Saturday, December 17, 2011

[Podcast] Television's New Antiheroes: Creating Sympathy For The Devilish; NPR's Morning Edition, 12/15/11

[Podcast] Eric Deggans, NPR's Morning Edition; Television's New Antiheroes: Creating Sympathy For The Devilish:

"[T]hese characters, warped as they can be, are also a statement on our times. In a world filled with war, recession and cynicism, straight-up heroes feel fake as a three-dollar bill. So the confused guy who does bad things for the right reasons just might be the best reflection of where we are today."

Friday, December 16, 2011

Your Life on Facebook, in Total Recall; New York Times, 12/15/11

Jenna Wortham, New York Times; Your Life on Facebook, in Total Recall:

"“There’s no act too small to record on your permanent record,” said Jonathan Zittrain, a law professor at Harvard who studies how the Internet affects society. “All of the mouse droppings that appear as we migrate around the Web will be saved.”

The old Facebook profile page shows the most recent items users have posted, along with things like photos of them posted by others. But Timeline creates a scrapbooklike montage, assembling photos, links and updates for each month and year since they signed up for Facebook."

Judge Dismisses Twitter Stalking Case; New York Times, 12/15/11

Somini Sengupta, New York Times; Judge Dismisses Twitter Stalking Case:

"In a case with potentially far-reaching consequences for freedom of expression on the Internet, a federal judge on Thursday dismissed a criminal case against a man accused of stalking a religious leader on Twitter, saying that the Constitution protects “uncomfortable” speech on such bulletin-boardlike sites."

Monday, December 12, 2011

Put It on My Marquee: I Just Watched ‘Creepshow 2’; New York Times, 12/10/11

Natasha Singer, New York Times; Put It on My Marquee: I Just Watched ‘Creepshow 2’ :

"Netflix is backing a bill in Congress that would amend the Video Privacy Protection Act, a 1988 law that requires a video services company to get a customer’s written consent when it seeks to disclose that client’s personal information, such as rental history. The new bill, passed by the House last Tuesday, would allow consumers to give one-time blanket consent online for a company to share their viewing habits continuously."

Sunday, December 4, 2011

[OpEd] The New Digital Divide; New York Times, 12/3/11

[OpEd] Susan P. Crawford, New York Times; The New Digital Divide:

"Increasingly, we are a country in which only the urban and suburban well-off have truly high-speed Internet access, while the rest — the poor and the working class — either cannot afford access or use restricted wireless access as their only connection to the Internet. As our jobs, entertainment, politics and even health care move online, millions are at risk of being left behind."