Posts tagged Death
Saudi Twitter User Faces Death Penalty for Tweets
Feb 9th
A 23-year-old Saudi Twitter user, Hamza Kashgari, fled the country Sunday to avoid being arrested for his religious tweets, only to find himself in the hands of the Malaysian police today. He was heading to New Zealand to request political asylum.
On Saturday, the anniversary of the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday, Kashgari tweeted three times, expressing his religious beliefs about the founder of Islam. Within hours, he was inundated with violent threats. Despite a full renunciation, a warrant was issued by Kingdom authorities for his arrest and the Kingdom’s religious Fatwa Council condemned him as an apostate and an infidel, crimes which are punishable by death.
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“Blasphemous” Tweets
According to one of Kashgari’s friends, who wishes to remain anonymous, these are the three tweets which were the basis for the Saudi arrest warrant.
- On your birthday, I will say that I have loved the rebel in you, that you’ve always been a source of inspiration to me, and that I do not like the halos of divinity around you. I shall not pray for you.
- On your birthday, I find you wherever I turn. I will say that I have loved aspects of you, hated others, and could not understand many more.
- On your birthday, I shall not bow to you. I shall not kiss your hand. Rather, I shall shake it as equals do, and smile at you as you smile at me. I shall speak to you as a friend, no more.
Kashgari’s Twitter account, @Hmzmz, has been shut down.
Kashgari’s friend points out that these actions have come after a number of reversals for religious conservatives in the Wahhabi-influenced state. These include a law allowing women to work as salespeople in public lingerie stores, the replacement of the head of the religious police with a moderate, who ordered restrictions on how the religious police operate. It also happened within the context of the unrest of the Arab Spring.
Hashtags of Shame
Kashgari’s harassment is not out of the blue, nor, apparently, based on these tweets alone. He has been the target of religious twitter users for months. “Public shaming through hashtags is now a common Saudi pressure tactic, especially against public officials and government scandals,” said his friend.
A hardcore Saudi cleric used YouTube to post his condemnation of the young man. The cleric, Nasser al-Omar, known as the “weeping cleric” for his tendency to burst into tears at the blasphemy done to the Prophet, called for Kashgari to be hauled before a Sharia court, according to long-time Saudi blogger, Ahmad al-Omran (Saudi Jeans).
“These people [like Kashgari] should be put to trial in Sharia courts. It is known that cursing God and his Prophet is apostasy. And the fact that he has repented with cold words will not probably save him in the court.”
Al-Omram’s translation
The punishment for apostasy is death.
Saudi Arabia’s information minister, has commanded that no one publish any of Kashgari’s writings. Prior to this incident, he was a columnist with al-Bilad, a newspaper based in the eastern city of Jeddah.
“I have instructed all newspapers and magazines in the Kingdom not to allow him to write any thing and we will take legal measures against him.”
Kashgari was trying to make a connecting flight to New Zealand when he was apprehended and arrested yesterday in Malaysia at the Kuala Lumpur airport. It has been reported that Malaysia, an officially Islamic state, will forcibly repatriate Kashgar to Saudi Arabia.
Building photos courtesy of Shutterstock
View full post on ReadWriteWeb
The death of online piracy: the end of the Internet as we know it – ZDNet (blog)
Jan 24th
 ZDNet (blog) |
The death of online piracy: the end of the Internet as we know it
ZDNet (blog) Whether it's SEO, Internet marketing, advanced search engine querying, investigative research, educating others about safeguarding information online, or utilizing some other facet of the Web, Stephen is passionate about the Internet and it shows. Navigating the SOPA Soap Opera |
View full post on SEO – Google News
After SOPA’s Death, Anti-Piracy Advocates Scramble for a Way Forward
Jan 23rd
The effective success of grass-roots efforts to stall anti-piracy legislation in the U.S. Congress now has people whose lives and careers are impacted by piracy worried about their futures. With Congress unable to launch a successful dialog about proper methods to combat piracy; the entertainment industry having tried out for, and landed, the role of the villain; and with “Anonymous” launching somewhat successful attacks against U.S., Polish, and other governments’ Web sites in defense of the “right to piracy,” content creators appear worried that any effort to resume a positive dialog might make them targets of public criticism.
