Just got word from Aaron Forge that the wheels of justice are finally grinding their way towards the Gift Assistant company. The Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro just announced that he wants the Ohio-based Gift Assistant to refund the money to all of its defrauded customers and to pay a fine of $25,000 for each…
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Every Time You Vote against Net Neutrality, Your ISP Kills a Night Elf
Hilariously titled "Every Time You Vote against Net Neutrality, Your ISP Kills a Night Elf" an article by Tony Greenberg and Alex Veytsel of Ramprate argues that online massively-multiplayer online games will be the first to get the knife if Net Neutrality provisions go out the window. They contend that online video will survive in…
My post on “Our Common Humanity” blog
I was invited to contribute to a new blog associated with a UN-affiliated meeting on "Our Common Humanity" taking place from November 28-29 in New York. I decided to do a general "best practices" post pointing to innovative uses of ICTs to promote positive social change, including some of my favorites like WITNESS, Global Voices…
Buy a virtual car — defend freedom on the Net!
Motarati announces that all the proceeds of the sales of the virtual Pontiac Solstice GXP will go to benefit the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a non-profit that has been defending freedom in cyberspace for as long as there has been a cyberspace. Suu-weeeet!
Vote for Hypno & Tiny Love in Yahoo Talent Show
Popping / locking funk-style dancers Hypno and Tiny Love have entered one of their recent performances in the Yahoo video talent contest. Check out their video, and vote for it if you like it. Good luck, Hypno and Tiny Love!
Joi Ito talks to CNET (transcript)
The always interesting and cool venture capitalist / gamer Joi Ito gave an interview to Daniel Terdiman of CNET at their in-world headquarters yesterday. Joi touched on such subjects as copyright and IP in Second Life, Creative Commons, the game industry, and work and World of Warcraft. Daniel will be posting a fuller interview shortly. …
Returning to the virtual Camp Darfur
During the talk that In Kenzo and I gave at RootsCamp on SL political organizing last week, In Kenzo brought up that she and a team of other volunteers had been working very hard over the past months to create the virtual Camp Darfur as an awareness raising and politicizing tool. I realized that I…
“The Journey” and media reform
I watched again Friedrich Kirschner’s spectacular machinima "the Journey" last night. It’s been floating around in my head ever since. It strikes me that it’s a good allegory for media reform. Little stick figures pointlessly race around a bleak valley while giant monitors display banal images at them. A sign tells them to "Never leave…
Joi Ito to be interviewed at CNET HQ in Second Life tomorrow
I just heard word that CNET reporter Daniel Terdiman will be interviewing well-known entrepreneur, lEEt g@mr, virtual worlds innovator, and overall cool dude Joi Ito tomorrow (Friday), at 4PM EST/1PM SLT. Joi will talk about his experience using virtual worlds as a tool to manage co-workers, his World of Warcraft guild, and his investments. To…
“Before the Music Dies” tackles the increasing homogenization of the US music industry
"Before the Music Dies," a new documentary film by Andrew Shapter and Joel Rasmussen, explores how the radio and record industry conspire to limit musical choice by consumers. Meanwhile they examine how independent artists find new fanbases through the internet and live performance. The film includes interviews with such diverse and notable artists as Branford…