Eli Pariser on “The Filter Bubble: What the Internet Is Hiding from You” + Assange: Facebook, Google, Yahoo spying tools for US intelligence

https://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/

Democracy Now!
May 27, 2011

The internet is increasingly becoming an echo chamber in which websites tailor information according to the preferences they detect in each viewer. When some users search the word “Egypt,” they may get the latest news about the revolution, others might only see search results about Egyptian vacations. The top 50 websites collect an average of 64 bits of personal information each time we visit—and then custom-design their sites to conform to our perceived preferences. What impact will this online filtering have on the future of democracy? We speak to Eli Pariser, author of The Filter Bubble: What the Internet Is Hiding from You. “Take news about the war in Afghanistan. When you talk to people who run news websites, they’ll tell you stories about the war in Afghanistan don’t perform very well. They don’t get a lot of clicks. People don’t flock to them. And yet, this is arguably one of the most important issues facing the country,” says Pariser. “But it will never make it through these filters. And especially on Facebook this is a problem, because the way that information is transmitted on Facebook is with the ‘like’ button. And the ‘like’ button, it has a very particular valence. It’s easy to click ‘like’ on ‘I just ran a marathon’ or ‘I baked a really awesome cake.’ It’s very hard to click ‘like’ on ‘war in Afghanistan enters its 10th year.'” [includes rush transcript]

Who will speak for the fish, who will speak for the coral? by Bruce Gagnon

Image by leighadactyl via Flickr

by Bruce Gagnon
featured writer
Dandelion Salad
Organizing Notes
May 27, 2011

Six seems to be my lucky number. I was able to hand out six leaflets at Bath Iron Works (BIW) yesterday. But I found a way around the road block though. I sent the leaflet language to the local newspaper as a Letter to the Editor and it was printed yesterday.

Is the Arab Spring spreading to US Congressional staffs? by Franklin Lamb

by Franklin Lamb
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Beirut, Lebanon
May 27, 2011

Image by mar is sea Y via Flickr

Millions of American voters were offended this week by the vulgar display on Capitol Hill which witnessed the annual rite of nearly 2/3′s of Members on Congress stumbling over one another at the annual AIPAC Conference in order to ingratiate themselves with their hosts and to protect their sinecures.

Equally nauseating to many was what some on Capitol Hill are calling “Congressional Black Tuesday” when they assert Congress cheapened its status in American and foreign eyes and fouled itself by taking the role of undignified cheerleaders for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu during his appearance before a joint session of Congress, an invitation normally reserved for august occasions and accomplished personages.