September 29, 2006
Web Gone Wild! Clinton vs. Wallace
Whether or not you were home to watch Bill Clinton’s, now infamous, interview with Chris Wallace chances are you saw it anyway.
The Fox News video clip appeared on YouTube shortly after and faster than you can say “conservative hit job” the video became the most viewed video of the day and week with over 750,000 views.
Clinton had planned to discuss his Global Initiative during the interview and when Fox host Chris Wallace strayed from the issue Clinton got angry.
"Why didn't you do more, connect the dots and put them out of business?" Wallace asked Clinton, referring to efforts to stop Osama Bin Laden pre-9/11.
In an impassioned answer that has been described as everything from Cruise-worthy to chastising, Clinton confronted the host and defended himself.
"I want to know how many people in the Bush administration you asked this question of? And you've got that little smirk on your face and you think you're so clever. But I had responsibility for trying to protect this country. I tried and I failed to get bin Laden. I regret it,"
Over 1 million people searched for Clinton Vs. Wallace blogs following the interview. Liberal bloggers were happy to see the Democrat fighting back, while conservative bloggers suggested the former president was rewriting history. And more than a few bloggers on both sides thought the whole thing was planned.
This clip was this week’s hottest political YouTube video and it even made Fox nervous enough to remove their content from the site stating a copyright violation. However, Fox choose to reinstate the video.
Smart move, Fox.
Wallace-Clinton Combat Draws Big Ratings
Posted by Buzz Webster at 05:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
September 27, 2006
Microtargeting in the Midterm
Everything from your magazine subscriptions to real estate records can and will be used by political parties to deliver targeted messages calculated to influence your vote.
In 2002, Alexander Gage began combining voter registration lists with data from commercial firms that acquire information on Americans' consumer habits. Using the consumer data points as indicators of voters' political leanings, Gage, then working for market research firm Market Strategies Inc., was able to mine the data for likely Republican voters in predominantly Democratic neighborhoods, and to craft phone and mail appeals designed just for certain classes of voters. The tactic is now known to political pros as "microtargeting."
In Michigan, where microtargeting made its debut, the Republican Party has sorted the state's 7 million voters into no fewer than 42 different categories, based on hundreds of pieces of data that include voting behavior, age, income, magazine subscriptions, favorite vacation spots, even the length of a voter's daily commute and whether he or she has a telephone with caller ID. Using closely guarded algorithms and advanced computer modeling, the Michigan GOP can predict how likely voters in each category are to support Senate candidate Mike Bouchard and which messages stand the best shot at winning them over by Election Day.
The Democrats, meanwhile, are running a similar operation, courtesy of EMILY's List. The pro-abortion-rights group is dividing Michigan 's undecided voters into a dozen different segments based on church attendance and other lifestyle traits.
The Republican and Democratic microtargeting efforts in Michigan are being replicated in dozens of competitive races across the country, in many instances for the first time on a nonpresidential level.
Related Articles:
Know Thy VoterEveryone is a Special Interest
Politicians Know a lot About You
Related Blogs:
e.Politics: MircrotargetingHotline: Microtargeting
Posted by Buzz Webster at 03:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
September 22, 2006
Thai Coup D’Etat: Live Media Blacked Out
Led by army chief General Sonthi, soldiers staged a coup to remove Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra from power. Live local and international television news was restricted.
Soldiers seized government offices, took up posts around the Thai capital of Bangkok and took control of local broadcast media. The Bangkok Post website, a major English news outlet, was slowed down significantly as Thais turned to the Internet for the news. The Post reports that websites in Thailand experienced very heavy traffic.
In an announcement by the Prime Minister, broadcast from New York, he declared a state of emergency and fired Gen. Sonthi. The broadcast was cut short. The Washington Post reported that troops arrested the station manager who attempted to broadcast the address. Gen. Sonthi revoked the state of emergency soon afterward.
Coup leaders have moved to censor the media and ban public gatherings as part of measures meant to ensure public order. Strict controls have been slapped on foreign and domestic media. The communications ministry has been allowed to "block" disinformation" deemed harmful to a provisional military council now in control of the country.
At least two blogs have been set up solely to cover the unfolding military coup in Thailand - a group blog 19sep which is in English and revolution.blogrevo which is in Thai.
