Much has been made of the ethics of bloggers who receive compensation -- usually in the form of demo units and trial versions of products -- in exchange for reviewing those products, often with the implicit understanding that the review is a positive one. These questions prompted an FTC investigation, and last fall the agency revised their
formal guidelines governing endorsements and testimonials to include bloggers or other "word-of-mouth" marketers. The Interactive Agency Bureau maintains that the guidelines are unconstitutional, and is calling for the FTC to
rescind the rules as they apply to bloggers and other online outlets. The latest casualty? An intern at TechCrunch asked for a MacBook Air in exchange for a post. In the wake of this revelation, TechCrunch fired the intern and issued a
formal apology. To his credit, the intern has posted his own
mea culpa.
posted by shiu mai baby
on Feb 5, 2010 -
69 comments
Jon Swift asked everyone on his blogroll to pick what they considered their best post of 07--
...There are posts on politics by liberals, conservatives and moderates, posts on movies, music, television, books, economics, health care, science, sports, religion and history, personal stories and slices of life, poetry, prose, pictures and video. Some are very funny, some are quite serious, some will make you angry and some will make you say "Huh?" ...
posted by amberglow
on Dec 28, 2007 -
12 comments
PM of Malaysia: Those who spread untruths on the Net will be detained Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Prime Minister of Malaysia, warned all bloggers that "if information in blogs, websites and online portals were incorrect, bordered on slander, caused disturbance or compelled the public to lose faith in the nation’s economic policies, their authors would be detained for investigation". The Malaysian government is even
considering adjusting the Printing Presses and Publications Act^ to include blogs and online media.
This comes hot on the heels of a government-ordered
media blackout on
Article 11, a coalition of NGOs dedicated to upholding the principles of Article 11 of the Malaysian constitution, about freedom of religion, after
several protests claiming Article 11 to be anti-Muslim and confusing it with the now-defunct
Interfaith Comission Initiative, which aimed to be a body of people of different faiths raising awareness about diversity of religion and working together on religious issues.
Minister of Energy, Water, and Communications Dr Lim Keng Yaik said that they will
not censor the Internet (as promised when the
Multimedia Super Corridor was launched), but after events such as prominent Malaysian political blogger
Jeff Ooi being investigated over a supposedly offensive comment on his blog entry about Islam in 2005, and alternative news source
MalaysiaKini's office
raided after carrying a letter critical of the ruling party's policies in 2003, no one is really quite sure.
posted by divabat
on Aug 3, 2006 -
16 comments
Remember this? It has won recognition as "Best Interactive Viral" in the
Viral Awards. With all the viral
1 and stealth
2 marketing campaigns, comment spam, astroturfing
3, and other tools that marketeers are using to infiltrate the Brave New(ish) World of blog, we sometimes forget that we also have the power to do good, so "
you know, like, reclaim the streets, or re-frame the conversation, or some damn thing". Words of wisdom from our not-so-subservient chicken.
[and, a bit more...]
posted by taz
on Mar 26, 2005 -
20 comments
Are Blogs to Blame? Tom Regan, Associate Editor of the Christian Science monitor wrote an interesting
piece referencing the latest findings of
the Feb 2005 Harris Poll showing that more and more Americans (64%) *still* think that Saddam Hussein had strong links to Al-Qaida. Tom's piece proposes that too many Americans are getting their "news" from sources -- including blogs -- that are tainted with right-wing opinion. Tom proposes that blogs share a large responsibility for confusing readers and blurring the lines between news and opinion. On this same topic, last week Editorial Cartoonist Ted Rall wrote
an Op/Ed piece last week on blogs that primarily talks about the dangers of the right-wing blogger "lynch mob." Does the sphere of right-wing blogs far outweigh the sphere of influence of left-wing blogs? And is this something that is worrisome? Are blogs a danger to further polarizing public opinion? What do you think?
posted by popvulture
on Mar 4, 2005 -
52 comments
Bloggers as TIME's "People of the Year" ? " Each year around this time going all the way back to 1927 the editors of TIME magazine sit down to debate and select their Person or People of the Year. Last year, if you recall, they selected the American soldier. In prior years they have selected everyone from Charles Lindbergh (1927) to The Computer (1982)...
The Person of the Year is defined as folllows:
"Person of the Year is an annual issue of TIME magazine that features a profile on the man, woman, couple, group, idea, place, or machine that "for better or worse, has most influenced events in the preceding year"
Why not
bloggers?
