Stricter Web Regulation

G-8 Leaders Urge Adoption of Controls for Internet

By issuing a provocative call for stronger Internet regulation, leaders of the Group of 8 industrialized countries will urge the adoption of measures to protect children from online predators, to strengthen privacy rights and to crack down on digital copyright piracy. At the same time, the document is expected to include a pledge to maintain openness and to support entrepreneurial, rather than government-led, development of the Internet. The cause is championed by President Nicolas Sarkozy, who hosts the G-8 meeting this week in Deauville, France — but fiercely opposed by some Internet companies and free-speech groups. Sarkozy addressed a special gathering of the global digerati that included top executives of some of the world's largest Internet companies, including Google, Facebook, Amazon and eBay, on the eve of the G-8 meeting on Tuesday, where he called the rise of the Internet a "revolution" and compared its impact to that of two previous transforming episodes in global history: the age of exploration and the industrial revolution, the NY Times reports.

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Social media is not technology

Solis writes "technology is just that: technology.  Social media is about people and how we can approach them as informed and helpful peers" (Putting the public back in public relations, p. 154). Business people forget that social media is changing PR "from pitching to personalized and genuine engagement." 90% of social media is people and 10% technology.  Yet, businesses will invest 90% in technology and 10% toward engaging with people. Then, they wonder why their use of social media doesn't work.