Internet Archives | Page 7 of 8

AdBlock Plus: Block All Ads on the Internet!

June 11, 2009 11 Comments

Trashy Advertising Influence

We talk all the time about how bad emotionally driven advertising has had a detrimental influence in our society. Starting at a very young age, billions of dollars are spent to take advantageous of our inner desires for love, significance and our insecurities to sell us things we don’t need. It has changed our outlook about what would truly make us happy and has filled our minds with so much garbage that perhaps many of us feel immune to it. “What is the big deal… right?”.

Well that brings up the question – what can be done?

AdBlock Plus – Block Advertising on Websites

I wanted to highlight a small plugin for Firefox that will BLOCK ADS on all websites. How does that work? Any ads being served from advertising URLs are simply removed from the page.

See this quick 1.5 minute AdBlock Plus video below to see how it works.

Articles, Internet

Craigslist “Erotic Services” vs Henry McMaster

June 2, 2009 No Comments

Craigslist Threatened by Attorney General for Erotic Services

Are you aware that Craigslist were making headlines among the internet sphere for their battle against South Carolina’s Attorney General for the controversial “erotic services” column.
Were you aware Craigslist even had such a category?

Craigslist has become an household name as the place to go to find jobs, to buy and sell items anything from a used DVD to cars to houses. The service boasts 40 million classified ads posted every month. Amidst all the different categories and millions of posting, what often goes unnoticed is the “erotic services” section that is unfortunately accessible to anyone. Adults, Children- anyone can access these classified section.

The Attorney Generals of several states demanded that Craigslist shut down this service as it promotes prostitution. Craigslist chose to implement changes in response to their concerns. It adopted screening measures that were recommended and removed the “erotic service” category… kinda.

Craigslist is Protected under Federal Law Section 230

To Craigslist credit, they did this despite technically being protected under federal law for content posted by users. Section 230 CDA protects free speech online and it is often used to protect sites like Youtube from being completely shut down to do user videos that violate copyright law. If a prostitute advertises illegal services and carries it out, the prostitute is guilty but Craigslist is free of any crime.

However the Attorney General of South Carolina, Henry McMaster, believed this wasn’t enough and threatened criminal charges if Craigslist did not comply. Craigslist had recently entered into South Carolina and was quickly adapted by it’s residence. McMaster sent Craigslist an ultimatum demanding ALL sexual postings be removed from Craigslist South Carolina. He first threatened legal action if Craigslist did not comply in 10 days.

Internet, News, Social Media

Facebook vs MySpace vs Twitter Statistics: Raising $200 Million

May 30, 2009 7 Comments

Facebook vs Myspace vs Twitter Growth Statistics

Facebook vs Myspace vs Twitter Visitor Statistics (via ComScore)

Facebook started off as a small social network popular among some college students. Then in the past few years Facebook’s users have skyrocketed as Facebook went mainstream. First among college students, then once it was open to the public, it blew the gates open as millions of new users young and old joined to check out this new social network. In April 2009, the social network passed 300 million unique visitors a month according to ComScore. 160% increase from April of 2008. Facebook also has 225 monthly active users. Twitter continues strong as it jumped 70% in March with 32 million worldwide uniques, while MySpace has flat lined at 123 million uniques a month. MySpace has recently shaken up their leadership in order to rejuvenate their stagnating figures.

Click Here to Follow Clean Cut Media on Twitter!

Video

No, Mr. President: John Piper’s Response to President Obama on Abortion

May 22, 2009 1 Comment

John Piper gave a message called “The Baby in My Womb Leaped for Joy” January 25, 2009. In this message he speaks highly of Obama, but disagrees sharply in regards to the issue of abortion. In a section of his message he speaks about the 36th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade. President Barack Obama released the statement:

We are reminded that this decision not only protects women’s health and reproductive freedom but stands for a broader principle: that government should not intrude on our most private family matters.
– Barack Obama

John Piper gives his response to this quote. His response was taken and made into a typography video. It is a very well made video. This video has gone viral this past week with over 60,000 views in the last few days.

No, Mr. President: John Piper’s Response to President Obama on Abortion

Articles

Teens: Imitating 87 Hours of Watching Porn

April 20, 2009 3 Comments

A recent research study, conducted by Cyber Sentinel, of 1,000 teenagers showed that the average teenager spends 87 hours a year looking at porn. That is equivalent of 1 hour and 40 minutes a week browsing for pornography.

