machine-envy » advertising http://www.machine-envy.com/blog Tue, 27 Jul 2010 23:23:10 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 en hourly 1 Busy, busy http://www.machine-envy.com/blog/2007/01/16/busy-busy/ http://www.machine-envy.com/blog/2007/01/16/busy-busy/#comments Tue, 16 Jan 2007 09:18:18 +0000 Becky Hogge http://www.machine-envy.com/blog/2007/01/16/busy-busy/ Yesterday was my first day working with the Open Rights Group. It’s going to take me a while to gain pace with the rest of the team, and the bevvy of projects they’re working on both in terms of campaigns (e-voting, more IP stuff, and the European Television without Frontiers legislation are all under the spotlight right now) and behind-the-scenes work.

I’ve been trying without success to get the widget in del.icio.us working so I can post links direct to this blog. In the meantime, here are a couple of titbits:

]]> http://www.machine-envy.com/blog/2007/01/16/busy-busy/feed/ 0 Information: protect it, don’t police it http://www.machine-envy.com/blog/2006/10/25/information-protect-it-dont-police-it/ http://www.machine-envy.com/blog/2006/10/25/information-protect-it-dont-police-it/#comments Wed, 25 Oct 2006 08:03:53 +0000 Becky Hogge http://www.machine-envy.com/blog/2006/10/25/information-protect-it-dont-police-it/ This fortnight’s column for openDemocracy is on the fate of “professional journalism” in the new media age. Since newspapers generally devote forest-loads of copy to their own fate at the hands of the internet, this is a topic I’ve steered clear of for a number of years. But here’s my tuppence worth.

“”We’re Google. So sue us”. Thus read the headline in The New York Times, atop a story highlighting the number of legal cases brought against the maverick search-engine company in its short history. From pornographers to parenting directories, Google has seen more people in court than most of its rivals.

“When Google’s purchase of YouTube was announced on 10 October, many commentators believed the company was just buying itself more legal woes. YouTube had been hailed as a revolution in citizen webcasting, but it was unclear how many of the staggering 100 million videos downloaded each day featured original content, and how many were simply copyrighted material uploaded illegally by other users.

“The copyright argument against (for example) entire episodes of The Smurfs appearing on YouTube without any compensation to the original creators would seem clear. But Google’s ownership of the successful social-networking site adds a new dimension to the evolving relationship between Google and other information-providers – a relationship leading the company to face an increasing number of legal challenges focused on disputes over the frontiers of intellectual-property law.

“Google’s stated mission is “to organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful”. It’s unsurprising, then, that as the company moves ever-nearer towards its goal, and starts making considerable income in the process, those previously in the business of information might get a little tetchy…”

Read the rest here.

]]> http://www.machine-envy.com/blog/2006/10/25/information-protect-it-dont-police-it/feed/ 2 Google YouTube Tango… http://www.machine-envy.com/blog/2006/10/14/google-youtube-tango/ http://www.machine-envy.com/blog/2006/10/14/google-youtube-tango/#comments Sat, 14 Oct 2006 08:49:45 +0000 Becky Hogge http://www.machine-envy.com/blog/2006/10/14/google-youtube-tango/ openDemocracy’s Deputy Editor, David Hayes, points me to this excellent article from The Nation, which predicts that media megacorps will use the new web 2.0 environment to pollute our mental space in ways we cannot yet imagine:

“Advertisers are harnessing technology that targets and follows Internet users on their journeys through cyberspace, collecting data and tracking behavior. Virtual software marketing tools will be deployed across the digital landscape so that wherever we go, whatever we do do–e-mail, instant messaging, mobile communications or searches–we will be immersed in enticing content for the lifelong sell…”

Read the rest here.

]]> http://www.machine-envy.com/blog/2006/10/14/google-youtube-tango/feed/ 0 Goodbye to Belgium http://www.machine-envy.com/blog/2006/09/28/goodbye-to-belgium/ http://www.machine-envy.com/blog/2006/09/28/goodbye-to-belgium/#comments Thu, 28 Sep 2006 16:53:44 +0000 Becky Hogge http://www.machine-envy.com/blog/2006/09/28/goodbye-to-belgium/ This week’s column for the New Statesman is on the Google New’s defeat in the Belgian courts. It’s all you’re going to get for a fortnight out of the NS, since apparently, my column’s being turned into ad space next week. Charming.

Last year, back when a girl could get a hotel room and a £500 fee for telling a roomful of newspaper execs what a blog was, a director from one of the UK broadsheets taught me a lesson about how the web was changing the news agenda. Each morning, he said, his assistant would download a page from Google News that listed for him and his editorial team the ten top stories around the world that day. Though it would by no means define where they might choose to focus their attention, it was another tool for them to use in their quest to talk back to the world.

Today, Fleet Street might be wondering what happened to Belgium…

Read the rest here.

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