What issues may there be regarding media effects and /or regulation/ censorship as a result of changes due to new and digital media.
It’s Time to Declare War Against Apple’s Censorship
The App Store censorship horse may have been beaten to death, but mainstream German media—whose iPhone applications have been censored by Apple because of its content—are not surrendering. I'm glad. In fact, I hope they win this war.
The censorship problem is not only about the5,000 titillating apps that fell down in flamesafter Apple's latest puritanic raid. Except for apps from well known slippery-when-wet publishing houses like Playboy, that raid closed the smutty graphic category entirely. The censorship problem goes a lot deeper than that, and it has affected mainstream publications already.
Freedom of the Press
The polemic in Germany started when Apple took down Stern's iPhone app without notice. Stern—a very large weekly news magazine—published a gallery of erotic photos as part of its editorial content. It wasn't gratuitous: It was just part of the material published in the magazine itself, integrated in their usual sections.
The entire app was taken down, according to the Spiegel, and publisher Gruner + Jahr had to eliminate that content in order for the application to go up to the store again. They learnt their lesson, since they haven't published any other material that may offend Apple's "moral police"—as the German press calls it.Then came Bild, a large daily newspaper printed by publishing powerhouse Axel Springer AG. Bild also distributes its content through a dedicated iPhone application. This app gives access to its sections from a central springboard. Last December, they released a new mini-app called Bild-Girl, which shows a woman moaning and getting rid of her clothes every time you shake the iPhone with your free hand.
Apple didn't take that well and asked Bild to put a bikini on the girl. Bild complied. But now Apple also wants Bild to censor the naked girl that comes in the PDF version of the printed newspaper, which is accessible from the Bild application too. Apple is trying to force them into censoring their publication, even while the women are pre-emptively censored: Their nipples are pixelated and unrecognizable in the iPhone-distributed PDF document.
That's when the Bild editors went ballistic.
It Can Get Worse
I don't blame them, because I'm going fucking ballistic at this stage of the proceedings too. How Apple can force Bild to change their editorial content? Or putting it another way: If Gizmodo decides to release an iPhone application tomorrow, would Apple take it down whenever we publish a NSFW post that shows nipples?
Probably they would, if they receive enough complaints. (We receive some from time to time, so it's not out of the question). What about magazines, books, or comic books—like Watchmen and other adult graphic novels—that contain explicit sexual descriptions or graphics? Would those be censored too in the future, if enough people think it's politically incorrect?
What about other content? Like Bild Digital's CEO Donata Hopfen says: "Today they censor nipples, tomorrow editorial content." The Association of German Magazine Publishers agree, and they have asked the International Federation of the Periodical Press to make a complaint to Apple. I agree too: This is just not about the nipples. If Apple had established a firm set of rules about tits and pink beforehand, there wouldn't be any problem. But this censorship is completely arbitrary and unexpected.
How? Imagine Gawker develops an iPod/iPad application, one that gives access to Gizmodo.com, Gawker.com and all its publications—except Fleshbot, for obvious reasons. Now imagine that we get the scoop of the Next Big Thing from Steve Jobs, and decide to publish it in the app. Would Apple send another letter threatening us to take down the app, perhaps? Would Apple have banned an hypothetical Gawker app when Gizmodo uncovered Steve Jobs' health problems?
I don't think that's a crazy thought. In fact, knowing how things work, I think it's entirely possible.
And it doesn't have to be about Apple or tits. There are plenty of applications that have been deemed blasphemous or offensive by Apple, and banned from publication. Would publications showing a caricature of Prophet Mohamed be taken down as well? That would get Phil Schiller plenty of complaint letters.
I don't really know what Apple may do in these cases. And that's the problem. The fact is that they forced Stern and Bild to do change their editorial content decisions, and anyone or anything could be next. Apple is a corporation and they can do whatever they want, after all. In fact, that's the argument of the people who defend these decisions: It's Apple's prerogative to do whatever the hell they want with their store.
But knowing that the Apple iPhone-iPod-iPad triumvirate is the largest mobile application platform in the world—practically owning the category—couldn't that be considered an abuse of quasi-monopoly power? I have no idea. I will leave that question to the lawyers of the Association of German Magazine Publishers. And the lawyers of the International Federation of the Periodical Press.
