Bytes · Green Yahoo - Modern interviewing - Hillary's theme

• Continuing with the 'electronic trail will get you' meme ...A scary tale from The New York Times:
  

  Andrew Feldmar, a Vancouver psychotherapist, was on his way to pick up a friend at the Seattle airport last summer when he ran into a little trouble at the border.
  
  A guard typed Mr. Feldmar’s name into an Internet search engine, which revealed that he had written about using LSD in the 1960s in an interdisciplinary journal. Mr. Feldmar was turned back and is no longer welcome in the United States, where he has been active professionally and where both of his children live.
  

  

  
  Mr. Feldmar, 66, has a distinguished résumé, no criminal record and a candid manner. Though he has not used illegal drugs since 1974, he says he has no regrets.
  
  

• Yahoo is pushing the Global Warming message through online education at Yahoo Green, as well as elsewhere on the Network such as in the AutoSales bit.
  
  
  
• No doubt fearing Viviane Reding and the EU, UK behavioural targeting companies have begun the move towards self-regulation to protect them from accusations of privacy abuse.
  
  
  
• Jeff Jarvis has an interesting tale about 'The thoroughly modern interview' for The Guardian.
  
  

  The fuss began when Fred Vogelstein - a Wired magazine journalist, reporting a story about a powerful blogger - asked two fellow bloggers for phone interviews. But they each set conditions. Jason Calacanis, a blogging entrepreneur, insisted on doing the interview via email so he could publish a full record of it online. Dave Winer, an internet pioneer, said he'd answer questions in public, on his blog, if he had anything to say. Both explained that they do this in part because in the past they have been misquoted. Wired's own bloggers piled in, sniping at Calacanis and Winer, launching more bloggers. And the kerfuffle was on.

  
  
  His conclusion?
  
  

  The article is a process. It is collaborative. It is three-dimensional, linking to background and depth. It's alive! Of course, phone and in-person interviews have a role. But how interviews occur can no longer be limited to a reporter's rules.

  
  
  
• Tim Worstall points out to the Register that in the fall-out from the trainee doctors IT fiasco, Secretary of State for Health, Patricia Hewitt, appears to be blaming the whistleblowing bloggers - "criminal offences may have been committed".
  
  This when the clear breach of Data Protection law was due to her Department's incompetent web security.
  
  

  Then there are those who brought the problem to light, such as the NHSBlogDoctor. Distressed at being informed of such a gaping loophole in the system he went to have a look for himself. This is a criminal offence - hacking a computer system. Unable to believe what he saw, he asked a few trusties to have a look themselves - another offence, incitement to hack a computer system.
  
  Having committed these offences, what did the Good Doctor do then? He informed the Department of Health and the system was taken down within a few minutes, thus preventing said department from continuing in their own breach of the law.
  
  When alerted to a possible breach of the law by the authorities, it would seem that investigating such breach is in itself a criminal offence. That's certainly the way to bring about some accountability to the system don't you think? A way of preventing the more obvious lunacies, of improving the system?

  
  
  
• Hillary Clinton's campaign is leading the pack of contenders on the Web.
  
  She's turned the much viewed YouTube hit of the sound of her own halting voice singing the national anthem into a positive by launching a 'Campaign Theme Tune' search. Via YouTube, and jokes at the end:
  
  

  "Whatever song you choose, though, I make you this solemn and sacred promise: I won't sing it in public - unless I win."

  
  She has nine choices up on her site. As well she has a pioneering text messaging campaign.
  
  I was looking at the Campaign sites and the similarity is striking (Edwards - Hillary - Obama > previous long post with all the sites links). They're also all extremely well done.
  
  I can only assume they all hired people from the same moveon.org/Howard Dean campaign background?
  
  
  
• Heather Hopkins reports good news — many more older people are getting online.
  
  

  The increase has come from rich and poor alike. The Experian Mosaic groups Twilight Subsistence (pensioners subsisting on meagre incomes) and Grey Perspectives (pensioners enjoying retirement with savings to supplement their pensions) have both increased their online footprint. Internet visits from Twilight subsistence are up 29% over the past two years and visits from Grey Perspectives are up 30%.
  
  
  
  
  Among the top categories visited by those aged 55+:
  
  · Search Engines, Adult and Shopping & Classifieds are the favourites, and are consistent with the most visited categories overall.
  · Silver surfers show a particular fondness for Travel and News and Media websites.
  · Money and leisure pursuits are more interesting to silver surfers than other demographic groups.

  
  However:
  
  

  Perhaps unsurprising but worth mentioning, comparing the percentage of UK Internet visits by Mosaic Group with the size of each group in the offline population reveals that the wealthiest groups are more active online than their less well-off counterparts.
  
  In particular:
  
  · Symbols of Success and Urban Intelligence, which are among the groups most likely to earn a household income in excess of £50,000, are 22% and 31% overrepresented online.
  · The groups Twilight Subsistence and Municipal Dependency, which are among the most likely to earn a household income of less than $7,4999, are 37% and 34% underrepresented online.