Some of the world?s largest social networking sites came under sharp criticism today for not doing enough to tackle the growing problem of online bullying. Britain?s Child Exploitation and Online Protection organization (Ceop) is concerned over the fact that the largest social networking sites?namely Facebook and MySpace?have not made use of a free tool it offers to battle both bullying and online child abuse on its networks. Jim Gamble, the governmental organization?s chief director, does not understand why Facebook is not introducing the so-called ?Ceop button? to its site, when Bebo?a rival social networking service?has already made the change.</p> <p>By clicking on the button?now available on all profiles?Bebo users can send a report if someone has violated the site?s terms, or if someone else is posing a risk by engaging in abusive and threatening behaviour. In fact, the Ceop button allows users to contact the governmental organization directly, if they feel that an underage user of a social networking site is being exposed to abuse of any kind.</p> <p>Gamble argues that since sites like Facebook and MySpace are generating massive advertising revenue by attracting millions of children, teenagers and young adults, they also have a duty to protect those that might be vulnerable to bullying or any other form of abuse. When journalists from The Guardian contacted Facebook, the network?s spokesperson suggested that the site will wait to see how well the Ceop button works on Bebo, before deciding whether or not to integrate this into Facebook. If Facebook does decide to adopt this approach to reporting abuse, a Ceop button would appear under each UK user?s profile.

For several years, Belle de Jour has been among the most popular and controversial bloggers in the United Kingdom. The 34 year old upscale escort hiding behind her blogging pseudonym wrote candid posts about developments in Britain?s sex trade and managed to turn her blog into a film starring Billie Piper, as well as a lucrative book deal. But what Belle de Jour?s readers never knew was that this edgy blogger was actually a full-time cancer researcher and developmental neuro-toxicology specialist working for a hospital in Bristol.</p> <p>Dr. Brooke Magnanti decided to reveal her blogging activities earlier this week, as well as her true identity, prompting shock among her readers and making headlines everywhere, from Britain?s Daily Telegraph and The Guardian, to Canada?s National Post newspaper. Dr. Magnati felt forced to reveal her identity, for fear that her ex-boyfriend may pre-empt her and disclose the popular blogger?s real job.</p> <p>Dr. Magnanti explained that she had no choice but to turn to the sex trade, in order to pay for her PhD education. Originally from the United States, the blogger completed her doctoral studies at the University of Sheffield. Paul Magnanti, the Belle de Jour?s father, still lives in Florida and he learned about his daughter?s blogging activities from the press, only to express his shock that the girl he had once sent to a Roman Catholic convent for her elementary education would turn to the sex trade.</p> <p>The good news for Dr. Magnanti is that the nurses, doctors and researchers at the British Initiative for Child Health have decided to stand by their colleague. They noted that nothing in the blogger?s past has impacted her ability to conduct quality medical research.

A Canadian politician found herself in hot water this week, when she used Twitter to imply that an opposing parliamentarian was fat. Michelle Simson, a Liberal Party MP from the Toronto-area riding of Scarborough Southwest, happened to be at the Canadian parliament?s ethics committee meeting, across the table from her Conservative Party counterpart, Dean Del Mastro, another MP from Ontario. During the lengthy meeting, Simson decided to use Twitter and send tweets to her 443 followers, and she chose to target the opposing MP. Simson wrote that Del Mastro ?should grow up, not out,? an obvious reference to the fact that the Conservative politician is overweight. Simson then returned to Twitter shortly after her initial post, noting that she ?hates to see a grown MP pout.?</p> <p>Simson, however, got an earful later that day in the House of Commons, showing just how quickly tweets make the rounds, even at the highest levels of power. Del Mastro stood up in Parliament, read the exact tweet using his Blackberry and indicated that he has been batting weight-related issues since birth. Del Mastro then went on to demand an apology from the Liberal opposition politician, noting that her reference to his weight was discriminatory and insulting to millions of Canadians with the same problem.</p> <p>Simson did, in fact, issue an apology for her controversial Twitter activities, but at least one live blogger who had attended the ethics committee meeting for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) noted that Del Mastro had not shied away either from overtly partisan behaviour and disparaging remarks aimed at

