TPC Launches Saturday as 'Conservative' Facebook Alternative

( Wikipedia)

Already boasting 50,000 members, the social media platform Tea Party Community ("TPC") will debut Saturday as a conservative alternative to Facebook, according to a Fox News report.

TPC is co-founded by Ken Crow and father and son duo Tim Selaty Sr. and Jr. The social network, whose Web site promises: "If you like FB, you're going to love the Tea Party Community," enables participants to "friend" one another and costs nothing to join. 

In the unsolicited opinion of  "TUOL," TPC may draw interest from Facebook's copyright and trademark attorneys because the nascent network has a very similar layout and appears to employ the same color scheme as Facebook, though it uses a different font. "TUOL"'s own crack design team suggests that the Tea Party Community site only be accessible by right-clicking one's mouse and that it not offer a "Like" function, because from what "TUOL" has seen, Tea partiers don't seem to like much of anything anyway.

Google Feeling Down Under

Melbourne Federal Court Building. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)Internet search monster Google was taken to the woodshed yesterday by the Australian Federal Court, which sided with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission ("ACCC") position that Google deceived consumers by interspersing paid advertisements in search results.

According to a Reuters story, between March 2006, and July 2007, Google users who queried Honda Australia received responses that included paid ads from Honda rival CarSales that purportedly indicated a link between Honda Australia and CarSales. Publishing the paid ads was "misleading and deceptive," said  the Court's three-judge panel, chastising Google.

The Court assessed court costs against Google and ordered the company to institute a compliance program to guard against paid advertisements misleading users. It's unclear what Google's next step will be following the adverse ruling by the Australian court, which wouldn't happen in the U.S. where 47 U.S.C. sec. 230(c) of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 shields ISPs such as Google from liability for content from other Internet service providers.

Fox News: Facebook Means 'Business' Peeking at Smartphone Users' Text Messages

Image via WikipediaAs it readies its own personal messaging service, social media monolith Facebook's research apparently includes poring over smartphone users' text messages, according to a London Times' article cited by Fox News.

Smartphone users of the Facebook app have been providing helpful intelligence to the social networking platform. Facebook offered assurance that users will be prompted to grant permission for the company to access personal text messages once Facebook's message service goes beyond the trial phase and is up and running. The Fox News story, however, notes a London Times-commissioned survey by YouGov in which 70 percent of smartphone users polled admitted they never review terms and conditions of use when downloading an app.

From a privacy standpoint, Facebook's "it's just business" rationale is akin to a locksmith walking in on people showering in their homes as part of his research into developing a better bathroom door lock.

India Givers: Google & Facebook Accede to New Delhi Court Order to Censor Content

Image via WikipediaFacebook and Google pulled controversial content  from domain Websites in India in response to a warning from a New Delhi court hearing a civil case brought by an Islamic scholar who claims the material is religiously offensive.

The Reuters news service reports the social media giants Monday removed the information after the New Delhi lower court gave them 15 days in which to submit in writing to the court actions taken to block offensive content. Mufti Aijaz Arshad Qasm, who operates the Website fatwaonline.org, initiated the action against Facebook and Google.

Although only roughly 10 percent of the country's population enjoys Internet use, the Indian government generally has not censored Web access. India, however, passed a law last year requiring companies to remove complained-about content from their Websites within 36 hours.

Maltweeting Free Expression?

Image via CrunchBaseSan Francisco-based microblogger monolith Twitter will selectively block tweets in specific countries as it continues to grow its social platform worldwide, Reuters reports.

In a business move that will enable the microblogging network to broaden its global user base, Twitter will adapt to governments internationally whose notions of freedom of expression do not mirror those in the U.S. Twitter will post a censorship notice whenever it removes a tweet at the behest of a government and will use the chillingeffects.org Web site to house removal requests it receives from governments, companies and individuals, according to the Huffington Post.

Twitter offered  the legal restriction on "pro-Nazi content" imposed by the countries of Germany and France as an example of a restriction to which it might accede. The announcement marks a policy shift by the six-year-old social media company, which in January 2011, coinciding with the so-called "Arab Spring" uprisings throughout the Middle East, posted The Tweets Must Flow stating that it would not remove Tweets based on their content.

Twitter boasts roughly 100 million users, according to the Huffington Post report.

