I suppose it happens to the best of us occasionally. Ouch. July 14, 2009
Posted by markblei in : Humor , 1 comment so far
I know I only work in research, so my opinion may hold only so much validity. Just as an observation however, I would guess that when publishing an article discussing CBC’s mandate to feature at least 50% Canadian content. It might make sense to master the spelling of the word “English” correctly in your illustration slide before you rush that bad boy to publication.
Just a thought…
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YouTube to keep user details away from Viacom July 15, 2008
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , add a commentSOURCE STORY HERE
Viacom has backed off its demands to gain access to the viewing habits and personal data of YouTube users, information it had originally asked for in its copyright infringement lawsuit against the video-sharing website.
The two sides agreed on Monday that any material YouTube was ordered to hand over would be stripped of personal information, including user ID, IP address and visitor ID.
“We are pleased to report that Viacom, MTV and other litigants have backed off their original demand for all users’ viewing histories and we will not be providing that information,” YouTube wrote on its company blog Monday. The company also posted a copy of the stipulation to the order on its website.
Viacom, which owns several U.S. television networks including MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central, had originally asked for the information as part of its $1 billion US lawsuit against YouTube, which is owned by internet search giant Google Inc.
Other plaintiffs in the lawsuit include the English soccer Premier League and music publisher Bourne Co. Viacom and the other plaintiffs alleged in the suit, launched in March2007, that almost 160,000 unauthorized clips of its programming are available on YouTube. Those clips have been viewed more than 1.5 billion times, Viacom charged.
It argued Google wasn’t doing enough to keep its copyrighted videos from television shows such as The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report off YouTube.
It had originally asked for access to the user histories to prove that copyright-infringing material is more popular than user-generated videos on YouTube.
Two weeks ago a U.S. federal judge ordered YouTube to hand over this information, a decision San Francisco-based privacy advocacy group The Electronic Frontier Foundation said was “a setback to privacy rights.”
Viacom issued a statement Monday, saying it never asked for personally identifiable information and only wanted the data as evidence in its case.
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GM to lay off 20% of US and Canada workers, cut truck production July 15, 2008
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , add a commentGeneral Motors said Tuesday it will reduce its white-collar workforce, suspend its dividend, reduce spending on marketing and engineering, and make more production cutbacks.
Rick Wagoner, the automaker’s chair and chief executive officer, informed employees of the cuts during a teleconference from Detroit.
GM said it wants to save about $15 billion US in cash through the end of 2009
The moves announced Tuesday are the second round of slashing at the automaker in two months. On June 3, it announced plans to close its Oshawa, Ont., truck plant, and three others.
The company said then it was shifting away from trucks and sport utility vehicles to focus on smaller car production in response to shifting consumer demand. Higher gasoline prices have prompted buyers to shun big vehicles in favour of more fuel-efficient automobiles.
GM also said at the time that it was reviewing the future of its Hummer brand.
Important info for journalists using Facebook Via the CBC November 1, 2007
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , add a comment
If you’re a journalist, researcher, or editor using Facebook, you may want to heed this warning from one of our own, a reporter in Vancouver.
For an inexplicable reason, last week Facebook disabled my account.
They say they have a policy of not permitting harrassing, threatening, obscene messages, or spam.
I of course didn’t do any such thing. I have always clearly identified who I am, who I work for, and so forth. Been completely transparent. Each message I have sent has been individually written, not “spam”. (I actually haven’t used Facebook that much.)
I have “appealed” my disabled status to Facebook. They have now responded that I am prohibited – they don’t tolerate anyone sending UNSOLICITED MESSAGES!
I’m not sure what we, or I, can do about this. Facebook won’t reveal to me what the message was, or to whom, which caused them to disable me.
I have responded to them that of course many journalists use Facebook for this purpose. And I have never harassed anyone. Anyway…this is just to warn you all who DO use Facebook for finding people – beware!
A bit later…
The PR person decided to re-instate me.
She said I had been “disabled” because I had posted very little information about myself, no photo or profile available, and WAS ONLY USING FACEBOOK TO “SOLICIT” contacts. That I wasn’t using it for private purposes (eg to connect with my own “friends”). Which is true.
So the lesson is…
- Make your photo and even profile available – if you are going to use Facebook for journalistic purposes; and
- have your own friends.
She warned me that if I only use Facebook to solicit people for ‘business purposes’ I will be disabled again. Journalists are NO EXCEPTION.
Guess to keep clean I’ll have to start messaging you all on the Facebook cbc network.
But this does have implications for those who have Facebook accounts and who only use them for finding people for CBC stories. Be warned.
Are you using Facebook for journalistic purposes? If so, do you find it valuable?