What other topics did the teenagers search for online?

31 hours a week looking at soft pornography, plastic surgery, family planning, emotional support and dieting.
1 Hour 8 Minutes on cosmetic surgery sites on procedures like breast augmentation and collagen implants.
Teens also go online to find information on pregnancy, contraceptives, sex and weight loss.

“The alarming thing about this research is that it shows that teenagers are obviously exploring all sorts of topics as a result of modern-day pressures. For instance, pressure to emulate celebrity standards of beauty is resulting in teens spending a significant amount of time researching cosmetic surgery.” – Ellie Puddle, Marketing Director of Cyber Sentinel

A piece of statistic that is alarming about this study is that teenagers were left alone to surf the internet for an average of 2 hours a day. Without adult supervision and with the freedom to do as one please, it is no wonder teenagers are easily able to access pornography.

The effects of pornography on teenagers are well documented through numerous studies and cases. A recent study from the journal CyberPsychology and Behavior showed that exposure to pornography leads teenagers to lose their virginity at a much younger age. They were also more likely to initiate oral sex as they imitate what they see on screen.

What other effects have been found to be linked with viewing pornography?

Rise in STD levels
Higher Teenager Pregnancies Rates
Sexually active earlier

“The internet is having some kind of accelerant effect, influencing and changing behavior. Males are having oral sex and losing their virginity much younger when they are exposed to pornography, sometimes by a good three or four years for oral sex or two years for their virignity.” – Shane Krauss, Psychologist

Articles, News

Downloading TV and Watching Video Online Biggest Gainers in 2008

January 18, 2009 No Comments

Downloading TV and Watching Video Online Biggest Gainers in 2008

According to new research from Mediamark Research & Intelligence, (MRI), the biggest year over year growth gainers among adult Internet users in 2008 in terms of media interaction were downloading TV shows, watching online videos and making online phone calls.

MRI surveyed the American consumer and found that 3.2% of adults had downloaded a TV program in the last 30 days for a 141% increase since the year before. Despite the fact that access to TV programs have become increasingly easier, this is still considered a tremendous jump year to year. The number of adults who watched online video also continued to trend up increasing by 35%. 4% of adults said they had made an online phone call which represents a 32% increase.

Internet, Video

YouTube vs Hulu vs Facebook Statistics

January 5, 2009 No Comments

Data on online video usage by ComScore continues to show YouTube dominating the video category with over 125 million monthly viewers resulting in about 1 billion views per day.

However, two well known players, Hulu and Facebook has grown significantly month to month. Overall online video was up 7% from Sept to October with nearly 28 billion videos viewed. YouTube is responsible for about a third of those views. Hulu had jumped from 583 million views in September to 855 million views in October for a 32% growth. Hulu is a joint venture by News Corp, NBC, and Disney to provide advertisement supported TV shows and movies. Facebook also showed strong gains with 25% more unique visitors bringing their visitor count to 41 million a month.

How many YouTube videos do you “think” you watch per month?

[poll id=”7″]

Articles, Internet, News

Teen Kills Self on Justin.tv with 185 Witnesses

November 23, 2008 No Comments

A teen from Florida, committed suicide on Wednesday while broadcasting himself live on a video site called Justin.tv. Justin.tv is an open network of thousands of live streaming channels. 185 people were viewing the feed. From reports, he was egged on by fellow forum users on a bodybuilding website. Biggs ended up overdosing on pills live. He seemed to be breathing and alive for hours but soon some watchers became worried and contacted the police. The police broke into the complex and took him to the hospital.

Much of the videos of the actual event, pictures, suicide note and forum posts have been taken down, though much of it remains all over the web. For the sake of privacy and respect none of the content or the links will be posted on this blog. We will also withhold from using the teen’s name.

Advertising, Articles, Internet, Movies, News

Powerful Impact of Media on Children

November 14, 2008 5 Comments

Impact of Media on Children

Every single day millions of children are constantly bombarded by media. Television, Internet, Movies, Video Games, Music, Videos are some of the many forms of media that continues to feed particular messages and ideas into our children and ultimately into our culture.

