How Far Will You Go...

...to protect your internet freedom? Will you come out from behind your anon and rush the government ramparts seeking something akin to "Arab Spring?"

Policing By Two Countries Renowed For Free Speed And Freedom Of Expression

Internet

Hot topic: Policing the Web

Do we really want Iran or China in charge of the Net? 
Do you think Canada should become the international peacekeepers of the Internet?

Yes, we're well suited for it 48% 127 votes

 No, not our responsibility 52% 135 votes

Lawful access legislation would reshape Canada’s Internet


Geist: The push for new Internet surveillance capabilities goes back to 1999, when government officials began crafting proposals to institute new surveillance technologies within Canadian networks along with additional legal powers to.. MORE...

The "POWER" Of The Internet.....

Cat's demise prompts rumours of Thatcher death

.....and this is a good example how people form and offer opinions based on what they read or are messaged and they take no time for verification and most of us c&pers are also guilty.

The Thin Edge Of The Internet Control Wedge

Canada wins Facebook fight

by Joanna Smith

57 min. ago

Nicole Lace wants to be the one in charge of how much the rest of the world knows about her life.

Putting a price tag on cyber-bullying

Kathleen Parker Aug. 27, 2009 When Oscar Wilde observed that the only thing worse than being talked about is ...

Lawyer fights to unmask City Hall blogger
A Winnipeg privacy lawyer is attempting to unmask the author of a controversial city hall blog -- potentially ending a mystery that has surrounded Ottawa politics since 2008.

Minor Skirmish Not Major Battles

If you are a blogger, we are still in the minority, we have probably already formed our persona and our opinions don't impact the average voter diddly squat........

Internet takes no prisoners The smears and digs are up and running in this campaign. By PATRICK MALONEY, SUN MEDIA

Brand new ways to embarrass, defame and insult politicians have arrived online.

While the Internet is a powerful tool for political campaigns, it's also opened an electronic door for smears and digs at politicians. And from party leaders to riding-level candidates, as one in London learned, no one is immune.

Rarely has that been clearer than during the Ontario campaign, with such Internet websites as YouTube and Wikipedia used to take political attacks to a new low.

"Anybody who takes politics seriously should be appalled by this dumbing-down," said Peter Woolstencroft, a University of Waterloo political scientist.

"It has a corrosive effect on politics. It sort of says that politicians are stupid and clueless."

Woolstencroft was reacting to a pair of short videos -- which some Liberals are quietly promoting -- featuring John Tory gaffes that would have gone completely unnoticed in previous campaigns.

Now, thanks to YouTube, the verbal missteps of the Progressive Conservative leader are available to all voters.

In one, Tory says "por favor" -- Spanish for please -- while using his rusty French skills to respond to a francophone reporter's question.

In the other, he's talking to a young University of Ottawa student, telling him in his day the school was referred to as "U of Zero." The student is less than impressed.

Tim Blackmore, a popular culture expert and media professor at the University of Western Ontario, says the videos are unfair to Tory and hold no value for voters.

"It's bad in the sense that it carries on a culture of confrontation rather than conversation," said Blackmore, who was especially irked by the university clip.

"This is very common, where you're 50 years old and you try to be hip and the kid says, 'What's that?' It happens to me all the time."

On YouTube, the videos are being posted by a user who is also posting official Liberal clips. Asked if he was comfortable with the clips, Premier Dalton McGuinty appeared to distance himself from them.

"When it comes to those things over which I have control, which is the campaign proper, I'm running a positive campaign," he said yesterday.

But the perils don't exist only at the political top. As technology rewrites the book of political dirty tricks, even lower-profile candidates are vulnerable.

This week, a virtual vandal sabotaged London-Fanshawe New Democrat candidate Stephen Maynard by writing sexually explicit insults, including one about fellatio, into his Wikipedia profile.

"It's an attempt to embarrass him," said Shawn Lewis, a Maynard campaign official who stumbled upon the smear.

Wikipedia barely existed during the last Ontario election in 2003, but its explosion in popularity has made it not only a source of information for voters, but also an area of concern for public figures.

The online encyclopedia now boasts more than eight million articles, including personal profiles ranging from little-known actors to legendary criminals and famous athletes. What makes the site unique is contributors are regular citizens who add information and edit out mistakes.

The Maynard attack was added by a user Sept. 15, days after the election was called. It was up about five days before Lewis found it. Wikipedia officials removed the graphic language but couldn't trace the source computer, Lewis said.