At the moment, it’s hard to have been anti-SOPA and yet appear proactive against piracy.
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“Phantom issues”
Making some of the first public statements in favor of restarting a pro-active dialog are individuals speaking out on behalf of artists and musicians, including one group whose members were already instrumental in the anti-SOPA protests last Wednesday.
The American Association of Independent Music (A2IM) is continuing to advance this statement, released last week, concerning Web sites that led Wednesday’s protest: “They are taking a unilateral action to make their content unavailable. However, under current law, A2IM members whose copyrights are infringed upon cannot take similar action. Our independent labels and their artists have no practical way of taking down illegal links to their music from rogue foreign Web sites accessed via U.S. search engines.
“The media has portrayed the issue as that of two giant industries (movies/music and technology) in conflict, as though this was a battle solely between very rich businesses,” the A2IM statement goes on. “In fact, our members are small- and medium-sized independent businesses that invest in the creation of music and whose very existence is being threatened by the availability of illegal content on line. We look forward to solution-oriented discussions among all parties.”
The public stance of the Association did not stop individual A2IM members such as indie group Wye Oak from signing a letter of opposition to SOPA/PIPA last week.
A2IM’s statement echoed the sentiments of Brian Philips, CEO of Viacom-owned cable music channel CMT. Over the weekend, Philips’ pro-SOPA/PIPA sentiments appeared in The Tennessean – too late, of course, to keep PIPA from being indefinitely tabled.
“Opponents of this legislation… are raising phantom issues, through vague threats of censorship and other unspecified dangers,” Philips wrote. “Unfortunately, their arguments are based more in fear than in truth. No domestic Web sites would be shut down by this legislation. Plain and simple: The target is overseas piracy Web sites. Creative endeavors are not alone as targets of piracy.”
A fate worse than SOPA
An examination of the Justice Dept.’s indictment of the proprietors of cyberlocker site Megaupload led the CTO of Sydney, Australia-based Web advertising firm Pinion to wonder whether squashing the SOPA bill could spark the creation of a worse alternative that could do even more damage than had been feared. David Banham was inspired by having used Megaupload to distribute files to clients, only to find the site taken down last week.
It is easy to generalize, in the vein of SOPA, that all these smart people working in tech should just make sure that no-one uploads copyrighted material to their services. It’s easy right? If someone uploads a Hollywood movie just delete it! In reality, though, every time any file was uploaded, an extensive search would need to be conducted to determine whether, where, how, and by whom it was copyrighted. The rights holder would then need to be contacted to determine whether or not the use was permitted. In the case of transformative or derivative works, the decision would have to be made (and the associated risk assumed!) by the service.
That burden can never be placed on those shoulders. It would be crippling for Google. It would be completely impossible for any startup out there and would stifle a massive amount of innovation.
SOPA merely (merely!) required that every link be checked against a blacklist provided by the US Government. If the allegations in this indictment are allowed to stand, industry will not only have to enforce that blacklist, but create and curate it.
“Knowledge shall be increased”
Last Friday, the CEO of cable arts channel Ovation, Charles Segars, issued an outright pro-SOPA statement that echoed the expressed sentiment of Vice President Biden back before the entire SOPA debate began. “They’re calling the SOPA bill ‘censorship’ and an infringement of our First Amendment rights. And the entertainment industry is painted as ‘greedy’ for supporting this legislation,” Segars wrote.
“But I wonder… What would happen if all the movie theaters, cable and broadcast channels, book stores and radio stations did the same thing – went completely dark, off the air, closed their doors? Would you miss Wikipedia more than, say, being able to watch ‘American Idol’ or go to AMC theaters and see the latest movie in 3D? Would it take a total shutdown to make the point that entertainment content is something of value and therefore needs protecting?”
