Free Press, the LA Times and others are reporting that AOL has been systematically blocking email that contain references to the dearAOL.com campaign, aimed at getting AOL to drop their pay-to-send email filtering system. AOL has been working on instituting a new email filtering system that would only allow unsolicited emails from senders who pay…
New York gov website ranks 1st for usability, 13th for citizens participation
A joint study by researchers at Rutgers-Newark and Sungkyunkwan University, Korea, of the official websites of the world’s major cities ranked Seoul, New York, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Sydney as the top five municipalities in “digital governance.” They define "Digital governance" as "the degree to which a website – in this instance those of 100…
Village Voice on the Plight of Media Non-profits
The Village Voice is running a story called "For a Few Dollars More" on the struggles facing non-profits supporting independent media. The article blames a combination of forces for the decline of these independent media groups, including drying up of foundational support (particularly the MacArthur Foundation) and the growth of new electronic media. So young…
More strange UN spam: UNICEF INVITES YOU!!
I just got another email (see below) purporting to be from a United Nations source, this one supposedly from Carol Bellamy, “an executive director of UNICEF.” The email asks people to nominate themselves to attend a youth conference in The Netherlands and South Africa. No dates, no website, no details on the agenda or purpose….
Spam of the Week: Fake UN Agency Job Advertisement
I got some interesting email this week from the "U.S. Committee for the U.N", an organization that : "supports the work of the United Nations to improve the quality of life for millions of people around the world by promoting democratic governance, poverty reduction, rural development, crisis prevention and recovery, energy and environmental issues, and…
“Book Signing” on April 12 at National Model UN Convention
My friend Walter Hoffmann has convinced me to do a "book signing" for the little study I did called e-Democracy and the United Nations (2004) for his group the Center for UN Reform Education . The event will be on April 12 at the National Model United Nations convention, which is taking place at the…
TV Networks Reject “Controversial” Church Ad
I just got word that the United Church of Christ’s recent TV ad promoting inclusion and welcoming of people from all walks of life was deemed too "controversial" to air on TV networks and Viacom cable. The UCC has created a campaign to protest Viacom’s refusal to air a paid advertisement for reasons that strain…
Reporters as Shills for the Industry Roll Fake News
Free Press and the Center for Media and Democracy are running a new campaign called "No Fake News" that is already starting to create a buzz in the media. So much so that I have had trouble accessing their site this morning: An exposé by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) and Free Press…
Republicans Defeat “Net Neutrality” Amendment
ZDNet and Ars Technica are reporting that Republicans defeated a Net Neutrality amendment to a current piece of telecom legislation. According to ZDNet: A Republican-controlled House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Wednesday defeated a proposal that would have levied extensive regulations on broadband providers and forcibly prevented them from offering higher-speed video services to partners…
UNSG Approves the Global Alliance for ICT & Development
Sarbuland Khan, of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs at the UN, announced today in an e-mail that the UN Secretary General has formally approved the creation of the Global Alliance for ICT and Development. I have blogged in the past about the Global Alliance as an interesting idea that was still ill-defined. It…