For Maynard, it was a political lesson he took in stride.

"It does suggest I'm a target, and that means that I'm a front-runner," he said.

HELPFUL AND HURTFUL

YouTube: A popular website on which viewers can post and broadcast their own videos to the world (youtube.com).

Wikipedia: A contributor-built online encyclopedia; anyone can edit or add to an article (en.wikipedia.org).

Blasphemney Or Reality

The next not-so-big thing

Bloggers, Internet enthusiasts and denizens of Facebook like to assert that, because of them, conventional broadcast media are doomed. Radio and television, the new media types claim, are going the way of the 45rpm single and the 8-track tape. They're wrong

Bringing Out The Worst In Canadians

People have always been free to express themselves, whether it was at the water cooler, over a few draft beers or a soap box in the local park, but they did not do so with impunity. Those that disagreed with them were in there face immediately which is not the case on 'the internet' where people hide behind "anons." The thing that I find ludicrous is that there are a lot of people who think that people give a damn about what they post. My views are well known and I will admit I spend a lot of free time on the internet and I post a lot once I have hit the Enter key I get on with the reality of life....like picking up my dog's dumps. Hmmmm.....is there a hidden message here?

Bringing out the worst in Canadians

By DAVID NEWLAND, CANOE.CA

There was a flame war on the web this week. It started at historysociety.ca, the web site of Canadian history magazine The Beaver, which ran an "admittedly unscientific" online poll to produce a list of the 10 "worst Canadians" topped by Pierre Trudeau. The results appeared online on Monday, and the rest is not history -- which we usually put in the past tense -- but a telling look at the tense present, as seen through the lens of the Internet.

The despised multiple murderers Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka sit together, way down The Beaver's list at No. 5. Notorious serial killer Clifford Olsen is No. 9. Besides Trudeau, prime ministers Stephen Harper, Brian Mulroney and Jean Chretien all made the list -- so did Celine Dion and Conrad Black. Abortion-rights doctor Henry Morgentaler took third place. Punk anarchist Chris Hannah of Propaghandi campaigned into second.

"Worst Canadian" has become an Internet meme -- an idea or discussion that spreads online. At Canoe.ca, we fielded hundreds of responses to the question, "Does Trudeau deserve to be ranked as worst Canadian?" Comments polite enough to publish (cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Comment/2007/07/30/4380026.php) show a wide range of opinions, from fond ("he was a loving father and a great Canadian") to flippant ("Trudeau was about as useful as a hood ornament") to far-fetched ("Trudeau is easily the very worst thing that has happened to Canada at any time in its history").

Hacker's Field Of Dreams

How does the saying go? "Build it and people will come!" Geeks (is that still a current label) are no different than baseball fans so the following is no surprise......

Hacker secrets - to the highest bidder

DAVID ANDREATTA

Globe and Mail Update

July 10, 2007 at 7:52 AM EDT

It's been seven years since a Montreal teenager known only as Mafiaboy hacked into computers the world over by exploiting chinks in the security systems of major companies and universities, including Yahoo, Yale and CNN.

Now a Swiss company claims it can slow such activity by doing for hackers what eBay did for collectors of decorative spoons: create a marketplace for the sale of software vulnerabilities to the highest bidder.

The idea behind < href="">WabiSabiLabi.com is to offer hackers a legitimate venue to peddle their wares rather than enabling them to profit by selling their finds to cyber-criminals. Launched last week, the site is already accepting bids on four exploitable flaws, including one in Yahoo Messenger, for a minimum of €2,000 ($2,860).

But the site has raised concerns among computer security watchdogs about whether the company has simply created a loophole for an industry that they say thrives on extortion.

Enlarge Image

"This is a little, mini arms bazaar," said Jesse Krembs, a director at the Hacker Foundation, a California-based non-profit research outfit. "Essentially what you're doing is weaponizing hackers by making it more profitable for them to break into things."

WabiSabiLabi, whose name is derived from a Japanese phrase for "imperfect and incomplete," claims it ensures the authenticity of its sellers and buyers by verifying their identification using passport information, telephone records and banking data.

Company executives concede that criminals may get their hands on the bugs through the website, but insist its auction platform is a more legitimate alternative to the booming black market that already exists for software glitches.

Amnesty International Defending Bloggers

Censorship 'changes face of net'

Amnesty International has warned that the internet "could change beyond all recognition" unless action is taken against the erosion of online freedoms.