Despite Segars’ and Ovation’s public stance, some of the artists participating in Ovation’s own forum ended up supporting the protests instead. “One thing I don’t want to see happen is the old farts in Congress deciding what sites and material are appropriate!” wrote Mark Sean Orr, in response to another member’s request for clarity as to where they should stand as artists. “The Internet is not a corporation or government agency and should never be. What it is, is a network of citizens world-wide sharing and connecting through this awesome new technology.”
That led another member, named Cheryl, to share her view that precisely because the Web is beyond the control of any one government, some government somewhere will see that as a challenge and try to control it anyway. “The Internet and the World Wide Web are not owned by anyone. How do you control something that is a cloud?” she wrote. “How do you tax and fee something if the players involved refuse to participate or if your own dependence can be hacked?”
Perhaps inspired, perhaps depressed, and perhaps both by the prospect of blacklists and whitelists appearing on the Internet in one form or another eventually, another Ovation member closed the thread by citing the Book of Daniel, Chapter 12: “And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book… But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.”
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SOPA SCHMOPA: Iran Tries to Strangle the Internet to Death
Jan 6th
If you think anti-piracy legislation like SOPA and Spain’s so-called Sinde law are as far-reaching as it gets, you obviously don’t live in Tehran. Well aware of the disruptive threat to its power posed by the Internet, the Iranian government is beginning to implement a plan that would get rid of it all together.
Web censorship in the Islamic republic is nothing new, but this latest initiative cranks things up quite a few notches and paves the way for a government-approved domestic intranet that will be completely cut off from the public World Wide Web we all know and love. Iranians are already reporting painfully slow Internet connections and difficulty accessing certain sites or using VPNs, the Wall Street Journal reports. Soon, Internet cafes in the country will be required to videotape all Web users and gather personal information about them.
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The Iranian government is, of course, no stranger to the Internet’s irritating ability to help citizens organize, communicate and document what’s going on around them, things that were much more easily controlled in the pre-Web media landscape. It was via the Web and social media that activists planned and publicized protests about the outcome of the country’s 2009 election. Since then, the government has watched as Web-fueled protests have broken out across the Middle East and North Africa, toppling a few regimes along the way.
If the world felt like a safer place to autocratic rulers before the Internet came around and ruined everything, what better solution is there than to just strangle the darn thing to death?
That appears to be what the Iranian government is going for. This week, the government began testing a closed, domestic intranet that “will insulate its citizens from Western ideology and un-Islamic culture, and eventually replace the Internet,” the Journal reported. The end result would be not unlike the situation in North Korea, where the Internet as we know it is not accessible to most of the public, much of which is unaware it exists.
The recent clampdown begins just a few months ahead of the country’s next parliamentary elections, which are already a source of controversy and protest.
Will this plan work? Unlike the citizens of North Korea, Iranians are already accustomed to having access to the Internet, even if it is limited and monitored. Businesses rely on it just like they do anywhere else, so shutting it down could add more economic strain to a society already facing sanctions from the West.
View full post on ReadWriteWeb
Death By Smartphone: How Mobile Photography Helped Kill Kodak
Jan 5th
Well, it’s official. After years of struggling, photographic services giant Kodak is filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the Wall Street Journal reported. The company, which was long known for selling film and other photography-related products, had tried everything from branching out into more modern offerings to using its trove of patents to sue others. Alas, the times have caught up with Kodak.
The news comes almost exactly one year after the last roll of Kodachrome film was developed and at a time when the most widely-used camera on Flickr isn’t even one of the many digital point-and-shoots or SLR’s that had already chipped away at Kodak’s dominance; It’s the iPhone 4.
