links for 2009-11-19

"I’ve come across the privatisation of public space before but this is new. The wholesale privatisation of an entire f***ing city for a month so that international big business can turn it into a giant cash register for themselves."

"If you look at the top 100 Twitter accounts, the only person/company that Twitter made influential was @Twitter. Everyone else was already influential in their own right."

"Because I began my writing career as a blogger, responding to comments underneath a post is normal for me: I've spent almost six years doing so in my own comment box. So naturally, when I write something as a journalist - whether it's for a newspaper's print edition or online - if there's a comment box underneath it, I'll always make the point of interacting there. To my mind, blogs and blogging are about conversations, not just opinion". Zoe Margolis responds to my clarification comment about my post about her comments on Comment Is Free. Is that 'meta' enough for you?

Oh I don't know. If volunteering to put currybetdotnet under a self-regulatory framework meant I could take months and months to reply to every complaint, dismiss anything from people not directly mentioned in my blogposts, and claim "public interest" every time I broke my own code of ethics, then I for one would welcome my new PCC overlords

Very good post here making the worrying point that "British libel laws are amongst the most draconian in the world. At some point I’m convinced someone will lose their house in the not too distant future over an internet blog post. It’s potentially that serious". He also elsewhere says "Contempt of court is about as much fun as serious illness", although given recent coverage of the 'night stalker' rapist suspect, the press are maybe not setting bloggers the best of examples [via Sarah Hartley]

"What you're holding in your hands – assuming you're reading this in print form, which a substantial number of you are – is a collector's item. Guardian Technology, in its print incarnation, is to cease publication. The last edition will be on 17 December."

"Standards are wonderful, but if I asked my mom what is the international symbol for a required field, she would look at me like I was on drugs"