In 2003 singer Barbara Streisand noticed pictures of her home were available in a collection of free photos of the California coastline, so she sued the photographer for $50 million dollars. The result: an otherwise uninteresting photo of a mansion on the coast became one of the most famous photos on the Internet, creating what we call today The Streisand Effect.
Nothing brings more attention to something online than an attempt to remove it. This week we’ll talk about Microsoft’s leaked plans for the XBox 720, and how their lawyers are proving to the web that these plans are real. We’ll talk about Kony 2012 suing a parody video, and as such increasing the popularity of that site. Also, Dave talks about Magic The Gathering some more. Boo. And Justin jailbreaks his Wii.
And, as always, the headlines.
- Facebook changed everyone’s email addresses, presumably because they like recursion.
- Facebook is allowing users to opt out of being in “sponsored stories. James points out people could opt out anyway, by not clicking the “Like” button for brands.
- Facebook introduces the somewhat creepy “find nearby friends” feature on it’s mobile app, then pulls it a day later. Don’t worry: it will come back.
- A convincing Twitter Bot attracts sympathy from real people. It reminds Justin of the “Talking To Machines” episode of RadioLab.
- Kony 2012 threatens to sue a parody site, because they don’t understand The Streisand Effect. Check out KickStriker, it’s hilarious.
- Mac users pay more for hotels.
- Xbox 720 documents were leaked. We can look forward to a 2013 release and VR 3D goggles in 2014.
- Not content with jailtime, the Japanese copyright industry aims for automatic blocking of copyright material at ISP level. James is afraid; Justin is sarcastically certain it will end piracy forever.
- There’s a call for Ray Bradbury to be honoured with internet error message:
error 451 for government censorship. Justin thinks this isn’t a fitting tribute: Bradbury insisted Fahrenheit 451 was less about government censorship than people not taking the time to read books. Dave and James haven’t read the book, so they wouldn’t know. - Apple finally launched a Podcast app for the iPhone.
- And we answer your questions. Stay tuned.