Instagram: Just Add President Obama Pix and Wait,,,

Image via CrunchBaseTrying to woo young voters with his hipness, social mediaphile President Barack Obama has added to his Twitter, Facebook and Flickr online presence by joining the photo-sharing network Instagram, according to Politico.

The Politico post, written by former Boston Globe political scribe and current Politico White House reporter Donovan Slack, notes that President Obama's initial contribution to Instagram is an informal photo of  him addressing Iowa Caucus supporters through a video link (naturally) from the Capitol Hilton. President Obama has developed social media expertise, which is fitting, because an obstructionist Congress has boxed him into a virtual presidency.

Twitter Adds Another Twit

Image via CrunchBaseNews Corp. mogul Rupert Murdoch, 80, joined the Twittersphere on New Year's Eve, The Los Angeles Times and other media outlets breathlessly reported, and already, @RupertMurdoch has more than 104,000 followers.

Besides plugging two films, The Descendants and We Bought a Zoo, produced by movie studios he owns, Murdoch has devoted some of his early 140-character missives to boosting the presidential bid of former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum (R.-Pa.). Murdoch tweeted: "Good to see Santorum surging in Iowa. Regardless of policies, all debates showed principles, consistency and humility like no others."

Thus far, Murdoch has dispatched 27 tweets and is following 11 fellow Twits, including Eric Cantor and Peggy Noonan, along with the Wall St. Journal and New York Post, which are properties of News Corp.

Meanwhile, The Guardian and Associated Press have apologized for being snookered by a faux Twitter account the publications mistook for being written by Murdoch's Missus, Wendi Deng. Turns out @Wendi Deng was being written as a lark by some yet-to-be-identified guy in London. The Twitter bird has egg on its face, too, having wrongly verified the Deng account, if only briefly.

"TUOL" hopes Rupert doesn't hold back on Twitter, and looks forward to reading tweets such as: "Fox News fair & balanced? LOL;" and "Junior's testifying @Parliament again? WTF?"

Facebook Waiting to Get Poked After Resolving FTC Complaint

Image via WikipediaSocial network leviathan Facebook, which as early as the first quarter of 2012 is expected to roll out an IPO that may top $100 billion, this week settled a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission filed in 2009 by the Electronic Privacy Information Center concerning changes in Facebook's privacy policies.

Under fire for a policy shift that allegedly made users' personal information accessible to third parties that previously had been unavailable, Facebook, pursuant to an agreement with the FTC, will have to undergo bi-annual privacy audits over the next two decades. Additionally, before initiating revisions to its privacy policies, Facebook henceforth must give users prominent notice of any alterations to privacy settings and obtain their consent.

The company has added two attorneys to oversee Facebook's privacy concerns. According to published accounts, Facebook's resolution of the FTC complaint could subject it to maximum fines of $16,000 per infraction if it violates the settlement terms.

Teacher Loses Face, Job After Facebook Rant Against Students

Image via WikipediaPatterson, N.J. elementary school teacher Jennifer O'Brien, who has been on administrative leave since March 2010, because of a derisive comment she posted about her students to her 300 Facebook buddies, should lose her tenured post, Administrative Law Judge Ellen Bass has ruled.

As reported by Forbes via the Mobiledia tech blog, Judge Bass wrote O'Brien "demonstrated a complete lack of sensitivity to the world in which her students live." Following a day last year in which one of her first-grade minions allegedly struck her and another student purportedly stole money from her, O'Brien posted on Facebook: "I'm not a teacher--I'm a warden for future criminals!"

Her virtual outburst sparked protests outside her school by parents and concerns by school administrators that the comment may have been racially tinged.  ("TUOL" is a N.J. native and can confirm that low-income, crime-ridden Patterson is not considered a vacation escape.) Judge Bass' ruling may cause hand-wringing among the social media free speecharati, but a body of case law supports the notion that although O'Brien has a First Amendment right to vent against her pupils, she has no corresponding right to be a teacher when her speech, which was not political in nature, embarrasses her employer.

Facebook Borrows a Button from Twitter

Image via CrunchBaseRadio comic Fred Allen once mused that "imitation is the sincerest form of television." Apparently, that applies to virtual world too.