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In Kodak’s heyday, photography was still a somewhat specialized hobby, even if it had extended beyond professionals and made its way into the lives of everyday consumers. A few decades ago, if one owned a film camera of some kind, they were typically reserved for special occasions and were subject to to inherent limitations of film: a set number of exposures, a fixed film speed and the inability to preview images on the spot. Today, toddlers instinctively ask to see the photo you just snapped of them, which was probably one of several thousand taken since their birth.
Even the more artistic, less special event-driven kind of photography that used to be reserved for hobbyists is now democratized by photo-sharing apps like Instagram and Hipstamatic, the latter of which even mimics vintage lenses and film types, but lacks the need to stop by the one-hour photo processing center.
As popular as they are, it’s not these trendy photo apps that have delivered the death blow to the likes of Kodak and retailers like Penn Camera. Rather, they’re simply symbolic of the ubiquity of mobile photography. Indeed, Kodak’s troubles were already well underway by the time camera phones got really good. Prior to the advent of high-resolution, camera-equipped smartphones, people could buy top-notch digital point-and-shoot cameras that could hold hundreds, if not thousands, of images and fit easily into a pocket or purse. Kodak was able to enter that market with some success, but with way more competition that it saw in its film days.
Now Everyone is a Photographer
Yet even stand-alone digital cameras were something you had to make an explicit choice to bring along. What used to be reserved for family weddings and kid’s birthday parties was suddenly a fixture of any night out on the town. Then came the smartphone. Now, most of us are walking around with high-quality, Internet connected point-and-shoot cameras, complete with with array of photo-editing and filtering apps and social media integration for instant sharing. These gadgets are not something we choose to bring out for special occasions. They’re on our person at all times.
The ubiquity of digital and mobile photography didn’t single-handedly drive Kodak into bankruptcy, but it may well have delivered the final blow. Even the company’s attempts to get into the digital photography market with its EasyShare line of point-and-shoots couldn’t keep up with the explosion of the smartphone, nor was its printer business successful enough to make up for its losses from the death of film.
For some time, the company, which counts the invention of digital photography among its innovations, used patent litigation as a way to make up for years of revenue declines. Today, they’re looking at selling off those patents.
To be fair, Kodak isn’t necessarily done for yet. They haven’t yet filed for bankruptcy protection, let alone come out of it. It’s conceivable they could turn things around and survive. Even so, it’s hard to imagine them ever returning to the days of massive profits and the type of world famous innovation they were once known for.
View full post on ReadWriteWeb
The Power Of Online Video Can Prove That There Is Life After Death – ReelSEO Online Video News
Jan 2nd
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The Power Of Online Video Can Prove That There Is Life After Death
ReelSEO Online Video News The following is an index of our more popular video search engine optimization (Video SEO, VSEO,… Many of us here at ReelSEO are still settling back into our routines following the awesome SMX West… We had the privilege of speaking with Bruce Clay … |
View full post on SEO – Google News
Updated: Why Hasn’t Google Responded to Death Threats on Google+?
Dec 29th
You may have never heard of Brandon Campeaux, but more than 265,000 folks have “circled” the photographer on Google+. As of this morning, Campeaux packed his virtual bags and left Google+ claiming that the company has done nothing about death threats leveled against him on Google+.
According to Campeaux’s last post, “I received 4 separate death threats through Google+. That brings the total for the month of December way over 10. I’ve reported each account & flagged the individual death threats. Google responded by doing nothing. Not one account suspension.”
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Campeaux writes that the threats “freaked me out,” and has responded “by deleting everything I ever published to Google+. Google won’t do anything to stop these people from harassing me so I’ve closed off my account completely: limited comments; no email; no notifications.”
The Backstory
Campeaux tagged three people in his sign-off note from Google+: Google+ community manager Natalie Villalobos, Google+ pages and mobile community manager Toby Stein, and Max Huijgen of Functional Media. Neither Villalobos or Stein have spoken up (word is that Villalobos is on vacation), but Huijgen is raising a ruckus on Campeaux’s behalf.
