Online // Current TV

10 Ways to Check the Weather Online

After learning the next morning of a tornado warning that happened after the TV was... more

AngelAlina
added this
1 year ago
|
0 comments

New Report: Digital investment in MENA to grow by 28% in 2011 according to Econsultancy report

Digital marketing in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is flourishing, according... more

RealWire
added this
1 year ago
|
0 comments

Now, check your income tax refund status online

You have filed your income tax returns for the year and are eagerly awaiting your... more

shital123
added this
1 year ago
|
0 comments

No More 9 to 5: Top 25 Work From Home Blogs

Our parents and grandparents may have been forced to work the usual nine to five grind... more

eva2
added this
1 year ago
|
1 comment

Stretch Your Dollar: 15 Ways to Save Money Online

The Internet has done wonders for removing substantial overhead for companies, which... more

eva2
added this
1 year ago
|
0 comments

Shop ‘Til You Drop: Top 25 Shopping Blogs

Everyone loves to shop, but we really love shopping when it means scoring what we want... more

eva2
added this
1 year ago
|
0 comments

Who’s the Boss?: Top 50 Freelance Blogs

In the olden days, freelance mostly referred to sports players in professional leagues... more

eva2
added this
1 year ago
|
0 comments

The Horrible Libya Hypocrisies - Secret Libya Psyops, Caught by Online Sleuths

Neocons and liberal interventionists stampeded Obama into imposing a no-fly zone... more

worrg
added this
1 year ago
|
0 comments

Can the iPhone "Cure" Gayness?

The iPhone can do most anything. But is it powerful enough to turn gay folks straight? That's the question that infoMania's "That's Gay" correspondent, Bryan Safi, tackles this week in examining the new iPhone app issued by Exodus International. The Christian group seeks to curb what it considers to be the scourge of homosexuality, and is now doing so on the hippest smartphone around. As Bryan notes, who knew all that hatred could fit in your pocket?

That's Gay is a recurring segment on the weekly television show infoMania. In each episode of That's Gay, Bryan Safi explores gay issues and stereotypes as they are portrayed by the clueless media. For more Bryan visit http://current.com/groups/thats-gay/ and Current TV.

infoMania is a half-hour comedy show that airs weekly on Current TV. Picture the ultimate office water-cooler, only with funnier co-workers who willingly stay up late imbibing all forms of media so you don't have to. Caveat: Bring your own water. Hosted by Brett Erlich and co-starring Sergio Cilli, Erin Gibson, Ben Hoffman and Bryan Safi, infoMania airs on Thursdays at 11/10c on Current TV.

Go to http://current.com/infomania for more, and make sure to check out our Facebook profile for special features at http://facebook.com/infomania.

Current Media, the Peabody-and Emmy Award-winning television and online network founded in 2005 by Al Gore and Joel Hyatt, engages viewers with smart, provocative and timely programming -stories that no one else is telling in ways that no one else is telling them. Current's programming shines a light where others won't dare and boldly explores important subjects -- opening minds, sparking conversations and forming deep connections with its viewers. The channel's audience is comprised of affluent, curious, social and connected adults who crave the kind of entertaining, enlightening, witty and informative programming found on Current's TV and online properties. Current is now available via cable and satellite TV in 75 million households worldwide - 60 million households in the US - through distribution partners Comcast (Channel 107); Time Warner ; DirecTV (Channel 358 nationwide); Dish Network (Channel 196 nationwide); Verizon and AT&T. In the UK and Ireland, Current is available on BSkyB (Channel 183) and Virgin Media (Channel 155), and in Italy, Current is available on Sky Italia (Channel 130). Viewers can also find Current online at www.current.com.The iPhone can do most anything. But is it powerful enough to turn gay folks straight?... more

bryan_safi
added this
1 year ago
|
24 comments

BlackBerry releases New App World V.2.1.1.2; Now available for Download | Tech Prezz

BlackBerry App World removed? don’t worry here is the new version of the... more

techprezz
added this
1 year ago
|
0 comments

Wizarding School Open to the Public

If you long for the comfort and camaraderie found in the houses of Gryffindor,... more

adorablenapalm
added this
1 year ago
|
0 comments

Star Wars - The Old Republic Timeline Videos

Article details a 13-part video collection covering the important points of the... more

Ildamos
added this
1 year ago
|
0 comments

Corporate-Funded Online 'Astroturfing' Is More Advanced and More Automated Than You Might Think | | AlterNet

February 24, 2011 |

Every month more evidence piles up, suggesting that online comment threads and forums are being hijacked by people who aren’t what they seem to be. The anonymity of the web gives companies and governments golden opportunities to run astroturf operations: fake grassroots campaigns, which create the impression that large numbers of people are demanding or opposing particular policies. This deception is most likely to occur where the interests of companies or governments come into conflict with the interests of the public. For example, there’s a long history of tobacco companies creating astroturf groups to fight attempts to regulate them.

After I last wrote about online astroturfing, in December, I was contacted by a whistleblower. He was part of a commercial team employed to infest internet forums and comment threads on behalf of corporate clients, promoting their causes and arguing with anyone who opposed them. Like the other members of the team, he posed as a disinterested member of the public. Or, to be more accurate, as a crowd of disinterested members of the public: he used 70 personas, both to avoid detection and to create the impression that there was widespread support for his pro-corporate arguments. I’ll reveal more about what he told me when I’ve finished the investigation I’m working on.

But it now seems that these operations are more widespread, more sophisticated and more automated than most of us had guessed. Emails obtained by political hackers from a US cyber-security firm called HB Gary Federal suggest that a remarkable technological armoury is being deployed to drown out the voices of real people.

As the Daily Kos has reported, the emails show that:

- companies now use “persona management software”, which multiplies the efforts of the astroturfers working for them, creating the impression that there’s major support for what a corporation or government is trying to do.

- this software creates all the online furniture a real person would possess: a name, email accounts, web pages and social media. In other words, it automatically generates what look like authentic profiles, making it hard to tell the difference between a virtual robot and a real commentator.

- fake accounts can be kept updated by automatically re-posting or linking to content generated elsewhere, reinforcing the impression that the account holders are real and active.

- human astroturfers can then be assigned these “pre-aged” accounts to create a back story, suggesting that they’ve been busy linking and re-tweeting for months. No one would suspect that they came onto the scene for the first time a moment ago, for the sole purpose of attacking an article on climate science or arguing against new controls on salt in junk food.

- with some clever use of social media, astroturfers can, in the security firm’s words, “make it appear as if a persona was actually at a conference and introduce himself/herself to key individuals as part of the exercise … There are a variety of social media tricks we can use to add a level of realness to all fictitious personas”

The article continues at the link: http://www.alternet.org/story/150049/corporate-funded_online_%27astroturfing%27_is_more_advanced_and_more_automated_than_you_might_think?akid=6571.101566.m0-hpq&rd=1&t=12February 24, 2011 | Every month more evidence piles up, suggesting that online... more