Media & communications - openDemocracy (Page 154)

In a world where education is a commodity, why not subcontract your PhD?

In trading off plagiarism, essay-writing companies undermine basic goods in education, beginning with critical, independent thinking. But in reducing students to consumers, they may also be giving them a crash course in the prevailing attitude to education.

By Samir Jeraj and Heather McRobie

/ 19 Feb 2011

Did the Internet matter in Tunisia and Egypt?

An audio interview in which Nabila Ramdani describes the role of the social networks in the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions – to what extent are Morozov's and Gladwell's arguments proved wrong by events?

By Tony Curzon Price and Nabila Ramdani

/ 18 Feb 2011

"What has Wikileaks ever taught us?" ... Read on ...

How often have we been told in world-weary tones that Wikileaks has revealed nothing new - especially by those who want to appear to be in the know? Here is an aide-mémoire of a few of the highest profile revelations.

By Ryan Gallagher

/ 17 Feb 2011

We need a strong privacy theory: a response to Stephen Taylor

Michael Birnhack responds to Stephen Taylor's notes towards a theory of privacy. He agrees that we desperately need a theory of privacy, but that this should extend beyond the protection of ourselves against unwanted access.

By Michael Birnhack

/ 13 Feb 2011

Have the UK's ID cards really played their last hand?

The ID card scheme has officially ended. Celebrations are in order, but we mustn't get complacent. A brief glance at the long history of the 'National Identity Scheme' shows that this is a modern-day monster that refuses to die.

By Andrew Watson

/ 11 Feb 2011

Facebook: virtual impact on reality in the Middle East

Beyond the analysis of how Facebook, Twitter and other social media are rapidly bringing about political change in Egypt, Tunisia and elsewhere lies a more complex, and compelling, picture of how social media is changing the identities and lives of young people in supposedly ‘closed’ societies

By Karim Khashaba

/ 9 Feb 2011

KEIN

Have we had enough of all sorts of fabricated fiction that reduce and limit complex realities towards more or less paranoid plots and universally exchangeable narratives? Then let's escape

By Florian Schneider

/ 8 Feb 2011

Privacy is power, as it allows us to be hypocrites

There is no widely accepted theory of what privacy is and what role it plays in our society. It can be usefully viewed as the protection of hypocrisy, yet what role does hypocrisy play in our lives?

By Stephen Taylor

/ 8 Feb 2011

The people’s web: Russia’s citizen bloggers

After a decade in the wilderness, Russian civil society is finding a powerful voice online. Alexey Sidorenko and Oliver Carroll profile seven citizen bloggers who are leading this charge. A co-publication with Global Voices

By Oliver Carroll and Alexey Sidorenko

/ 8 Feb 2011

Scotland's secret files: A two-part expose of the Scottish database state

In this pair of articles, Kenneth Roy of the Scottish Review exposes the extent of the Scottish database state: the true nature of the long-awaited 'privacy principles' and the back-door introduction of a compulsory ID scheme for Scotland. In both cases, its children whose liberties are first on t

By Kenneth Roy

/ 7 Feb 2011

Wake up NetrootsUK! Demand access to the web as a human right

As the web offers the possibility of direct, deliberative democracy, the UK activists involved in internet organising need to demand universal access to the web as a fundamental right.

By Niki Seth-Smith

/ 24 Jan 2011

A secret grand jury against Assange is not "change we can believe in"

Wikileaks and the treatment of Bradley Manning have again revealed the gulf between Obama's idealistic rhetoric and the actions of the USA.

By Ryan Gallagher

/ 11 Jan 2011