According to Huijgen, “a tiny fraction” of Campeaux’s posts consisted of “his views on nudity in fashion, censorship as a principle and his belief there is no god at all.”
Since Campeaux deleted his posts, we don’t have many examples of his posts or the death threats that he claims to have received, but there are a few that have been re-shared. One re-share shows Campeaux claiming to have received 3 threats based on a (likely offensive to many) cartoon.
Campeaux didn’t shy away from controversy, though that is (of course) absolutely no excuse for threatening violence. You can see some of Campeaux’s photos in his Google+ album, though it doesn’t look like any potentially objectionable photos remain.
By the way, here’s a tip: Even if you do decide to delete posts from Google+, if they’re re-shared, they stay. I think this is as it should be, but for folks who are treating Google+ like a blog, it’s important to note that you don’t have much control over the spread of your posts.
First, if you receive what you think is a credible death threat via Google+ or anywhere else contact the police above and beyond any interaction you have with the company behind the social network. If Campeaux is legitimately concerned for his safety, having the offender’s profiles removed does nothing at all to mitigate an actual threat.
He seems to have had a history of having photos banned from Google+. If you do a search for Campeaux’s name, you’ll find a few reposted items on politics, attacking religion or posts complaining about Google+ policies.
Campeaux hasn’t always had problems getting attention from Google+ mods, as evidenced by an exchange with Google’s Brian Rose (reposted by another user).
As I said, we don’t have examples of the death threats, but it’s hard to imagine anything that can be interpreted as a “death threat” that doesn’t fall afoul of Google’s content and conduct policy.
In Defense of Google
First, if you receive what you think is a credible death threat via Google+ or anywhere else contact the police above and beyond any interaction you have with the company behind the social network. If Campeaux is legitimately concerned for his safety, having the offender’s profiles removed does nothing at all to mitigate an actual threat. Contact law enforcement first and let them work with Google. Google’s first response here should be to direct the user to the police.
So why hasn’t Google acted? I got in touch with Google earlier today, but so far they haven’t responded to our questions. A Google spokesperson did reply after we reached out to one of Google’s community managers, but said that they wouldn’t be able to get anyone on the phone and offered to answer questions over email. Unfortunately, after sending questions over to Google the spokesperson went non-responsive. If and when Google does respond I’ll update this post.
It’s not very surprising that people are calling Google out for failure to act. If the company is going to be hyperactive in pursuing ToS violations for flipping the bird in a profile pic or policing the use of a pseudonym, it has no excuse for sluggishness in responding to threats against other users. This is the equivalent of a city having fully manned speed traps all over, but taking 30 minutes to respond to 911 calls.
To be fair to Google, though, the company no doubt has a ridiculous number of flagged comments to sort through. Google seems to have optimized their moderation (such as it is) to deal with objectionable content and spam, not death threats. There doesn’t seem to be a good way to quickly escalate an actual threat of violence.
It’s also possible that Google is working behind the scenes and has simply fallen down on actually communicating with Campeaux. If Google has evidence that a user has issued a death threat to another user, one hopes that they do a bit more than simply delete the user profile and/or offensive comments. Perhaps Google is working with law enforcement on this issue behind the scenes, though it seems that they’d also need to have the user in question make a complaint to do so.
Campeaux wrote that he received more than 10 death threats in December via Google+, and four “tonight” (the post is timestamped 4:54 a.m., so it’s unclear whether he means the 27th or 28th). Unless all 10 originated in the last few days, it seems that Google should have taken some action by now even if they’re a bit short-staffed due to the holiday.
Setting Expectations
It’s not very surprising that people are calling Google out for failure to act. If the company is going to be hyperactive in pursuing ToS violations for flipping the bird in a profile pic or policing the use of a pseudonym, it has no excuse for sluggishness in responding to threats against other users. This is the equivalent of a city having fully manned speed traps all over, but taking 30 minutes to respond to 911 calls.
