"Serious threat to the web in Italy" by A Googler

From the Official Google Blog.

Back in 2006 students from a school in Italy posted a video on Google Videos of them bullying an autistic classmate. It was immediately reported, and Google shut it down immediately. Their involvement would normally end there, but in this case, it did not.

A public prosecutor in Milan indicted four Google employees for criminal defamation and failure to comply with the Italian Privacy Code. And today, a judge in Italy cleared all four from criminal defamation, but convicted 3 employees for non compliance with the Italian privacy code.

In Google's opinion, this "attacks the very principles of freedom on which the Internet is built. Common sense dictates that only the person who films and uploads a video to a hosting platform could take the steps necessary to protect the privacy and obtain the consent of the people they are filming. European Union law was drafted specifically to give hosting providers a safe harbor from liability so long as they remove illegal content once they are notified of its existence. The belief, rightly in our opinion, was that a notice and take down regime of this kind would help creativity flourish and support free speech while protecting personal privacy." 



Read the complete article here 

common PPT mistakes (never change)

Taken from www.boingboing.net 

Looks like this was taken years ago, but it's still true today. Kids, learn your PPTs!

Key to Powerpoint Presentations: the less points, the more power.

morning meetings

so i just finished my wednesday morning meeting. it's from 8 to 9am, this early so that we can catch the last working hour of our US teammates. this is a weekly meeting, which means that every wednesday i have to get up at 4:30am [ snooze translation = 6:13am ], take a bath, suit up--not really a suit but you know what i mean, and then leave for work. i take a cab at this point, noticing that i only have a few minutes before rush hour traps me in the middle of the MRT. then i arrive at work just in time to open my computer, take a quick glance at twitter, then log onto the meeting. that's my wednesday.

and that's really my wednesday. the end. after the meeting, i get so little work done. i guess it's the accomplished feeling i get that i was able to lead the meeting, i was able to speak english so early in the morning and that i did not fuck up any side comments meant to add a little humor. good job, chux. now you can surf the interwebz again and go home early.

i love morning meetings. even if  you don't get anything done the rest of the day, you'll always have that one hour when you felt like you were very, VERY productive.

devotion to duty

i was at the office until 9pm today. definitely the latest i've been stuck in the office for something not directly work-related. see i'm part of a creative team there, and i have 3 short video assignments to do. 'creative team' you wonder? well, i'll explain that on later posts.

the point i'm driving at is this: i would never stay until 9pm at the office doing work. as in work-work. the only reason i stayed late tonight was because the shots i wanted to take needed darkness, and i couldn't turn off the lights while people are still working. so there. talk about devotion to duty. but what duty? that's the question i've been trying to answer since i started working for "the man". how far am i willing to go to be productive? to do.. this?

i wouldn't want to dig deeper into this question because it'll reveal a more serious one: what the hell do i want to do with my life? so i'll put it on hold. (if only a soothing music tone would play right about now)

saw this comic strip online on www.xkcd.com --which offers short daily humor to my increasingly bland life--about the most devoted employee in the world.

and that just proves my idea that geeks will rule the world.

shooting digital blanks

for writers, or at least the few that i know, coming up with the right title is the hardest part of all. it has to be relevant, it has to capture everything you wrote, and it should at least be a little creative. i once had a photoblog called "shooting digital blanks", and sadly, it was exactly that: blanks. i think i only published 3 posts there, and simply just lost interest.

that's the thing with me: i usually take interest in something and really get into it.. but then for some reason, i just put it down and do something else. whether it be video publishing/editing, photography, business, cars, writing, and READING for that matter--i always end up losing interest and just leaving it cold turkey. from that i learned three beautiful things: (1) i cannot sustain a long commitment, (2) i'm really an art person (artsy fartsy is the term, i think) and (3) i may possibly have ADHD. but more on the first lesson.. since that's the one that really matters. i don't know what the hell is wrong with me, but i cannot fully commit to something and just pursue it. if i don't find any reason to leave it alone, i simply lose interest and find something else to do.

this is my 7th personal weblog, for those of you who are counting (?). and this time i intend to keep it. thanks to blogger's import/export tool, i was able to transfer my old writings from my old blogger. so now it's just a matter of finding a way to export my Multiply posts and get 'em in here. someone know how?

anyway.. after a year and some months from my last post, here i am again. hopefully (crossed fingers) this last weblog of mine--named appropriately DIGITAL BLANKS--is about everything and nothing. it's not too specific to restrict my writing, and hopefully it encapsulates all of the things i'll be putting in here.

so sorry for the emo posts from years past, btw. :)