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Legal Drama
Criminal Cases Push Newspapers to Identify Anonymous Commenters
Anonymous comments on newspapers blogs are drawing attention from prosecutors seeking information about criminal matters, once again raising the issue of whether newspaper blog comments are protected under state press shield laws. Last fall, I wrote about two civil cases involving claims of defamation, where two separate courts refused to order newspapers to disclose information that would lead to the...
more »Legal Drama
Coalinga Newspaper Not Liable for Running MySpace Rant
A post on a social networking site like MySpace could end up anywhere, and depending upon where it ends up, the result could be catastrophic. We've covered that territory before on MediaShift, discussing a case involving discipline of a teacher for conduct shown on a MySpace page. In Moreno v. Hanford Sentinel, a California appeals court considered a case...
more »AdvertisingShift
How much do online marketers and websites know about us? Do they save records on what we've bought, sites we've visited, people we've contacted? It's a subject that few of us bother with until we find out our private information has been stolen or inadvertently been made public. And privacy concerns have been front and center lately as MySpace...
more »Your Take
Should the FTC set up a 'Do Not Track' database for online marketing?
With the rise of behavorial marketing online -- where marketers serve ads based on where you've gone online -- there's also a rising concern about how much privacy we are giving up. Do we realize that marketers are tracking the sites we visit online and that we would need to erase our computer cookies in order to keep that info...
more »Your Take
What's the right age for kids to start visiting virtual worlds?
Forget about Second Life. The big buyout talk in virtual worlds lately has been around sites such as Club Penguin, a squeaky-clean world catering to kids aged 8 to 14, and Webkinz, a kids site with games and virtual pets. A recent BusinessWeek article noted that Big Media companies such as Sony and News Corp. were interested in paying upwards...
more »Jennifer Woodard Maderazo
Are We Sharing Too Much Information via Social Media?
Social media -- the online tools we use to keep in constant contact with friends and to spy on strangers -- is something many of us believe makes the Internet a more fun, more personal place to be. It makes it easier to keep in touch with people we care about, and facilitates relationships with people we might have...
more »Philosophy
Internal Company Memos Make Online Fodder for Yahoo
Lately, there has been a lot of intrigue at new media conglomerate Yahoo. Most average folks use Yahoo for the email or perhaps the personalized portal, My Yahoo, or maybe the fantasy football leagues. Largely, Yahoo makes its money with advertising, though most of the content isn't created by Yahoo itself.
more »Your Take
How do you protect your privacy online?
Identity theft. Digital stalking. Credit card fraud. Spam overload. These are some of the dangers of living your life in the open online. But perhaps you take some precautions when you give out information online. Do you have a special email address where you sign up for email newsletters so you don't get too much spam? Perhaps you use a pseudonym or give out fake information when you register for news sites. Or maybe you don't share photos on your MySpace site. Tell me some of your favorite tips for protecting your privacy online -- and explain why you do it -- and I'll share the best ones in next week's Your Take Roundup. I'll also try to get some tips from privacy experts as well. Or if you have a cautionary story to share about someone invading your privacy online, I'd like to hear that too.
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