The warning comes ahead of a conference organised by Amnesty, where victims of repression will outline their plights.

The "virus of internet repression" has spread from a handful of countries to dozens of governments, said the group.

Amnesty accused companies such as Google, Microsoft and Yahoo of being complicit in the problem.

Why Do I Have Visions Of De Je Vue?

June 5, 2007
'To the three people who have asked"

Appropos of nothing...

Let's say you're sitting at a bar called, oh... Labatt House. Having a few drinks with good friends, and one of them leans forward, looks you in the eye and asks, "So, I have to ask you about Joe Blow*. How come you find him so contemptible?"

Joe Blow isn't a big part of your life. In fact, Joe Blow is no part of your life at all. But you're a little warmed over by the drinks and you love to gossip.

What do you do?

I know what I do - I share the story, and the evening continues. And then I forget about it.

A few days later, an email arrives from somebody and after beating around the bush a little. "BTW - how come you find Joe Blow so contemptible?"

What do you do?

I know what I do. If I believe the writer deserves an answer, I reply and explain why I detest the twerp. But I think it odd to be asked twice about a guy I've seldom mentioned,

(Bear with me. This is going somewhere.)

Then - and this is going to sound very strange, all coincidency - you sit down in the salon chair for your weekly pedicure, and lo and behold - beside you is an old business associate. Small talk ensues and he leans over to whisper, "I know this is none of my business, but I just have to know - how come you think this Blow fellow is so contemptible?"

This is weird. Despite having at most, a peripheral association with Joe, there are three people so consumed with your non-relationship that they go out of their way to ask about it.

What do you do?

It's none of his business, but we're in an intimate setting. What the hell? It's not like I have to face Joe over the dinner table. So, toes wiggling in Palmolive, I spill the juicy details.

That's what I'd do.

That's how gossip works, isn't it? That's the way normal people talk to other normal people in private. Questions are asked. Answers are given.

There's no time delay rule.

But for some people, it seems that's not how it works at all. Some people save their answers up to be unveiled at a later time and place! As if you like, but you'll just have to wait.

Until the special day arrives for the answer to be unveiled in a blog post - a digital opening night of sorts for the "Long Awaited Contemptible Joe Answer"!

And, because they've presumably been waiting patiently at their computer screens for just this moment, the post is thoughtfully addressed to "the three people who have asked".

It must be so exciting for them - like saving up all your gossip for Christmas morning.

So, what do you think of that?

I know what I think of that.

*sigh*

I don't think there were three people at all.

I think they were three voices.
Posted by Kate at 12:13 AM

Simple Guidelines For Freedom Of Speech

"Quote:" Defamation is not Free Speech
There will always be debate about limits on free speech but I would think it is only extreme libertarians who would seriously argue that defamation (untrue derogatory statement about an individual) should be protected as free speech.
It is my view that the truth of a statement should always be an adequate defence against any attack on it but the converse of that is that untrue statements may deserve punishment if they are harmful. "End Of Quote"John J. Ray

Something like this might reduce the idioticy of political correctness as outlined in the following:

If someone is bl*ck, you must not mention it. A Massachusetts jury convicted a bl*ck man of murdering a white woman but there is now a move afoot to have the verdict appealed because some jury members were "racist". What made them racists? Apparently, during jury deliberations, one juror referred to the defendant as "an intimidating big bl*ck guy" and another referred to him as ""200-pound bl*ck guy".

Details

So mentioning the obvious is now racist in Massachusetts. Why am I not surprised?

Is Anyone Banning Their Access Outside The Workplace?

No! No! No! No! Therefore what is the big deal. Is there a consensus out there because they are government employees they should be allowed to use computers in the workplace for person use and gratification?

Ont. government employees blocked from Facebook

Updated Thu. May. 3 2007 1:03 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

Government employees in Ontario can no longer access Facebook, the popular social networking website, on their computers.

To the chagrin of some of the thousands of workers -- including Liberal aides, backbenchers and cabinet ministers -- the 21-million member site is now blocked by the provincial ban.

As of Tuesday, when workers tried to access the site, they were greeted with the same "access denied" message that pops up if someone tries to access a pornography site, according to the Toronto Star.

Facebook is the latest website to be banned by the province, joining YouTube, online poker gambling websites and hardcore sex sites, Government Services Minister Gerry Phillips told the Star.

