Ari Melber
- : http://www.thenation.com/blogs/campaignmatters/_by-amelber
- : Ari Melber is a regular contributor to The Nation, focusing on American politics, public policy and Internet activism, and a writer for The Nation's Campaign 08 blog. He is also a contributing editor at the Personal Democracy Forum, a nonpartisan website covering technology's impact on American democracy. His commentary has appeared in the Baltimore Sun , Philadelphia Daily News, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, The Politico, The Forward, CBSNews.com, Alternet.org, DemocracyArsenal.org and The American Prospect Online, The New York Post and The Stranger, among others. Melber served as a legislative aide in the US Senate and was a national staff member of the 2004 John Kerry Presidential Campaign. As a commentator on public affairs, he has appeared on national radio and television, including CNBC, CNN, C-SPAN, FOX and MSNBC. Melber has been a featured speaker at forums sponsored by the Yale Political Science Department; Young Democrats of America; the Close Up Foundation, a nonpartisan civics education organization; YearlyKos 2006, the first national netroots convention; and YearlyKos 2007. Melber was born and raised in Seattle, Washington, and received a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
A YouTube for Intellectuals?
You are what you watch. That's what the "Kill Your TV" people used to say. But if TV is mindless, where does that leave YouTube?Apart from search engines, YouTube is now the second most popular website in America, drawing the...more »
Posted on April 1, 2008 11:58 AM
McCain & The "Liberal Media" Endorsements
Since the New York Times endorsed John McCain, the newspaper was obviously not biased in reporting on his conflicts of interest. That's one view you won't hear much in the raging debate over the Times article about McCain. Media insiders...more »
Posted on February 26, 2008 12:18 AM
Facebook and The “New Privacy” (Response to Readers II)
I think this week’s TPM discussion of Facebook and privacy demonstrates how the basic conception of privacy is evolving. So for starters, before the public decides whether this change is good, we have to figure out what defines the “new...more »
Posted on December 28, 2007 1:21 PM
About Facebook: Part Two
Why would young people publicize the very information they want to keep private? Critics argue that privacy does not matter to children who were raised in a wired celebrity culture that promises a niche audience for everyone. Why hide when...more »
Posted on December 27, 2007 5:39 AM
Facebook & The National Surveillance State (Response to Readers)
Facebook is under mounting public pressure over how the company manages and monetizes the personal information of its 58 million users. Fights over how people “control” their online identities are especially important now, since the growth of social networking coincides...more »
Posted on December 26, 2007 1:43 PM
About Facebook
When one of America's largest electronic surveillance systems was launched in Palo Alto a year ago, it sparked an immediate national uproar. The new system tracked roughly 9 million Americans, broadcasting their photographs and personal information on the Internet; 700,000...more »
Posted on December 26, 2007 6:09 AM
About Facebook
When one of America's largest electronic surveillance systems was launched in Palo Alto a year ago, it sparked an immediate national uproar. The new system tracked roughly 9 million Americans, broadcasting their photographs and personal information on the Internet; 700,000...more »
Posted on December 26, 2007 6:09 AM
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Thanks for both comments -- I have posted original work here, like Table for One, and yes, sometimes I also post Nation pieces that might interest this community. Given BigThink's focus on fostering intellectual and participatory videos online, I thought it might be worth sharing part of the piece here...
Posted at April 1, 2008 2:32 PM in response to A YouTube for Intellectuals?
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Thanks Jeff. As they say at Table for One, I'm here all week...
Posted at December 26, 2007 5:21 PM in response to Facebook & The National Surveillance State (Response to Readers)
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Hey, thanks for the good tips. Also, you write in passing that Facebook's
content is not accessible to search engines...
Facebook actually did open the site to searches in September. Users must opt-out to avoid being listed. I describe this in part II of this article, (which will be posted here tomorrow). Here's the graph on it, in case it's of interest:
In September Facebook launched a "public search" feature to list users' profiles on search engines like Yahoo! and Google. The move could fundamentally shift the site from a (relatively) closed social network to a more exposed public directory. Students originally joined Facebook as a private campus hub, but now it touts some of their profile information to the world. (Diligent users can opt out, and visitors still need to be Facebook members to view people within networks.) The massive search function might one day make Facebook an indispensable part of Internet commerce--creating the "Google of people," as blogger Jeff Jarvis puts it. The potential loss of privacy could ultimately beat the feed controversy by several orders of magnitude, but there has been no backlash so far.
Posted at December 26, 2007 2:18 PM in response to About Facebook
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Hi all --
I've responded to several reader comments in this new TPM post here.
Posted at December 26, 2007 2:14 PM in response to About Facebook
