“Privacy advocates around the world, however, worry that the millions of people entrusting their personal information to social networking sites, of which Facebook is just an example, have almost no control over how it is used.”

“Amnesty International said today it was “shocked” by a three-year jail term handed down by a Moroccan court to a man who registered a false internet Facebook profile as King Mohammed VI’s brother.”

“Pakistan has ordered local internet service providers to block access to the popular Youtube website because of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad that have outraged many Muslims, an industry official said.”

Freeconomics?

“The Federal Government says it is considering introducing an ‘R’ rating for video games, which would allow the sale of more explicit titles in Australia.” (And let games be licensed in a way which actually reflects their content!!)

Social networking site Facebook has seen its first drop in UK users in January, new industry data indicates. Users fell 5% to 8.5 million in January from 8.9 million in December, according to data from Nielsen Online.

“Research shows that among the youngest Internet users, the primary creators of Web content (blogs, graphics, photographs, Web sites) are not misfits … On the contrary, the cyberpioneers of the moment are digitally effusive teenage girls.”

“Molly Ringwald turns 40 today.” [Via Chuck] A tribute here.

Lawrence Lessig wants to change Congress – he might run for it, or change it from the outside. Lessig 08 is the hub – watch and participate!

An interesting online social movement aimed at getting the fantastic Lawrence Lessig (founder and former chair of the Creative Commons) to run for Congress.

In Australia, “the Rudd Government is considering a three-strikes policy against computer users who download songs illegally.”

“A series of arrests here for posting sexually explicit images of what appear to be some of Asia’s best-known pop stars has led to a division among Internet users over free speech, and questions of selective police enforcement of obscenity laws.”

A Victorian man has published public apologies in two major papers after comments he made about a family through his Facebook page. … cost the man about $400 after he was threatened with suits for defamatory allegations …”

“What started out as a cautionary tale about storing lurid digital photos of past lovers on the computer has become one of Asia’s biggest internet celebrity sex scandals and a focal point for censorship in Hong Kong.”

Long post which looks at the King of Kong documentary and catalogues the many problems and questionable choices made in the production process.

Great little piece summarizing the “mobisodes” (mobile phone mini episodes) that became available in the lead-up to Lost’s fourth season.

“Facebook has been asked to remove the Scrabulous game from its website by the makers of Scrabble.”

An interesting take on Cloverfield (JJ Abrams’ hand-held Godzilla in New York film) being the closest of a September 11 film to date (both due to the level of destruction, and the way it’s shot).

Mashup of Hillary Clinton’s run in the democratic primaries juxtaposed against Reese Witherspoon’s remarkably similar character from the film Election. A lovely mashup!

They’ve found a way to make yeast live ten times its normal lifespan, and now the question is whether a similar alteration might work on humans! (Seriously, though, who’s going to retire at 65 when they need 725 years of superannuation?)

“… the Doctor is more likely to overthrow the government on alien planets, or in the distant future. When he visits present-day Earth or our history, he’s an arch-conservative.” (Compares Doctor’s politics withe those of the UK party in power.)

A lovely booklet which details a lot of case studies in which Creative Commons licenses are meaningfully used in Asian countries and Australia. (The PDF is about 10Mb, but well worth a read.)

“After a productive and valuable conversation with my publisher, Random House, they’ve agreed to permit The Future of Ideas to be licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license. You can download the book for free.”

“Forget Lonelygirl15, YouTube’s 2006 online video phenom. Professors are the latest YouTube stars. … Web video opens a new form of public intellectualism to scholars looking to participate in an increasingly visual culture.”

Mary Poppins as a horror film … a really good trailer! (An oldie but a goodie!)

The intriguingly story of Arash Derambarsh, a 28 year old French man, who convinced the French press that he was the elected ‘President of Facebook’! After many serious big-media interviews, the hoax was eventually uncovered.

“Resources for those educators wishing to learn more about blogging for themselves and/or their students.” (A long list of great resources.)

How a single YouTube video got a response from Australia’s Foreign Minister and opened relatively fresh wounds on the topic of racism in Australia, with a protest about Japanese whaling policies thrown into the mix!