Most Google+ users don’t seem to care if the other users on the service are using real names or not. If another user happens to be making an obscene gesture in their profile photo, then it’s easy enough to avoid that user if you find it offensive. But users threatening violence or making death threats is universally unacceptable.
Huijgen mentions Campeaux’s impressive follower list several times, but it shouldn’t matter if a person on Google+ has 250,000 followers or two followers. Google has set up the expectation that it’s going to enforce its content and conduct policy, which includes a warning against threatening or bullying other users.
By setting itself up as a strict moderator of content, Google sets expectations that it will respond to user complaints in a timely fashion. Unless Campeaux is exaggerating or fabricating the claims, Google seems to have fallen down hard on this one.
Update December 29, 2011 @ 7:16 a.m. Pacific: Campeaux reports in an edit to his original post that Brian Rose “reached out to me through email at 2:09pm. His team is investigating the threats. I thank him for that and for everyone else who condemns this type of behaviour.”
Also, Google responded by email late yesterday to say, “as a matter of policy, we do not respond to requests around specific Google+ profiles or pages.” Google ignored my question about their response to death threats on Google+ in general.
View full post on ReadWriteWeb
Why Hasn’t Google Responded to Death Threats on Google+?
Dec 28th
You may have never heard of Brandon Campeaux, but more than 265,000 folks have “circled” the photographer on Google+. As of this morning, Campeaux packed his virtual bags and left Google+ claiming that the company has done nothing about death threats leveled against him on Google+.
According to Campeaux’s last post, “I received 4 separate death threats through Google+. That brings the total for the month of December way over 10. I’ve reported each account & flagged the individual death threats. Google responded by doing nothing. Not one account suspension.”
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Campeaux writes that the threats “freaked me out,” and has responded “by deleting everything I ever published to Google+. Google won’t do anything to stop these people from harassing me so I’ve closed off my account completely: limited comments; no email; no notifications.”
The Backstory
Campeaux tagged three people in his sign-off note from Google+: Google+ community manager Natalie Villalobos, Google+ pages and mobile community manager Toby Stein, and Max Huijgen of Functional Media. Neither Villalobos or Stein have spoken up (word is that Villalobos is on vacation), but Huijgen is raising a ruckus on Campeaux’s behalf.
According to Huijgen, “a tiny fraction” of Huijgen’s posts consisted of “his views on nudity in fashion, censorship as a principle and his belief there is no god at all.”
Since Campeaux deleted his posts, we don’t have many examples of his posts or the death threats that he claims to have received, but there are a few that have been re-shared. One re-share shows Campeaux claiming to have received 3 threats based on a (likely offensive to many) cartoon.
Campeaux didn’t shy away from controversy, though that is (of course) absolutely no excuse for threatening violence. You can see some of Campeaux’s photos in his Google+ album, though it doesn’t look like any potentially objectionable photos remain.
By the way, here’s a tip: Even if you do decide to delete posts from Google+, if they’re re-shared, they stay. I think this is as it should be, but for folks who are treating Google+ like a blog, it’s important to note that you don’t have much control over the spread of your posts.
First, if you receive what you think is a credible death threat via Google+ or anywhere else contact the police above and beyond any interaction you have with the company behind the social network. If Campeaux is legitimately concerned for his safety, having the offender’s profiles removed does nothing at all to mitigate an actual threat.
He seems to have had a history of having photos banned from Google+. If you do a search for Campeaux’s name, you’ll find a few reposted items on politics, attacking religion or posts complaining about Google+ policies.
Campeaux hasn’t always had problems getting attention from Google+ mods, as evidenced by an exchange with Google’s Brian Rose (reposted by another user).
As I said, we don’t have examples of the death threats, but it’s hard to imagine anything that can be interpreted as a “death threat” that doesn’t fall afoul of Google’s content and conduct policy.