Steve Rubel thinks so.
posted by azul
on Nov 16, 2004 -
33 comments
Web of Influence Every day, millions of online diarists, or “bloggers,” share their opinions with a global audience. Drawing upon the content of the international media and the World Wide Web, they weave together an elaborate network with agenda-setting power on issues ranging from human rights in China to the U.S. occupation of Iraq. What began as a hobby is evolving into a new medium that is changing the landscape for journalists and policymakers alike. Hmm. Big Talk or should I get a clue & with the program ? Decisions, decisions....
posted by y2karl
on Nov 4, 2004 -
15 comments
Dan Rather: : "If the documents are not what we were led to believe, I'd like to break that story. Any time I'm wrong, I want to be right out front and say, 'Folks, this is what went wrong and how it went wrong.'" (reg. req.)
Andrew Sullivan: "Memo to Rather: you can't break that story, because someone else in pajamas already did. Check the frequency, Kenneth. You are so far from being out front on this, you are leagues behind in the dust. Have you heard of the Internet? You can find it on that weird machine in your office they call a computer."
Me: Is anyone else astonished as I am at how far CBS seems to have its head up its ass WRT news media in the 21st century?
posted by ericost
on Sep 16, 2004 -
128 comments
Bill Gates May Blog. Always
ahead of the curve, the astute visionary's groundbreaking foray into the virginal internet territory, known by computer hackers as "web logging,"
won't be all business, either. He's expected to share personal details such as tidbits from recent vacations. I for one am trembling on the edge of my seat.
1.0 lacks that special something.
posted by scarabic
on Jun 26, 2004 -
18 comments
So the
Blogathon is taking a year off to come back bigger and better than ever before, but for all of you just itching to stay awake for 24 hours raising money for charity, there is
Project-Blog, a Blogathon-style event happening July 24th. See previous Blogathon discussion
here.
posted by Orange Goblin
on May 31, 2004 -
2 comments
Yackity yackity, choo CHOO!, Yackity yackity.....BLOGS! Self proclaimed Blogoholic George Packer, at Mother Jones, shits on blogs everywhere, joins bemused chorus -
FOX,
journalism grad students, and so on - blathering on blogs. What are they? What do they mean? Quoth Packer :
"Blog prose is written in headline form to imitate informal speech, with short emphatic sentences and frequent use of boldface and italics. The entries, sometimes updated hourly, are little spasms of assertion, usually too brief......All of this meta-comment by very bright young men who never leave their rooms is the latest, somewhat debased, manifestation of the old art of political pamphleteering.....if blogs are "a new way of doing politics," there is also something peculiarly stale and tired about them — not the form, but the content......So far this year, bloggers have been remarkably unadept at predicting events.... Above all, they didn't grasp the intensity of feeling among Democratic primary voters — the resentments still glowing hot from Florida 2000, the overwhelming interest in economic and domestic issues, the personal antipathy toward Bush, the resurgence of activism, the longing for a win. The blogosphere was often caught surprised by these passions and the electoral turns they caused."
Packer even gets paid for this,
plus starring appearances on snooty public radio talk shows! [ Kevin Drum makes an appearance ].....I can excrete lightly digested opinions with the best of them. Where do I apply ?
posted by troutfishing
on May 13, 2004 -
25 comments
Iceblog! "Antarctica: the best place in the world to be naked" (and take a bunch of awesomely beautiful pictures, too).
posted by WolfDaddy
on Dec 23, 2003 -
16 comments
Blogrolls around the globe now all point to
Laura's blog. Laura doesn't sound like your stereotypical evil hacker to me, but something sure went wrong at
Blogrolling.com. Anyone know what?
Laura's blog seems to have gone down what with all the hits it must be getting, but you can still read
Google's cache of it.
posted by jill
on Nov 17, 2003 -
31 comments
Blog Parody Ben and Mena.
We are cute. We are cute. We are cute. We are cute. We are cute. We are cute. We are cute. We are cute. We are cute. We are cute. We are cute. We are cute. We are cute. We are cute.
Adam Curry.
Celeblogging. I used to be a MTV VJ, you know, big hair, that whole thing? Yeah, I was cool. MTV sucks now though. I am cool. I am Beautiful People.
Cory Doctorow.
y0 toTaL 0wnz0red. y0 LiKeZ kRaD!!1!!1! DRM is EVIL! Magic Sci-Fi Future Net-Inspired Utopia Whuffie Waffle dust. Post-death, post-work, net-in-your-head future. BounceBounce. BoingBoing. SmoingeSmoinge.
posted by nyxxxx
on Jun 24, 2003 -
32 comments
The idea: A place for posting songs where they might actually get heard -- preferably someone who can help get it published. We've teamed with SuperfastNetworks to create the first song blog**. Will the the
Metafilter Music Channel be next?
