Ethics
Florida judges banned from ‘friending’ lawyers on Facebook
What would people think?! Florida judges are barred from becoming Facebook friends with local lawyers because the online relation implies they’re BFFs in RL, the Sunshine State’s legal ethics board has decided.…
Continue reading »TweeBating – online, real time
Last week I sat around a large table on the top floor of Bush House in London with about twenty other people while we talked about the ways radio is changing and tried to imagine how English-language programming on BBC World Service could take advantage of the online, multimedia world that is emerging around us. I was invited because I appear on Digital Planet each week to think out loud about the impact of technology on our lives, but this was an internal BBC meeting rather than an open seminar, and the discussion was never intended to be made public. That didn’t stop one of the other attendees, technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones, from recording a segment of the introductory remarks that Ben Hammersley, the associate editor of Wired UK, made and posting it online via AudioBoo.
Continue reading »Ethics leaks spur House bill banning P2P apps on .gov PCs
Peer-to-peer filesharing applications have been wildly popular, especially among those interested in accessing pirated software, music, and media. But not everyone who operates a P2P client knows how to properly configure the software, and some clients may share entire directories unless explicitly directed not to. Apparently, some government employees have exhibited this sort of carelessness, as private and secret government documents have shown up on P2P networks.
Continue reading »Ethics Committee Staffer Leaks Secrets On File-Sharing Network
A staff member of the House Ethics Committee is being blamed for accidentally leaking a sensitive document over a peer-to-peer network from her home computer. The 22-page, confidential document, listing the names of more than 30 lawmakers who are under investigation by the Ethics Committee and the Office of Congressional Ethics, found its way to the Washington Post after a now ex-employee inadvertently placed it in a file-sharing folder on her home computer, according to Politico.com. Some of the probes involve congressional representatives linked to a now-defunct lobbying firm that was under criminal investigation by the Justice Department for issues related to defense spending and influence peddling.
Continue reading »An Open Letter to Peter Mandelson
Dear Peter Mandelson, I am writing to you regarding the #3strikes internet piracy legislation that you have recently confirmed. I am involved in both the sectors of which you are taking such a damaging interest in, and although I don’t have the money to lobby on the same level as the music industry, I speak to you now as an investor. As an investor in the online world.
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