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An Attack On Free Speech & Blogging

I think I am safe in saying that much of what appears in blogs is not original but rather comments on events that are reported in the mainstream media and our personal comments walk a fine line........

Lawsuits put online free speech at risk
April 30, 2007
Michael Geist

Despite garnering only limited media attention, two recently filed defamation lawsuits in British Columbia have the potential to reshape free speech on the Internet in Canada. The suits pit Wayne Crookes, a B.C.-based businessman, against a who's who of the Internet, including Yahoo!, MySpace and Wikipedia. Those companies are accused of defaming Crookes not by virtue of anything they have said, but rather by permitting their users to post or link to articles that are allegedly defamatory.

Crookes, who was involved with the Green Party of Canada, was unhappy with a series of Internet postings that he argues paint him as disreputable and as a bully. In response, he filed lawsuits against the posters. (Personal disclosure: Crookes previously demanded that I remove two comments posted on my personal blog by visitors to the site.)

The lawsuits target a handful of individuals who are said to have written the postings, including a Toronto-based librarian, a Cambridge-based engineer and several anonymous posters whose identities are unknown.

Had the lawsuits stopped there, they would not be particularly significant. Lawsuits alleging defamation are not unusual and the cases would likely have resulted in settlement discussions or full trials examining the merits of the claims.

The lawsuits could prove to be critically important to the Internet in Canada, however, because they cast the net of liability far wider than just the initial posters. Indeed, the lawsuits seek to hold accountable sites and services that host the articles, feature comments about the articles, include hyperlinks to the articles, fail to actively monitor their content to ensure that allegedly defamatory articles are not reposted after being removed, and even those that implement the domain name registrations of sites that host the articles.

The common link with all of these targets is that none are directly responsible for alleged defamation. Rather, the Crookes lawsuits maintain that Internet intermediaries should be held equally responsible for such content.

For example, one lawsuit argues that Yahoo! refused to shut down an offending site – a Green Party of Canada chat board – and therefore libelled Crookes. Similarly, MySpace is targeted both for its failure to shut down a personal page that contained allegedly defamatory content as well as for its refusal to remove a link to OpenPolitics.ca, a site that the suit claims hosted defamatory content (Crookes has also sued OpenPolitics.ca).

The inclusion of Wikipedia in the lawsuit extends the circle of liability even further. According to the statement of claim, an article about Crookes appeared on three occasions in Wikipedia. In each instance, Crookes asked Wikimedia, the company that maintains the popular online encyclopedia, to remove the article. In each instance, it complied with the request.

Despite taking down the content, Wikimedia has now been sued for failing to "monitor its website to ensure that the libels of [Crookes] did not reappear on its website." Moreover, the suit also seeks to hold it liable for refusing to remove an article on online journalism that contains a hyperlink to an article about Crookes.

The broadest extension of liability in the lawsuit involves the inclusion of a U.S.-based service called Domains By Proxy. The company, which allows individuals to protect their privacy by anonymously registering domain names, is being sued for refusing to divulge the identity of the registrant of a website that contained an article about Crookes. The lawsuit argues that the domain name registration service has "accepted responsibility for the actions of the owner of the website."

While it will fall to a judge to determine whether the articles and postings are indeed defamatory, the inclusion of such a broad range of Internet intermediaries could have a significant chilling effect on free speech in Canada.

If successful, the suits would effectively require websites – including anyone who permits comments on a blog or includes links to other sites – to proactively monitor and remove content that may raise liability concerns. They will also call into question the ability of domain name registrants to guard their privacy by refusing to publicly disclose their identities.

In response, it is likely that many sites will simply drop the ability to post comments, since the challenge of monitoring and verifying every comment will be too onerous.

Alternatively, many sites may abandon Canada altogether by establishing their online presence in the United States. Courts in the U.S. have repeatedly denied attempts to hold intermediaries liable for content posted by third parties on the grounds that a 1996 statute provided them with immunity for such postings.

Canada would do well to introduce a similar provision, since the consequences for defamatory speech should rest with those directly responsible, not mere bystanders with deep pockets.

Michael Geist holds the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law. He can reached at mgeist@uottawa.ca or online at www.michaelgeist.ca.

The Value Of Blogging DOES Depend On Your Sources

"I read it on the Internet." That was a very popular refrain from newbies but invariably when you asked if they has confirmed the story the answer was NO! With blogging it becomes even more critical.......

