"High-profile figures in high-tech are proposing a blogger code of conduct to clean up the quality of online discourse."
"Josh Wolf, a 24-year-old blogger, has spent more than six months behind bars in California -- the longest contempt-of-court term ever served by someone in the media"
"Over the past months, I've heard several journalists make the same comment at various industry forums: That blogs are a "parasitic" medium that wouldn't be able to exist without the reporting done at newspapers.
"I had to laugh hysterically (and groan) today when someone described a blogger as 'world-reknown expert on WordPress'. The blogger had been blogging for 4 months. I know personally that they had no PHP, WordPress, or web design experience prior to beginning blogging. Now that they have the title 'expert', there is no telling who will believe that claim."
"With big corporations now hiring public relations firms to pay fake bloggers to plant favorable opinions of the businesses online, many political bloggers are concerned that candidates, too, will hire people to pretend to be grass-roots citizens expressing views."
"Jim Zumbo, former hunting editor of Time Inc.’s Outdoor Life, had to resign after calling assault rifles “terrorist rifles†in a blog posting on the magazine’s website. This raises the question: how subjective can writers really be on blogs?"
"Are Web loggers journalists? The question touches on not just legal arguments, such as how elastic shield laws are or should be, but also includes cultural and political overtones. If, for instance, a blogger seeks to claim the privileges of being a journalist, should we expect him to follow the same general rules -- including contacting all sides to the story and verifying facts independently?"
In a discussion the other night at O'Reilly's ETech conference, we came up with a few ideas about what such a code of conduct might entail. These thoughts are just a work in progress, and hopefully a spur for further discussion.
Death threats against a popular tech blogger this week have ignited an online firestorm about free speech, civility and sexism on the Internet.
The threats against Kathy Sierra, an author who promotes the notion of emphasizing the needs of the user in Web site design, have sparked a Webwide debate on the nature of online discourse.
There's nothing illegal about what the prominent bloggers did, but i think it is unethical at every level. This is not an issue of censorship, but an issue of social responsibility. What does it mean when the most prominent bloggers are encouraging speech that divides, particularly that which divides along the lines of race and gender? What kind of standard does that set? How can anyone support their practices, even as a "joke"? I believe in moral responsibility and key to that is a level of social respect, even for those with whom you disagree. Without social solidarity, the moral fabric of society erodes. When you allow room for intolerance, you breed hate.
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"High-profile figures in high-tech are proposing a blogger code of conduct to clean up the quality of online discourse."
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