Online comment sections – constructive commentary or obnoxious anarchy?

A few weeks ago in class we talked about the shortcomings of online discussion and these shortcomings are no more apparent than in comment sections. I happened to find this article that ties in neatly with our previous discussion.

Gawker Media founder Nick Denton (known for his blogs including Gawker, Jezebel, Gizmodo, io9, and Lifehacker) spoke at South by Southwest Interactive about thoughtful discussion through global communication.

“The idea of capturing the intelligence of the readership -- that's a joke.”

He goes on to say, “I don’t like going into the comments. … For every two comments that are interesting – even if they’re critical, you want to engage with them – there will be eight that are off-topic or just toxic.”

Although critical of online comment sections, Denton had no clear solutions to the problem and was quick to shoot down possible ideas. I don’t blame him though because I don’t believe there is a simple solution anywhere within immediate reach.

One idea that Denton proposed is having a hand-picked, pre-approved group of people to comment on certain stories. While it is a noble idea I believe it dabbles too much with elitism and even censorship to a degree.

Regardless of having a solution in sight or not, public online discussion is an interesting topic that will surely be around for a long, long time.

New “enemies” of the Internet revealed

A few weeks ago in class we discussed the Arab Spring and I happened to find an article relating to this very topic.

Reporters Without Borders released its latest “Enemies of the Internet” list on Monday. Enemies are defined as “counties that severely curtail freedom of expression on and access to the web”.

Bahrain is one of the newest members of this infamous list due to a news blackout and harassment of bloggers. This country had also been previously under surveillance due to its anti-internet actions.

One country that has actually been removed from the list is Libya due to the end of Moammar Gadhafi’s repressive rule.

A few countries are listed under surveillance that may come as a surprise. While not nearly as dangerous as counties listed as an enemy, countries listed under surveillance still must be kept under close watch. These surprises include Australia and France.

Australia is listed for persuading internet service providers to create a national content-filtering system. Reporters Without Borders is concerned that the filtering criteria for this system may be too broad.

France is listed for passing a law that punishes people who illegally download content by stripping them of their internet.

This is the first time I have heard of the “Enemies of the Internet” list and it seems to be a good idea as long as those who compile the list are unbiased and fair in their judgements.

Nice shiny new smartphone... Now, don't lose it!

A new study conducted by security firm Symantec reveals what happens when you accidently misplace your smartphone. Depending on how much faith you place in the general public you may be appalled by the findings or the findings may simply confirm your previously existing preconceptions.

Symantec conducted the study by “accidently” misplacing 50 smartphones in major cities across the U.S., including Washington D.C., New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Of these lost smartphones, users’ privacy were violated a whopping 89 percent of the time. Nearly half of this instances included attempting to access the owner’s online banking information.

Fortunately the owner was contacted half of the time, but even people who contacted the owner also accessed personal information on the phone as well.

Here are all of the findings from the study, according to Fox News:

·         A total of 89 percent of devices showed attempts to access personal apps or data.
·         Attempts to access a private photos app occurred on 72 percent of the devices .
·         An attempt to access an online banking app was observed on 43 percent of the

 devices.

·         A “Saved Passwords” file was accessed on 57 percent of the phones

These findings are disheartening to say the least, but are useful nonetheless. If we wish to store private information on our cell phones we must accept the fact that phones can easily be misplaced or stolen. Once you have lost your phone, the odds of retrieving it with all of your private information intact are extremely low.

As smartphones become more and more commonplace we must be aware of what information we have stored on our smartphones and either be extremely aware of where our phones are at all times or utilize some form of security measures (lock screens, PINs, etc.). Of course, there’s always the third option of doing nothing at all and having your private information at risk, but that’s your decision to make.