For-profit social marketing

Now, Twitter is offering its users bribes for advertising on a Twitter account.
 Yes, it is true. First Google buys up YouTube for big bucks, in order to earn advertising dollars.

SEO, blogging and ethical communication

Just when I was having fun with it, I am being hammered with cute young things who 'follow' me, you go to their Twitter page and you find they are porn queens. I blocked the last one immediately. Or else you find others being paid to advertise for businesses.

Now, I find that you can be paid to tweet and advertise for specific products. I just do not know. Why do I want to see more ads from cyberspace? They are coming fast and furious. Why would I assault my friends and follows with more advertising? We have spam, we have pop-ups, the ubiquitous Google ads. I religiously read on-line news and find more saturation of these markets. I am finding a low tolerance for such.

Even Retired Teachers of Ontario are sending out email asking me to support particular causes. No. I will make my own choices. Do not bribe me to sponsor an event, sending poor families to a show, especially a for-profit event.

Leading by Example: Key Developments in the First Seven Years of PIPEDA

Since the inception of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), organizations have been adapting their business practices to comply with the Act, as well as similar new provincial standards as their customers grow increasingly concerned over the protection of their personal information. Meanwhile, the privacy landscape continues to evolve. Advances in information technology and the desire among business to compete globally have meant that the privacy challenges we face today are more complex than ever before.

Legal Corner

• Legal information related to the Privacy Act
• Legal information related to the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA)

Internet privacy vs. free speech

Here are the headlines:

Model's Suit Exposes 'Cyberbully' Blogger; Will Blogging Be Changed?

"Why should anybody let it go?" model Liskula Cohen told ABC-TV's Good Morning America today when asked why she went to court to learn the identity of an abusive blogger instead of just ignoring the hateful words

In a monumental case Google is being told to open up user info regarding this defamation and libel. I think it a great idea.

If you cannot go on other media and defame one's character, the why should you be able to tell lies on the Internet?

In a Globe & Mail (Toronto) article, (the model is a Canadian, working in the US), they cite a brilliant ruling:

"Mr. Wagner said one of the most important things in the case is that Madam Justice Joan Madden of the Supreme Court of the State of New York used established law and did not distinguish between the online and offline worlds for judging both defamation and free speech."

This makes sense to me. There are many sites that concern me:

• Rate My Teacher
• Rate My Professors.com
• Rate Your Doctor
• Rate your dentist
• Rate your lawyer

These sites are unreliable, appalling and may steer a patient, student, client away from a perfectly good service provider. There are governing bodies with information on these people, and word of mouth is a good way to find lawyers, realtors, and the like.

Any self-proclaimed expert can post information, and it is up to the user to weed out reliable sources. I post my personal info (B.A., B.Ed., M.Ed.) on my site, not for any other reason than demonstrating that I have good credentials and a background in research. I find that some media outlets present and post articles that are not based in research, but in gossip and innuendo. Some are not factual, either.

I would tell my students to look for facts from those affiliated with universities, governments, medical establishments, and well-established institutions. I have warned, on my Senior's Health Blog in a previous blog: I am increasingly appalled by the number, the extent and the range of advertising and propaganda, and blatant manipulation of seniors as businesses, and website managers, try to earn a buck. They take advantage of those who are ill, and frail.

Reliable information is getting more difficult to find.

Censorship

Deutsche-Welle news posted a collection of articles called:

Dossier: Internet censorship and freedom of expression

"According to Reporters Without Borders, over 80 percent of the world's population currently has limited or no access to independent reporting. As of April 20 already, 16 journalists have been killed and 221 journalists, media assistants and cyberdissidents imprisoned this year."

In this, the Information Age, I wonder the actual impact in North America. Many people write many things, with or without the qualifications to do so. I heard of a new Google search, whereby they search for you, and can find not only information, but data, charts and graphs. I would hope that the searchers are able to verify the accuracy and reliability of sources.

Again, this is an issue that affects underdeveloped, less affluent and non-democratic countries. On the other hand, in the UK, our privacy is at risk.

See the BBC story: Camera grid to log number plate: A national network of cameras and computers automatically logging car number plates will be in place within months, the BBC has learned. One senior was pulled over by the anti-terror unit. He regularly attends anti-war demonstrations outside a factory in Brighton, his home town and they were tracking him.

Further links:

• Europe Considers Measure to Punish Aiding Internet Censorship
• European Journalists Sound the Alarm on Press Freedom
• Chinese Blogger Stopped from Attending DW Blog Awards
• Media in China -- Between Censorship and Commerce
• Opinion: Italian Journalists Muzzle Their Criticisms

For more background information see: