Malaysia deports Saudi blogger behind Prophet Mohammad tweets | The Raw Story

Another story very relevant to the discussion we'll be having today:

Malaysia deports Saudi blogger behind Prophet Mohammad tweets | The Raw Story

2012 Is the Year of the Virtual Protest - Technology - The Atlantic Wire

Since we'll be talking in general about the use of online communication for protest and social mobilization in class on Monday, I thought I'd pass along this piece:

2012 Is the Year of the Virtual Protest - Technology - The Atlantic Wire

Blog Prompt: Internet Filters, Yeah or Neah?

OK. You now all know that CIPA requires libraries and schools that make use of E-rate discounted Internet access to put web filtering software on their computers. Many of you have had experience dealing with web filters on the computers at your schools and libraries. Is this a policy that you support? Why or why not?

This just in: File-sharing is an officially recognized religion in Sweden

That's right, the Church of Kopimism, which views file sharing as a sacred act, has just become a recognized religion in Sweden (home of the notorious file sharing site Pirate Bay).

The Electronic Big Brother Bill...

Thanks to the Internet blackout that started the term, we've all heard lots and lots about SOPA. Many of you blogged about it. But there's a new piece of legislation wending its way through Congress that is in many ways just as bad, at least from a civil liberties point of view. H.R. 1981 would require your Internet service provider to record your IP address, your search history and all evidence of your online financial transactions-- and they would have to keep that information for 18 months. Finally, of course, laws already on the books would require your Internet service provider to hand over all information about your online activities to the government anytime they are asked for it. (In the past, providers could just delete that info periodically-- like every 30 days-- to avoid having to give such data to the government). It should be called "The Electronic Big Brother" bill. Another blogger called it "A Turd Wrapped in Cotton Candy". Read more here: http://www.slashgear.com/sopa-sponsor-has-another-internet-bill-that-records-you-247-20210264/

And here: http://www.webpronews.com/h-r-1981-is-a-turd-wrapped-in-cotton-candy-2012-01

Blog Prompt #3: Facebook, Kids and Honesty in Profile Creation

Since we've already broached the subject of children under the age of 13 setting up Facebook accounts in class discussion, I thought this might be a nice topic for a blog prompt. Does it bother you that there are so many 10 and 12 year olds with Facebook accounts? Does it bother you that they had to lie to set up those accounts? Does it bother you that there are completely fictional profiles for dogs and fictional characters, etc.? Do you think Facebook should do more to verify and confirm the information -- especially information about age, location, etc.-- that people use when opening accounts? Please comment...

Twitter Censorship?!?

Just last week, Net-izens celebrated the apparent defeat of SOPA. Now, they must confront a potentially even more ominous new threat to online freedom: Twitter's new censorship policies. Read the Atlanta Journal Constitution's report here.

Danah Boyd Profile in the New York Times.

One of the authors we're reading this week on Social Networking Sites, Danah Boyd, pictured above, is the subject of an interesting recent profile in the New York Times. The article is called "Cracking Teenager's Online Codes". Check it out.

SOPA protests, Other Disturbing Copyright-related Legislation

In our last class we talked a bit about SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and its possible effects. Tomorrow, in fact, Google and Wikipedia will both be taking actions to protest the proposed legislation (see here and here). Google will be putting up an anti-SOPA announcement tomorrow on its search page. Meanwhile, as everyone on the planet now knows, on Wednesday, Wikipedia, Reddit and other popular sites will be staging a one-day blackout to draw attention to SOPA and the threat it poses to the web-as-we-know-it. It has become a major national and international news story.

Yet despite this groundswell of opposition, it turns out that Congress is considering even more ill-conceived copyright-related legislation : an act would make it illegal for Federal agencies to require free access to research and publications funded with taxpayer dollars. In essence, if passed, the law would force the public to pay TWICE for, say, the latest cancer study: first, they'd pay for the research (through an NIH or CDC grant) and then they'd be forced to pay to read about the research in a privately owned medical journal. Sigh.

Blog Prompt #2: Addicted to Google?

In class Monday, we began exploring the vast power and influence of search giant Google, a company that seems to have a hand in just about everything having to do with new media. I'd like you all to write a blog post that explores the role Google -- in all its manifestations (Chrome, Maps, Streetview, YouTube, Blogger, search, etc.)-- plays in your own experience of the Internet. Are you addicted to Google? Is Google too powerful and too omnipresent? Are we too dependent on its various services? Do you share Siva Vaidhyanathan's concerns about the personal kind of personal data Google collects about its users and its general lack of accountability?

There are many different genres of blog. Here are some of the principal ones:

1. Filterblog-- Record interesting links the author finds surfing the web and sometimes annotates them. Example: Robot Wisdom

2. Personal blogs/online diaries-- Articulates an individual's perspective on daily life, relationships, culture, society, politics and everything. Example: Dooce, Ye Olde London Blog

3. Topic blogs-- Solo or multi-authored blogs devoted to a particular subject or hobby (e.g. politics, painting, copyright law, web design, etc.): Example: Crooked Timber

4. V-blogs-- Can fit into any of the above genres but makes use of embedded video instead of text as a means of expression. Example: Steve Garfield's Video Blog

All About Wikis

Here's a nice example of an educational use for a wiki.

Blog Prompt #1

Blog Prompt #1.
For your first blog post I'd like you to write your own personal reaction to one of the following interviews -- conducted by Rebecca Blood-- in which notable bloggers discuss how and why they blog.
Trine-Maria Kristensen [02/07]
Bruce Schneier [01/07]
Megan Reardon [ 04/06 ]
Fred First [ 05/06 ]
Jason Kottke [ 08/06 ]
Tiffany B. Brown [ 08/06 ]
Scott Rosenberg [ 10/06 ]

More "bloggers on blogging" profiles can be found online at Rebecca's Pocket.
I look forward to reading your entries.