News bytes
Is there such a thing as internet addiction?
The Times questions if online games addicts should be treated in the same way as drug addicts and alcoholics.
Online Gamers Anonymous offers a 12-step programme to help compulsive players to wean themselves off online games such as World of Warcraft, EverQuest and Final Fantasy. David Smallwood, the addiction treatment progamme manager at The Priory in London, believes that such games are particularly addictive for young men.
“What then happens is that kids become withdrawn, their schoolwork suffers because they are not doing homework and they may develop an addiction to skunk because they are locked in a room. Plus there’s the problem of not eating, as they have no time to eat in the middle of a battle.”
Sometimes it is the parents who have a problem. On Gamerwidow.com, other halves of avid players vent their frustration at failing marriages. One “widow” wrote recently: “At first I thought that [gaming] was better than him being in a bar, but he started to become detached from even me. For years I begged him to please come to bed — sometimes he would go to work on just one hour of sleep.”
http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/the_way_we_live/article7052999.ece
Anti-social truth about these social networkers
In her column in the Daily Mail, Janet Street-Porter writes about the serious impact of online bullying, especially on social networking websites.
Social networking sites are impossible to police because of the sheer volume of material, with the result that a huge amount of content is highly controversial. A quick trawl shows how gangs use these sites to post threatening material intended to impress rivals and scare off detractors.
The internet is the place where these gangs post their threats and brandish their weapons, and yet the police seem powerless to do anything about it until someone has been harmed.
Rhys Jones was murdered in Liverpool in 2007 by a member of the Croxteth Crew, and five other gang members were convicted. The Croxteth Crew and their local rivals posted lurid pictures of themselves on social networking sites for months before the murder. Brandishing guns and knives is one form of aggression; sarcasm and innuendo is another.
Last week, an inquest heard that 15-year-old Holly Grogan committed suicide by jumping off a bridge after being bullied on Facebook. There are countless other examples of young people killing themselves because they could not deal with this modern form of torture.
Europe threatens web openness
A treaty being negotiated in secret could force internet service providers to monitor internet traffic and services and risk the openness of the web, according to the European Internet Service Providers Association (EuroISPA).
The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is a series of negotiations aimed at preventing counterfeiting both on and offline. Taking place between the United States, the European Commission, Japan, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Canada and Mexico, all negotiations have so far been held in secret, although leaks have become more extensive.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/7400075/Europe-threatens-web-openness.html
US eases Cuba, Iran, Sudan sanctions to allow freer web
The US treasury department has eased sanctions on Iran, Cuba and Sudan to help further the use of web services and support opposition groups.
US technology firms will now be allowed to export online services such as instant messaging and social networks. Companies had not offered such services for fear of violating sanctions.
Opposition supporters in Iran used social networking sites and services to organise protests after the country’s disputed presidential poll last year.
The US Treasury said exports would be allowed of services related to web browsing, blogging, e-mail, instant messaging, chat, social networking and photo- and movie-sharing.