Live.TWiT.tv had a great discussion this week between Barrett Lyon and Richard Stiennon on the topic of the recent Denial-of-Service attack on several U.S. Government websites and South Korean websites. You can find the video of this discussion on OdTV.me.
Other related links:
The questionable “fair use” of Common Craft’s video, “Twitter in Plain English“, by the mainstream media is an interesting discussion. Common Craft raises some interesting questions in their blog post Our Twitter Video Used in Mainstream Media – Thoughts.
Common Craft is a company that makes educational videos for a living. They offer a number of great videos for free viewing on their website. One of their most popular is “Twitter in Plain English“, to describe why someone might want to try out Twitter.com. Apparently, ABC Nightline, ABC Good Morning America, NPR Unger Report, CNN International, CBS Sunday Morning, and KOMO News all used the video. ABC with permission. The rest without it.
Lee Lefever, one of the owners at Common Craft, takes a very intellectual and mature view of this in his blog post questioning the use. It does seem to be “Fair Use” by the media to me. In most cases, excerpts were used in conjunction with a news story, some used more than others.
Ok, fine, no laws broken. Common Craft doesn’t seem to feel harmed and does not appear to be harmed commercially. All is good.
But wait? Where is the common courtesy? A simple email and follow on phone call to ask permission would have been easy? I understand a clear mention and link in a news show is not always “good television”. But all of these pieces are now online? Why not a link and citation of sources on the web page with the video of the news broadcast? That’s not hard at all, is it?
As a frequent internet user, I often see something on TV or hear on the radio and go to the World Wide Web for more information. I consume more news online than offline. And I consider myself an amateur historian as well. Original sources, citations and attributions are a big deal to me. They allow me to determine if the information is any good. They allow me to get more information and to delve in deeper to an issue or topic. And I have a greater respect for and return more often to sites that provide me with good references and valuable links to more info.
I certainly try to provide enough links when I write on a subject. And I encourage others to cite their sources as well. While this particular case looks like “fair use” was met, common courtesy could have been done better. All these agancies would prefer links from me, I’m sure!
I recently discovered Graham Cluley’s blog and am enjoying his informative and personable style. According to his profile,
“Graham Cluley is one of the world’s leading experts in viruses and spam, and works as Senior Technology Consultant at Sophos.”
He released a video today on Vimeo giving his secret password. Not really, but he does reveal some great tips on how to make a great password.
Read his blog post on passwords. Watch the video! Feel free to check out my tips on good passwords. And then evaluate all your passwords and think about improvements you could make to your security!
