YouTube and You.

I would imagine that we have all looked at videos on YouTube from time to time.  Whether it is that new viral video of the cute cats or music video from an artist that you love, it is a great source of entertainment.  But, as I have recently found out, there is actually a way to make money on YouTube.

Many people use YouTube as an expression of their creativity and a way to get their messages heard to the masses, it turns out that there is a great deal of profit that can come of all this.  In order to become a part of all this money making you need to join the YouTube Partner Program.  You need to apply to the program, and if you are accepted they will even help you out financially to get your series of webcasts up and running.  The people that do this usually make weekly posts that cover a range of topics from health, makeup, exercise, to even gaming.

There have been success stories where partners make over $100,000 a year.  YouTube is a great medium where it is very easy to get your talents to the masses, and as it turns out, there can be a great deal of money it.  This is a great example of speech in the digital age that has a great deal of value, not only in the information sense, but also financially.

Egyptian Blogger Busted

An Egyptian Military Tribunal recently convicted a blogger of insulting the army and sentenced him to three years in prison.  This has no doubt been very distressing to activist's fears that the army is against reform and freedom of speech.

A member of the military council, Maj. Gen. Mohammed al-Assar, told an Egyptian private TV station this,  "There is a difference between criticism with good intentions from a citizen, a journalist or a broadcaster, who mean the public good. There is no problem with that," he said. "The problem is in questioning the intentions [of the army]."

I guess that you can only give the Egyptian military constructive criticism with "good intentions." The military court issued the sentence against 25-year-old Maikel Nabil Sanad.  Sanad carried reports of abuses by the military and accused it of still being loyal to formal President Hosni Mubarak.  He also stated that "The people and the Army were never hand in hand."  The military was afraid that his postings would "agitate" others and "affect people."  

Egypt is currently trying to move away from a past of abusive practices, I would have to say that the prosecution of a blogger for making statements such as these are a step in wrong direction.   

Record Store Day

Tomorrow is April 16, and we all know what that means, its National Record Store Day.  This is a tradition that has been going on for about five years now, and it is the biggest sales day of the year for most record stores.

It has been well documented that CD sales are going done at an exponential rate, but vinyl sales have actually been on the rise.  The decline in CD sales can be accounted for numerous reasons:  ITunes, illegal downloading, borrowing from friends, or just not having $14 dollar burning a hole in your pocket.  People seldom want to buy an entire CD for one song that they like, and most people would say that CDs are overpriced.  I don't think that I myself have purchased a CD in at least a couple of years.

So it is very interesting to note that records sales have gone up.  The digital age has been very good to vinyl.  Having your entire music library on your computer and IPOD is very convenient, but people still desire to have a physical incarnation of their favorites.  That is where vinyl comes into play.  It could just be our culture's love for all things retro, or just the fact that records are really cool.  I myself own a record player and numerous records, I would have to say that it is a much more holistic listening experience.  In this world where any type of music is at our fingertips, it still helps to put your actual fingers on a record.

Anonymity Lost

My favorite pastime is cycling.  My second favorite pastime is reading anything that has to deal with cycling, and since we can only bike for about half of the year around here, I have a lot of time to read.  I would usually read magazines or blogs on the internet, my favorite blog was BikeSnobNYC on blogspot.  BikeSnobNYC took a very fresh look at the world of cycling that is very seldom taken by magazines or other publications that have advertisers to keep happy.  BikeSnob was a blog that had new posts on it daily by an anonymous poster that lived in New York City.  The posts were very amusing as well as informative, sometimes taking a satirical look at the world of cycling.  No groups or individuals were safe from healthy criticism or ridicule from the BikeSnob.  The world of cycling can be very stuffy at times and this blog was at the forefront of putting fun back into the game.  It helped all cyclists take a step back and look at ourselves and learn from some of our missteps, helping the sport to grow as a whole.

This blog got so popular that the author eventually agreed to a book deal, and therefore had to give up his anonymity.  It was a rather dramatic event when the blogger revealed his identity after keeping it a secret for years.  The book that he wrote was pretty decent, I purchased it and read it.  It did not capture the wit and creativity that he would normally write with on his blog, but it was still good.  He still has the blog and posts on it daily, but in my opinion, it has never been the same since his identity was revealed.  He has taken a big step into the mainstream and given up what made him so unique.  He was every cyclist embodied into one, but now he is just himself.  I miss having a little mystery involved in the cycling world, now it is back to the old stuffy ways.  This is one prime example of where anonymity can be beneficial to cyberspace, at least from the entertainment standpoint.

Chilled.

There is nowhere left for us to hide.  Correction, there is nowhere left to hide without taking the proper precautions, at least I think so.

I have always prided myself on having a rather clean outward appearance in cyberspace.  My Facebook page does not contain any racy photos or anything else of that nature that would make even my relatives blush (thanks for befriending me uncle Jerry and showing grandpa everything).  I also have other social networks that are rather clean as well, but where is the fun in that?  My life is not all that interesting,  so it helps to have certain outlets where you can let your creativity and imagination run free.  That is to say "run free" in the confines that society has created for us.

If one where to create a separate Twitter account or a blog that is on the fringes of what is acceptable, would that be okay?  Where there is a will, there is a way and if someone really wants to find information about you, they will.  Is it acceptable for someone to have an outlet for satirical and humorous blog posts?  I would have to say that at this point in time, it is not.  If something can be taken the wrong way or used against you, just don't write it.  

