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MEDIA & TECHNOLOGY

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Why You Shouldn’t Have More Than 354 Facebook Friends

via Denny Watkins, Men’s Health News Facebook used to be a source of amusement and happiness—why else would 483 million people check in daily? But if you find your news feed to be more of a bummer with each passing day, you’re not alone. In a study presented at the recent Society for Personality and … Continue reading

Transparent Screen App Saves You From Bodily Injury While Texting

via Mariella Moon, Tecca Fond of texting while walking? Unless you’re extremely nimble, you may have bumped into people, objects, or even stumbled. In extreme cases, you may have even bruised yourself or broken a few things. But if you have an Android device, you can use the Transparent Screen app to help you navigate … Continue reading

Conservatives At CPAC Search For The Right’s Woodward And Bernstein

via Michael Calderone, The Huffington Post While Republican candidates score points slamming the media from the stump, prominent conservatives, gathered in Washington D.C. for the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, were busy encouraging young attendees to pursue journalism. Several conservatives, in interviews and on CPAC panels, said that young, right-leaning journalists have the chance to influence … Continue reading

Congress And The EU Are Fighting To Change Google’s Privacy Policy

via Jamie Confliffe, Gizmodo Google’s new privacy policy has already caused a stir among users. Now, Congress and EU regulators are sniffing around the changes and aren’t happy about them — but Google doesn’t seem to care in the slightest. According to The Hill, house lawmakers questioned Google representatives for two hours yesterday about the … Continue reading

Widening The Illinois Eavesdropping Laws

via Jennifer Brandel, WBEZ Some lawmakers want to give Illinois residents the right to record police officers. Illinois has one of the toughest eavesdropping laws in the country. As it stands, police and businesses can record citizens, but citizens can not record them back. Currently, recording an on-duty police officer, on public property, could mean … Continue reading

FDA Approves Computer Chip For Humans

via Associated Press, MSNBC Medical milestone or privacy invasion? A tiny computer chip approved Wednesday for implantation in a patient’s arm can speed vital information about a patient’s medical history to doctors and hospitals. But critics warn that it could open new ways to imperil the confidentiality of medical records. The Food and Drug Administration … Continue reading

Social Media and Email Are More Addictive Than Alcohol and Cigarettes

via Jaime Condliffe, Gizmodo If, like mine, your partner thinks you have a problem because you check social media and email too often, it turns out they might be right. A new study suggests that checking our phones and computers is more addictive than alcohol and cigarettes. A team from Chicago University’s Booth Business School … Continue reading

Big Victory On Internet Buoys Lobby

via Somini Sengupta, The New York Times The unlikely coalition of companies and consumer groups that last week helped quash antipiracy legislation on Capitol Hill is now weighing the future of what might be called lobbying 2.0. Can the Internet industry, along with legions of newly politicized Web users, be a new force in Washington? … Continue reading

An Alternative To SOPA & PIPA?

via Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune Show of hands: How many of you tried to go to Wikipedia on Wednesday and, instead of reading “List of Gilmore Girls Episodes,” were puzzled by the black and white screen that said “Imagine a World Without Free Knowledge”? Every English-language article was blocked, the frivolous ones and the serious … Continue reading

What Is SOPA? Anti-Piracy Bill Explained

via Luke Johnson, The Huffington Post The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), and its Senate counterpart, the Protect IP Act (PIPA), have ignited widespread online protests–yet there is considerable confusion surrounding the legislation. Here’s a rundown of how the bills would work: The legislation would allow copyright holders and the Justice Department to seek court … Continue reading

Congress Puts Brakes On Anti-Piracy Bills

via Jasmin Melvin, Reuters Lawmakers stopped anti-piracy legislation in its tracks on Friday, delivering a stunning win for Internet companies that staged an unprecedented online protest this week to kill the previously fast-moving bills. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said he would postpone a critical vote that had been scheduled for January 24 “in light … Continue reading

Rep. Lamar Smith & Motion Picture Association of America Brush Off Wikipedia Blackout As Just A “Publicity Stunt”

via Mike Masnick, Techdirt Well, well. It appears that Congressman Lamar Smith (R-TX) really wants to tempt fate and stick his tongue out at the internet. Beyond announcing that he’s moving forward with SOPA, he’s also continuing to mock the critics, calling the Wikipedia blackout a “publicity stunt”: “It is ironic that a website dedicated … Continue reading