Facebook hacker jailed for eight months
Glenn Mangham's lawyer claims his client was 'ethical hacker' who wanted to show how Facebook could improve its security
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Glen Mangham's lawyer described him as a Sherlock Holmes fan and a 'computer nerd' who wanted to point out Facebook's vulnerabilities. Photograph: Alamy
A student who hacked into Facebook in "the most extensive and grave" case of social media hacking ever to come before a British court has been sentenced to eight months in prison.
Glenn Mangham, 26, admitted to infiltrating the website from his bedroom in his parents' house last year, sparking fears by US authorities that Facebook was the target of industrial espionage.
Prosecutors said that he stole "invaluable" intellectual property after hacking into the account of a Facebook employee who was on holiday, and through it obtained restricted internal data.
Mangham, a software development student from Cornlands Road, York, claimed that he had previously shown the search engine Yahoo how it could improve its security and said he wanted to do the same for Facebook.
But this was rejected by the prosecutor, Sandip Patel, who told Southwark crown court in London: "He acted with determination and undoubted ingenuity and it was sophisticated, it was calculating. This represents the most extensive and grave incident of social media hacking to be brought before the British courts."
He said that Mangham had ultimately stolen "invaluable" intellectual property, which he downloaded on to an external hard drive during the period of hacking in April to May last year.
Facebook discovered the breach in May and alerted the FBI, while Scotland Yard's e-crimes unit raided Mangham's home on 2 June 2011 following what Patel described as a "concerted, time-consuming and costly investigation".
Explaining his actions, Mangham told the court: "It was to identify vulnerabilities in the system so I could compile a report that I could then bundle over to Facebook and show them what was wrong with their system."
Tony Ventham, defending, said Mangham was an "ethical hacker" who described himself as a security consultant and told the court: "He saw this as a challenge. This is someone who in previous times would have thrown everything aside to seek the source of the Nile."
He added: "It was common currency within the community of computer nerds or geeks, if I may refer to him as that, where there was this interesting relationship between companies and people who ethically point out vulnerabilities."
The court was also told that Mangham was of good character but showed strong indications of Asperger's syndrome, and may have been trying to prove himself to his father, who works in the computer industry.
Judge McCreath told him that he was bearing in mind the fact that Mangham had never been in trouble before, as well as his youth, and his "psychological and personal make-up".
"I acknowledge also that you never intended to pass any information you got through these criminal offences to anyone else and you never did so, and I acknowledge that you never intended to make any financial gain for yourself from these offences.
"But this was not just a bit of harmless experimentation. You accessed the very heart of the system of an international business of massive size, so this was not just fiddling about in the business records of some tiny business of no great importance."
He described Mangham's actions as "persistent conduct, sophisticated conduct and conduct that had at least the risk of putting in danger the reputation of an innocent employee of Facebook".
Mangham's claim that he had always intended to alert the website to what he had done was a retrospective justification, rather than his motivation, he added.
The student was also given a serious crime prevention order restricting his access to the internet and confiscating his computer equipment.
Alison Saunders, chief crown prosecutor for CPS London, said: "This was the most extensive and flagrant incidence of social media hacking to be brought before British courts."
Facebook said in a statement that it applauded police and prosecutors' efforts in the case, adding: "We take any attempt to gain unauthorized access to our network very seriously."
- This article highlights how serious Facebook takes the issue of hacking , especially if its a student . They can use this information to their advantage , by selling the brand to another company and making money via black market methods . Theory : Six degrees of separation refers to the idea that everyone is on average approximately six steps away, by way of introduction, from any other person on Earth, so that a chain of, "a friend of a friend" statements can be made, on average, to connect any two people in six steps or fewer.
John Guare( theorist) read above -.-
Infographics :
Shows how people use communication in a variety of different forms , mostly electronic . The audience hardly use letter writing now a days with the new developments such instant messaging and Facebook , Blackberry Messenger etc .This makes it more accessible to audiences who may wish to communicate to families abroad.
Shows how people use communication in a variety of different forms , mostly electronic . The audience hardly use letter writing now a days with the new developments such instant messaging and Facebook , Blackberry Messenger etc .This makes it more accessible to audiences who may wish to communicate to families abroad.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SuNx0UrnEo - The Facebook revolution video about how audiences use it and the economics behind it .
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