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Suddenly it seems, after years of teeth-clenched tolerance, corporate and political entities here in the U.S. – including Google and the State Department – are intent on confronting China over suppression of speech on the Internet. Chinese media analyst Jeremy Goldkorn says that the Chinese government has waged an all-fronts propaganda battle in response.
South Koreans were among the first to truly embrace the internet. Perhaps that’s why the country has also become one of the first to treat internet addiction as a psychiatric disorder. Author Douglas Rushkoff traveled to South Korea for an upcoming series that will air on PBS' "Frontline" next week. Rushkoff gives us a glimpse into South Korea's battle against digital obsession.
For a few hours on Monday the strict controls that China exerts over domestic access to the internet – known as ‘the great firewall’- disappeared. Chinese internet users could twitter, Facebook, read about Tibet - you name it. But was it a harbinger or a glitch? Chinese media expert Rebecca Mackinnon explains the rules and misconceptions that surround China’s internet.
With 1.2 billion people, India is the world’s largest democracy and a potentially vast population of internet users. But for Google, with its hugely popular Orkut social networking site, it’s become a minefield of subtle censorship issues. The Wall Street Journal’s Jessica Vascellaro explains how in India, Google is attempting to strike a free-speech balance.
Newspaper archives used to live in dusty stacks in libraries. Today, they're a five second Google search away, leaving news organizations grappling with the question of what to do when an article haunts a source, or even a journalist, online for...essentially...ever. OTM producer Nazanin Rafsanjani reports.
Social scientists have long suspected that the internet contributes to our growing isolation. But Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet and American Life Project, set out to test that assumption. He says they found that Americans aren't as isolated as we thought and that being active on the internet might actually help prevent social isolation.
Ever feel like online advertisers know you a little too well? If so, you're not alone. UPenn Professor Joseph Turow, lead author of a new study on behavioral advertising, says that two-thirds of people object to targeted ads and the online tracking that marketers do to produce them.
Google recently released a video explaining how it ranks news stories. Brent Payne, director of search engine optimization for Tribune Interactive, was paying attention. His job is to ensure that a Tribune article lands on the front page of Google’s search results. Will Google lead newspapers to cover stories they wouldn’t have in the past? Payne says yes, but he insists that the Search Engine Optimizer hasn't affected the company's journalistic integrity.