OPPOSE SOPA & PIPA

FIND YOUR REPRESENTATIVES HERE FIND YOUR SENATORS HERE

Google Joins Online SOPA Protest, Activists To Picket Schumer, Gillibrand

via Zach Carter, The Huffington Post Google will join thousands of tech activists, entrepreneurs and corporations on Wednesday in protesting the proposed Stop Online Piracy Act, a controversial bill that has generated national outrage among Internet experts. On Wednesday, more than 7,000 websites are expected to voluntarily “go dark,” by blocking access to their content … Continue reading

Wikipedia Blackout: Site To Protest SOPA

via Sarah Skidmore, Christian Science Monitor Wikipedia will black out the English language version of its website Wednesday to protest anti-piracy legislation under consideration in Congress, the foundation behind the popular community-based online encyclopedia said in a statement Monday night. The website will go dark for 24 hours in an unprecedented move that brings added muscle … Continue reading

Facebook Gives Politico Deep Access To Users’ Political Sentiments

via Liz Gannes, AllThingsD Counting Twitter mentions would have you believe that Ron Paul is the most popular Republican candidate in the ongoing U.S. primaries. Umm, right. But some social media analysis of politics is going beyond that. A partnership between Facebook and Politico announced today is one of the more far-reaching efforts. It will … Continue reading

House Kills SOPA Bill

via Josh Wretlind, Examiner In a surprise move today, Representative Eric Cantor (R-VA) announced that he will stop all action on SOPA, effectively killing the bill. This move was most likely due to several things. One of those things is that SOPA and PIPA met huge online protest against the bills. Another reason would be … Continue reading

SOPA Vote: Well, There’s Always Next Year

via Declan McCullagh, CNET News A marathon congressional hearing on the Stop Online Piracy Act, which detoured through discussions of Twitter-borne insults and the popular meme “The Internet is for Porn,” was expected to resume sometime in 2012. But Rep. Jason Chaffetz, a Utah Republican, said Friday on Twitter that the hearing will continue Wednesday … Continue reading

Facebook Adds Anti-Suicide Chat Feature

Facebook via Greg Hoard, Slate Facebook on Tuesday launched a new program that makes it easier for anyone expressing suicidal thoughts to get help. The Associated Press reports that the social-networking giant has added a feature that allows users to instantly connect with crisis counselors through its chat messaging system. The new service works like so: If … Continue reading

Lowe’s Pulls Ad From ‘All’American Muslim,’ Elicits Backlash

via Robert Channick, Chicago Tribune Home-improvement giant Lowe’s may need to do a fix-it job on its own image after pulling its advertisements from a new reality TV show about American Muslim families. Lowe’s stopped running commercials on TLC’s “All-American Muslim,” bowing to pressure from a conservative Florida group that threatened to boycott the retailer … Continue reading

The National Defense Authorization Act Is The Greatest Threat To Civil Liberties Americans Face

via E.D. Kain, Forbes If Obama does one thing for the remainder of his presidency let it be a veto of the National Defense Authorization Act – a law recently passed by the Senate currently which would place domestic terror investigations and interrogations into the hands of the military and which would open the door … Continue reading

Facebook Timeline Is Here: Are You In?

via Lance Ulanoff, Mashable This is it. This is what your invite to Facebook Timeline will look like. In New Zealand, and possibly other parts of the world, Facebook members are waking up to this new reality: Timeline is officially transitioning from beta to all-out feature. Eventually, Facebook Timeline may be the default view for … Continue reading

WikiLeaks Unveils The Selling Of Surveillance, Sort Of

via Kim Zetter, Wired The WikiLeaks submission system may still be incommunicado, but the secret-spilling site woke up on Thursday to release a trove of marketing documents from surveillance companies hawking their wares to governments — though many were previously published by the Wall Street Journal or were already publicly available on the web. The … Continue reading

Facebook Hacked With Porn, Gory Images

via Byron Acohido, USA Today Facebook users on Tuesday were assaulted by a wave of pornographic and violent images, pushed into their accounts as content supposedly liked or recommended by their friends. The images included doctored photos of pop singer Justin Bieber and other celebrities in demeaning poses. Other images depicted extreme violence and abused … Continue reading

Facebook Timeline: The Next Step Is Coming Soon

via Lance Ulanoff, Mashable Last night I went in search of an answer to a question that has vexed this industry for weeks: When will Facebook Timeline officially launch to the masses? The world’s most popular social network was holding a tiny gathering in downtown NYC, where I’d get to rub elbows with Timeline’s architects. … Continue reading

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