Caroline Criado-Perez: Twitter Trolls

Caroline Criado-Perez run a successful campaign to ensure that a female remained on a Bank of England note. Her campaign brought about many congratulations from people such as Stella Creasy MP. However, shortly after she became the recipient of online abuse from trolls on Twitter.

http://www.thedrum.com/opinion/2014/01/29/sentencing-remarks-caroline-cirado-perez-case-show-court-s-tough-stance-trolls

Twitter users: Isabella Sorley and John Nimmo
"Die...you should have jumped in front of horses, go die; I will find you and you don’t want to know what I will do when I do... kill yourself before I do; rape is the last of your worries; I’ve just got out of prison and would happily do more time to see you berried; seriously go kill yourself! I will get less time for that; rape?! I’d do a lot worse things than rape you.”
The maximum sentence for a crime like this is a level five fine and a six month prison sentence

It could be argued that developments within technology and the increased use of social networking has not led to a more democratic society due to the issue of cyber-bullying. Therefore, it could be argued that there should be censorship on the Internet to a certain degree and that certain comments, such as the one above should be blocked by websites.

Edward Snowden

Edward Snowden is an American computer specialist and a former NSA member who disclosed top secret NSA documents to media outlets such as The Guardina, which reveal operational details of global surveillance apparatus run by the NSA.

http://swampland.time.com/2014/01/27/nsa-could-be-watching-you-play-angry-birds/
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/27/nsa-gchq-smartphone-app-angry-birds-personal-data

• The NSA and its UK counterpart GCHQ have been developing capabilities to take advantage of "leaky" smartphone apps, such as Angry Birds, that transmits users' private information across the internet, according to top secret documents."
• Smartphone applications like Google Maps, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and even games like  Angry Birds provide intelligence agencies with riches of data, including location tracking, address books, buddy lists and phone logs, according to documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden and provided to the Guardian, the New York Times"
• Apps are now one of the agencies biggest sources of information

Charles Leadbeater 'We Think'

Key Ideas From The Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiP79vYsfbo

• Because of the Internet, millions of people can have their say.
• Information is everywhere (blogs, websites, videos) and peoples ideas take life when they are shared.
• New ideas usually come through conversation, therefore the Internet is a mass of conversation, creating mass innovation.
• The 20th century = mass production for mass consumption (factories, cars, TV). Whereas The 21st century = mass innovation (more ideas being shared by more people than ever before.
• Millions of people are creating games, worlds, knowledge, information and software.
• Mass innovation comes from communities as everyone leaves their piece. People are drawn to these communities in order to socialise and gain recognition.
• Motto of the generation growing up with the web is: 'We Think Therefore We Are'. This is good for democracy as more people will have a voice. (Equality and freedom, more people being creative)
• How do we protect what is private? Are we always safe sharing?
• In the past you were what you owned, now you are what you share

Key Quotations From The Website:

http://www.wethinkthebook.net/home.aspx 

• Our freedom has allowed us to be creative with tools that help us express ourselves through writing, making videos and composing music.
• "The web expands the scope for surveillance, not just by the state and corporations, but also by our peers and friends". For example, YouTube. 
• "Any indiscretion of youth could come back to haunt us thanks to a user- generated surveillance system of social networking in which everyone is keeping an eye on everyone else". This highlights that "nothing seems to be private anymore and that surely cannot be good for freedom". 
• Thanks to the web, more people have access to knowledge- helping education and innovation amongst poorer people in the world. Due to this, the web should be good for equality however it "mostly rewards those who are already well connected by allowing them to network together, reinforcing their privilege".
• "The Web seems to destroy as much as it creates"
• "No amount of amateur blogging will make up for well trained and funded investigative journalism"
• Negatives of the Web: not only a source for creativity and innovation but also for stalkers, paedophiles, terrorists and criminals who organise shadow networks for purposes beyond our control.  "The more connected we are the more opportunities for collaboration there should be, but the more vulnerable we also become".

Glossary:

Freedom- the state of being free or at liberty than in confinement or under physical restraint 

Creativity- the state or quality of being innovative 

Utopia- an ideal place or state

Collectivism- the political principle of centralized social and economic control

Blogosphere- made up of all blogs and there interconnectedness

Authoritarian- favouring complete obedience or subjection to authority as opposed to individual freedom