Group items tagged

How do you govern a site specially designed to encourage bad behaviour? Do you even want or need to? When does 'bad behaviour' go too far?

Evidence that it really isn't hard to bypass an ISP filter. This provides a walk though so if you didn't know how - now you do

This article discusses two studies that were released March regarding bullying and how they correlate to cyberbullying. The majority of cyberbullying made commentary on appearence and body shape. The first study concluded that bullying was on the decline, while the other study illustrated how discussing such matters with an adult or friend would most likely improve the situation. Though these studies may seem common sense, one of the startling issues that appears to have been noted during this study was that some of the answers from educators and friends alike were, "told me to stop tattling," "ignored what was going on," "told me to solve the problem myself," "blamed me," "ignored it," "made fun of me." It seems that those in position to help, may often try to ignore or deny help to those who have outwardly asked for it, which may also be an issue regarding cyberbullying; awareness and how to appropriate deal with reports on cyberbullying.

This article discusses how 42 states in the United States now have some sort anti-bullying laws. Despite these laws, and EULA agreements of social networking sites being in places, victims of cyberbullying do not often come forward for fear of not being taken seriously. One of the suggestions for combating cyberbullying is the real life "comeback", although it is warned that this may backfire, which needs to be scripted and rehearsed. Though there are no studies that indicate this is an effective method to combat cyberbullying, this should be exercise with caution. Cyberbullying appears to be one of those case-by-case situations, as the victims reactions - type of person they are - how they handle the situation - whom they come forward to tell to seek help, may be the biggest factors in how an ordeal of this nature should be considered. Sadly it appears that cyberbullies - like in the offline world - like to try and collect followers in the online world, and perhaps one of the better practices is to inform people that they should not be participating in the act of cyberbullying another, and hopefully reducing the motivation to continue.

This article discusses how in the state of Ohio lawmakers are looking to have schools discipline cyberbullies. Cyberbully victims have a higher chance of being depressed, and according to this article they are approximately 8 times more likely to bring weapons to school. Though the bill will help a lot of schools monitor children's conduct online, there were no clear outlines as to the means of how to schools will be able to discipline bullies. A lot of information and rules and regulations will have to be in place to inform parents of how the school will extend their boundaries beyond a physical realm, and into the online world. Though there is much work to be done on the specifics of cyberbullyin, setting school boundaries regarding cyberbullying is a good step towards, thwarting possible cases of cyberbullies, as school jurisdiction may no longer necessarily be within bounds of a school yard.

Twitter users have been issued subpoenas from Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett due to the critical comments they've made about the politician. It's interesting how much anonymous comments can make an impact on a public figure's reputation that it forces him to take legal action.  

Twitter receives a grand jury subpoena forcing the company to reveal a user's identity. Interesting how this can be done when the stakes are high, when there is a a political subtext under it. Could this set a precedent for defamation cases?

It is a trend after launched of ipad in US, more than 100 local pubclishers have signed up to supply ebooks to ebook store which opereates the Borders Australia and Angus & Robertson book chains. "Most of the available e-books will be free, out-of-copyright titles, according to Redgroup managing director Dave Fenlon." when things like this happen how do we draw a line between those with copyright and those without?

This study explores an under-studied layer of Chinese Internet censorship: how Chinese Internet companies censor user-generated content, usually by deleting it or preventing its publication. Systematic testing of Chinese blog service providers reveals that domestic censorship is very decentralized with wide variation from company to company. Test results also showed that a great deal of politically sensitive material survives in the Chinese blogosphere, and that chances for its survival can likely be improved with knowledge and strategy. The study concludes that choices and actions by private individuals and companies can have a significant impact on the overall balance of freedom and control in the Chinese blogosphere.

Blog entry: NU media, source from the socail network sites, how much credt left in the news?

Survey shows that majority of adult internet users in the US Google themselves. Just shows that more people are becoming aware of how it may be difficult to detach their online selves from their offline lives.

The emergence of nanotechnology and cascading media nowadays have resulted to clash of two newly found realms. New discoveries of Nanotechnology and shifts on how people define intellectual properties had imposed legal and non-legal questions like how to classify and who should benefit from the technology.

SeeClickFix is a free mobile phone and web app that enables citizens to take care of their neighborhoods by seeing non-emergency issues in their neighborhoods, clicking to create 'tickets' describing the issue and how to resolve it, and fixing the issue or reporting it to whoever can. This article discusses the technology and tools working to help citizens get involved in their communities and their governments. It also discusses the Gov 2.0 Expo held recently in the US. I found the discussion of mobile citizen governance apps particularly interesting, as it would be something that could be rolled out fairly easily.

Describes how twitter is being used for citizen participation and "democracy" in various countries from Moldova, Iran and now China. The author proposes that the best way to reduce censorship and promote "democracy" is not political pressure, but to "flood the Chinese market, and those of other countries that restrict freedom of expression, with cutting-edge technology". My opinion: Although Twitter seems to be good at allowing citizens to organise and to create consensus, it does not seem to translate well to actual policy outcome. 

In Mexico and other Latin American countries there have been some questions raised on how kidnappers can get precise information of potential victims and their spending power: friends, lifestyle, travels. If social networks like Facebook are a potential tool for criminals, should they be regulated by the government? Is it the media or the government's fault if such a use is being made? I am looking for references in English regarding this problem. 

Ilse Aigner, Germany's minister of food, agriculture and consumer protection, who usually concentrates on issues over rotten meat, genetically engineered corn and imitation cheese, recently took on a different kind of issue: the Internet and data privacy. Suddenly Aigner finds herself facing online giants Amazon, Facebook and, above all, Google. Soon Google plans to send cars equipped with cameras out onto Germany's roads once again for the company's Street View project. Aigner is now insisting that Google should ask permission before violating the privacy of German citizens. The minister's attack and the following discussions reveal just how divided the German government is when it comes to the online world. The debate revolves around questions of national security and individual self-determination on the Internet. But it also concerns the power of the large giants such as Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and MySpace, as well as the question of what these companies are doing with the records of our everyday data, and how they will be able to obtain information from us, influence us or perhaps even control us in the future. It seem like, once again, a German politician is exploiting the popular issue of internet privacy and censorship in a superficial way in the hope of scoring political points.

The findings of this article definitely portrays an extremist view of the internet. It shows the internet to be extremely dangerous which would add to the already growing nervousness which I think many parents experience in letting their children surf the web. While cybersecurity is an increasingly prominent issue I don't see how producing a bubble of fear around the online world can improve the situation. You generally cannot function without the internet and being fed these alarmist ideas only furthers the notion that people should be fearful and avoid the internet rather than be engaging with it and appreciating it for being an amazing tool to communicate and learn.

Well, Fox News is just unbelievable... guess who they consider their competitor, CNN or Comedy Central.

yayy for fear-mongering....

Australian defamation law and how it applies to the Internet