As Newspapers Debate Being Like Blogs, Prominent Blogger Says Just Link to Your Sources
Posted by Ken Shepherd on April 26, 2007 - 17:15.

A troubled newspaper industry is beset with a raging journalistic debate around using the Internet to bolster the bottom line for the nation's broadsheets.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Faced with declining circulation, many U.S.
newspapers are trying to engage readers by allowing them to respond to
news stories online. But the anonymity of the Internet lets readers
post obscenities and racist hate speech that would never be allowed in
the printed paper.

LaShawn Barber lays out her thoughts in an April 26 post to her eponymous blog, suggesting that newspapers are misguided to attempt to co-opt the blog format. Rather than allowing anonymous comments that can encourage trolls that cheapen honest debate and discussion, Barber suggests another strength of the blogosphere that is easily adaptable to newspapers' online versions.:

Ken Shepherd's blog

Can The Male Ego Handle The Onslaught?

Females outnumber males online in U.S., study finds
Last Updated: Friday, April 13, 2007 | 10:27 AM ET
CBC News

Bucking the perception of the internet as a male-dominated world, a study released this week found more women than men are going online in the United States.

An estimated 97.2 million females aged 3 and older will be online in 2007, or 51.7 per cent of the total online population in the U.S., according to a report by eMarketer.

The report, Women Online: Taking a New Look, suggests female internet usage has been ahead of male usage for some time. But now, eMarketer said, other researchers such as comScore Media Matrix, Arbitron and Edison Media Research support the same conclusion.

According to eMarketer, female usage of the internet in the U.S. has risen 12.4 per cent since 2000, compared with 3.2 per cent for males. In 2011, 109.7 million U.S. females are projected to be online, amounting to 51.9 per cent of the online population.

However, women don't appear to be as enamoured of online video as their male counterparts, the study found. Only 66 per cent of the estimated 97.2 million females online watch videos, compared with 78 per cent of the 90.9 million men.

The author of the eMarketer report said the change in demographics could affect trends in content and usage of the web.
Continue Article

"For girls who have grown up with technology, there is no significant gender gap in internet usage," said eMarketer senior analyst Debra Aho Williamson. "The rise of activities that are particularly appealing to young females, such as social networking, will result in even greater usage."

Studies that look at only adult populations still find more men online than women in the U.S.

The Pew Internet & American Life Project from April 2006 reported 74 per cent of adult males in the U.S. were online, compared with 71 per cent of women.

A Statistics Canada study of adults conducted in 2005 found a minuscule difference in usage between the sexes, with 68 per cent of men versus 67.8 per cent of women counting as internet users.

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Virtual World Versus Reality World

If you are going to throw stones be aware that anonymity doesn't, thank gawd, give you the protection it once did and that is probably a sign that the internet is maturing.

April 13, 2007
Confusing the virtual world with reality
Once upon a time, there were five Toronto high school kids who didn't like their vice-principal. But instead of quietly discussing the aspects of the woman they saw as a tyrant — as I would have done, and trust me, I was a fantastically stupid teenager — they went high-tech and posted slurs against her on the social networking site Facebook.com. >by Heather Mallick >full column

Taking Something On A Blog At Face Value

If you take/have the time to follow the links some questions about the validity of accusation arise; 1) Contact and explanation seem to center around a "clerk" at the airport. 2)The professor was allowed on the plane and didn't seem to have the same problem on the return flight. 3)It doesn't seem like the orgs that posted the reports verified the information.

Professor who criticized Bush told added to terrorist 'no-fly' list
Contributed by: rearguard
Michael Roston Published: Monday April 9, 2007

A top Constitutional scholar from Princeton who gave a televised speech that slammed President George W. Bush's executive overreach was recently told that he had been added to the Transportation Security Administration's terrorist watch list. He shared his experience this weekend at the law blog Balkinization.

Walter F. Murphy, the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence, Emeritus, at Princeton University, attempted to check his luggage at the curbside in Albuquerque before boarding a plane to Newark, New Jersey. Murphy was told he could not use the service.

"I was denied a boarding pass because I was on the Terrorist Watch list," he said.

Full story here

Blogging Civility

Another example of where a small minority get their kicks attacking the messenger rather than responding to the message.....

A Call for Manners in the World of Nasty Blogs
By BRAD STONE

Is it too late to bring civility to the Web?

