Google wins global privacy case: In a French court, Google agreed to delete search results for a person in Europe only, but not in the rest of the world.
A European court agrees, setting a standard that one country’s internet rules cannot be imposed on other countries.
Vanishing copy editors: Copy editors were among the first to be axed in the internet mass communications revolution, writes Rosie DiManno.
“It is wacko, to me, that newspapers — where accuracy and clean content have always been of utmost importance — would view copy editors as expendable. The upshot has been disastrous.”
Right to be forgotten: Chava Gourarie writes about two British men who sued to keep their past crimes out of Google search results.
“As the first case to test the ‘right to be forgotten’ in England’s High Court, its outcome will likely set some ground rules in the roiling debate between personal privacy and freedom of expression on the internet,” she writes.
Bias seen in Facebook coverage: Mathew Ingram writes that “at least some of the enthusiasm with which media companies are covering Facebook’s trials and tribulations stems from their resentment over how the company has stolen their readers and advertising revenue.”
Media executives failed to adapt quickly enough to the internet, and then in a desperate attempt to catch up, handed too much of their business to Facebook and Google, he writes.
Unplugging from the internet, a questionable experiment: Dan Mitchell questions the accuracy of a New York Times columnist’s claim that he went offline, dispensing avuncular advice to his readers about the benefits of slowing down one’s news consumption.
“But he didn’t really unplug from social media at all,” writes Mitchell.
The case for shunning hacked emails: Nathaniel Zelinsky calls for a “responsible journalism pledge” to prevent Russian from meddling in U.S. elections.
“Most reporters distance themselves from questions about the origin of information, so long as it remains verifiable, while tech companies tend to believe no one should restrict access to information on the internet,” he writes. “But at this particularly dangerous point in our nation’s history, reporters and Facebook alike just might be willing to embrace a new ethical obligation out of a sense of civic duty.”
The new battle over journalism’s digital legacy: Maria Bustillos finds that digital data is disappearing.
“When we consider that the internet is a library, and the community it serves is all mankind, the responsibility of digital archivists acquires a gravity that is hard to overstate,” she writes.
The Internet’s central villain: Farhad Manjo asks what is the driving force behind much of the chaos and disrepute online?
“This isn’t that hard,” he writes. “You don’t need a crazy wall to figure it out, because the force to blame has been quietly shaping the contours of life online since just about the beginning of life online: It’s the advertising business, stupid.”
Comprehensive guide to digital security: Motherboard tells how to guard against hackers and surveillance. Digital basics for privacy and messaging.
“As a consumer, you can’t control the bugs that your carrier leave open for hackers. But you can make it a bit harder for hackers to impersonate you with gullible tech support employees. The solution is easy, although not that many people know about it: A secondary password or passcode that you need to provide when you call your cellphone provider.”
Ethics AdviceLine for Journalists 