Culture and Society

As if we need any more indications that war is imminent, ABC’s political blog “The Note” is temporarily suspending operations with the following explanation: With the nation (and our network) preparing for the possibility of military action, we have decided to temporarily (and briefly) suspend publication of The Note. This …

We are very pleased and honored to receive the Best Weblog About Music award from the 2003 Bloggies! Not to be sniffed at are the prizes of $20.03 cash American, courtesy of Matt Prescott, and the book Blogging through the good graces of Biz Stone (the flipping author, no less) …

Thousands of companies are blocking employee access to at least some Internet sites - privacy advocates like that better than monitoring.

Another ruling against the federal online porn law: A federal appeals court has ruled that a law meant to safeguard children against Internet pornography is riddled with problems that make it “constitutionally infirm.” A three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that the Child Online …

Why the purchase? Steven Johnson theorizes thusly: But Google has not yet ventured into managing the information and surfing history of individual users. If Google went in this direction with the Blogger acquisition, it would hearken back to one of the seminal documents of the computing age: Vannevar Bush’s 1946 …

MuchMusic is crazy-go-nuts lately with the coolness, what with real interactivity between TV and Internet, and with airing the Sessions@AOL concert show, as well as playing actual music videos. Now they carry the animated series: Behind the Music That Sucks is a barely in-depth look at the lives of your …

The FCC and Congress are arguing about jurisdiction over possible rules involving a “broadcast flag”: A political rift over copy-protection standards for digital TV has developed between the Federal Communications Commission and a key panel in Congress. During a hearing Thursday, members of the House of Representatives’ subcommittee overseeing intellectual-property …

New service let’s you upload entire song as your ring-tone – labels starting to twitch already: A tiny company called Xingtone on Thursday said it has developed technology to enable users to load digital songs onto cellphones for the first time, but admits the software may hit a sour note …

Kazaa is in the middle of a legal battle with the RIAA and MPAA, the outcome of which may hinge on proof of “legitimate uses” of the file sharing network. Here’s an interesting use: Digital broadcaster Pseudo.com plans to release a weekly TV show hosted by rap star Ice-T on …

Or, the unintended consequences of law: the DMCA.