Happy Valentine’s, Google — see you in court
A British man has found some sympathy in the courts because Google did not delete false comments about him made on Blogger fast enough. Does his case open a backdoor to internet regulation? Read more »
Bobbie Johnson
Bobbie is a British journalist who has covered technology and society over a decade in London and San Francisco. He was technology correspondent at the Guardian for five years, and has written for outlets including the BBC, Technology Review and Wired UK.
Are times getting desperate for Lovefilm?
photo: Shutterstock/Ollyy
With Netflix on a roll, its big European rival — Amazon-owned Lovefilm — seems more and more desperate to staunch the flow of subscribers quitting the service and moving elsewhere. Read more »
How Facebook comments affect trolling for news websites
Lots of news sites believe that using the Facebook platform — or other smart systems — can help reduce the amount of trollish activity in their comments. But the truth could be much simpler, and much less palatable for them, than that. Read more »
Music site This Is My Jam could spin out from Echo Nest
A year after it launched as a skunkworks project inside music data company The Echo Nest, trendy social music site This Is My Jam is “looking at options” for going independent — as well as getting ready to launch some fun new site exploration features. Read more »
No excuses: It’s your job to steer clear of the mob
The media made a terrible error in identifying Ryan Lanza as the Sandy Hook shooter — a mistake amplified by social media. But while we may not be able to prevent these blunders happening elsewhere, we have to take responsibility for our own actions. Read more »
Britain’s press inquiry is a deathbed confession, not a solution
Lord Justice Leveson’s high-profile inquiry into phone hacking and unethical behavior by the British press never really tackled the big problems at the heart of the news industry. And what’s worse is that this huge error wasn’t a mistake — but the result of willful ignorance. Read more »
Music startups aren’t dead — they’re just changing
Rumors of the death of the digital music industry are greatly exaggerated, says former Last.fm executive Matthew Hawn. While there may not be much room for profiting from recorded music any more, an entire generation of companies are building a different, more exciting future. Read more »
How to outrun a lie on the internet
Social media chatter claiming incorrectly that a British politician was a pedophile has proven a far-reaching scandal in the UK — and one of the rare times that the network has self-corrected a lie. Is this a new dawn? Don’t get your hopes up. Read more »
Can ResearchGate really be the Facebook of science?
With 2m members, science startup ResearchGate isn’t just talking big when it says it wants to start a revolution: it’s actually changing the way scientists work. Co-founder Ijad Madisch explains his vision — and how he’d like to change Germany’s clone-heavy culture along the way. Read more »
Why journalists love Reddit for its brains, not just its beauty
For years Reddit has been used by journalists as a source of stories and ideas — but most outlets have preferred to keep their addiction quiet. Now, thanks in large part to President Obama, it doesn’t have to be their dirty little secret any more. Read more at GigaOM »
French copyright police warn government over cutbacks
photo: Jbor/Shutterstock
Hadopi, the French body created by former President Nicolas Sarkozy to enforce copyright laws online, has rarely been popular for its three strikes disconnection policy. Now, after hints that the new government may cut its funding, the group’s leader has told politicians to stop meddling. Read more »
Meet the man who wants to satirize Silicon Valley
British arch-satirist Armando Iannucci – best known for his documentary-style dissections of the political classes — is getting ready to take on his next project: a black comedy based on Silicon Valley’s worst moments of excess. Fish, meet barrel. Read more at GigaOM »