<br /> A Labour candidate in upcoming local elections has whipped up a storm of controversy by describing Queen Elizabeth II and the monarchy in a highly derogatory fashion on Facebook. Peter White is running as a council-candidate in the East London municipality of Havering, but he apparently did not realize that what he writes on an opposing politician?s Facebook wall might not only be read by people on his ?friends? list, but by a much wider and less supportive audience. According to a report in The Telegraph, White referred to Queen Elizabeth as a ?parasite.? White reportedly logged onto his Facebook account, visited Conservative MP Andrew Rosindell?s Facebook profile and left a message on the politician?s wall calling into question his proposal to honour the Queen?s Diamond Jubilee.</p> <p>In his Facebook post, White argued that the Queen ?milks this country for everything she can? and that if Rosindell?s proposal of turning the Diamond Jubilee into a national holiday passes, the day off from work should ?mean something, rather than celebrate vermin.?</p>

</p> <p>One of the most respected guardians of the English language is getting a linguistic makeover from social networking sites Facebook and Twitter, after the New Oxford American Dictionary gave in and decided to make the verb ?unfriend? its word of the year for 2009. To ?unfriend? someone is a term closely tied to Facebook, where users can remove any of their contacts from their friends list and thus block them from viewing their profile and receiving updates in their newsfeed. When Oxford University Press issued a press release Monday in order to explain its decision and show how a twenty-first century speaker of the English language might use its word of the year in a sentence, the dictionary publishers provided the context of two roommates falling out and hence ?unfriending? each other on Facebook.</p> <p>While popular Facebook terminology might have won the day in terms of convincing the Oxford Dictionary that they are owed a place in the respected halls of the English language, a whole range of words relating to social networking were runners up in the competition. For example, Oxford considered adding the Twitter term ?hashtag? to its list. This word refers to a search tool on the social networking site allowing users to find other tweets containing similar keywords or tags.</p> <p>Oxford even considered adding the term ?intexticated??not to be confused with intoxicated. This term refers to drivers who get distracted from the road by their constantly ringing mobile phone. The fact that the world?s most respected English dictionary is now working with words that are very new shows how much of an impact social networking has had on society.

<br /> The American State Department has taken the unusual step of rushing to the defence of bloggers imprisoned in foreign countries, thus demonstrating how much of a central place blogging now holds in media and freedom of expression. The State Department held a press conference in order to express its ?regret? over the fact that two bloggers from Azerbaijan have been thrown into jail by authoritarian Azerbaijani officials for directing criticism at the government. Twenty-six year old Emin Milli and 30 year old Adnan Hajizade are prominent youth leaders in Azerbaijan, as well as successful bloggers and vocal proponents of free speech. Both were sentenced to two years in prison by a local court based on trumped up charges of ?hooliganism? relating to an alleged altercation at a restaurant.</p> <p>But most observers?including the US State Department-- know perfectly well that these two bloggers? imprisonment has more to do with the fact that they had regularly criticized the Azerbaijani government over its heavy-handed, authoritarian approach. In fact, in one satirical post, the bloggers used a donkey to depict a government official giving a press conference. The State Department indicated that it would now aim to cooperate with officials in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku, in order to extend democratic practices and values in that country.</p> <p>Over the past week we reported on two other instances, where authoritarian regimes targeted bloggers and tried to silence the Blogosphere. In fact, US officials had something to say about the story of Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez, who was abducted and beaten by communist secret police agents. The US State Department issued a press release earlier this week, in which it referred to the abuse and assault of a popular blogger as ?deplorable.?