So I would consider myself chilled, to the bone.  I will just go back to writing in a journal, that way it can only get into the hands of one or two people instead of many.

Evolution of a Revolution.

In class a couple of weeks ago we watched and talked about the YouTube video of a young woman that had been shot and was dying.  The footage was very graphic and somewhat disturbing, but it did carry with it a very strong message that was important to a movement that was going on.  The woman had, in essence, become a martyr for a cause.  Her death was visible to the whole world, and people were able to make comments and state their feelings.  Revolutions in the future may not be in the streets, they will be on the internet.

Media and commentary sources such as YouTube are a self-contained revolution.  They can bring knowledge and information to the masses through videos, and then these same people that just watched the video can comment about it.  This is a very effective means of getting information to people that would not have been able to receive it even a few years ago.  Television stations usually do not show footage that would be very controversial or have a very strong reaction to it.  The masses can now learn about injustices in the world by just looking on the internet, and a movement can be created with the click of a mouse.  Ideas can be freely discussed and shared in a non-violent manner, and I feel we are all better for this fact.

Anonymous Cyberbullying

As I have discussed in my earlier posts, it is rather difficult to determine the identity of an individual that has defamed another anonymously, but this may be changing.  The courts are very hesitant to force internet service providers to provide the identity of an anonymous poster for the fear of the "chilling" effect that would sweep throughout the internet.  There are however some very startling and sad cases of cyberbullying where it seems hard to justify keeping the identity of the person anonymous that posted the harmful words.

Merriam-Webster defines cyberbullying as "the electronic posting of mean-spirited messages about a person (as a student) often done anonymously."  There are currently varying degrees of punishments for students that are involved in cyberbullying, it can range from a trip to the principal's office, all the way up to criminal action.  The punishment depends on the laws in that state as well as the end result of the bullying.  The question of anonymity also arises in this instance just like in libel cases.  It is very hard to come to the conclusion that cyberbullying has any positive effect in our society and that the author should remain anonymous, therefore the standard that needs to be satisfied to find the identity is lowered.  

Is anonymous speech a right?

In my last post, I talked about the 2TheMart.comInc. case where disgruntled shareholders let their gripes about the company be know anonymously over the internet.  In that case the court came up with a four-part test that would allow for subpoena to be issued in order to find the identity of an anonymous poster.  This was the test:  “(1) the subpoena seeking the information was issued in good faith and not for any improper purpose; (2) the information sought relates to a core claim or defense; (3) the identifying information that is directly and materially relevant to that claim or defense, and (4) information sufficient to establish or to disprove that claim or defense is unavailable from any other source.”  


2TheMart.com was denied the request for the subpoena because it was determined that if the identity of the posters were determined, it would only lead to intimidation in order to keep them quiet.  It could also put their role in the company in jeopardy. 


If a defamatory claim is made, the plaintiff must prove that the statements are in fact defamation.  Once this is done, the four part test above must be satisfied.  This test does seem rather difficult to satisfy, but it is nonetheless possible.  Do our first amendment rights allow us to speak freely and anonymously on the internet without the possibility of criminal action?  Would this lead to a "chilling" effect on our freedom on the internet?  I am not sure at this point in time because constructive criticism can be beneficial to all and if done anonymously, it will not have negative consequences for the poster.  However, I do not feel that grossly defamatory lies have protection to remain anonymous.  

Internet Libel

Over the past several years, placing libel charges on an individual or a group of people that made posts on the internet has become more commonplace.  When we go on the internet, we feel more empowered to say things that we normally would not in face-to-face interactions, but these statements can still come back to haunt us.  If the person that committed the libel is known, the suit will move forward in the same way as a normal libel lawsuit would.  The suit, however, gets interesting if the poster that made the comment did so anonymously.  

If someone wishes to file a libel lawsuit against a anonymous person, they could file it against "John Doe" and then subpoena the internet service provider to try to find the person that made the offensive post.  There has only been one federal case on this subject, and that is the Doe v. 2TheMart.com case.  It was found through this case that it is in the best interest of all to allow free speech on the internet, but it did give a four-part test that would allow the disclosure of the identity of the internet user.  In further posts I will discuss this topic, but for the time being I will ponder whether or not anonymity should be allowed and protected on the internet.  

Will our future leaders have a clean past?

I think that it all started for me when I was a freshman in college.  I had used various posting and messaging sites in the past such as Xanga, Myspace, and AIM, but none of these would compare to Facebook.  I jumped on the Facebook bandwagon during the initial stages, when all you could have was a picture and a brief description of yourself.  Now, Facebook has exploded into cultural phenomenon that touches most of our lives.

Some people use it as a networking and information tool, with others use it to put their social exploits on display for all to see.  Many people have very outspoken opinions that they place upon Facebook or Twitter.  My question is whether or not we will have leaders in the future that can have a clean slate when we live in a technological world that makes our viewpoints so transparent.  Our First Amendment Rights and the heightened sense of security that we feel in front of a computer make it very easy to make a lot of social judgements that may come back to haunt us at a later point.  I feel that we have all come a long way in realizing that what we display on the internet will possibly be with us forever, but our freedom of speech may get the best of us.