Tag Archives: internet

Kids Online: the Risks and the Realities

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KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RISK AND HARM. It might seem like just a semantic distinction, but recognizing the difference between risk and harm is important. Livingston contends that while the risk is real when it comes to being exposed to inappropriate material online, the probability of harm is low. ???The risk remains but the parents??? task is not to eliminate risk but do everything they can to make sure the low probability harm doesn???t happen to their child,??? she says. ???Children have to encounter risks because it???s how they live and learn. It???s how they go out into the world and become resilient.

via blogs.kqed.org

Unpacking Kony 2012

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My goal, in this (long) blogpost is to get a better understanding of how Invisible Children has harnessed social media to promote their cause, what the strengths and limits of that approach are, and what some unintended consequences of this campaign might be. For me, the Kony 2012 campaign is a story about simplification and framing. Whether you ultimately support Invisible Children???s campaign ??? and I do not ??? it???s important to think through why it has been so successful in attracting attention online and the limits to the methods used by Invisible Children.

via ethanzuckerman.com

Kony 2012 – is the US military the answer?

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The viral campaign that is circulating the internet on Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony is well-meaning but extremely problematic. KONY 2012 fever has also hit New Zealand, with events springing up all over the nation. To put it simply: if you are going to agitate for reform in another country, you better darn well be open to hearing criticisms and incorporating these into your arguments. It is not critiquing that Kony is a bad guy, it is making sure that people are not having the wrong effects on the Ugandan people in their support of the campaign.

via tumeke.blogspot.co.nz

Supreme Court rules ISPs not subject to broadcast regulations

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“An ISP does not engage with these policy objectives when it is merely providing the mode of transmission,” the court ruled as it dismissed the challenge.

“ISPs provide Internet access to end-users. When providing access to the Internet, which is the only function of ISPs placed in issue by the reference question, they take no part in the selection, origination, or packaging of content.”

If the court had decided the Internet providers were broadcasting, they could have been subject to levies in the same way video distributors, such as cable and satellite companies, are charged.

via theglobeandmail.com

So if an ISP provides content, not merely the mode of transmission, they get hit.  Now would you like to be a common carrier?

The Case for Publicly Owned Internet Service: Susan P. Crawford

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Right now, state legislatures — where the incumbentswield great power — are keeping towns and cities in theU.S. from making their own choices about theircommunications networks. Meanwhile, municipalities,cooperatives and small independent companies arepractically the only entities building globally competitivenetworks these days. Both AT&T and Verizon have ceased theexpansion of next-generation fiber installations across theU.S., and the cable companies??? services greatly favordownloads over uploads.

Congress needs to intervene. One way it could help isby preempting state laws that erect barriers to the abilityof local jurisdictions to provide communications servicesto their citizens.

Running for president in 1932, Franklin D. Rooseveltemphasized the right of communities to provide their ownelectricity. ???I might call the right of the people to ownand operate their own utility a birch rod in the cupboard,???he said, ???to be taken out and used only when the child getsbeyond the point where more scolding does any good.??? It???stime to take out that birch rod.

via bloomberg.com

Does ‘internet addiction’ change the brain?

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While this small study has found patterns in brain volume among people with IAD, it is not appropriate to assume that internet addiction causes changes to the brain, particularly as we cannot tell how their brains were structured before they began using the internet. Also, the study featured just 36 participants, meaning its results should be treated with caution.

Importantly, the changes described in this study were to the brains of adolescents with a specific, if new, disorder, and the brains of people who simply use the internet on a day-to-day basis were not assessed.

via nhs.uk

Source of the famous ???Now you have two problems??? quote

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As I mentioned in my previous post, my book was just reviewed on Slashdot. One thing that struck me in reading all the resulting comments was the (several different copies of an) apparently famous quote that goes something like:

Some people, when confronted with a problem, think
“I know, I’ll use regular expressions.”   Now they have two problems.

It’s apparently quite well known, so it floors me that this is the first I’ve seen it.

via regex.info

Heard it here first