” to a particular location, a notification will be sent to the user’s wall, you can also add additional information about the location. On Facebook, there is always a lot going on. While it is a great place to connect with your friends and family, the constant changes can sometimes be overwhelming. The best we can do is watch for updates, and be sure your privacy settings are up to date. Douglas Days Recap By Maria Asselin-Roy has come and gone quickly, and all of the weekly scheduled events were a success. On Saturday, September 18", the Fall Fair took place at David Lam. 99.3 the Fox was there as Douglas’s Roary the Lion battled Mr. Fox. It was a good turnout with the farmers market selling fresh produce, music, and various games and prizes. Current and former students got creative with the Capturing Your College Memories project. The displayed college memories will be added to the library archives for the anniversary celebration. On Thursday, September 23 the 40" Anniversary Concert featuring Henry Waack was held at the Preforming Arts Theatre. This free concert also featured several former music students of the college. Several athletics events were held throughout the week including Royals Rumble and Alumni games, both held at the New West campus. The Royals Rumble had a great tournament and turnout as well as prizes. Last but not least, the pre party for students was held at New West. Students who showed up received free pizza, good music, and prizes. All of this was hosted by the DSU. Following the pre party of course was Homecoming. This was an event for anyone who has ever attended Douglas. The college thanks everyone who helped out in the various events that took place during the 40" Anniversary Celebrations. (Ciscoe 40 years is already over. Douglas Days Vote for the U-pass this Fall! By Maria Asselin-Roy and finally after hours and hours of work by student groups the OnePassNow union is up and running. In June 2010, provincial government officials made a public announcement stating that a province wide U-pass program will be available to most post secondary institutions of Canada. Now, the U-pass is currently available to students attending UBC, SFU, Langara, and Capilano. Other post secondary institutions such as Vancouver Commnity College, Emily Carr, and Douglas college are yet to receive them. Apparently Douglas college students have to vote for the U-pass program to take action. Basically, the government is offering Douglas a U-pass, but the students have to vote to say they want it. The government is still working out the little details, but currently the DSU is planning the vote sometime this semester for all students interested in the U-pass. Having the U-pass means that you have to pay as little as $30 a month for transportation, a lot less than the original $73 for a one zone. It is the students job to decide if a mandatory transportation fee should be included with school tuition. If all goes well and students agree with this program, the college hopes to have the U-pass available by 2011. T= U-pass campaign has been going on for years,