Apple reseller's law suit threatens internet freedom in Greece

As I write this Greek users of Twitter are flooding the micro - blogging service with comments and complaints about the Apple reseller in Greece, Systemgraph. According to the newspaper Protothema, a Greek internet user is being sued for 200,000 euros by the company following complaints  he made online about how his attempts to get his imac repaired went awry.

In his post blogger Arkoudos wrote that Dimitris Papadimitriadis, a 35 year old doctor, took his computer to be repaired by the authorised service provider, Systemgraph when he saw that shadowy areas on the screen. The company identified and claimed to have repaired the issue, however, when Papadimitriadis realised that the problem had not been fixed he returned his machine once more and then his troubles began in earnest.

On the other hand Systemgraph stated in their defence that the customer had been "rude and aggressive" and that the company had offered to repair the screen once more and was under no legal obligation to replace the machine (that being the responsibility of the store that had sold the computer). According to their statement on the AV Club forum the law suit was in response to an "organised attempt to slander and insult" the company via social media sites, blogs and forums.

This case in disturbing on two levels. Most importantly is the idea that any unwanted or disagreeble comment made on the internet can be punished with massive fines or the threat of legal action. As Papadimitriadis puts it on Twitter, "If the blogger/consumer loses (the case), then all we will be able to write in our own name will be recipes".

The Greek state been wary of internet and especially the blogosphere since its inception. In 2006 Antonis Tsiropoulos, site adminstrator for the Blogme aggregation service was arrested for hosting negative comments concerning a prominent TV personality and ultra - nationalist. In a similar vein the conservative New Democracy government attempted to introduce legislation that would strip Greek internet users of the right to blog anonymously in 2009.

Also what the case highlights is just how weak consumer protection is in Greece and that buying any big ticket item involves a risk which most other European consumers do not have to factor in. Even when the guarantee is valid some companies are loathed to accept the costs involved with repairing or replacing faulty goods. Of course, the consumer can insist on their rights as Papadimitriadis said he did when he took his case to the consumer ombudsman but this can be a long and often futile affair and even if the courts find in favour of the customer businesses can just chose to ignore the decision.

Whatever the rights or wrongs of the case are the uproar which is currently being generated on the internet via Twitter and blogs shows that consumers do have the power retailers think carefully about how they are preceived online and remind them of the power of negative word of mouth.

Amazon knows best - Let us decide what you need to read.

Amazon knows best - Let us decide what you need to read., originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

"By mid-morning, attempts to access the original Wikileaks.org Web site produced only a page saying: “The address is not valid.” The new domain name, Wikileaks.ch, appeared to be providing only sporadic access to the site.

The action by EveryDNS.net, which provides around 500,000 Web sites, followed a decision on Wednesday by Amazon.com Inc. to expel WikiLeaks, the whistle-blowing organization, from its servers, although it remains on the servers of a Swedish host, Bahnhof, as it continues to anger the United States by publicizing a huge array of some 250,000 leaked State Department documents relating to American foreign policy around the globe."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/04/world/europe/04domain.html?_r=1&src=twrhp

10 tactics for turning information into action

Info Activism from Tactical Technology Collective on Vimeo.

tacticaltech.org

"Activists and campaigners are increasingly turning to digital technology and social media platforms to get their messages across. A new documentary called "10 Tactics for Turning Information into Action" provides a handbook in how best to disseminate their ideas. But, as Colin Grant reports, the film makers are also keen to stress the fact that these new digital tools present opportunities but also, sometimes, hidden dangers."

BBC World Service

Twitter - Tar and feathering for the modern age?

It seems that even in the 21st century we still need a vat of boiling tar and a sack of feathers on hand to punish those considered to have violated the rules of their community. In times gone by the hapless transgressor would have been covered in the black stuff and then rolled in down, a lesson to others that the upstanding folk of this burg would not put up with their shenanigans any longer.

In an electronic twist on this fine tradition we now have Twitter, on which tweets, retweets and hash tags achieve much the same results but with less mess (besides, trying to pluck a frozen chicken is a thankless task).

Yesterday's casus belli involves uber Twitter user, Stephen Fry and fellow Twitterer, Brumplum shows that other pre-modern traditions are alive and kicking 2000 years after Cicero wrote that;

"Nothing is more unpredictable than the mob, nothing more obscure than public opinion."

A mild comment by Brumplum that he found Fry's Twitter output boring followed by the surprise announcement by Fry himself that he was considering quitting Twitter as there was "Too much aggression and unkindness" sparked off an instant reaction and people quickly reached for their electronic pitchforks and went a - hunting for the culprit. Here is a taste of some of the Twitter responses;

abacab1973 @brumplum wanker. hope you enjoy the whirlwind of shit that you've invited.

musicknurd721 This person @brumplum is be the mosthated individual in the world..Finally found someone that wins douche of the year instead of Kanye

iamJaymes This asshole (@brumplum) may have caused@stephenfry to quit twitter, I don't know about you but I want torches and pitchforks at the ready!

Brumplum, or Richard as he known to the non - Twittering world is not the first to feel the wrath of keyboard avengers. In the last couple of weeks oil trading firm, Trafigura, Home Office minister, Alan Johnson and newspaper columnists Jan Moir and A.A. Gill have all attracted the collective ire of Twitter users. Thousands upon thousands of words have been sent out into the ether condemning them for their sins, both real and imagined.

Richard's case, however, is different as he is not a scum bag corporation guilty of untold human misery, a hate mongering hack looking to raise sales figures nor a rifle carrying moron with taste for blood.No, he was an ordinary guy who happened to politely express his opinion about a public figure and as a result was hounded for it by thousands online.

This whole affair has the whiff of the lynch mob about it, a reminder that even "nice people" can behave badly and that online beastliness is not the sole preserve of far right conspiracy theorists and religious wingnuts.

Thankfully, this story has a reasonably happy ending with profuse apologies being offered and accepted on both sides and appeals by Fry to put all this behind us. Yet this incident does raise some worrying questions about the nature of sites such as Twitter and the internet in general. As people, organisations and government become more adept at using this new technology they will realise that the mob still has its uses for dealing with those who disagree with their views and I predict that future Brumgate incidents will not have such a benign conclusion.

The revolution will not be televised - But it will be Twittered, blogged, videoed, and photographed.

This post is a kind of mash up, a mixture of different sources and types which show how the internet through its ability to allow participation is changing not just the way we consume media but the way we conduct our lives in the public sphere.

My first port of call is the video Iran: A Nation of Bloggers by students at the Vancouver Film School. The short gives a brief but insightful look at ones of the world's blogging super powers. All the more relevent given the way blogs, Twitter, Flickr and Youtube are being used by young people there to get their message out to the world at large as we speak.



The second video is by Clay Shirky at TED about how cell phones, Twitter and other such innovations can make history. How the old media paradigms are cracking under the weight of changes brought about by the internet.



However, amidst all the hype and glee about the opportunities such technologies offer let's not forget that in many parts of the world authoritarian minded regimes still seek to silence critics through the suppression of internet users and the stripping away of basic rights such as the right to anonymity. China, Iran and most lately the UK have ruled against the right to blog without declaring your identity. Nice to know Gordon Brown has chosen to align his government with such enlightened states. The axis of internet evil gains another member.