Reports say that a site full of bachelor policemen has become the most popular Weibo microblog in China. More than 2000 fans follow the online initiative started by Wuhou public security bureau in the province of Chengdu of Sichuan. The goal is to help single officers that work long hours that prevent a normal social life, find dates. Who wants a handsome, employed, gun-toting Valentine?
Twitter is in the spotlight because of its new and controversial per-country blocking system--the power for governments to censor and withhold public tweets that violate local laws. Although the specifics are a bit murky, according to Foreign Policy magazine, here are 5 things that you can't/shouldn't do on Twitter in the United States, for they can lead to some serious legal trouble: Cyberbullying, pranking police, coordinating unlawful behavior, threatening violence and not removing tweets by request. Check out the full implications of each here and stay out of Twitter trouble!
Wikipedia and founder Jimmy Wales will be protesting the U.S. Stop Internet Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA) today. The English version of the online user-based encyclopedia will not be greeting visitors with the usual search bar and information. Instead, those that log on can expect to read the company's stance on the bills and information on how to take action against them. Online news link service, Reddit will also join Wikipedia in the 24-hour blackout. Fight the power!
The following is a makeshift documentary of the devastation that took place during the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Musician and producer, Wyclef Jean, and his associates dived head-first into the mayhem to capture what the world had yet to see. It's been two years since and the effects of the quake have rendered the country helpless still. The end of the video lists the harsh reality in numbers: 316K people perished, 300K injured, 1M orphaned children, and 1.2M homeless. Wyclef's foundation, Yelé, continues to do what it can to offer releif. Don't forget to support!
In a controversial move, the U.S. Army will be teaming up with CTA Digital, makers of guns for video game systems, to create military-branded product for popular combat titles like Call Of Duty 3: Modern Warfare. It is reported that the guns will feature a high level of authenticity including the Army's logo. What's most striking is that the move is part of an effort to recruit more young people into the armed forces via the glorification of games and guns. Wish we could make this stuff up folks!
Just last month, communications giant, Verizon, signed a $3.6 billion dollar deal with "competitors" Comcast, Time Warner, and Bright House Networks. Experts argue that the alliance unofficially spells out the end of the United States' Telecom Act of 1996--a congressional bill that promised consumers fair and competitive tele-communications services. And now a second part of that multi-billion dollar deal is speculated to draw out how each company will actually stay out of one another's way and possibly sell each other's services to overlapping customers--in other words, a cleverly disguised monopoly, as the New York Times reports:
Instead of reaping the benefits brought by competition -- downward pressure on prices, improved infrastructure investment, faster download speeds -- consumers can expect to face monopoly market conditions where cable and telco companies sit back and collect increasingly high monthly rates because subscribers have nowhere else to turn.
In an obvious sign of the times The Guardian reports how Canadian citizen, Martin Reisch, was able to successfully cross over into the United States using an iPad that displayed scanned version of his passport. As the story goes, Martin had forgotten his physical passport at home, two-hours back in Montreal. It was a longshot, he admits, but after telling border agents about how he was delivering Christmas gifts for his friend's kids and showing them the digital document, it was a go. Granted, it probably won't happen all the time, it was great for Mr. Reisch to know that his scanned version went a long way. He's even got hopes about it officially being instated:
I see the future as 100% being able to cross with your identity on a digital device it’s just a matter of time.
A video for an anti-racism campaign sponsored by the Mexican government is raising all kinds of eyebrows, and hopefully, awareness about the deep-rooted social issue. The almost four minute long piece captures a handful of responses from Mexican children that are asked to differentiate between a white doll and a black doll. When asked loaded questions like which doll is ugly, bad, good, trustworthy, etc., the children almost always attributed the negative qualities to the black doll. Ricardo Bucio Mujica, President of The National Council To Prevent Discrimination, points out that the experiment is meant to highlight some very real social stigmas and perceptions:
What we are tying to show here, is that in Mexico we associate the whiteness of the skin with beauty, with advantages in life and success, it’s the desirable stereotype.
Advocacy group the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) has issued the United States Department of Homeland Security a lawsuit. The reason? They claim that the government is monitoring blogs, message boards, and social media platforms like Twitter without the public's consent. The scrutiny is said to go so far as to pinpoint specific flag words that, in turn, trigger the agency to track and monitor a user's online activity. Hmm, you don't say?
In an attempt to reclaim "lost" youth and restore "moral values," authorities in Indonesia are corralling dozens of punk teens and forcing them to give up their rebellious ways. The effort includes shaving the heads of many of the detainees, ridding them of their punk attire, and forcing them into a strict regimen of religion and military drills. Despite the clamp down, The Guardian reports, many of the teens are still rebelling and sticking to their punk ethics.
