momog

@MissPat - I wish what you say could be true, but they are being heavily fined because they abuse your privacy in ways you can't begin to imagine. Google has just gotten worse in that way, too. You're being sold (your name, and your family's names, your friend's names and and all the information on all of their pages, too)like everyone else there. How else do yu think they earn their money? By selling all your information to advertisers. Better wake up before your identity is stolen like so many other people have experienced. You're more vulnerable than you think.

It is incredibly disappointing to be coerced into joining Faebook in order to win a prize. Hundreds of thousands of people have left them because of bad and illegal behavior concerning people's privacy and safety.

Here is Inforworld's opinion of Facebook:

"risk comes from the likes of Facebook, which uses its service to learn about its users, their friends, their family members, and their colleagues, then sells that information to advertisers. Facebook has apologized multiple times for such activities, but hasn't put a stop to them. It claims it protects user identities, so vendors don't know specifically who their ads are targeting, just that they are the appropriate audience. Most media companies do this as well, but Facebook's deep access to personal information and its pattern of exploiting that data rightfully causes concern. I'm amazed that people let themselves be farmed by Facebook; they should at least get paid to be used this way. Just this week, it agreed to pay huge fines for its latest privacy invasions and to be monitored for 20 years by the feds for future misbehavior -- which you just know will occur.

But the worst risk is what people aren't talking about: Big Brother-type technology used to monitor specific individuals and shape their behavior through penalties and rewards. If the government were doing this, we'd have people in the streets, but in the hands of private companies, these seductive methods convince people to naively agree to being controlled.

Take, for example, Progressive Insurance's program of offering tracking devices to monitor how you drive. If you drive safely, as determined by Progressive, you get an discount. If you're determined to be unsafe, you pay the "normal" rate.

Given insurance companies' business model -- pay out as little as possible, take in as much as possible -- the long-term result is obvious: "Unsafe" drivers will pay more, or they won't be eligible for insurance. The insurance industry is notorious for redlining neighborhoods and denying coverage to people's existing health issues, determined by a mix of publicly available data (for redlining) and personal information (for coverage exclusion). Many of these practices have been banned or curtailed, but they persist in the guise of "discounts" that make individuals feel OK about being controlled."

http://www.infoworld.com/t/internet-privacy/carrier-iq-and-facebook-pose-the-least-your-privacy-threats-180619

Please stop the Facebook coercion.

I have been a Bernina owner since 1988 and a loyal Threads reader since Thread's very first edition. You are far too high-class to be associated with Facebook.

I always welcome a new book in my sewing library that will inspire me and further my education in my favorite hobby! I'd love to win!

I opened the PDF template in PhotoShop Elements and saved the design as a transparent-background PNG. I opened the PNG in my Silhouette Studio software for my my Silhouette digital cutting machine and traced the PNG to make a cutting file. Now I can cut that design in card stock for "instant" paper placemats! Instead of cutting the design, I also have the ability to draw the lines using my machine with a pen holder, and a glitter or gel pen! In just moments I can have enough placemats for an entire family gathering or even everyday use, and in any color scheme or pattern I choose. Thank you for the lovely design!
Barbara, aka Momo G

I would love to teach my new daughter-in-law to sew! She wants to learn but she lives too far away for me to teach her, so these DVDs would be the perfect solution! I am a very long time reader of Threads magazine where I learned so much, so I know the quality will be there! Thank you for the opportunity!