Dr. Douglas A. Gentile, a developmental psychologist and assistant professor in Iowa State University’s Department of Psychology, offered an explanation.

With the 21st century offering a greater number of media than any other period in history, younger generations can view or listen to almost any sort of content at the touch of a button.
“I think that alone makes the fair question, ‘Might it have a different effect than we’ve ever seen before in human history?'” Gentile said.

Gentile would go on to discuss how our concepts of normal behavior, our values, sense what is acceptable and unacceptable develops from our “spheres of influence”. First from Family, then community and the rest of society.

Influence of Media via Culture and Family

“The media influence us not just one-on-one when we watch them. They also influence us by influencing our families. They also influence us by influencing our communities. That’s one of the reasons it’s hard to tell if you’ve ever been affected because it’s not just a simple one-to-one relationship. You’re being influenced in multiple directions all at the same time,” Gentile said.

Articles, Internet, News

Surveillance of Skype Messages in China Part II

October 9, 2008 No Comments

After posting the entry about Surveillance of Skype Messages in China, I was immediately informed that the issues highlighted in the Citizen Lab report affect only the TOM-Skype software distributed by TOM in China and that standard versions of Skype remain unaffected. [thanks Peter]. This is indeed an important piece of information as to appease the fears of the Skype user base.

It looks like Skype has been active in addressing the public in regards to this matter. Here are some excerpts from their President Josh Silverman.

Articles, Internet, News

Surveillance of Skype Messages in China

October 2, 2008 2 Comments

The New York Times reported that a group of Canadian human right activist and a computer security researcher has discovered a surveillance system that monitors and archives web text messages and conversations. It is triggered when the conversation includes politically charged words. Researchers in Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto uncovered hundreds of message records after they decrypted the messages. Example words are “communist”, “quit the party”, “democracy”, “Tibet”, “Tiananmen” “SARS”, “Taiwan Independence”, and “milk powder”.

Media Monitoring Controvery
This new discovery again highlights the controversy of media monitoring by the Chinese government. The Chinese government filters out websites, images, stories from the web and makes them inaccessible through search engines. The most notorious was the removal of Tiananmen Square related information. The most recent controversy involved the accusation of the Chinese Gymnastic team being underaged. Hundreds of blog posts with screenshots of records of the Chinese Gymnastic team that was found through Internet research appeared on the web, but soon after each of the online records would mysteriously disappear. The investigation was recently dropped due to the lack of evidence.

Articles, Internet, Movies, News

Just Inappropriate for Kids or Just Inappropriate

September 26, 2008 No Comments

Just Inappropriate for Kids or Just Inappropriate
Many people talk about how the media affects our children, how it may lead to violence or how it may encourage promiscuous lifestyles. There is a lot of merit there, but one thing that is increasingly noticeable but overlooked is the fact that the parents themselves are underestimating the influences of media in their own lives and indirectly how it affects their children.

Take a look at movie review sites where users list their ages, you’ll see adults saying the movie is inappropriate for the younger audience. But you ask a 25 year old how they feel and they say it is inappropriate for 21 and under. Ask a 21 year old and they say it is inappropriate for 15 and under and so on. Thinking we are above the influences of media starts at a very young age. In the same way, lot of the criticism that are made against inappropriate shows, movie scenes, and video games are often argued for the sake of the children rather than based on morals because the latter would mean the older adults themselves are subject to their own cry for control.

Hints at “Inappropriateness”
If it’s morally wrong to put a sex scene in a mainstream game, then they themselves should not be playing it. If one believes it is morally ok, then shouldn’t that bother us in someway? If it is something we would be embarrassed to be watching in open public or in front of your kids, doesn’t that hint at the fact the question shouldn’t be whether it is appropriate for our children, but whether it is something appropriate at all?

Take a look some of the comment excerpts for an article discussing the controversy of placing nudity in a video game.

“I just find it sad the trivial amounts of nudity and sexuality in a video game is so controversial.”

– I find it sad, that our society as a whole has come to a point that nudity and sexuality in video GAME is consider “trivial” and is even considered a topic of “controversy”. There is no controversy here.

“Where is it said that all video games are supposed to be suitable for children?”

– This can only be said when one deems playing games with sex and nudity is suitable for adults. Is it though? Is that suitable for anyone?