TGIF!

Bloggers and Power

I know we have discussed blogger's power many times. There is not a consensus on how much political and social power do they have, but bloggers are putting weight in poilitical decisions. Today I read a washingtonpost article about Roberts nominations being in the eye of the bloggers swarm. As soon as President Bush announced Roberts as the nominee, liberal and conservative bloggers were ready to discuss the nomination. Fifty top liberal bloggers held a conference on Tuesday discussing the new nomination.

The article raises a very interesting point. This is the first Supreme Court nomination in the Internet era. We can read immediate responses from liberal and conservative bloggers sharing facts, opinion, agreeing and disagreeing. This is what democracy is all about. Also with the help of the Internet, bloggers are rallying to influence the mainstream media and direct the journalistic coverage. Is that possible? Well, we are reading, seeing and listening in the news how bloggers react to Roberts nomination, so I should say that bloggers have earned a position in the mainstream media. The positive thing I see about bloggers having influence in the mainstream media, is that many of them do not have a particular political interest.

It has been a great experience attending Phil's and Emi's class, because I have learned so much about the blogsphere and the impact they have on the media and public opinion. As I see it, good things should be copied and developing countries should start heading the path to have other voices.
A quick fact, just to let you know, while here in the United States the Senate will be approving or dissaproving Roberts nominations to the Supreme Court, in Ecuador we are trying to constitue a new Supreme Court. Ecuador has not had a Supreme Court since last April!

No post for today

Internet Misuse

According to this article in Info World, Internet misuse costs business $178 billion annually. This means that employees, during working hours, are using the Internet more for personal reasons than for their actual jobs. Fifty percent of the surveyed workers admitted that they used the Internet more for personal matters at work. Among workers who reported using the Web for personal reasons the most popular activities were reading the news, checking personal e-mail, online banking, travel and shopping.

After reading this article I once remembered some business article discussing Internet filters. The article discussed that Internet filters were getting very popular in the market. Companies were buying them to prevent their employees wasting time and money at their workplaces. Are Internet filters threatening the Web's freedom?
On the other hand, internet filters are very useful for parents, who are using them in their home computers to keep their children away form pornographic and violent sites. I do not know how do these filters work, but as I go over so many Internet filters advertised on the Web, I am thinking is this a kind of censorship?

Busy Monday!

Big brother is watching you!

There is a thin line between regulations and prohibitions, especially with the Internet. I just finished reading the report: Internet filtering in China, and I was very surprised to discover that there are societies where they see the Internet as a threat. I believe that the only explanation why governments (like China and Cuba) have filters for the media, is because they feel threatened by the information.

It reminds me of the book, 1984, by George Orwell, where everything was controlled by Big Brother. They controlled what you read, said, watched and talked. They even knew what were you thinking! I am not saying it is the same case in China, but by reading the report I realized that societies without free access to information are in great danger. These types of societies are confined to ignorance, poverty and abuses.

I do not want to compare China to a totalitarian government, but if the government is filtering information on the Internet, because it is "sensitive" then there is a problem . It is true that China is liberalizing the economy , but that is not enough for democracy. In order to have a solid democracy people have to be informed, people have to have free access to information (not to filtered information). My theory is that in developing countries, the rich class and many politicians prefer to have an ignorant working middle class. Then the government will always be able to control them. Even though this might sound as a very primitive world, it still happens in many countries.

Starvation on the Web

A recent article from Time magazine exposes a terrible truth. Pro-anorexia web sites that share tips with young readers. I was scared at first when I tried accessing www.ceruleanbutterfly.com. It warns you about visiting it. But do not worry (first read the article) and you will encounter with testimonies and tips approving anorexia and explaining why it is great to be thin!! I could not believe it.

According to TIME there are approximateky 500 websites giving advices to lose weight and become anorexic. The creators are young people between 18 and 28 years old. The creator of the website that the article talks about is a 19 year old woman. In this websites you can find blogs, forums where people with eating disorders gather for support.

I know I might be out of topic, but I wanted to share this article with you all. This is one of the times when I ask myself how free does the Internet should be? I am not saying anything about censorship, but I just feel the Internet sometimes (as in this case) might be harming people. I just wanted to share this with you and read your comments.