Category: New Media

  • Resist The Face(book) of Surveillance

    About a week has passed since Facebook decided to change its privacy policies to make users information available to everyone (not only on Facebook, everyone online). Public backlash seems to be rising: The Electronic Privacy Information Center has filed a complaint with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. You can also take action by making a…

  • Globalizing Permission Culture

    Since last week, the leaked provisions of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement reveal that the agreement is more about creating a global Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA, USA). Under the agreement, if moves on as leaked, Internet Service Providers, will be required “to cut off the Internet access of accused copyright infringers” or face liability themselves.…

  • Ads on flies (for real).

    Your rating: None Average: 4.2 (3 votes) more about "Banners on flies (for real) – ambient…", posted with vodpod

  • Freedom to Ring

    Previously I had mentioned an “interesting” case about American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers asserting that when somebody’s cell phone’s musical ringtone sounds in a public place, they are infringing copyrights.  Here is the update about the case from EFF: A federal court yesterday firmly rejected that argument, ruling that “when a ringtone plays…

  • New Media BA/MA Program @KadirHasUniversity

    After two years of planning (and a huge amount of paperwork) and half a year of waiting for approval, we are proud to announce the founding of a new program at the Faculty of Communications at Kadir Has University: New Media (BA/MA) An undergraduate (BA) program and a graduate (MA) program in New Media are…

  • Copyright and Control…

    (Source: XKCD) Compare and contrast. Above is the content delivery model that the beloved copyright industry wishes to have (circa 21st century)  (or at least a parody of it).  Below is Harold Lasswell’s model of communication from 1948. Does it seem like we progressed at all?

  • Ethics? Anyone?

    When it comes to the issue of online file sharing the representatives of the copyright  industry (RIAA, MPAA etc.) often play the “moral” card (e.g. you would not steal a bread would you?, pirated DVD’s help terrorists etc).  A relatively recent book by Tarleton Gillespie (Wired Shut: Copyright and the Shape of Digital Culture) provides…

  • Site of the Month – August: www.windows7sins.org

    Now, here is some information to consider before your decision about whether you want to sign up for the new Windows 7. Please visit and share…

  • The hidden cost of e-books

    As a person who spends about 12 hours a day in front of the computer screen, one thing that I can never do is read an article or a book from the computer screen.  Even with a two-page article, my impulse is to first print the article and then read it.  For this, I apologize…

  • Beware what you read and what you opt out of…

    A few years ago, in an article published in New Media & Society (2007), I attempted to draw attention to a recurring problem with respect to user privacy online: the lack of transparency surrounding the data collection/sharing/use practices make it almost impossible for even the most “savy” user to actually challenge corporations’ “interpretations” about who…