internet - openDemocracy (Page 43)

Out of the press box and onto the field

I am a player in NewCo. I have to publicly abandon any position as an observer or independent analyst of Pierre Omidyar’s new venture in news. Out of the press box and onto the field.

By Jay Rosen

/ 18 Nov 2013

Mistaking omniscience for omnipotence

Everyone assumes the value of an increasingly para-militarized, bureaucratized, heavily funded creature we continue to call “intelligence,” even though remarkably little of what would commonsensically be called intelligence is actually on view.

By Tom Engelhardt

/ 13 Nov 2013

Mexican beheading: how to deal with real violence on the internet

Shying away and blocking out violence, however, is never a permanent solution. We have become the intimate witnesses of real horror.

By Daniel Zylbersztajn

/ 6 Nov 2013

Argumentum ad wikipedium and what the social sciences might learn

Sadly, the hallmark of a contemporary academic career has become the invention of a new term, whether or not the subject matter requires it.

By Marc Chehab

/ 1 Nov 2013

Can digital empowerment alleviate poverty in India

The focus has, until now, been on access but is gradually shifting towards changing social behaviours within communities.

By Meera Vijayann

/ 29 Oct 2013

Snowden and Socrates

In our liberal democracy, the democracy needs fixing before we can turn our thoughts to whether the liberalism needs fixing as well. The NSA should at last be able to jolt us into recognizing this.

By Peter Martin

/ 23 Oct 2013

On superheroes: who will save us now?

Comicbook superheroes live in a world where individuals can change with ease into objects, think out loud, or kill with a stare. Yet they fight only to maintain the status quo. How would it be different if superheroes were the people who are oppressed?

By Zia X

/ 23 Oct 2013

The pathology of expecting social network websites to wave the ‘democracy flag’

One of the most basic principles and characteristics of the public sphere must be its independence both from the state and market forces. So why should Turkish people feel betrayed by Facebook?

By Güneş Tavmen

/ 21 Oct 2013

The dark side of Burma’s Facebook boom

Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, her political party the NLD and minority Muslims are being maliciously targeted through Facebook in Burma.

By Charlotte England

/ 21 Oct 2013

No more sources

Revelations by Edward Snowden, National Security Agency dissident, have grave implications for the role of journalists in the ‘Fourth Estate’ and the primary duty of source protection in the era of mass-surveillance.

By Paul Lashmar

/ 17 Oct 2013

Dumping on the world: e-waste 2.0

E-Waste is the new emerging pathology of the ecosystem, born during the current historic period of capitalist production.

By Giorgio Griziotti and Gianluca Giannelli

/ 9 Oct 2013

The data hackers: mining your information for Big Brother

Raytheon's latest product is a software package eerily named "Riot" that claims to be able to predict where individuals are likely to go next, and who he or she is likely to communicate with, using technology that mines data from social networks like Facebook, Foursquare, and Twitter.

By Tom Engelhardt and Pratap Chatterjee

/ 9 Oct 2013