The conversational free-for-all on the Internet known as the blogosphere can be a prickly and unpleasant place. Now, a few high-profile figures in high-tech are proposing a blogger code of conduct to clean up the quality of online discourse.

Last week, Tim O’Reilly, a conference promoter and book publisher who is credited with coining the term Web 2.0, began working with Jimmy Wales, creator of the communal online encyclopedia Wikipedia, to create a set of guidelines to shape online discussion and debate.

Chief among the recommendations is that bloggers consider banning anonymous comments left by visitors to their pages and be able to delete threatening or libelous comments without facing cries of censorship.

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How I Get Access To Court Documents?

Is there a web site? Can I go to my local courthouse and ask to see court documents like search warrants? If I am not able to get this information then the question is how did this blogger get the information? Is he/she in a position of trust within the legal system or has a "friend" that holds such a position? If the Angels had been waiting, btw this only happens in the movies, and a police officer had been shot would the blogger be guilty of an offence before the act.

Blogger leaked order to raid Hells Angels TheStar.com - News - Blogger leaked order to raid Hells Angels
April 07, 2007
Peter Edwards
STAFF REPORTER

An Internet blogger leaked a confidential court document on a massive police bust of the Hells Angels biker gang clubhouses 11 days before tactical officers launched their dawn raids this week, the Star has learned.

Leaked on the Internet was a judge's order allowing federal authorities to seize the Hells Angels' fortified clubhouse on Eastern Ave. in Toronto, which was home to the largest Hells Angels chapter in Canada.

"It's very shocking," said Toronto-area organized crime expert Antonio Nicaso, who has lectured police around the world. "That could have jeopardized the whole operation. It can be dangerous for the informer. It can be dangerous for everyone."

Despite police comments that they needed extreme secrecy to protect officers, hints of the upcoming raids and a digital file of a court order allowing authorities to secretly seize the Eastern Ave. clubhouse were posted on at least five Internet sites, including one for true crime aficionados, on March 25. The Web postings were still available yesterday. "It could be a mistake or it could be something that was done with malice,'' said Nicaso, adding it would be unfair to conclude the bikers have a mole in policing or the courts. "I think they have to investigate because things like that are not normal. I think it deserves a full investigation."

Steve Skurka, a Toronto lawyer who defended two Woodbridge Hells Angels in a previous trial, said he's never heard of anything like this. "Certainly it's unprecedented. ... Search warrants are supposed to be conducted by surprise."

Skurka said he expects the leak to be "highly significant" for both the defence and the police.

Asked how the defence might view the leak, he said "it raises questions about the order."

For a full day after the raids began at 6 a.m. Thursday across southern Ontario, New Brunswick and Vancouver, police said they couldn't release much information because they wanted to ensure officers' safety.

The 18-month operation, called Project Develop, involved some 400 officers and relied on information from a Hells Angels' member who had become a police agent. His identity has not been released and he's now under police protection.

Secrecy is essential in organized crime investigations to protect officers and informers, Nicaso said.

"That's bizarre," Nicaso said of the Internet leak. "The whole operation depends on secrecy."

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Suspending Your Blogging Gives In To The Terrorists

While I appreciate that many people have suspended their blogging in support of Kathy Sierra I think it is the wrong thing to do. It would more productive to increase your blogging and to put more pressure on the hosts from which these blogs are originating. Every indication is that these hosts are as disgusted as we are and have taken action but if we don't take charge then, as some people point out, we will see people allowing government interference. For years we have seen controls put in place by the providers with the rationale being that "children" might be exposed to "inappropriate" comments but my position has always been it is up to the parents to "protect" their children. Let's show that we can protect ourselves......

Blog death threats spark debate
Prominent blogger Kathy Sierra has called on the blogosphere to combat the culture of abuse online.

It follows a series of death threats which have forced her to cancel a public appearance and suspend her blog.

Ms Sierra described on her blog how she had been subject to a campaign of threats, including a post that featured a picture of her next to a noose.

The police are investigating while the blogosphere has launched its own enquiry.

One of the issues raised is the question of how women bloggers are treated online.

Ms Sierra, author of popular blog Creating Passionate Users, began receiving death threats four weeks ago.

Since going public on the issue, she has been overwhelmed by the support she has received.

"I agonised about making this post but I hoped it would start a dialogue," she told the BBC News website.

"I never thought it would become so big or be this positive," she said.

While blogging feuds are common, she believes the campaign against her is more likely to be because she is a woman in the male-dominated technology world.

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