Harvard University
Fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University and author of The Social Machine: Designs for Living Online; founder and former director of the Sociable Media Group at the MIT Media Lab
PROFILE
Judith Donath
Guest
FROM Judith Donath
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Hiding Your Digital Footprints We may want to know that hate groups and criminals are being tracked, but what about the way all of us are being tracked when we use the internet? Not everyone likes the idea that their every move is being followed when they post on Facebook or tweet or buy stuff online. So, are there ways to be more private online, or at least avoid leaving such a big trail of everything we do?
Which Way, L.A.?
Online Comments: Freedom of Speech or the Bane of the Internet? Popular Science wants online comments to encourage learned debate but finds that so many are so wrong they damage the credibility of important research. So they've decided to ban reader comments online . The Huffington Post gets nine million comments a month, but 75% are so vile, mean or obscene they never get posted. We hear why some websites won't allow anonymity any more, while others are banning online comment completely. Does free speech have to be limited to expertise or good manners? Are 100 stupid, cruel or disruptive comments worth one that makes for good reading?
To the Point
Online Comments: Freedom of Speech or the Bane of the Internet? Popular Science wants online comments to encourage learned debate but finds that so many are so wrong they damage the credibility of important research. So they've decided to ban reader comments online . The Huffington Post gets nine million comments a month, but 75% are so vile, mean or obscene they never get posted. We hear why some websites won't allow anonymity any more, while others are banning online comment completely. Does free speech have to be limited to expertise or good manners? Are 100 stupid, cruel or disruptive comments worth one that makes for good reading?
To the Point
Online Comments: Freedom of Speech or the Bane of the Internet? Popular Science wants online comments to encourage learned debate but finds that so many are so wrong they damage the credibility of important research. So they've decided to ban reader comments online . The Huffington Post gets nine million comments a month, but 75% are so vile, mean or obscene they never get posted. We hear why some websites won't allow anonymity any more, while others are banning online comment completely. Does free speech have to be limited to expertise or good manners? Are 100 stupid, cruel or disruptive comments worth one that makes for good reading?
To the Point
The Uses of Social Media and the Right to Free Speech Facebook, Twitter and other social media have allowed Egyptians, Iranians, Chinese and others to challenge repressive governments. The governments, in turn, have been criticized for shutting the media down. Now countries with traditions of protecting free speech face a different challenge. Recent incidents, from London to San Francisco, have led to crackdowns, including prior restraint in the name of law and order. When social media are used to advocate violence, organize riots or coordinate crime, can government block access to the perpetrators and others as well? Will there be new limitations on the right to free speech as the law catches up with the technology?
To the Point
America's Loss of Community When an entire family tragically vanished from a house down the street, Peter Lovenheim realized he hadn't known them or his remaining neighbors either. To the distress of his teen-age daughter — and his own surprise — many of them accepted when he asked to sleep over so they could get better acquainted. His book on what happened has reignited discussion about the increased fragmentation of American life and the broader issue of civic disengagement. Has real communication been replaced by communication technologies? Can a nation of people who don't know each other continue to stick together?
To the Point
Social Networking and Real Life Since we first broadcast this segment in October, Time magazine has the founder of Facebook its " Person of the Year ." Mark Zuckerberg's "friends" now number a half billion, the major example to date of social networking on the Internet. The film The Social Network has won big audiences and a lot of awards. Does social networking enhance and encourage the same kinds of human connections we find in real life, or does it do something else? Is it changing the way people think about themselves and their relations with others? What does it mean for the news media and commercial marketing? Does Internet anonymity require new protections for casual users who don't know the power of social networking?
Which Way, L.A.?
Facebook: The Social and the Anti-Social Network Hollywood has paid the ultimate compliment to Mark Zuckerberg by making The Social Newor k, a film about him and the phenomenon of Facebook . We'll let audiences draw their own conclusions about the movie. What matters is what it symbolizes.
To the Point
Facebook: The Social and the Anti-Social Network Hollywood has paid the ultimate compliment to Mark Zuckerberg by making The Social Network , a film about him and the phenomenon of Facebook . We'll let audiences draw their own conclusions about the movie. What matters is what it symbolizes. Zuckerberg 's "friends" now number a half billion, the major example to date of social networking on the Internet. What is "social networking?" Does it enhance and encourage the same kinds of human connections we find in real life, or does it do something else? Is it changing the way people think about themselves and their relations with others? What does it mean for the news media and commercial marketing? Are new protections required because of the anonymity provided for sociopaths or for casual users who don't know the power of social networking?
Recommended
To the Point
Who's to blame for the opioid crisis? Some of the lawyers who took on Big Tobacco are now going after Big Pharma. It’s all about the deadly epidemic of opioid use. Are the drug companies to blame? What about the users? Later, on today’s Talking Point: making sense of Britain’s upset election.
To the Point
Trump's 'America First' goes missing abroad In the Middle East, President Trump is changing some policies of the Obama Administration—and reversing his own campaign attacks on Islam as a religion that "hates us." We hear about his visit to Saudi Arabia and what's at stake for the rest of his foreign excursion.
To the Point
What happens when America retreats from the world? Is President Trump taking his "America First" agenda to extremes, withdrawing the country from the international stage on trade and climate change, distancing America from its traditional allies across the Atlantic and even threatening to physically isolate the country through the building of a wall along its southern border? León Krauze guest hosts.
To the Point
Is the threat from Russia missing from the Russia meddling probe? There's much being made about the Trump administration's possible ties with Russia. But the bottom line is Russia's effort to influence American democracy. Do the President and his aides care enough to take action before voters go back to the polls?