Obama's latest attempt to offer "resources to fight back" against attacks by dissenters is his Obama for America reelection campaign's new website, "AttackWatch.com."
Similar to Obama's 2008 campaign online effort Fight the Smears, AttackWatch.com is designed to challenge negative statements about the president made by Republican presidential candidates and conservatives. And in August 2009, the White House created [email protected] for Americans to inform on friends and neighbors in order to counter "disinformation about health-insurance reform." Less than two weeks later, the site was shut down.
According to the Washington Post, the AttackWatch website "has an account to help Obama supporters submit evidence of 'attacks' on the president using the hashtag #attackwatch."
This latest effort has backfired on the Obama Administration, as Twitter users immediately began mercilessly mocking it. One enterprising citizen even produced a hilarious AttackWatch video ad. It was posted to YouTube and viewed by nearly 400,000 in its first three days.
Nearly every tweet about the site has ridiculed it.
For example: "Hey #attackwatch, I saw 6 ATM's in an alley, killing a job. It looked like a hate crime!"
Another YouTuber even used the now infamous movie scene of Hitler deriding his generals to create a hilarious, irreverent spoof:
Will this latest propaganda gaff affect the youth vote Obama so desperately needs? Remember, as Big Sis warns, if you see something, say something.
Christians being censored on Internet?
A new study released last Thursday shows that Christians are being singled out for censorship online.
Based on the study, the National Religious Broadcasters warns that new social media platforms – Facebook, Google, Apple and MySpace could be the new anti-religious censors of our day.
The NRB study of the social networking sites showed that only Twitter hasn't censored Christians.
A video explains the study and its results.
Emails reveal not-so-funny sunny business
ABC News has uncovered White House e-mails that show the politically connected solar energy company Solyndra loan wasn't a slam dunk. The company recently went bankrupt, despite the half-billion dollars in taxpayer loans to keep the "green industry" afloat.
The FBI is on the case, and hearings are underway to determine if taxpayer money was used to knowingly prop up a failing company, or worse, if the company was used in a money-laundering scheme.
E-mail: the paper trail that won't go away.
False alarm has NBC followers a-Twitter
According to MSNBC, the FBI is investigating the hacking of NBC News' Twitter account. The hack took place earlier this month when fake tweets alerted followers of an attack at Ground Zero.
According to a report in PC Mag, "The fake tweets appeared on the NBC Twitter feed days before the tenth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and during a period of increased security in New York thanks to reports of possible 9/11 anniversary attacks."
Tweetly speaking
Twitter has added five more languages, now supporting 17 languages including the latest: simplified and traditional Chinese, Hindi, Filipino and Malay. Twitter has 100 million active users worldwide; the additional languages now make Twitter more accessible to almost half a billion people around the world.
"Coming soon to the Translation Center," Twitter boasts, "Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Polish and Hungarian."
Twitter averages 230 million tweets a day, and its website has 400 million monthly browsers.
What's the appeal? For 40 percent of Twitter's users, it's simply to listen to what's happening in their world.
Computer Fraud and Abuse Act could land you in jail
Whoa! You could go to jail for not using your own name on Facebook? According to Vanguard of Freedom via Liberty News:
The little-known law at issue is called the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. It was enacted in 1986 to punish computer hacking. But Congress has broadened the law every few years, and today it extends far beyond hacking. The law now criminalizes computer use that "exceeds authorized access" to any computer. Today that violation is a misdemeanor, but the Senate Judiciary Committee is set to ... vote on making it a felony …
The problem is that a lot of routine computer use can exceed "authorized access." Courts are still struggling to interpret this language. But the Justice Department believes that it applies incredibly broadly to include "terms of use" violations and breaches of workplace computer-use policies," according to Orin S. Kerr, writing in the Wall Street Journal.
Kerr says in a hypothetical situation, that "President Obama could order the arrest of anyone who broke a promise on the Internet. So you could be jailed for lying about your age or weight on an Internet dating site. Or you could be sent to federal prison if your boss told you to work but you used the company's computer to check sports scores online. Imagine that Eric Holder's Justice Department urged Congress to raise penalties for violations, making them felonies allowing three years in jail for each broken promise. Fanciful, right? Think again.
Congress is now poised to grant the Obama administration's wishes in the name of "cybersecurity."
