Facebook
Persistence of memory
Last Sunday Fidel Gamboa, the lead singer of Malpaís, died at the painfully young age of 50. I wish I had known him enough to call him a friend, we had met several times and I admired his music, his Read more…
Social media
Has social media peaked?
Consulting firm Gartner has produced a report suggesting that interest in social media may have peaked. The report says: “Of the respondents, 24 percent said they use their favorite social media site less than when they first signed up. These Read more…
Cyberliberties
Why net neutrality is not a priority in developing countries
This week yours truly has been thinking about net neutrality prompted by a call for regulation in one of the national newspapers (my response here). For those not familiar with the term, net neutrality is one of those annoyingly slippery Read more…
Default
SCRIPTed August 2011
Issue 8-2 of SCRIPTed, a journal of Law and Technology, is now online. This issue has a distinct emphasis on medical technologies, particularly issues around neuro-imaging: Editorial Twitter Chip, Simon Biggs, pp.120-123 Reviewed Articles Does Technology Trump Intellectual Property?: Read more…
Copyright
When copyright collecting societies act against artists
The modern copyright system owes a lot to collective copyright management. Intellectual property is all about enforcement, but it tends to be expensive and time-consuming endeavour. Collecting agencies offer a system by which copyright enforcement is allocated to a society Read more…
Hacktivism
Can social media spread anarchy?
The UK has had a glimpse of what the total societal collapse looks like. The UK riots of August 2011 have struck me as an example of systemic failure of government and society at almost every level of organisation, as Read more…
Social media
The danger of filter bubbles
(via Mathias Klang) I highly recommend this excellent video about filter bubbles: The filter bubble was a phenomenon that was described in its early shape by Cass Sunstein in his seminal Republic.com, where he narrates the rise of the Daily Read more…
Patent abuse
When patents attack
This is an excellent podcast from NPR about software patents Some truly eye-opening interviews and in-depth investigation looking at patent trolls, the reason East Texas District is the epicentre for patent litigation, and the effect of software patents on innovation. Read more…
Cybercrime
Are hacking sanctions proportional to the crime?
Scotland Yard has caught LulzSec’s Topiary, their biggest scalp to date. Topiary has been identified as Jake Davis, an 18 year-old from the Shetland Islands (pictured here looking like a poster child for teenage hackers, including Neo-wannabe shades). He appeared Read more…
Feeling silly
Social propaganda
This one is making the rounds, but I thought I’d post it here as well. Soviet-style propaganda pictures for all social media. Originally posted in Google+ by Aaron Wood.