new media

Twitter under cyber attack, Russia suspected

Ségolène F24 — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 23:25:29 +0200

Twitter came under an unprecedented cyber-attack on Thursday night, which blocked some 17 million subscribers from accessing the micro-blogging platform. Clues on the origins of the attack suggest the Russian-Georgian conflict may have spilled over into the social networking site.

It was 6:00am, California time, when the cyber-pirates launched their offensive on Twitter. This type of attack is called a DoS - a Denial of Service. It is meant to cripple a site by multiplying connection requests from computers infected with a virus.

The virtual-community website Facebook was also affected by the attack. Some Facebook users noticed unusually slow connections. The company assured subscribers that no personal data was stolen or modified. A few hours later the two sites returned to normal activity.

According to some bloggers the attack was caused by massive sending of spam via false identities, a technique called "Joe Jobbing". Le Monde's website claimed that the spam was sent by a pro-independence militant from Abkhazia, a territory whose sovereignty has only been recognised by Moscow.

The onslaught reportedly struck a Georgian blogger too, just one year after the armed conflict that pitted his country against Russia. His various accounts - Twittter, Facebook, Livejournal and Google Blogger - were all hacked.

No newspapers, no democracy?

Sophie Team Observers — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 12:34:52 +0100

Photo: "Hyperscholar".

The editorial that appeared in the International Herald Tribune on Monday morning is certainly not going to please the global blogosphere. The author raises concerns over the potential death of newspapers, flooded by increasing numbers of online publications which, ironically, only comment on material produced by others. We ask our Observers specialised in new media to comment on the critique.

According to Bloomberg journalist Albert R. Hunt, people should be as concerned about the fall of newspapers as they are the fall of the banks. He says that society without a tough media is not democracy. He even mentions the French government's proposition to subsidise newspapers and the dangers it might bring. He cites a Harvard researcher who estimates that "about 85 percent of the news people get is initially generated by newspapers" and that most scandals are revealed by professional hacks who have the time and the means to investigate.

Are online publications, blogs and news sites only capable of regurgitating information produced by the old-school reporters? We'll be publishing reactions from our specialists in the field as they come in. So check back to this page more than once.

We’re all stuck in a social elevator says French union

Sophie Team Observers — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 11:43:27 +0200

Disgruntled workers complain. One banner reads "Death to internships!"

In these modern times, it's a lift that takes you from one rung of the social ladder to the next. And in France, the lift is out of order. This is the scenario for a new French comedy, produced by a trade union. Seven colleagues, all desperate to get to the next level, but stuck in the lift. It's certainly funny, but will it attract people to get involved in unions?

With only 8% of France's working population involved in trade unions, the country has the lowest percentage of trade unionists in Europe, while the UK boasts 30% and Germany 23%. Now one of France's top five unions, the French Confederation of Christian Workers (CFTC), has decided to take action against the dwindling numbers in time for major union elections in December. Written by Stéphanie Sphyras, "Dark Elevator" lends its style to British comedy The Office, and hopes to revive the stick-in-the-mud stereotype of the traditional trade unionist.

An original remedy for the socially excluded

Sophie Team Observers — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 12:29:45 +0200

Ogle at the ogler of your choice.

Millions of young men live their lives entirely on the Internet, unable to leave the house, in fear of human contact. In response to this troubled niche, an entertainment company has come up with a possible cure. Videos of girls that stare into the camera.... and occasionally say good morning...

A "Hikikomori", according to Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, is "an individual who refuses to leave their parents' house, and isolates themselves away from society in their homes for a period exceeding six months". It's hard to estimate how many have fallen prey to this anti-social depression, but some estimate it at around one million in Japan alone.

Avex, one of the largest independent entertainment-related subsidiaries in Japan, has managed to come up with a product for the unusual audience. They believe the "Just Looking" collection, will help those "young males who aren't used to socializing with women (...) become more accustomed to making eye contact and/or handle the fact that a sentient being sits across from them and awaits interaction." A former sufferer tells us whether he thinks it will work, and how he escaped the solitude of a hikikomori lifestyle.

"Paranoid of new media" authorities arrest Facebook users

Sophie Team Observers — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 17:44:23 +0200

Joining an online social network group is risky business in Egypt. Twenty-six people were rounded up and arrested at a gathering organised on Facebook on Wednesday. The internet activists were attending a peaceful meeting on a beach in Alexandria when they were detained unexpectantly.

The meeting was planned to take place on the touristic Sidi Bishr beach. Attendees had got together via the "6 April Youth Movement" Facebook group. The group was involved in the organisation of the 6 and 7 April riots, which were held in protest of deteriorating living conditions in Egypt. The response from the authorities was severe. Three people were killed and around 55 arrested.

Wednesday's participants met to demand the release of those arrested. But the police classed the gathering as a violation of the country's state of emergency, in place now for 27 years, which bans the public meeting of more than five people.

Faux-amateur videos - the new marketing weapon

Sophie Team Observers — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:55:14 +0200

They all follow the same format - an anonymous video, supposedly amateur, of an incredible act or experience appears online. Once a buzz has been created, the so-thought home-made footage turns out to be an advert. A successful marketing strategy indeed, but does it meet ethical standards?

The faux-amateur video has become an essential technique for advertisers. The bigger it is, the more web users fall for it. The latest to date is a clip showing a group of young people cooking popcorn with the radiation from a couple of ringing mobile phones. The video received over 10 million hits in ten days on YouTube, but the majority of its audience thought it was real.

Rumours soon followed that mobile phones were highly dangerous. When news came out that the scene had been faked, it was too late to completely eradicate the initial panic. The affair clearly demonstrates the dangers of viral publicity. Not only is it easy it is to start false rumours, but also to weaken the public trust in the internet, which is seen more than ever as a media fuelled by gossip.

Showtime in Iraq: harmless fun or simply tasteless?

Julien — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 11:08:00 +0100

The proliferation of camera cell phones has seen an increasing number of amateur videos emerging from Iraq. The favourite genre appears to be humour, which is spurring the production of hundreds of videos that would match ‘Pop Idol' standards. With hours to spare and nothing to do between often dangerous missions, US soldiers are choreographing, performing, and recording themselves dancing and singing, and then posting the videos on YouTube. We put together a collection of these videos, although dates and locations are unknown, and showed them to ex-soldiers and US Army officials to get their reactions. Post your questions on their profile pages.