Facebook, the social networking platform behemoth, has added a Subscribe button for its users to play with, in a nod to microblogger Twitter. Joining the Poke and Message buttons on Facebook's Profiles page, the Subscribe button, when clicked, affords access to the inner-most thoughts of participants, including celebrities and pols, irrespective of whether they are among the users' "friends," according to a release by Facebook reported in the San Jose Mercury News, the GMANewsTV.com Website and elsewhere. Additionally, the Subscribe feature enables users to control what content of their friends' profiles they wish to see, for example, granting access to photos but curtailing the endless, dreaded life event updates.

The latest Facebook addition follows its recent expansion of Friends Lists, including Smart Lists, which allows for more efficient grouping of Facebook pals. "TUOL" wonders if a little birdie told Facebook about Google +, the social networking service rolled out this past summer with its Circles, Hangouts, Sparks, Huddles and other cutesie annoyances. Before long, the Facebook site will have more buttons than an Edwardian-style suit jacket.

UPDATE: Bye, Bye Winklevi

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeU.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts Judge Douglas P. Woodlock last week dismissed the case of ConnectU v. Facebook (Case No. 07-10593), perhaps ending at last the 100 years' war involving Harvard alumni Mark Zuckerberg and Cameron Winklevoss and Tyler Winklevoss concerning the origins of Facebook.

The Winklevoss twins filed a Motion  July 1 for discovery to gain a peek at sealed and confidential files to determine whether Zuckerberg and his counsel "intentionally or inadvertently suppressed evidence," the absence of which, the Olympic rowing twins claimed, deceived them into accepting a settlement of their lawsuit in 2008. Judge Woodlock said the files at issue were irrelevant because the case at issue already was closed when the parties resolved their dispute in 2008. (See "TUOL" posts 6/24/11, 6/23/11, 5/17/11.)

As reported by Bostonbizjournals.com, the Winklevoss brothers each received $20 million and Facebook stock valued at $65 million in 2008 in return for dismissing their claim that Zuckerberg stole the Facebook social media monster idea from them. The July 1 Motion sought access to 2004 instant messages purportedly sent by Zuckerberg while working with the twins on a related social media project.

Bad news for those craving a sequel to The Social Network.

AP Staffers Taken to Woodshed for Social Media Opining

Image via CrunchBaseAssociated Press reporters weighing in on news stories such as the Casey Anthony murder trial and the New York legislature's thumbs-up to same-sex marriage have been taken to task by the wire service for sharing their views on Twitter.

According to Romanesko's media gossip column, Tom Kent, AP Deputy Managing Editor for Standards and Production, said AP staffers sharing their opinions with friends and family via Tweets undermine the credibility of AP reporters trying to cover controversial news stories in an objective, balanced manner. Sounding a bit "wired," Kent reminded AP staffers that social networks are a public forum and not the proper outlet for sharing personal views about contentious news events. Apparently, that's why wire service bureaus and newspapers are never located more than a stone's throw from  hanging fern-free dive bars.

Skype's The Limit for Facebook

Image via CrunchBaseSocial media monolith Facebook now offers users a plugin that provides access to Skype video calling of their friends, according to TechCrunch.com.

Users can leave a message if they don't receive a response. Facebook has now added a "Call" button to its "Poke" and "Message" array. When the Palo Alto, Calif.-Facebook adds a "Scratch" button for those hard-to-reach places, "TUOL" will be interested.

Presidential Twits To Debate in the Blogosphere

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeGOP presidential hopefuls' July 20 debate in New Hampshire will prominently be featured in the blogosphere, courtesy of 140 DEV, LLC, according to the Website Mashable.com.

The Republican Liberty Caucus of New Hampshire, one of the debate's organizers, said the debate platform set up by consulting company 140 DEV, LLC, will carry separate streams of Tweets from candidates, the moderator and the public displayed on 140TownHall.com. According to Mashable.com, one column will note the number of followers, mentions and retweets of each candidate, another column will display the debate in real time and a third column will contain a Tweet box into which the public may enter its comments.

Additionally, related tweets automatically will be retweeted into Twitter account @140townhall. The July 20 debate will be moderated by radio host Randy Humphries and sponsored by the TeaParty.net. No doubt there will be more than 140 characters in attendance.

UPDATE: A Day Without Winklevoss...

