Today I am going to try something new. I've installed a new "widget" that let's me write blog entries from my Mac "Dashboard." This should let me post about several stories that I think are related or have some connection in one entry. The way blogger or other software works, it's easier to post about single sites.
Saturday picks: There is trouble in
Nepal for journalists. According to this story,
King Gyanendra, a tyrant who on February 1, 2005, thrust the remote South Asian nation into a communications dark age. Telephone lines were cut, mobile phone service was shut down and Internet access was blocked. Dozens of FM radio stations and community newspapers were closed or forbidden to report on the royal coup. Outspoken leaders in the Federation of Nepalese Journalists were arrested. Many editors went into hiding.
Dinesh Wagle, a reporter for the Kantipur Daily, the country's leading newspaper, got blogging and is a sort of leader for a cadre of journalists who are using Internet to get around the news lock-down. Of course the fact that Nepal has a low rate of literacy means their impact on the general population is lessened, but the Reporters without Borders organization recognized their extraordinary efforts to keep the news going in the face of a communication blackout by the King.
From serious to frivolous finds Verizon getting fined for its chalk sidewalk ads around Washington, D.C.
To advertise its phonebook, Verizon hired a contractor to spray water-soluble chald messages on D.C. sidewalks. But in D.C. where grafitti is a problem, this is prohibited unless you have a mayoral order.
"It's harder and harder to catch consumers' attention, so many companies, including us, are turning to nontraditional advertisements," she said. "At this point, of course, I don't think we'll be trying it again."
From the
if you don't know about it, it can't hurt you department
Researcher and professor Edward Felten who was involved in the weird controversy brought on the by Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DCMA) where he was prohibited from presenting his academic research because it involved encryption schemas that the big media companies wanted to use to prevent copying is in the DCMA frey again.
Sony
recently had a bad code day with its rootkit idea. Felten and his group discovered the problem but feared that if they disclosed it, they'd be sued, so consumers were at risk because of the DCMA.
Lobbyists for the industry argue that the DCMA must stand as is, while
consumers stand to lose.
The big question seems to be "Why on earth are we putting cybersecurity in the hands of copyright lawyers?"
The
all MySpace, all the time department reports trouble in the space.
MySpace assigns roughly 90 employees, a third of its workforce, to the task of monitoring the safety and security of members, Dudeck said. Using search and algorithm technologies, MySpace employees will review information for such inconsistencies as claiming to be a 14-year-old member while putting information in a profile about a 7th grade teacher and class.
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