A mage contemplates his doom in Ulduar I have been reading about a bizarre occurrence that took place in World of Warcraft back in April that has got me thinking about morality, contractual terms, open data, and regulation (whoever said that you could not have serious discussions about games? ) Read more…
The BBC reports that Iran has blocked access to Facebook. According to them, this has been done in order to make sure that followers of former prime minister Mir Hossein Mousavi cannot meet online and gather more support. Does anyone remember our early dreams of a free internet? The Web Read more…
I’ve just listened to a very interesting interview on Radio 4 with Dan Ariely, author of the book about behavioural economics Predictably / Irrational. The interview was in the context of the scandal about MP expenses here in the UK. For readers not located in the land of marmite and Read more…
Good news everyone! The discussion on the Telecomms Package at the European Parliament has produced a good result against “three-strikes and you’re out” policies, as some of the measures that would involve cutting internet connection have been sent back to the negotiating table.I have not been keeping up with the Read more…
The internet is growing. I know that as far as obvious statements go, this one pretty much comes on top. However, when one charts its rate of growth, one can’t help but notice that it seems to be accelerating. For example, a graph showing the number of internet hosts displays Read more…
(via The Guardian’s Tech blog) What is it about the relative anonymity awarded by the internet that turns some people into monsters? Read the story of the Catsouras family, where gruesome pictures taken after the tragic death of their daughter started being distributed all over the internet. Nikki Catsouras had Read more…
Old-time favourite game City of Heroes has made a giant innovative leap by being the first massively multiplayer online game to implement user-generated gaming. While other games and virtual worlds offer user-generated content, what makes City of Heroes unique is that it has created a system that allows players to Read more…
What better way to kick-start the internet after Easter break than a good old cyber-censorship row? All the ingredients are there: giant e-commerce company with large share of the market, gays, religion, porn, erotica, geeks, twitter… mix and watch the blogosphere and the twitterverse go “Kablooey!” During the weekend I Read more…
I have read with interest Henry Porter’s scathing indictment of Google in yesterday’s Observer, an article generating some heated discussion online. While I often enjoy his writings, I have to say that on this occasion he has written a thoroughly misinformed article that seems to conflate concepts and technologies. I Read more…
Yesterday was World Day Against Cyber-censorship [insert snarky comment about the abundance of “Days against X” here]. To celebrate (is “celebrate” the right word?), Reporters Without Borders has released a report on the state of internet control and surveillance. The report labels 12 countries as “enemies of the internet”, claiming Read more…