RConversation

links for 2008-02-29

• Bush Calls Surveillance Bill an ‘Urgent Priority’ - New York Times
  "Using some of his toughest language in weeks, President Bush prodded Congress on Thursday to pass his preferred version of surveillance legislation, asserting that every day of delay could put the country in danger."
  (tags: surveillance privacy freespeech u.s.a. u.s.policy law congress bush)

links for 2008-02-27

• In Malaysia, Bloggers Become Politicians - ReadWriteWeb
  "In Malaysia...web users have been able to draft three popular bloggers to stand for seats in the country's parliament."
  (tags: malaysia blogs bloggers politics democracy)

links for 2008-02-24

• Google Says I.P. Addresses Aren’t Personal - Bits - Technology - New York Times Blog
  "Yes, there may be more than one person who uses a computer, just as there is often more than one person who uses a home telephone. Few people would say that this means phone numbers aren’t personal"
  (tags: google ip privacy security identity anonymity freespeech internet law)

links for 2008-02-23

• Digital Openness in Closed Societies [Rush Transcript; Federal News Service] - Council on Foreign Relations
  John Palfrey of the Bekman Center and Jeff Jarvis of CUNY and Buzzmachine have a very interesting conversation at the Council on Foreign Relations about free speech issues, censorship, and corporate responsibility.
  (tags: freespeech censorship chineseinternetresearch internet csr)
• Yang asks U.S. to seek release of jailed Chinese writers | Tech news blog - CNET News.com
  "Yahoo Chief Executive Jerry Yang is asking U.S. officials to secure the release of political dissidents jailed for using the Internet to share information about life in China."
  (tags: yahoo! china shitao chineseinternetresearch humanrights freespeech privacy u.s.policy)
• The Associated Press: Yahoo Asks US Gov't to Help Dissidents
  "Yang's request, faxed to Rice on Thursday morning, is the company's latest effort to undo damage set off when Yahoo cooperated with Chinese authorities and disclosed information about the online activities of the two journalists."
  (tags: china yahoo! chineseinternetresearch internet humanrights privacy csr)
• The Associated Press: Yahoo Lobbied on China, Foreign Control
  "Yahoo Inc., which has come under fire for its role in the jailing of Chinese journalists, spent $1.6 million in 2007 lobbying the government, in part, on issues related to China and foreign jurisdiction over U.S. companies."
  (tags: yahoo! china chineseinternetresearch)
• Attention thieves; keeping you from living a “FOOCamp life?” « Scobleizer — Tech geek blogger
  "Not getting invited back was the greatest gift that Tim O’Reilly could have given to me. Why? Because he had shown me a way to live, then by pulling it away he forced me to do it on my own."
  (tags: ideas scoble qualityoflife)
• Digg, Wikipedia, and the myth of Web 2.0 democracy. - By Chris Wilson - Slate Magazine
  "Digg and Wikipedia would do well to stop pretending they're operated by the many and start thinking of ways to rein in the power of the few."
  (tags: digg wikipedia web2.0 newmedia internet democracy)

links for 2008-02-22

• RJ Eskow: Who Won Tonight's Debate? The Answer Is Clear - Politics on The Huffington Post
  "For the first time in quite a while we saw a clear winner emerge from one of the many Democratic presidential debates. That winner? The Democratic Party."
  (tags: vote2008 u.s.a.)
• Obama is favored in November battlegrounds. - By Mark Blumenthal and Charles Franklin - Slate Magazine
  "New head-to-head polls show that Barack Obama would beat John McCain in key general election swing states but Hillary Clinton would not."
  (tags: obama vote2008)
• What psychological personality tests reveal about Clinton, Obama, and McCain. - By Emily Yoffe - Slate Magazine
  (tags: clinton obama mccain politics vote2008 u.s.a.)

