Category: Tales from the Net
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Notes from Underground: Darkness and Inflection
“When a corporation acquires great power, the use — or misuse — of that power is everything. Will it be used for the greater good, or for selfish and destructive means? Now this is a question we must all ask ourselves. Why? Because we are Google.” —Evolution (nymwars remix), Skyloops, remixed by anonymous It was…
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A tale of two searches: Google+ and Diversity, part 4
cross-posted on Google+ and Dreamwidth Check out the previous posts in the series: A Work in Progress, Why it matters, and #nymwars! Here’s a good example of how Google+ is already influencing search results. I’ve got screenshots below for two searches on nymwars, one when I’m logged into G+ and the other when I’m not…
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Nymwars! Part 3 of Google+ and Diversity
Keep the pseudonyms and lose the assholes. — Kathy Sierra The battle over whether Google gets to police what names people can call themselves rages on. Ten days after Google VP Bradley Horowitz promised process changes, accounts still keep getting deleted without notice. And while Facebook Director of Products Blake Ross got his account reactivated…
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The first Facebook skirmish of the 2012 election
Not too shabby at all. The Town Hall itself seems to have gone well (Ryan Singel’s Softball questions, familiar themes has the details in Wired, and Sharon Gaudin’s A Sign of Things to Come in Computerworld puts it in context), but there’s no question that ForAmerica showed a lot of strength on what used to…
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Save the Rave: Stop Surveillance in San Francisco
Hot on the heels of last month’s joint San Francisco Youth and Entertainment Commission’s hearing on electronic dance music, we’re back with a sequel.  Now, in what Jim Harper of Cato calls a “jaw-dropping attack on privacy and free assembly“, the San Francisco Police Department has proposed onerous new conditions for permitting for all…
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PATRIOT Act Update: After a successful call-in day, the focus shifts to Congress
Thousands of patriots fought their way through jammed White House phone lines on April 5 to call on President Obama to keep his campaign promises by vetoing any PATRIOT Act extension unless it includes substantial new protections. The timing was perfect, just a day after he launched his re-election campaign. Now, the focus shifts to…
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PATRIOT Act reform: phone the White House on April 5
On April 5, 1792, President George Washington vetoed a bill — the first time in U.S. history that the presidential veto was exercised. On the anniversary of this day, we’re calling on Barack Obama to exercise his presidential powers to veto any PATRIOT Act renewal bill that does not include powerful reforms to safeguard civil…
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Save the Rave at City Hall: Next Stop Sacramento?
At one point, a speaker was criticizing AB74, and a commissioner asked “are you ready to go to Sacramento?” The room erupted in cheers so loud that I couldn’t actually hear what the speaker said, but I’m pretty sure the answer was “yes”. Sounds like a good idea to me. Can’t wait for the afterparty!
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Demand JUSTICE, not the PATRIOT Act!
It’s time to go on the offensive! Here’s the action alert Bill of Rights Defense Committee just sent out. Please help by using POPVOX to support the reintroduction of the JUSTICE Act, and getting the word out widely in email, via Facebook, and on Twitter. The House is expected to vote again early next week…
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Patriot house alert breaks heads: found art from Twitter
Images from Twazzup’s Patriot Act page as the House prepares to vote again on the Patriot Act extension. The refrigerator magnets on the top are the most common words and hashtags. You can weigh in on the head-breaking yourself via POPVOX, Demand Progress, ACLU, EFF, Downsize DC or the phone. Julian Sanchez’ Now what? and…