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There’s a name for how cruel people can get given a little anonymity on the internet. It’s called “online disinhibition effect” and the resulting venom can ruin your day or worse, destroy your good name. Bob looks at the fraught relationship on the web between reputation, privacy and the law.
It seemed as though politicians and pundits were trying to out-outrage one another in response to the AIG bonus revelation. Meanwhile, in the wake of the Jim Cramer-John Stewart outrage showdown, CNBC came under more fire for its brand of financial coverage. The New York Times’ Jim Rutenberg says there’s something familiar about all this newfound outrage.
Should gun ownership be a private matter? After a Memphis newspaper put a searchable database on its website of all people licensed to carry a hand gun in Tennessee, the NRA went ballistic. The paper’s editor Chris Peck says the database is a legal, not to mention profitable, part of its online operation.
Online reviews are nothing new but few sites are as popular or powerful as Yelp, which launched in 2004. Now used by millions of people, Yelp's five star system can make or break a business. Co-founder Jeremy Stoppleman talks about the site's evolution.
Given Yelp's immense popularity, a particularly harsh review can leave business owners feeling stunned and powerless. So one San Francisco restaurant decided to confront its worst reviews by emblazoning them on T-shirts. Delfina Restaurant owner Craig Stoll talks about running a restaurant in the age of Yelp.
If you think your doctor has cold hands or worse, has made a mistake in your medical care, what better place to sound off then an online review site. There are dozens of such sites, but now doctors are fighting back. Dr. Jeffrey Segal, founder of Medical Justice, provides releases to physicians that when signed, prohibit patients from inveighing online.
Highlights from Past Shows
The basic architecture of the Internet hasn't changed since it was conceived 40 years ago. But what was once the playground of wonks is now the main staging area for the global economy and open to an array of security vulnerabilities. Brooke talks with Internet experts who ponder a vexing conundrum: adjustments that increase security simultaneously hamper innovation.
CLICK HERE TO HEAR THE EXTENDED INTERVIEWS
Richard Clarke served as special advisory to President Bush on cyber-security and is now a security consultant and author. His novel Breakpoint describes a frightening cyber-attack scenario and in this extended interview he argues it's not so far-fetched.
On the Media is funded by The Bydale Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Overbrook Foundation.
