New Media Ethics 2009 course

I think this is in a way related to biopower and how biotechnology has influenced our ethical stance on previously impossible/ unconceivable situations. I wonder what we may think about children under going sex change at such a young age. How can the children be so sure is definitely one of the first questions that demands answer.

Something I received in my email - from American Family Association, an extreme conservative Christian network. The new documentary is basically a response to Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth", to (counter-)claim that the global warming "Industry" is causing alarmism and tax increases. From what I see, it's a highly capitalist-driven film. The online premiere will be on 18th Oct, 8pm est. Not directly related. But still interesting I guess. =)

I don't really know where this fits but I find this really amusing. The article is about how Google uses data, very specific data to determine their designs, almost to the point of being anal (to me). I wonder if this is what it means by challenging forth the nature (human mind) to reveal.

Marge Simpson's debut on playboy. Nuff said. lol

I tried this out - it's extremely accurate and scary!

yeah Juliet. I found information abt myself that I don't even know existed. hahahah. Or I probably knew in the past but have forgotten about them. Digital traces of my history....

"The most comprehensive people search on the web" Just enter the name, country etc, to find the person. I must say it's quite interesting and scary at the same time.

The whole idea that the oppressed knows it best is paradoxical in that we've somehow attributed much more credibility to them when they speak, as if they must speak the truth if they are speaking from the subaltern, from the margin. Yet if they are capable of speaking as such, they must surely not be the most oppressed; the subaltern cannot speak. But somehow, we have interpellated such ideologies that it becomes easy to claim victimhood just to increase credibility, which reminds me of a certain prof thio but that's another case. Oh well. Making a mockery.

One biased news source reporting about the biasness of other news sources. Shows that (self-)reflexivity is key in reading.

Written by Dr Ingrid. The article discusses how new media activism increasingly disenfranchises the (s)lower class. =)

This case study is dated back at 2001, when a pro-democracy activist in China was put on trial in western China for publishing political materials on the Web. Huang Qi was arrested after publishing articles commemorating the 1989 protests in Tiananmen square on his Web site, 6-4tianwang.com. He also uploaded information on his site about the democracy movement, Falun Gong and the independence movement in the northwestern Muslim region of Xinjiang. In fact, Huang Qi remains in detention (as reported by a news article in Feb2009). This brings us to the question of whether it is ethical for the State to curtail an individual's rights to freedom of expression. After all, he was merely publishing articles about an event that has already happened, and he should have the right to upload whatever he feels on his blog. There is also an issue of the violation of human rights as he has been detained for almost ten years and some have reported that he was beaten while in custody. Does the state have the right to intervene and lock the man up for close to a decade over a political blog post? Does the state have the right to stifle any opposing viewpoints or dissent on the internet? Should political views be allowed to aired or should they be moderated for the well-being of the society? After all, dissenting views could lead to bloody events in conflicts between opposing groups and the state. How much should the government intervene in the regulation of the internet? Where is the line to be drawn in terms of freedom of expression?

To me, the article demonstrates how online media activism can democratize the state and illustrates social responsibility. With greater online activism, more alternative views are heard. This translates to a utilitarian society where citizens will have the right to voice their views and also choose which opinions they are more incline to that matter, which is ethical to society as a whole. This also does not promote individualism as an individualistic or dominant idea is not forced onto the whole community. Next, if more media activism is actually allowed, it may promote social responsibility as citizens now have a part to play in society. Online participation will be in areas that matter more, like the country's politics, and economy, instead of trivial matters. Singapore should follow in the footsteps of London in that sense so that citizen journalism here can be more credible.

Want to know whether the new person you've met is the right one? iPhone's Datecheck can help you check his/her criminal records, address (whether he/she's staying alone or with room mates/spouses/parents), even how big their house is and how much it costs, scans through facebook, myspace, flickr, and linkedin, and if you're still interested, their horoscope. All that once you've got their name and phone number... Talk about stalker-esque technology, this's got to be the tops. Massive invasion of privacy, anyone? It should be avaliable on iPhone now..and in a year for the Blackberry.

Just a link on advances in extensive office surveillance - this program is supposed to "separate the good employees from the bad by analyzing workers 'electronic footprints' -- the emails they send, the calls they make and the documents they write"