CourseCast of the Week

Episode 0082, 01/03/2009

Title/Description: Web Rating System, E-tail suffers less, News Briefs

Welcome to Course Technology's CourseCast of the week, Episode 82, recorded January 3rd, 2009. This is Ken Baldauf bringing you this week's technology news and information. This CourseCast is brought to you by Course Technology. Check out www.cengage.com/coursetechnology for innovative textbooks and creative electronic learning solutions.

Story 1 - Web Rating System

UK Culture Minister, Andy Burnham, is proposing a partnership with the U.S. to impose a motion-picture style rating system for Web pages and sites. There are plenty of U.S. politicians that would support the idea, so its getting significant coverage in the media this week.

This isn't the first time a rating system has been proposed for the Web. Past efforts have been stymied by the challenge of implementation. There are many individuals who enthusiastically support a rating system in order to protect minors and others from stumbling onto objectionable content. Like the v-chip in televisions, a Web-rating system would make it possible to screen out content that a person finds objectionable. Burnham told the BBC that he thinks we "need to have a debate now about clearer signposting and labeling online because it can be quite a confusing world, particularly for parents who are trying to ensure their children are only accessing appropriate stuff."

There are at least as many people opposed to a rating system for the Web. Some feel that it would lead to filtering by the government - as Australia is currently attempting. Others worry that it would impact the free flow of information to the Web. After all, movies have plenty of time to work through a rating system prior to being released, but Web content is continuously being added to the Web, particularly in this era of social networking. Consider needing to have your Facebook site rated every time you change the content.

A mandatory rating system seems certain to fail as it would be impossible to police and enforce such as system. One solution might be a self-rating system, where those that post the content can voluntarily apply a rating to it. It appears that this debate is about to play out again, so stay tuned to find out what is decided.

UK official proposes movie-style web site ratings [Ars Technica]
Applying movie ratings to Web sites is a dumb idea [c|net]
Websites could get cinema-style ratings [Reuters]

Story 2 - E-tail suffers less over holidays

It’s no surprise that 2008 holiday retail sales were way down - eight percent for December 2008 compared to December 2007. One interesting statistic however is that online sales were less hard hit - down only 2.3 percent. It would appear that brick and mortar retailers are seeing stronger than ever competition from online e-tailers. Still 2008 was the first year in eight to see online sales decline.

Report: 2008 holiday sales way down, but ecommerce less so [Ars Technica]
Online holiday sales drop 3 percent [c|net]

And that brings us to News Briefs.

  • WIkipedia was able to raise $6 million dollars in public donations within days of posting a plea from founder Jimmy Wales on the site asking users to help keep the site running.
    Wikipedia passes $6 million donation goal [Ars Technica]
  • FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has dropped the controversial "smut-filtering" requirement from his proposal to roll out free wireless Internet across the US. The filter-requirment was criticized by numerous civil liberties groups. The plan is still unlikely to go through though due to Martin's limited time left in office, and controversy surrounding the proposal.
    Martin drops porn filtering from FCC free wireless broadband plan [Ars Technica]
  • If you received or gave a Samsung digital photo frame or digital photo key chain as a gift this holiday season, you better watch out! The software that comes with some of these photo products contains a computer virus.
    Photo frames bundle malware with holiday cheer [Ars Technica]
  • The conflict between Israel and Palestine in Gaza has spread to the Web. Israeli business Web sites are being attacked by hackers from Morocco, Lebanon, Turkey, and Iran.
    With Gaza conflict, cyber attacks come too [Computerworld]
  • Microsoft's latest security patch has rescued around 400,000 Windows PCs that were infected with a rogue virus named "Antivirus 2009". The computers were infected by users tricked into thinking that they were installing antivirus software on the Web.
    Microsoft kicks fake security software off 400,000 PCs [InfoWorld]
  • Facebook has gotten on the wrong side of breast-feeding mothers after it removed photos of breast-feeding infants claiming that they are inappropriate. Women are protesting in cities and online and calling a good bit of attention to the issue.
    Facebook Stirs Furor After Pulling Breast-Feeding Photos [NewsFactor]

That's it for this week's CourseCast. Links to this week's stories and many more news and information resources are provided at the CourseCast Web site at coursecasts.course.com. E-mail us with your suggestions for the show at course.coursecasts@cengage.com. Until next time, have a great week, and be sure to take advantage of the Power -- of Technology!