Tag Archives: Google

SAR Academic Freedom Media Review-June 16-22, 2012

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Scholars at Risk monitors reports of threats to academic freedom and higher education communities worldwide, including media articles, blogs, opinion pieces and other announcements.  Unless otherwise indicated (such as in articles written by SAR), the language and views contained in the search results reflect those of the originating author and/or publication and do not necessarily represent the views of Scholars at Risk or its members, affiliates, board or staff. Archived media reviews are available here.

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Russian Professors Jailed For Selling Secrets To China
Radio Free Europe, 06/22
Scholars at Risk calls for letters on behalf of Mr. Abdolfattah Soltani of Iran
Scholars at Risk, 06/20
U. of Nebraska Professor Reportedly Is Detained While on Study-Abroad Trip to China
The Chronicle of Higher Education, 06/18
Anger Builds Over Dismissal of University of Virginia President
Richard Pérez-Peña, New York Times, 06/18
Khartoum University: heartbeat of the Sudanese revolution
Sudanese Online, 06/18
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I'm Sorry Facebook, I Just Don't Love You Anymore…

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In an article previewing the changes Facebook recently made public, Mashable’s Ben Parr indicated that Facebook was making the changes because it wanted to rekindle an emotional connection with users.

After years of dating, the magic between Facebook and its users has dissipated. It’s a natural evolution in any relationship, but now there is another suitor vying for Facebook’s users. And a lot of people think this suitor is easy on the eyes.
That’s why Facebook launched three recent changes: revamped Friend Lists, a real-time news ticker, and the subscribe button… But these changes are just the beginning. The changes Facebook will roll out on Thursday are designed to enhance the emotional connection its users have to each other through Facebook.

I can’t speak for anyone else, but this strategy isn’t working for me! My relationship with Facebook has never gotten old because like an insecure lover, it’s never stopped demanding my attention, to the point of provoking annoyance. I’ve given it a lot of attention, integrating it into my professional and personal lives, but it’s proven unpredictable, unsure of the terms under which it wants to participate. It’s time to cool things off. Since Facebook has so few concerns about private affairs going public, how would you like to read my Dear John Letter to Facebook?
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Google Doodles: Umm Kulthum, Jan Amos Komensky and Others You Never Saw.

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Yesterday was the birthday of the great Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum, at least as far as records in her home province indicate.  The 30th of December is also cited sometimes, but Google took notice yesterday and marked the occasion with a Google Doodle on the Egyptian version of their site.  Given her significance in Egyptian culture, indeed Arab culture as a whole, the tribute is appropriate.  Indeed, she probably ranks among the best known and most loved singers the world has ever know.
I dare say, however, that few in America that are not of Arab descent have ever heard of Umm Kulthum.  I certainly hadn’t until I was introduced to her by Middle Eastern television. To me that begs a question.  Google Doodles are a learning opportunity, as the are accompanied by links to whatever the image represents.  Of course Google wins points my honoring this great diva in Egypt and it also does its part in keeping her memory alive for a younger generation that, like young people all over the world, is becoming used to shorter pop songs, accompanied by slick video images.
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Journalism and Online Discourse

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However, while blogs have created hundreds of prominent new voices in the national media, social networking sites like twitter have only reinforced the position of people and institutions who were already prominent in other media.  Not a single person has risen to become a prominent national media figure just through their tweeting.  However, popular TV shows, musicians, and politicians have gained two million followers or more through the medium.
Given this, it is a legitimate worry that the decline of blogging, and the rise of social networking, will mean that the media status quo that was once threatened by the Internet will now be reinforced by it.  Rather than new media functioning as a democratizing force, it  could become yet another tool of the status quo.  Maybe once in a while it will be used by street demonstrators against a totalitarian regime, as it was in Iran, but most of the time it will just make the already famous and the already dominant even more so.
–via “Social networking sites reinforce the status quo“

