Johannes M. Bauer and William H. Dutton (Michigan State): The New Cybersecurity Agenda: Economic and Social Challenges to a Secure Internet. Eric Geller on the rise of the new Crypto War: The U.S. government wants to stop terrorists and criminals from “going dark” — but at what cost? Patrick Howell O'Neill on how Tor is building a new Dark Net with help from the U.S. military. An excerpt from The Dark Net: Inside the Digital Underworld by Jamie Bartlett. Joseph Cox on how the dark web as you know it is a myth. Joshuah Bearman on the untold story of Silk Road (and part 2). These hackers warned the Internet would become a security disaster — nobody listened. Dune Lawrence on the hunt for the financial industry’s most-wanted hacker: The malware known as ZeuS and its rogue creator have been at the cutting edge of cyber-crime for nearly a decade. We’ve reached a point in history where it’s easier to find earth-sized exoplanets than it is to figure out who’s to blame for most hacks. James Poulos on the key lesson of the Ashley Madison hack — even for non-adulterers.
Kate Klonick (Yale): Re-Shaming the Debate: Social Norms, Shame, and Regulation in an Internet Age. The internet is trapped in a shame spiral, and it’s time for us to get the fuck out. Contrary to the Internet crybabies, online speech in the U.S. is really free, actually. Aaron Miles on moderators, the great unpaid backbone of the Internet. Adrian Cheno on when the Internet’s “moderators” are anything but: The title suggests a steward of civility and decency — but online, unpaid moderators can become a force for mayhem. Ten former Internet trolls explain why they quit being jerks. Is it worth reading the comment section? Noah Guiney interviews Joseph M. Reagle, author of Reading the Comments: Likers, Haters, and Manipulators at the Bottom of the Web. “Comment sections are brilliant and extremely relevant”: Michele Filgate interviews Christy Wampole on the awfulness of Facebook, the utility of “think pieces” and why you might be reading the Internet all wrong.
Robert W. Gehl (Utah): The Case for Alternative Social Media. On any given evening, Black Twitter will be dominating the top 10 trending topics in the U.S. — but if this constitutes such a strong, galvanizing movement, then why is it so marginalized? (and more) James Gleick on why we need to let Twitter be Twitter. Jason Del Rey on why “buy” buttons will pose big challenges for Google, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter. Mark Zuckerberg, let me pay for Facebook: “Free” social networking sites cost more than we think. Facebook recently filed a patent on using social network data to influence lending decisions — God help us all. Reddit’s decision to police “behavior, not ideas” isn’t just foolish — it’s reckless. Felix Gillette and Gerry Smith on Reddit: A nine-year case study in absentee management. Apres moi, le deluge: Sarah Jeong on what went wrong on Reddit. Davey Alba on how Reddit’s future is the future of the Internet. Charlotte Lytton on how social media killed nostalgia. Samir Husni on the dark side of social media and why we will always need magazines. Daniel Little on deliberative democracy and the age of social media.
Are you cultivating knowledge or just consuming information? Whether the internet is a mindless distraction or the greatest educational tool ever invented is all in how we use it. So here’s a study about Internet cats. The Internet is a cat video library: Is watching a video of a famous cat better than owning a real pet? David Segal on Arianna Huffington’s improbable, insatiable content machine. Hey, Internet — stop trying to inspire me. Jack Murtha on what it’s like to get paid for clicks. Rick Paulas on what it feels like to go viral: BuzzFeed, YouTube, and (former) Gawker stars all describe a similar psychological rush, but riding the viral wave comes with dangers too. Eat, Pray, Post: Navneet Alang on how virality is westernizing the entire world. Nathan Pippenger on the Great Internet Flattening. Limits at Gawker, rules at Reddit? Wild West Web turns a page. Hossein Derakhshan on the web we have to save: The rich, diverse, free web that I loved — and spent years in an Iranian jail for — is dying; why is nobody stopping it?
