When, if ever, can facebook be taken serious?

Members of the USC football team created a facebook group last month named White Nation, an apparent inside joke that originated when a black teammate jokingly refered to his white constituents as the "White Nation". So here already, it stems from a joke. The group posted a picture of a black baby in handcuffs along with the caption "arrest black babies before they become criminals." This group led to an uproar on campus' online facebook community with some calling for the group to be immediotly disbanded and a full apology be given.

This is a great overreaction. It's Facebook! Facebook is a joke to begin with. The most serious thing I have ever seen addressed on the site was an online apology from some girl to all her friends for being too drunk the night before. We can't ignor that race is still a huge problem in this country, but Facebook is not the place to express any views (remember the failed attempt to get kids to support certain candidates before the last election on Facebook?). I am a member of 29 groups on facebook, including some serious ones where serious issues are discussed such as: "Feldman's of the World Unite!", "I Fucking Hate People Who Fucking Hate Seinfeld" and the one that I created to celebrate a great mediocre and forgetable Red Sox player that I really liked in the "Brian Daubach Appreciation Club". Facebook is just not a place to be politically correct. It's a place to have fun and celebrate inside jokes.




http://media.www.dailytrojan.com/media/storage/paper679/news/2007/03/08/News/Facebook.Group.Lands.Usc.Football.Player.In.Hot.Water-2764591.shtml

Middle Eastern Executions: A Must See on the Internet!

After 9/11, I remember it started with the execution by beheading of journalist Daniel Pearl. Most people that I knew at the time, were checking out the video online. I refused because I think its despicable, these are images that I just didn't want in my head. That was over five years ago, and the Internet and videos have done nothing but grow.

Just last week, the video of Iraqi police officers being shot in the head in a field by members of al-Qaida affiliated groups surfaced to much controversy. The video was originally posted online by the group. Though viewing these videos are more accepted in our culture than crazy pornography (in my experience, you are more likely to hear someone openly discuss a beheading video than the most recent porno that they downloaded). It is just despicable and though I do not believe in much censorship on the Internet, I just do not want to be exposed to that stuff. I would support a measure to limit the way those videos are distributed digitally.





http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070304/D8NL51O00.html

Youtube Smartens Up

In a previous blog, I commented on Youtube.com's trouble with Viacom and other corporations about have their content being showed on the website for free. Viacom may be had all of its content removed but this didnt stop Youtube from securing new outlets to draw videos from. In a new article, it seems that they have a plan to make partnerships with over one thousand service providers. Large broadcasters like Fox, NBC, CBS and now the BBC have agreed to terms of sharing video with the site.

This really is huge for Youtube. I now think that sooner or later, even Viacom will come back around. Even though Viacom said stated its reasons for its break with youtube have been for copyright protections reasons, it was obviously a money issue. The deals Youtube has made have shown that the site can be used as a very useful promotion tool. So, as I stated above, i would be surprised if Viacom did't come back onboard at some point in the future.



http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070304/tc_afp/usinternetcompany;_ylt=AjAs_wnjhfZQZwLgYK.tx30jtBAF