(Or: Yale will be next.) Noted freedom of expression scholar Cherian George has been denied tenure by the Singaporean government against the wishes of his faculty. His error was explaining basic tenets of political philosophy in an editorial. I’m writing about it because this is an American problem. Like Prof. George, I am also a …
Continue reading Scholar of Internet Freedom Denied Tenure for Human Rights Advocacy
On Tuesday, Egyptian-American activist Mona Eltahawy was arrested for "criminal mischief" - or "the willful damaging of property" - when she responded to disturbingly racist ads that were posted in the New York City subway system with spray paint. Her act of political resistance went beyond spray paint however. In some ways, it was intentionally …
Continue reading Free Speech, Context, and Visibility: Protesting Racist Ads
The popularity of ebooks has skyrocketed in the last few years. The Association of American Publishers reports that eBook sales by US publishers were up 300% in 2011: Total eBook net sales revenue for 2011 was $21.5 million, a gain of 332.6% over 2010; this represents 3.4 million eBook units sold in 2011, up 303.3 …
Cross-posted from the Department of Alchemy blog. Last month, Ethan Zuckerman of the Center for Future Civic Media (MIT Media Lab) posted a great article on his blog called The Tweetbomb and the Ethics of Attention (constituting Part I to this story, so make sure you read it!), in which he calls into question the …
Continue reading The Ethics of Attention (Part 2): Bots for Civic Engagement
danah and I have a new piece in the Daily Beast. Summary: the more things change, the more they stay the same. In the last decade, we’ve studied how technology affects how teens socialize, how they present themselves, and how they think about issues like gender and privacy. While it’s true that teens incorporate social …
Continue reading Teens Text More than Adults, But They’re Still Just Teens
Anonymous Hispano, the Spanish-speaking branch of the famous hacker collective, issued a statement a few weeks ago announcing that, despite their efforts, they "could not find any evidence of corruption" to incriminate the Mexican presidential candidate López Obrador. The group prefaced their message by clarifying that they "do not have any partisan agenda and do not support any one" of …
Continue reading Is Anonymous vetting presidential candidates?
Mike Daisey lied to us – but how much you think he lied depends on how you think about ‘truth’. Some background: in his one-man show ‘The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs,’ and a highly popular This American Life episode, Daisey tells several stories about how Apple manufactures products in China. He presents …
Warning: This post deals with eating disorder and self-harm content and is potentially triggering. Following up on Tarleton's terrific post on moderating Facebook comes Tumblr's announcement that it will no longer allow pro-eating disorder (pro-ED) or pro-self-harm blogs on the site. Active Promotion of Self-Harm. Don’t post content that actively promotes or glorifies self-injury or …
Continue reading Is blocking pro-ED content the right way to solve eating disorders?
Yesterday the Supreme Court ruled on United States vs. Jones [PDF of court opinion], a case in which the FBI/DC police placed a GPS tracking device on the Jeep Cherokee of Antoine Jones, a club owner in DC who was suspected of dealing cocaine. The cops tracked Mr. Jones for 28 days, and, based on …
Continue reading What the GPS Device on Antoine Jones’ Jeep Cherokee Means for Internet Privacy
Like many of my colleagues I oppose to SOPA and PIPA. I have been a proponent of Free Culture for many years (which I know is funny to say next to the Microsoft logo) and I have studied young people's perceptions of intellectual property because I find the topic fascinating and extremely important. However, there …
Continue reading Are Internet companies using us to fight against SOPA?
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