Yes Google does need to be curbed, I think we can all agree on that.

People keep clicking yes to that EULA.

My suggestion is to put google analytics in your hosts file to point to 127.0.0.1

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Hi Es, good to see you after so long. I hope you and yours are all well.

Yes Google does need to be curbed, I think we can all agree on that.

@Blurf - We've crossed swords many times, and we may well do again, but that story was mind boggling and must have caused extreme distress. Whoever was responsible should have been in court, fined, and imprisoned. My friend ES99 had a similar experience, and I know from first hand knowledge how frightening it was for her. I'm glad you got it sorted out.

...

Yup, it was pretty unpleasant. However recent revelations about NSA have made me wonder how much of myself I want on the internet. Add to that, my partner is a Skip Tracer and has shown me how much information about themselves people unwittingly post online. I don't post as much online anymore. Also, Google seems to have it's paws in everything. All you accounts are connected and shared now. I think google is becoming too powerful.

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Reality Internet Personality

The case we are discussing has many twists to it, including a suggestion that the girl was trolling herself (not proven). But, the cause of suicide attempts is usually deep depression which is noticeable to alert parents.

My position is it is the parents responsibility to look after their children, and, it appears in this case much of their responsibility was seemingly lacking.

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It's good to be back amongst friends and colleagues

Electronic communication has also opened up tremendous opportunity for people with high-level autism and other mental deficiencies to be able to function in social environments.

That is a different thing entirely, and i will happily agree on that point.

Electronic communication has also opened up tremendous opportunity for people with high-level autism and other mental deficiencies to be able to function in social environments. This is a huge boon for the race as a whole, IMO.

+1

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That you see more negatives with technology than positives says more about your age (no offense intended) than it does about the reality of the situation.

No it doesn't, if I saw any perceivable benefit from it I would use it. I use email and Skype quite happily.

I don't personally see a benefit from it either - I don't have a Twitter account nor Facebook, but that doesn't mean I don't see a benefit for others or complete negativity around it.

In a world where technology is connecting people all over the world, face to face socialization, while important, is taking a lesser role in the future of our race. IMO, that's a good thing.

Rubbish, that is what is helping to breed a race of couch potatoes with nimble fingers who lack social skills and cannot spell.

Right, just like watching the TV all day was going to create a bunch of mindless couch-potatoes!

Communication in any form, be it face to face or electronic, still requires proper social skills. And it has been proven that bad spelling does not prevent another person from understanding what you're trying to say, and ultimately the purpose of communicating with others is to convey ideas - which even bad spelling allows for.

Electronic communication has also opened up tremendous opportunity for people with high-level autism and other mental deficiencies to be able to function in social environments. This is a huge boon for the race as a whole, IMO.

That you see more negatives with technology than positives says more about your age (no offense intended) than it does about the reality of the situation.

No it doesn't, if I saw any perceivable benefit from it I would use it. I use email and Skype quite happily.

In a world where technology is connecting people all over the world, face to face socialization, while important, is taking a lesser role in the future of our race. IMO, that's a good thing.

Rubbish, that is what is helping to breed a race of couch potatoes with nimble fingers who lack social skills and cannot spell.

And I think it's an over-reaction to state that those two sites have caused more problems than they solve. You are only focusing on the negative you hear in the news without regard for the every day use that millions, if not billions of people use without maliciousness.

Well, we will have to disagree then. I see far more negatives than positives. I see almost every youngster spending their whole social life on Facebook and the like, to the extent that they have lost the ability to converse and socialise face to face with real people, including their own families.

That you see more negatives with technology than positives says more about your age (no offense intended) than it does about the reality of the situation. And Gary is right, there has always been something else to blame in the past that "those darned kids these days" were spending their time on.

In a world where technology is connecting people all over the world, face to face socialization, while important, is taking a lesser role in the future of our race. IMO, that's a good thing.

Mommy and Daddy are at fault here.

Yes they maybe, but faced with modern life and the allure of sites like facebook, mommy and daddy have no chance whatsoever.

Chris, as a daddy, I completely disagree.

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Mommy and Daddy are at fault here.

Yes they maybe, but faced with modern life and the allure of sites like facebook, mommy and daddy have no chance whatsoever.

And I think it's an over-reaction to state that those two sites have caused more problems than they solve. You are only focusing on the negative you hear in the news without regard for the every day use that millions, if not billions of people use without maliciousness.

Well, we will have to disagree then. I see far more negatives than positives. I see almost every youngster spending their whole social life on Facebook and the like, to the extent that they have lost the ability to converse and socialise face to face with real people, including their own families.

But that isn't the fault of Facebook. Same was said about the Boob Tube. Mommy and Daddy are at fault here.

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And I think it's an over-reaction to state that those two sites have caused more problems than they solve. You are only focusing on the negative you hear in the news without regard for the every day use that millions, if not billions of people use without maliciousness.