**Actually it works with any digital content.
posted by Shane
on Apr 11, 2003 -
7 comments
AOL to offer blogging services. Ninety-nine per cent of bloggers won't make money," says Copeland."But when we've got 10 million bloggers a couple years from now, I'm confident that 100,000 of them will be uniquely valuable to advertisers."
posted by sixdifferentways
on Feb 13, 2003 -
30 comments
pickupyourowndamnsocks.com. What would you do if you found out that your significant other was keeping an anonymous, but very public, journal of things about you that drive them crazy?
posted by jonah
on Oct 7, 2002 -
150 comments
Iranian bloggers are being credited with being at the forefront of an underground movement which is undermining the fundamentalist hierarchy. Perhaps we should blog Iraq.
posted by Fat Buddha
on Oct 5, 2002 -
7 comments
Expelled for Blogging? Kid threatened with expulsion after having the nerve to blog from school. I assume his high school had nothing else to crack down on other than the gangs of bloggers up to no good like keeping a tech journal.
posted by Coop
on Sep 26, 2002 -
33 comments
I posted about it
before and there was a mixed response. But
Blogathon 2002 actually started this morning at 6 am PST. Bloggers with a gimmick have posted details
here and it's not too late to
sponsor. Are you watching? And what's your favorite blogger doing?
posted by dobbs
on Jul 27, 2002 -
13 comments
Best British Blog. The Guardian has launched a competition to find the best British weblog. Is this another case of the mainstream media not really understanding what blogging is all about?
posted by crayfish
on Jul 18, 2002 -
18 comments
"A Rift Among Bloggers" is the name of the article in Monday's
New York Times on the state of the blogger these days. A must read if you've ever heard the term "warblogger." Its a mostly unbiased and refreshingly accurate piece written by David Gallagher of
LightningField.com fame.
posted by nyukid
on Jun 9, 2002 -
43 comments
Anti-Idiotarian Coalition/United Blogging Nation? It seems all this talk of UN bias has has some bloggers so frustrated and angry that they feel it's time to band together as a political force, and the beginnings of a movement are
taking shape. Legal actions, media attention, and even a full fledged political party are all ideas that have been bandied about. They already have a couple of legal eagles and prominent
blogging figures offering services/resources. All they need now are t-shirts.
Oh wait, they have
those too. One Nation, under Blog...
posted by mikhail
on May 2, 2002 -
15 comments
Which Jerkcity Character are you? The personality test to end all others. PLUS: although it only has a few entries so far,
rands' blog is looking really great. In case you didn't know,
Jerkcity is a daily comic strip enjoyed by all the cool people on the internet, similar to the weekly
Hotendotey or
Sanscomic, (a comic strip by Ecco the cat, who "does anal") but with more mechanical production, more Perl/TCL jokes, and more references to hlauaghaghgah. Please note that you cannot be 1337 if you like RedMeat.
This post is dedicated to Quonsar The Magnificent and all other truly 1337 mefiers willing to stand up for what is right. Remember: argument's are to be avoided; they are always vulgar and often convincing.
posted by Settle
on Apr 17, 2002 -
13 comments
"There should be a law about these people with web diaries or they should all wear identifying clothing or something, so that innocent bystanders who don't need some perverse kind of public fame can know to steer clear." Or, using Google to flush out potential dating disasters.
posted by Psionic_Tim
on Mar 16, 2002 -
73 comments
Weblog Junior High. Just in case you felt a little left out trying to figure out the pecking order, you'll be happy to know that Mr. Haughey is a jock. I won't even mention the
K word.
posted by headspace
on Jan 8, 2002 -
24 comments
What is AWCA? "It’s an illness that can strike at any time, that can affect even the most sensible and rational blogger. It strikes slowly at first — a glance at
The Nation or
Village Voice, a quick peek at what the Berkeley City Council is up to this week — but can develop into a full-bore obsession. Minutes trolling on Indymedia turn into hours, ridiculed websites make their way to the Windows Favorites list, until finally one cannot bear to turn off the computer before seeing the words
quagmire, proportionality, Arab street, root causes, and
“terrorists” (in quotation marks only)."
My name is Steve, and I suffer from AWCA.
posted by Steven Den Beste
on Dec 25, 2001 -
29 comments