links for 2008-02-21

• BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | China arrests over HK sex scandal
  "Police in the southern Chinese city of Shenzen have arrested 10 people in connection with a sex scandal that has generated intense public interest."
  (tags: hongkong porn china internet sex censorship law chineseinternetresearch)
• Deus Ex Malcontent: Say What You Will (Requiem for a TV News Career)
  "CNN fired me, and did it without even a thought to the power that I might wield as an average person with a brain, a computer, and an audience."
  (tags: cnn journalism media news timewarner blogging bloggers broadcast newmedia)
• The Web Difference
  A Harvard Law School course taught by John Palfrey and David Weinberger. Looks fabulous!
  (tags: harvard law palfrey weinberger syllabus web2.0 internet education blogs teaching)
• FOIA Document Shows Improper FBI Access to Entire Domain's Email | Electronic Frontier Foundation
  "According to a document obtained by the Electronic Frontier Foundation through the Freedom of Information Act, an "apparent miscommunication" resulted in unauthorized FBI access to an entire domain's email, rather than the single email account the Bureau
  (tags: surveillance privacy u.s.a. law freespeech humanrights FBI)
• New York City Still Tallying Votes | The Trail | washingtonpost.com
  "The Board of Elections has acknowledged that errors in reporting the election day tallies made it appear that Obama had received not a single vote in 55 election districts, when in reality his votes had simply not been counted..."
  (tags: obama u.s.a. vote2008 politics)
• U.S. Security Concerns Block China’s 3Com Deal - New York Times
  " Does the “America for Sale” sign require a warning label? That would seem to be the case in light of the apparent collapse on Wednesday of a Chinese company’s effort to purchase a stake in 3Com..."
  (tags: 3Com Huawei China u.s.a. business investment)

links for 2008-02-20

• Supreme Court rejects domestic wiretap appeal | Tech news blog - CNET News.com
  "The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to intervene in an appeal of a lawsuit accusing the National Security Agency of illicit spying on millions of Americans communicating with foreigners."
  (tags: surveillance u.s.a. u.s.policy freespeech humanrights telecoms csr)
• Supreme Court rejects wiretap suit - Los Angeles Times
  "Since Congress is now fighting with the White House over new rules for wiretapping, the court may have chosen to stand aside from the controversy."
  (tags: privacy surveillance freespeech humanrights u.s.a. u.s.policy)
• The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan - Rep. Lawrence Lessig (D-CA)
  "Lessig is most concerned with preserving the immune system, the organic intellectual defenses, of a free and open society, something conservatives and liberals alike ought to care about very much."
  (tags: freeculture government lessig politics u.s.a.)
• The Orwellian censorship of Wikileaks | Antony Loewenstein
  "Internet censorship is something we normally associate with countries such as Iran or China, but increasingly Western governmental and legal authorities are aggressively restricting the ability of users to view information unimpeded."
  (tags: internet censorship freespeech u.s.a. humanrights)
• China: Crackdown Violates Olympic Promises (Human Rights Watch, 6-2-2008)
  "With just six months to go before the Olympics open in Beijing on August 8, a systematic crackdown on dissent has significantly worsened respect for fundamental rights in China, Human Rights Watch said today."
  (tags: olympics china humanrights freespeech)
• Civil rights conversations with Zheng Yefu
  "Chongqing’s "nail house" incident: Is 2007 the year for civil liberty in China? ..."
  (tags: china freespeech government humanrights democracy internet chineseinternetresearch)
• Judge Orders Wikileaks Web Site Shut - New York Times
  Judge White’s order disabling the entire site “is clearly not constitutional,” said David Ardia, the director of the Citizen Media Law Project at Harvard Law School. “There is no justification under the First Amendment for shutting down an entire
  (tags: wikimedia wikileaks freespeech censorship internet u.s.a. law)
• Global Integrity Commons: Internet Censorship: A Comparative Study
  "While there is much diversity in the style of Internet censorship among the world's worst offenders, one common thread unites them: Internet censorship doesn't work."
  (tags: censorship internet politics u.s.a. china freespeech humanrights)
• RFA: China Tries Land Activist Who Opposed Olympics
  "Authorities in the northeastern Chinese city of Jiamusi have begun the trial of a land rights activist for “incitement to subvert state power” after he used a slogan calling for human rights instead of the Olympics."
  (tags: china olympics humanrights freespeech)
• Taking Obama seriously | openDemocracy
  "The United States presidential race is the most exciting and energising in years. Barack Obama has made it so, and in a way that opens a new era of political possibility, says openDemocracy's founder Anthony Barnett."
  (tags: vote2008 obama u.s.a.)

