An update and changes on the horizon

This has been a very slow start of the year in blogging, but a busy start personally. January brought change to my life, as it did two years ago, and I have spent some time on holiday and also sorting out several new projects. One of this is to move the blog to a [...]

Changing cybercrime law based on Swartz tragedy is a bad idea

After reading about the horrendous early death of Aaron Swartz, it was not my intention to write about the tragic events, even though the incident has elements that intersect in various topics that are of utmost importance, namely cybercrime, hacktivism, digital liberties, and open access, just to name a few. Some people have said most [...]

Instagram updates Terms of Service

You might remember that during last December there was a bit of a scandal regarding Instagram’s new terms of service. Given the level of discontent arising from the decision to change the existing agreement in terms that would be seriously detrimental to users, Instragram has announced that it will be updating the terms of service [...]

A year in the life of a blog

I have read the official 2012 stats from WordPress, they make for some interesting reading. I almost reached the 100k mark, receiving 98,000 visits this year.

Some of the most interesting facts are the most popular articles this year:

These are the posts that got the most views in 2012. You can see all [...]

Instagram’s new Terms of Service

Spot the difference. These are the current Terms of Use:

“Some of the Instagram Services are supported by advertising revenue and may display advertisements and promotions, and you hereby agree that Instagram may place such advertising and promotions on the Instagram Services or on, about, or in conjunction with your Content. The manner, mode and [...]

SCRIPTed December 2012

The new issue of SCRIPTed is now live. Some interesting articles this time round:

Cover

The @ngel of the Digital Era Anna Maria Lopez Lopez (website) I believe that we are never alone in this world, real or digital, that´s why I wanted to represent an angel of digital world [...]

Is the Internet free and open?

Some days social media feels like this…

It has been an interesting week for those interested in Internet studies. As everyone knows, the International Telecommunications Union is meeting in Dubai for the WCIT, and there has been a bit of a revolt against what might happen. I have made my feelings clear, so there [...]

Is the UN trying to take over the Internet? Part II

“A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes”. This quote is often attributed to Mark Twain, but there is no evidence that he ever said it, which ironically proves the saying.

I have been thinking of that saying a lot in the last month as [...]

Yet another Facebook legal hoax

Since yesterday, a blog post I wrote about a Facebook privacy hoax has been getting a surprisingly large number of hits, so I assumed that the hoax was making the rounds. It is, but this is a slightly different version. This one is even more laughable than the old one:

In response to the new [...]

Twitter Law

Some years ago I accompanied a friend to a radio station, where he was going to get interviewed about a show. Just before the interview, we were asked by one of the producers if we wanted coffee, and I replied “Yes, can I have a black coffee please?” She looked at me with utter [...]