THAILAND: Live television news blacked out during coup
Posted by Buzz Webster at 12:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
September 19, 2006
Anti-Drug Videos on YouTube
The US Government has taken the War on Drugs fight to YouTube.
The decision to distribute anti-drug, public service announcements over YouTube represents the first concerted effort by the U.S. government to influence customers of the popular service, which shows more than 100 million videos per day.
"If just one teen sees this and decides illegal drug use is not the path for them, it will be a success," said Rafael Lemaitre, a spokesman for the drug office.
The government's short public service announcements — all of which were produced previously for television — are highly polished. They will compete for viewership against hundreds of existing, drug-related videos including videos that describe how to grow marijuana and how to cook with it.
The government linked its videos with the terms "war on drugs," "peer-pressure," "marijuana," "weed," "ONDCP" and "420," so anyone searching for those words on YouTube could find its anti-drug messages.
Michael Bugeja, who studies how different groups use the Internet, said the White House plan is misdirected because online video services don't afford serious consideration to weighty topics.
"It's the wrong forum and the wrong target," said Bugeja, an author and director of the journalism school at Iowa State University.
In any event, these videos are sure to have people talking! And stay tuned for updates of the week’s newest political videos being posted on YouTube and other user-generated content sites.
PoliticsOnline is dedicated to keeping you up to date on the latest in politics and technology.
Tic Tic Video
Smushed Video
U.S. Uploads Anti-Drug Videos to YouTube
Posted by Buzz Webster at 05:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
September 15, 2006
How to Steal an Election?
Princeton Computer experts believe the Diebold voting machine, which is slated for use in 375 counties in November, is vulnerable to criminal attacks.
In a published report the three researchers explain and demonstrate how easy it is for criminals to introduce malicious software to the machine. In less than one minute, a virus can be introduced which will steal votes, spread from machine to machine through memory cards, and can hide its tracks. The software can even delete itself from the machines at the end of elections.The report suggested the machine's software and hardware be updated and strict election procedures be implemented.
But a Diebold executive disagreed and said that the e-voting machine used for the research project has security software that is two generations old.
"By any standard--academic or common sense--the study is unrealistic and inaccurate," Dave Byrd, Diebold Election Systems president, said in a statement.
The purpose of an election is to accurately measure the intent of the voters. The challenge is to convince the losing candidate and his supporters that he truly lost the election. Sufficient evidence can only come from a combination of properly-engineered technology and robust procedures for handling it. What this study aimed to prove is that we can all benefit from a system that can supply that evidence.
Check out a Demonstration Video
Posted by Buzz Webster at 03:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
September 13, 2006
Schwarzenegger’s Site Hacked?
Recently it seems that every campaign attack that uses technology is a “hack.” Is the term being misused?
Staffers working for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides discovered an audio file on Schwarzenegger's campaign web site that features California's celebrity governor comparing a colleague, Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia, to a bodybuilder he once knew in some rather stereotypical remarks.
“I mean Cuban, Puerto Rican, they are all very hot. They have the, you know, part of the black blood in them and part of the Latino blood in them that together makes it.”
The remarks were the subject of a front page Los Angeles Time article last week.
At the request of Schwarzenegger’s office the California Highway Patrol is investigating whether the private taped conversation of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger from state computers was illegally downloaded.
Schwarzenegger’s communications director, Adam Mendelsohn, asserts that the files were password protected and the site was manipulated, but Angelides’s campaign manager, Cathy Calfo says otherwise. Calfo claims that anyone who received a Hurricane Katrina audio file that the governor’s headquarters sent out could easily access other audio files on the site.
Hacking is a serious charge and a serious crime and web security is proving to be the new forum for campaign attacks. Just ask Joe Lieberman.
Related stories
Governator 'Hot Blood' Tape Leak
Police Probe Schwarzenegger Leak
Posted by Buzz Webster at 05:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
September 11, 2006
“School of the Future” Matriculates
Microsoft's Bill Gates has called US high schools “obsolete” and warned about their effect on US competitiveness. Can his company fix the woes of US education?
The company's "School of the Future," in Philadelphia, was modeled after corporate management techniques Microsoft uses itself. Currently, only 170 lucky teens, chosen by lottery, attend the school, yet Microsoft says it hopes up to 750 students will soon be attending classes there.
