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A Case for Pseudonyms

Cross-posted from the EFF’s Deeplinks blog, authored by me, and made available under a CC by 3.0 license. pseu·do·nym [sood-n-im] –noun a fictitious name used by an author to conceal his or her identity; pen name. There are myriad reasons why individuals may wish to use a name other than the one they were born [...]

29.07.2011

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Facebook Appeals: We haz them!

Remember those days when users whose Facebook accounts had been disabled would receive a message stating that the decision could not be appealed? And then the user would have to e-mail Facebook in an attempt to explain their situation and in hopes that they might be the exception? I certainly do. I recall, last spring, [...]

19.07.2011

2 Comments

Rebecca MacKinnon at TED: Let’s Take Back the Internet!

It is not often that I frame a post around a video, but Rebecca MacKinnon’s TED talk is perfect in describing one of the issues most important to me: the censorship of the Internet, both by governments and intermediaries. Not only is Rebecca a great speaker, but the nature of TED–wherein the hyperintelligent audience may [...]

13.07.2011

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Ethan Bronner and Journalistic Integrity (Redux)

Last year, when a report from the Electronic Intifada (EI) indicated that New York Times Middle East bureau chief Ethan Bronner hadn’t been forthcoming about his son’s participation in the Israeli Defense Forces, I wrote that I felt it was a strong conflict of interest for a foreign embedded journalist to have a child participating [...]

12.07.2011

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Google+ and “Real Names”

In my last post, I noted the differences and similarities between the user policies of Google+ and Facebook. One of my particular concerns for a long time has been Facebook’s policy of requiring users to identify using their real names, so, while Google+ stated in its community standards that Google+ would be an “identified” service [...]

07.07.2011

9 Comments