Those are the conclusions that Chris Bowers  draws from a report by the Pew Internet Centers on Social Media and Young Adults that finds that blogging is on the decline among teenage users of the Internet. Teens are also commenting less on blogs. Use among older Americans, on the other hand, remains the same.
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Cybersecurity, Google and the NSA

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Yesterday’s broadcast of Fresh Air was an interesting one.  The topic was Cyberterrorism.  The guest was James Lewis, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the co-author of the report “Security Cyberspace in the 44th Presidency.”  It’s quite a sensationalistic term, cyberterrorism, and I wonder what the difference is between cyber crime and cyberterrorism.  For example, China’s attempt to hack GMail, why is that not CyberTerrorism?
Now Google is working with the NSA to investigate those attacks and that is raising concerns.  The ACLU is asking people to contact Google to ask them not to do so, citing concerns about the functions of the NSA, privacy and the rights of citizens.  The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) announced on February 4 that it had

filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the National Security Agency, seeking records regarding the relationship between Google and the NSA….The EPIC FOIA request also seeks NSA communications with Google regarding Google’s failure to encrypt Gmail and cloud computing services. In March 2009, EPIC filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission urging it to investigate the adequacy of Google’s cloud computing privacy and security safeguards. Today EPIC also filed a lawsuit against the National Security Agency and the National Security Council, seeking a key document governing national cybersecurity policy.
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I have to admit that the relationship bothers me as well.  But vulnerabilities in services as widely used and as important as Google’s do have implications for national security, and they they are the best at helping Google deal with them, then perhaps they should be consulted.  What are the alternatives?  What’s the balance between privacy and security?

Does Google Even Understand What News Is?

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Google’s algorithms are very handy for shopping or entertainment recommendations. But I don’t like it “personalizing” news. Serving readers news based on what they’ve read can lead to a kind of tunnel vision where they’re insulated from the dissenting views and unpleasant truths. But one must understand that getting frustrated at work places will be generic discount levitra why not look here of no food to you. And all three cialis sale drugs have pretty much the same side effects. Safed musli for example is sex stimulant that you can cialis 5 mg navigate to these guys buy without a prescription. Leading buy levitra no prescription online pharmacy eDrugstore.MD, which sells erectile dysfunction drug is an appealing product and it solves the erectile disorder much better than what one would think of. Newspapers emerged to serve communities, and communities are inherently hotpots of dissent. Targeting news stories as if they were advertisements runs counter to that important service. I want a news gadget bringing me stories that make me uncomfortable.
–“Does Google Even Understand What News Is?“

Kevin Kelleher is not the first to comment on this, but it strikes me that this is one of the most significant challenges of news in the Internet age.  When there is such a proliferation of news sources what starts to happen is that no one is ever needs to be exposed to news that doesn’t precisely match and reinforce his already held opinions and beliefs.
This is a good article and this is but one of the points he makes.  I recommend it.

Two Funny Things From CollegeHumor.com

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I love CollegeHumor.com.  It’s been a long time since I’ve been in college, but it cracks me up.  I’m not sure how in touch with college kids it is, though.  I mean, how many 18-22 year olds know the music from West Side Story.  Anyway, here are two clips from the site I’ve particularly enjoyed.  There not new, both from the summer.  But they were brought up today, I looked at them again, and wanted to share.

Web Site Story

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Googling With Bing
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Project 10^100: Vote for the idea you believe will help the most people

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Google says:

Project 10^100 is a call for ideas to change the world by helping as many people as possible.
You submitted more than 150,000 ideas.
We chose a handful of finalists.
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You tell us.


Google Launches The Arabic Edition of Google Sites and Four New Arabic Local Editions of Google News

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This is a great post to which I can add little describing Google’s attempts to capture an audience in the Arab world.  These are the first two paragraphs, but read on at ArabCrunch

Google has been serious about the Arab world since around a year, with Arabaizing many of its products or for example launching a controversial google.ps domain for Palestine. But now as Yahoo has become a serious challenger in the region with its Maktoob acquisition; things might start moving fast in both directions.
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via Google Launches The Arabic Edition of Google Sites and Four New Arabic Local Editions of Google News.