There are seven types of criminal activity included in the CFAA. Read the rest of this article and then call your congressman. Now!
Mobile phone nudies appear on website
Pity poor actress Scarlett Johansson. For reasons unknown to us, she had nude photos saved to her mobile phone, and somehow they ended up on a website. Quel douleur!
So she's done what anyone would do (wouldn't you?) – called in the FBI to investigate. Meanwhile, her attorney is warning that anyone posting those photos to their website will face legal action. After all, the photos are copyrighted.
Question: If a woman doesn't want explicit photos of herself on the Internet, why does she have them, and why is she carrying them around on her cell phone?
Science!
Minute Physics is a simple way to learn about physics, chemistry and other scientific topics by watching one minute videos. No lectures, no homework, just a black Crayola marker, a white board, time-lapsed drawings and abstract concepts explained visually. Didn't catch it the first time? Hit replay.
Tach it up? Buddy gonna shut you down
This item reminds me of "Shut Down," a Beach Boys song of the '60s. Only now we're not talking race cars and winding tachometers. Instead we're talking texting and driving, something the sixties California rock band wouldn't have dreamed about. This is an app that'll shut 'er down when you're cruising at a blistering speed of ten mph.
According to Tech News Daily, parents who want to prevent their children from texting or calling – or even adults who want to curb their own temptation to do so – can download Sprint Drive First, a new Sprint app, for $2 a month that uses its GPS system to disable the ability to send texts or send and receive calls when moving above 10 mph.
Currently available for Android devices it will soon be available on other platforms. The New York Times Bits Blog has more.
Feeling queasy?
If you're feeling queasy, it could be that Wi-Fi you're using to provide a wireless Internet connection. Sounds a little "out there"? Not to the estimated five percent of Americans who believe they suffer Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity, or EHS.
According to BBC News (via Popular Science), though the condition is not medically recognized in the United States, sufferers complain of headaches, burning skin, muscle twitches and other chronic pain.
Google offers Vitamin C
Last Friday, Google's doodle celebrated Albert von Szent-Györgyi, the Nobel prize winner who discovered Vitamin C. The Hungarian physiologist also worked undercover to fight Nazis during World War II. He would have been 118 years old on that day. The Google Doodle was shaped like an old-fashioned orange juice label.
Internet history
Remember CompuServe, Ask, Lycos and Infoseek? Seth Sternberg, the CEO and co-founder of Meebo has written an interesting piece on the history of search engines and how that can predict the future of social networks. Search wars? Just wait for the social wars.
AOL and Yahoo! vying for same investors
Looks like the financially ailing AOL has some competition for private equity investment dollars. Yahoo! is also trolling for the same bucks as it sinks financially. An infusion of capital is critical to the survival of both Internet companies that at one time commanded the top spots in the then-emerging cyberworld. AOL recently purchased the Huffington Post and laid out a bundle for Patch.com, a network of 800 local neighborhood news websites.
And in other business news, Apple closed above $400, ahead of Exxon Mobil in market value.
The Time Capsule
1961 – U.N. Secretary-General killed in air crash
1978 – Arab-Israeli breakthrough in U.S. – Sadat and Begin at Camp David
1984 – U.S. embassy blast kills 20 in Beirut
1987 – Superpowers USSR and USA treaty to scrap warheads
1998 – Clinton's grand jury testimony released
Now playing at the Princess Theater in Urbana, Ill.
Congratulations to WND readers Tim Kerlin of Watervliet, Mich., and Thom Spencer of Greenville, S.C., who correctly identified actor Morgan Freeman in his portrayal of Ellis "Red" Redding in the 1994 film "The Shawshank Redemption." The movie also starred Tim Robbins and Bob Gunton.
Based on a short story by horror writer Stephen King ( "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption") and adapted for the screen by Frank Darabont, "The Shawshank Redemption" is a moving and eloquent depiction of hope, friendship and redemption. It portrayed the lives of two imprisoned men who formed a bond over the years, finding solace and eventual redemption through acts of common decency.
The quote was: "I find I'm so excited, I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it's the excitement only a free man can feel, a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain."
This week's quote: "I'm going to tell you something really outrageous. I'm going to tell you the truth."
Name the movie, the actor and the character. Send your answer to me at the email address below. Please be sure to add your town and state. Good luck!