Image via CrunchBaseA day after Tyler & Cameron Winklevoss, the Olympian twin rowers (a description "TUOL" hoped never to have to write again after its post on 6/23/11) said they would not appeal the decision of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to the U.S. Supreme Court that refused to overturn their settlement agreement with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg of a lawsuit regarding the social network's origins, their attorney has filed a status report with the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts seeking permission to conduct discovery, according to reports by Reuters and Bloomberg News wire services.

The Winklevosses claim the discovery in the matter of ConnectU v. Facebook (Case No. 07-10593) is necessary to determine whether the defendant "intentionally or inadvertently suppressed evidence." The twins and Connect U founder and business partner Divya Narendra contend they were misled and deprived of important documents during settlement discussions of their lawsuit.

If Hollywood can continue to crank out X-Men movies, surely another Social Network sequel isn't too much to expect. Maybe the litigious twins are looking for their own spinoff.

French Journalists Can 'Tweet' & 'Poke' But Can't Say Twitter or Facebook

Image via WikipediaCSA, France's media regulator, invites French tv and radio stations to "Tweet" on Twitter and "poke" on Facebook to their heart's content, provided they don't identify the social media platforms by name, according to a Reuters article.

The CSA has no problem with French broadcast journalists urging their audience to visit their social network sites, but citing the commercial brands Twitter and Facebook by name runs afoul of the nation's laws against covert advertising, the Reuters article reports. A widely used French dictionary, however, has added the word "Tweet" to its pages, according to the article.

As far as the CSA is concerned, however, it's voir-le, ne le dites pas (See it, do not say it).

Grown-ups Surpassing the 'Baby Twitters'

Image via WikipediaPoynter.org's Romanesko media blog today offers up the latest results of the Pew Internet & American Life Project, which finds 13 percent of adults who are active online use the microblogging social platform, Twitter, compared to only 8 percent of grown-ups who said they "Tweeted" when surveyed in November 2010.

Blacks and Latinos continue to be a fast-growing segment of Twitter users, as the survey found 25 percent of African-Americans online claim to Tweet now and then. Internet users in the 25-34 age group have turned to Twitter at double the rate in 2010, with 19 percent Tweeting, compared to 9 percent a year ago. Likewise, 14 percent of online-active adults aged 35 to 44 use Twitter, up from 8 percent in 2010.

Ranks of Facebook Users Swelling Toward Three-Quarters of a Billion

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeSocialbakers, a blog whose focus is Facebook, claims that 700 million people are using the Palo Alto, Calif.-based social networking service, according to an article on www.BusinessInsider.com.

The boost in Facebook users has been fueled by skyrocketing growth in Indonesia, Brazil and India, BusinessInsider reports. The news is sure to press Mark Zuckerberg's "like" button, though from "TUOL"'s standpoint, never have so many with so much done so little.

Facebook Sues Adult Networking Co. in Trademark Case

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeIn Facebook, Inc. v. Various, Inc. et al (Case No. 4:2011-cv-01805), filed last month in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, social networking giant Facebook sued an adult networking service for trademark infringement, unfair competition and cybersquatting.

Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong will hear the case in which Facebook is alleging that Various, Inc., and subsidiaries, including Traffic Cat, Inc. and GMCI Internet Operations, Inc., are capitalizing on the plaintiff's brand with its Facebookofsex.com Website.  Facebook claims the defendants' Website includes a blue "Like" button and a blue band at the top of each page, which creates confusion among site visitors and tarnishes Facebook's reputation, according to the Complaint.

N.Y. Minor Wants to Take Facebook to 'Class'

Image via WikipediaNastro v. Facebook, Inc. (Case No. 11-cv-2128), filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York this week, seeks class action status against social media deep-pocket Facebook, Inc., for allegedly using the images of minors for a commercial purpose without parental consent, in violation of N.Y. Civil Rights Law.

As first reported by Bloomberg News, the suit concerns the thumbs-up "Like" icon. Facebook's use of social ads, dating back to 2007, purportedly displays the images and names of minors who click their support of products and events, and is also displayed when a user RSVPs for an advertised event, and on friends' home-page feeds.  The suit seeks damages for alleged revenues derived from the purported unauthorized commercial use of the minors' names and images.

In August 2010, suit was filed in a Los Angeles County Superior Court against Facebook for alleged violation of California law that prohibits using minors to endorse products and services, again, hinging on the users clicking the "Like" icon. (See "TUOL" post 8/30/10.)