links for 2008-02-19

• Chinese Ministries Jointly Regulating Online Order - ChinaTechNews.com - The Technology Source for the Latest Chinese News, Information, and Commentary on Internet, Computers, Digital, Science, Electronics, Law, Security, Software, Telecom, and Wireless I
  "News from the Ministry of Public Security is that 13 Chinese ministries have been taking a joint action since last month to regulate online order, with the emphasis being given to the cleaning out of such content as candid snapshots, nude pictures and "u
  (tags: china internet chineseinternetresearch regulation)
• MediaShift . Open Source Ideas::How Our Next President Should Use Participatory Media | PBS
  Mark Glaser lists "some ways that I think the next president can use technology to be more responsive."
  (tags: u.s.a. vote2008 politics government)
• Elite China think-tank issues political reform blueprint | International | Reuters
  "China risks dangerous instability unless it embraces democratic reforms to limit the power of the ruling Communist Party, foster competitive voting and rein in censors, the Party's top think-tank has warned in a new report."
  (tags: china politics communistparty reform democracy policy censorship freespeech)
• BuzzMachine » Blog Archive » A good oops
  Jeff Jarvis discusses a self-evalutaion memo which Nicholas Lemann, Dean of the Columbia Journalism School, accidentally sent to his students...
  (tags: journalism education teaching citizenmedia CitizenJournalism)

links for 2008-02-18

• Assessing Spielberg's withdrawal from the Beijing Olympics
  Danwei translates some reactions from around the Chinese blogosphere.
  (tags: olympics china internet blogs humanrights darfur)
• Imagethief : Steven Spielberg pulls out of the Olympics - Updated
  Will Moss has a comprehensive roundup of coverage and comment on the Spielberg pullout.
  (tags: darfur china olympics humanrights internet blogs blogging media)
• The Standard - Hong Kong's First FREE English Newspaper
  "Police should be given guidelines to seek a preliminary assessment when determining whether a particular article is obscene or indecent as in the case of the celebrated internet nude scandal, an Obscene Articles Tribunal adjudicator said yesterday."
  (tags: hongkong porn internet censorship privacy freespeech)
• The Obama Express (Scripting News)
  "many of us want to get on board the Obama Express. This is the America we want. This is the leadership we've been lacking. You have to go back to Kennedy's "Ask Not" plea to find a leader as inspiring as Obama.:
  (tags: obama vote2008 politics u.s.a.)
• American Journalism Review - Wikipedia in the Newsroom
  " While the line “according to Wikipedia” pops up occasionally in news stories, it’s relatively rare to see the user-created online encyclopedia cited as a source. But some journalists find it very valuable as a road map to troves of valuable inform
  (tags: wikipedia journalism newmedia teaching)
• Wikipedia and the New Curriculum
  "Literacy in modern society means not only being able to read a variety of informational formats; it means being able to participate in their creation, with Wikipedia serving as the marquee example."
  (tags: wikipedia education information academia scholarship teaching newmedia)

links for 2008-02-17

• Global Voices Online » China: Darfur, a reason to say No?
  "Mr. Spielberg might have piqued a large group of people, including not only the authority, but many common Chinese as well."
  (tags: china africa olympics blogs blogging internet chineseinternetresearch)
• BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Beijing athletes allowed to blog
  "The International Olympic Committee is for the first time permitting athletes to write blogs."
  (tags: blogs china journalism blogging olympics sports internet citizenmedia chineseinternetresearch)