In Defense of Google
First, if you receive what you think is a credible death threat via Google+ or anywhere else contact the police above and beyond any interaction you have with the company behind the social network. If Campeaux is legitimately concerned for his safety, having the offender’s profiles removed does nothing at all to mitigate an actual threat. Contact law enforcement first and let them work with Google. Google’s first response here should be to direct the user to the police.
So why hasn’t Google acted? I got in touch with Google earlier today, but so far they haven’t responded to our questions. A Google spokesperson did reply after we reached out to one of Google’s community managers, but said that they wouldn’t be able to get anyone on the phone and offered to answer questions over email. Unfortunately, after sending questions over to Google the spokesperson went non-responsive. If and when Google does respond I’ll update this post.
It’s not very surprising that people are calling Google out for failure to act. If the company is going to be hyperactive in pursuing ToS violations for flipping the bird in a profile pic or policing the use of a pseudonym, it has no excuse for sluggishness in responding to threats against other users. This is the equivalent of a city having fully manned speed traps all over, but taking 30 minutes to respond to 911 calls.
To be fair to Google, though, the company no doubt has a ridiculous number of flagged comments to sort through. Google seems to have optimized their moderation (such as it is) to deal with objectionable content and spam, not death threats. There doesn’t seem to be a good way to quickly escalate an actual threat of violence.
It’s also possible that Google is working behind the scenes and has simply fallen down on actually communicating with Campeaux. If Google has evidence that a user has issued a death threat to another user, one hopes that they do a bit more than simply delete the user profile and/or offensive comments. Perhaps Google is working with law enforcement on this issue behind the scenes, though it seems that they’d also need to have the user in question make a complaint to do so.
Campeaux wrote that he received more than 10 death threats in December via Google+, and four “tonight” (the post is timestamped 4:54 a.m., so it’s unclear whether he means the 27th or 28th). Unless all 10 originated in the last few days, it seems that Google should have taken some action by now even if they’re a bit short-staffed due to the holiday.
Setting Expectations
It’s not very surprising that people are calling Google out for failure to act. If the company is going to be hyperactive in pursuing ToS violations for flipping the bird in a profile pic or policing the use of a pseudonym, it has no excuse for sluggishness in responding to threats against other users. This is the equivalent of a city having fully manned speed traps all over, but taking 30 minutes to respond to 911 calls.
Most Google+ users don’t seem to care if the other users on the service are using real names or not. If another user happens to be making an obscene gesture in their profile photo, then it’s easy enough to avoid that user if you find it offensive. But users threatening violence or making death threats is universally unacceptable.
Huijgen mentions Campeaux’s impressive follower list several times, but it shouldn’t matter if a person on Google+ has 250,000 followers or two followers. Google has set up the expectation that it’s going to enforce its content and conduct policy, which includes a warning against threatening or bullying other users.
By setting itself up as a strict moderator of content, Google sets expectations that it will respond to user complaints in a timely fashion. Unless Campeaux is exaggerating or fabricating the claims, Google seems to have fallen down hard on this one.
View full post on ReadWriteWeb
Are You Reporting Your SEO to Death? – Promotion World (press release)
Dec 21st
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Are You Reporting Your SEO to Death?
Promotion World (press release) While I agree that reports are important for various reasons such as keeping everyone up to speed, making it easy to share information and so forth, I feel like a lot of companies are in danger of reporting their SEO to death. … |
View full post on SEO – Google News
South Korea Ready to Intervene as Kim’s Death Clouds Outlook – BusinessWeek
Dec 19th
 ABC News |
South Korea Ready to Intervene as Kim's Death Clouds Outlook
BusinessWeek By Eunkyung Seo and Andy Sharp Dec. 19 (Bloomberg) — South Korea said it's prepared to intervene in markets as the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il clouded the outlook for an economy already faltering on weak export demand. … S. Koreans in disbelief, but life goes on NEWS | SAN DIEGO Kim's death not 'rating trigger' for South Korea, Fitch says |
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