UK News
Insights from the UK and beyond
from The Great Debate UK:
Rory Cellan-Jones on virtual democracy
Direct, real-time communication among politicians and the public through social media platforms is reshaping democracy and the news media, but questions remain about how the fabric of society might change as a result, argued a panel at an event hosted by the BBC on Tuesday evening at Westminster.
The Web provides a de-centralised opportunity for users to communicate from various points on the political-economic spectrum, but gatekeepers are emerging who try and curtail the dissemination of information they find objectionable, suggested panellist Aleks Krotoski, who recently completed work on the BBC series "Virtual Revolution".
"Innovative social-media platforms start off being interactive, but then they can become broadcast tools," cautioned Rory Cellan-Jones, the BBC's new digital election correspondent.
The panel was chaired by Peter Horrocks, director of BBC global news, and included Pooneh Ghoddoosi, a presenter with BBC's Persian service and Peter Barron, director of communications for Google in north and central Europe. BBC is producing a series about the Internet titled "Superpower".
The phuss over Phorm
The targeted online advertising company Phorm, which has been accused of spying, breaking the law and just about everything else in the last year, has launched its latest charm offensive in its battle to prove its innocence.
The British company sparked damning headlines last year when it signed up the three biggest Internet service providers BT, Virgin Media and Carphone Warehouse to provide adverts to Web
sites based on the surfing trends of users.
Gone whaling: Web fraudsters land a bigger catch
First there was “phishing” – where criminals try to steal people’s personal details using dodgy emails that look like they’re from the bank.
Then there was “spear phishing” – more sophisticated, targeted attempts to defraud specific organisations or their customers.
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The Wall