Students, who are called "learners," use smart cards to register attendance, open their digital lockers and track calories they consume. They carry laptops, not books, and the entire campus has wireless Internet access. There’s no library, but an ‘interactive learning centre’ where information is all digital.
Student’s laptops carry software that assesses how quickly they’re learning the lesson. If they get it, they’ll dive deeper into the subject. If not, they get remedial help.
Teachers, called “educators,” will have less paperwork, as everything from grades to student testing will be handled digitally.
“Learning is not just going to school,” said Shirley Grover, the school’s energetic principal who came from the American School in Milan, Italy. “Learning is equal to life.”
Related Stories:
Windows HS: Microsoft designs a school system
Microsoft's High-Tech School Opens in Philly
Posted by Buzz Webster at 01:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
September 08, 2006
Social Networking at Its Best
In a matter of 48 hours some 600,000 students joined groups and signed petitions protesting the new updates to the Facebook.com site.
Facebook, the number 2 most popular social networking site with over 9.5 million registered users, made changes to the design that allow friends of users to view feeds that post personal updates. Students have revolted against this “invasion of privacy.”
The reaction is not protesting any new information being shared, rather it makes finding friends easier. But users are not buying. "News Feed is just too creepy, too stalker-esque, and a feature that has to go," reads the petition of the newly formed "Students Against Facebook News Feed."
What’s interesting is how students have used the very feature they are contesting to mobilize support for their cause. The “News Feed” updates every change a friend makes to their profile. When a group or petition is formed to contest the changes every friend that takes part is updated on the newsfeed. It’s not hard to see how the number of protesters grew so quickly.
After 72 hours and many “pokes” later Mark Zuckerberg, site founder and CEO, responded with an apology and better privacy controls including the option of using the feature.
Zuckerberg said the size and swiftness of the uproar caused by the new feature -- and the formation of huge online protest groups -- surprised him."The magnitude is what surprised me most," he added. Protesters were using the new feature to publicize their discontent, proving that it was very effective, he said.
The power of social networking is clear. Students themselves are starting to realize the power of online activism and political pundits speculations have been confirmed. These sites are the place to capture the coveted 18-24 vote.
Facebook Modifies Controversial Feature
Facebook alters info feature that angered users
Posted by Buzz Webster at 01:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
September 06, 2006
Google Expands News Archive
Web users are now able to search for news content that was published prior to the start of the Web era.
Google has partnered with several news archiving services as well as The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Guardian to provide users with access to an index of full-text news articles from roughly the last 200 years. Through a new "News Archive Search" link within Google News, users can now find articles about events, people, places, and ideas, and see how they have been covered, described, minimized, and interpreted. One of the most interesting features of the new service is how it automatically creates a timeline that shows how an event or topic played out over time. Clicking the "timeline" link reorders results in chronological order. "The goal of this service is to allow people to search and explore how history unfolded," said Anurag Acharya, Google distinguished engineer, who played a major role in shepherding the new product. Both free and fee-based content is included in Archive Search. Search results available for a fee are labeled "pay-per-view" or with a specific price indicated. The service has debuted with a U.S. English interface, but there's already a lot of non-English content available. The coverage is the deepest in English, but the plan is to expand into other languages fairly soon. Related Stories: Google Debuts 200 Year News Archive Search Google Launches Print Archive Service
Posted by Buzz Webster at 04:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
September 01, 2006
Japanese Citizens into “Netizens”?
First launched in 2000 by Oh Yeon-ho, this online newspaper owes its content to ordinary people acting as citizen reporters.
Called “Netizens,” these online users have adopted a social purpose and practice to spread the Internet as a participatory environment to all who want access.
OhMyNews plans to recruit 5,000 citizen reporters by the end of the year. 1,000 have already joined the project and produced 20 articles published in the first issue. Well-known Japanese journalist Shuntaro Torigoe has been appointed as chief-editor of the new online newspaper.
Yeon-ho has said that OhmyNews Japan will have a different focus than in
Many young people and other progressive forces were part of the democratic coalition that backed the relatively unknown politician Roh Moo-hyun for the presidency in 2002. OhmyNews played an important role in the successful election campaign.
Will OnMyNews make a similar breakthrough in Japanese politics?
Posted by Buzz Webster at 05:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
