MichaelZimmer.org

Speaking of the need to better educate consumers about digital privacy concerns, today’s New York Times features two articles that shed light on two widespread online data collection practices. The article “Online Age Quiz Is a Window for Drug Makers” notes that RealAge, a popular online quiz meant to determine ones “real age” based how [...]

Newsweek is doing its part to keep Americans up-do-date on the important news of the world. Here are the covers from three global editions of the current issue, followed by the American version: I’m not too worried about mis-information, though, since I’m sure most Americans are watching TV instead of reading anyway… [via Discourse.net]

The AP reports that the average American home now has more television sets than people: There are 2.73 TV sets in the typical home and 2.55 people. Unbelievable. [via Jeremy Hunsinger]

Rory Litwin at Library Juice reports on this AP story about a former FCC lawyer stating that a report on media ownership was ordered destroyed by the FCC: WASHINGTON – The Federal Communications Commission ordered its staff to destroy all copies of a draft study that suggested greater concentration of media ownership would hurt local [...]

Each year, Project Censored compiles an annual list of 25 socially significant news stories of social significance said to have been missed, underreported or self-censored by mainstream press in the US. Here are some of this year’s picks: #1 Future of Internet Debate Ignored by Media #2 Halliburton Charged with Selling Nuclear Technologies to Iran [...]

Ten years ago, after the passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, The Nation published a special issue on the National Entertainment State. The issue featured a centerfold chart depicting the tentacles of four colossal media conglomerates that were increasingly responsible for determining how Americans got their news: Time Warner, General Electric, Disney/Cap Cities and [...]

Gothamist recently reported that Columbia University’s student newspaper, the Columbia Spectator, was adding blogs to their online offerings. This prompted me of consider some problems with how NYU’s student-run paper, the Washington Square News, is experimenting with reader interactivity. Over the past year or so (I’m not sure exactly when), some WSN articles included the [...]

The latest issue of Time magazine features a cover story on Google, and asks “Can we trust Google with our secrets?” Touted as an “inside look” at how success has changed Larry and Sergey’s dream machine, the piece offers some interesting tidbits, but in the end is pretty much a softball effort. Guess it’s the [...]