Well, we will have to disagree then. I see far more negatives than positives. I see almost every youngster spending their whole social life on Facebook and the like, to the extent that they have lost the ability to converse and socialise face to face with real people, including their own families.

@James - I think Facebook & Twitter have caused more problems thaan they solve. We know for a fact that facebook was used to proagate the 2011 England rioits. I have a facebook account because a Canadian relative will only post family phots there and nowhere else. But I never use it for anything else. Personally I would shut them both down, but it will never happen, they make too much money.

And this is where I disagree with you Chris. I just responded to T.A. stating that no one was advocating shutting down websites because we understood them to be tools. Now you're suggesting exactly that.

Shutting down the tools will only cause people to create new ones, and if you make them against the law, they will simply go into the underground. Blaming the tool for the actions of people is not the right way. That isn't the answer to the problem. Addressing the people is the problem.

And I think it's an over-reaction to state that those two sites have caused more problems than they solve. You are only focusing on the negative you hear in the news without regard for the every day use that millions, if not billions of people use without maliciousness.

@Blurf - We've crossed swords many times, and we may well do again, but that story was mind boggling and must have caused extreme distress. Whoever was responsible should have been in court, fined, and imprisoned. My friend ES99 had a similar experience, and I know from first hand knowledge how frightening it was for her. I'm glad you got it sorted out.

@James - I think Facebook & Twitter have caused more problems thaan they solve. We know for a fact that facebook was used to proagate the 2011 England rioits. I have a facebook account because a Canadian relative will only post family phots there and nowhere else. But I never use it for anything else. Personally I would shut them both down, but it will never happen, they make too much money.

I had a problem earlier this year when someone went after me in a very personal matter on a public forum posting my home address and posting under an account with my real name. They involved my work and mentioned specifics that only someone who worked with me would know. It got really bad when a picture of my home was put up encouraging people to "pay a visit" and posting racial taunts.

Took a sheriff and a private investigator but the issue was resolved (at least for now) but I joined a reputation service and have started the process of wiping my existence off the net.

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Im 61 and back in my school days, Bullys were face to face. You knew who they were. So you either put up with it or fought back. Sometime I got my butt kicked, sometimes I won.

Knowdays with the internet you dont who who is the bully. It could be some clown across the country or the world.
I dont envy todays kids at all. They might have all the cool stuff we couldnt even wish for, But they have the backlash that goes with it.

It seems they are not allowed to just be kids and growup having fun and no worries.

Maybe the kids them selves need to say goodbye to facebook, twitter and all that other social media bull crap.

My grownup kids and my grandkids say you nee to get facebook so we can share stuff with you. My answer is, Hey I have a snail mail address and a e-mail address why cant we share that way.

I dont blame the internet. I blame human nature.

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[/quote]

Old James

I was bullied for a while at school, around thee age of 14. I soon sorted out the ringleader when I got him by himself. He went home with a broken nose and lots of cuts and bruises. No one touched me after that, especially when I helped set up a Judo club, in the school, about 1957.

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It's good to be back amongst friends and colleagues

Don't blame the internet for every thing wrong with the planet.

I read Chris's article and I've read Gary's Wiki (also read it in the news when it happened). I don't see a single person "blaming" the internet for the suicide. I see people blaming others on the internet for using it as a tool to hurt others on a global scale. I see the perpetrators being local to their own towns when these things happen.

The internet is simply a communications tool that allows information to travel the world in microseconds. I don't see anyone advocating pulling the plug on the internet or any specific website over these suicides. What is at issue here is people using the internet to purposefully hurt others and publicly humiliate them. These events have opened up a dialog about how social media can have an effect on an individual - and you're seriously mistaken if you think its the equivalent of graffiti on a wall.

You're telling me that no person has ever committed suicide in the past because "for a good time call..." was written on the bathroom walls? It probably wasn't widely publicized then as local information didn't make the big news back then like it does now, but I'm sure it happened.


I agree with you that there are deeper issues at play. These articles are not about denying that fact. These articles are about how the world has changed and the pressures young people have to deal with today that no one else ever has.

These girls didn't commit suicide because of the internet. These girls committed suicide because their self identity, self esteem, and self confidence were fragile, bruised, then completely destroyed by their peers. Sure, their outgoing emails and posts may have been bad, but its perfectly natural to pretend the stuff isn't hurting you when it is.

Rehtaeh Parsons suicide: two charged over photos in cyberbullying case

Police in Canada have charged two young men with distributing child pornography in the cyberbullying case of Rehtaeh Parsons, a 17-year-old who killed herself after a photo of her allegedly being raped was shared online.

Rehtaeh's death has been compared to similar cases in the United States, including 15-year-old California girl Audrie Pott, who hanged herself after her family says she was sexually assaulted by friends and a photo surfaced online. Arrests were made in that case.

Rehtaeh's death prompted the Nova Scotia government to launch reviews of the RCMP's original investigation and the school board's handling of the matter. The review of the RCMP's investigation continues.

Audrie Pott