Facebook Screenshots: “Palestinian”
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This work by Jillian C. York is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Thoughts on Twitter’s Latest Move
Today, Twitter announced a new system that will allow the company to geolocationally block (or, to use their terms, “withhold”) specific tweets in specific countries. On the company blog, Twitter explained: We haven’t yet used this ability, but if and when we are required to withhold a Tweet in a specific country, we will attempt [...]
On the Anniversary of the Egyptian Revolution…
Descending onto Cairo is surreal. From afar, looking down, it seems as if the green and sand are broken into tiny farmshares; as you get closer, however, you realize that those are actually buildings, all identical, though of varying heights, and laid out in what is actually a rather orderly formation. Closer still, and you’re [...]
7 things you might soon be able to say on television
Via the Center for Democracy and Technology: Today the Supreme Court will hear arguments in FCC v. FOX to determine whether regulation of “indecent” content on broadcast television violates the First Amendment. This case has been up to the Supreme Court before; in 2009, the Court held that the FCC’s decision to fine FOX for [...]
More on Internet Censorship in Libraries: ACLU vs. Salem Public Library
I haven’t set foot in a physical library for at least three years, so it’s somewhat amusing to me that I’m suddenly obsessed with the question of Internet censorship in libraries. And yet, it’s a vital discussion: As more of our resources go digital, ensuring that information in our libraries stays free and unfettered becomes [...]
Fresh looks at social media as a 2011 gamechanger
Two fresh looks at the effects, in 2011, of social media on the world. The first, a talk from my friend Ethan Zuckerman at the University of British Columbia: I’ve tapped out–imperfectly–a few excerpts for those of you who don’t watch videos: In reference to how the ‘Arab Spring’ began: Thinking about social media by [...]
LA Times asks: “Porn in the library – censorship vs. decency?”
The LA Times, spurred by a November report of a homeless man arrested for masturbating in a library while looking at Internet porn, asks whether it’s legitimate to censor pornography in libraries. Though a number of commenters were–as is typical–quick to shout “of course!”, the Times actually makes an important case: “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” was [...]
To a Better 2012
It’s with a conflicted heart that I put to bed 2011. For me, on a personal level, it was a year of both great triumph and great tragedy. As many of you know, not long after moving across the country, far from my family, I lost my father. I must admit, it was both easier [...]