A 28 year old blogger imprisoned in Egypt for posting material on his site that was highly critical of Islam and occasionally of the Coptic Orthodox Church?s hierarchy has decided to go on a hunger strike, so as to raise awareness of freedom of speech. Egyptian legislation allows for the justice system to strike down on those who publically insult religion or religious groups. Hani Nazeer worked as a secondary school social worker in the Egyptian town of Qena and while he himself is a Coptic Christian, the blogger has been critical of both the country? majority religion, Islam, as well as the leadership of his own church. Nazeer was actually arrested in October 2008, after writing an online fictitious novel which was highly critical of Islam?s growing role in Egyptian civil society, and uploading this to his blog.</p> <p>Bizarrely, Nazeer has never been charged, even though he has now spent over a year in jail. The blogger and his supporters were hoping that Egyptian courts would release him this week, but he just found out that his application had been rejected. While Nazeer?s lawyer demanded that the Interior Ministry explain why the prominent blogger was still in prison without ever being charged, he reportedly received no response.</p> <p>Egypt?s state security agency first detained Nazeer on 3 October 2008 and transported him to Burj Al-Arab prison, where he has been ever since. While the blogger?s lawyer indicated that he would submit another petition for his client?s release, Nazeer has threatened to go on an extended hunger strike, if he is not released this week. The blogger claims that he faces constant pressure in prison to drop his Coptic Christian faith and convert to Islam, and even the jail guards take part in the taunting.

</p> <p>Yoani S</p>

</p> <p>As a growing number of people turn to blogs for commentary, news and debate on a wide array of issues, the problem of trolling is likely to raise its ugly head with ever increasing frequency. Alyssa Gregory, a specialist in online small businesses with nearly 15 years of experience, recently gave a series of tips on how all bloggers?from those just launching their blog, to the experienced ones with thousands of hits each day?can save their online project from those who wish to cause havoc.</p> <p>Trolls refer to people who comment on a given article or blog entry, with the intent to cause trouble, deter the attention of other readers, get people off topic, insult and abuse or trick people into entering fruitless, personal arguments and disputes. The most widely accepted piece of wisdom suggests that it is best not to engage trolls; simply don?t let them suck you in by responding to abusive comments. While ignoring such trouble-makers might work in a limited number of instances, a better strategy for the persistent types is to actually be exceedingly respectful and pleasant with them, regardless of their own tone. If a blogger respond to insult with insult, he/she is simply injuring the credibility of his/her own blog. But responding politely and patiently, and asking the troll to explain what the matter is, might catch the troublemaker off-guard, and could also disarm someone who is genuinely irate. </p> <p>If trolling becomes a constant problem, Gregory suggests that bloggers do a little investigating, in order to find out who might be hiding behind an avatar or e-mail address. It is relatively easy to determine the poster?s IP address?in fact Wordpress software usually offers this information automatically. But another method might be to conduct a Google search using the troll?s e-mail address, username or other information that might help identification. If he/she has a track record posting on other sites, this will become apparent very quickly. In more extreme cases, it may be necessary to strengthen your blog?s moderation policy in order to weed out trolls that keep coming back.<br />

Sesame Street celebrates its 40th anniversary this month, but to complement the birthday cake, a conservative blogger has sparked a storm of controversy around what has become a household name in children?s television programming. Three generations have grown up watching Sesame Street in the United States, Canada and in parts of Europe, but a prominent blogger known as ?Stage Right? believes that the show and its producer?PBS?has an overt left-wing bias. This might be less of a problem if Sesame Street was produced by a private network, but PBS receives government, tax-payer subsidies. </p> <p>The conservative blogger?s irritation with Sesame Street centres around Oscar the Grouch--the furry, green creature with bushy eyebrows, who the Christian Science Monitor suggests in a sarcastic tongue-and-cheek manner might just distributing left-wing propaganda to children, as well as ?laughs, joy and communism.?</p> <p>The blogging controversy erupted when Sesame Street?s producers recently aired a show, in which Oscar the Grouch launches a television news programme called GNN. On the show, one of the other muppets points out that the show should be much grouchier, and until it is, she will switch to Oscar?s main rival, POX News.</p> <p>Those who watch American television picked up the reference to CNN and the right-leaning, pro-Republican Fox News very quickly. To make matters worse, Sesame Street seemed to go political, when the muppet refers to POX News as ?trashy.?</p> <p>Stage Right observed in his blog that it is unacceptable if a children?s programme that receives funds from the public purse starts politicizing. The avid blogger noted that Fox is the most popular news network in the US and as such, what would happen if children who have been told by Sesame Street that the station is ?trashy? see their mothers and fathers watching these shows?</p> <p>Of course, not everyone in the Blogosphere agrees with Stage Right. In fact, prominent left-centre blogger Susie Madrak pocked fun at her blogging colleague for getting upset over some so trivial as a Sesame Street skit.<br />