NASA

New information provided by a worldwide network of sensors has allowed scientists to refine their estimates for the size of the object that entered that atmosphere and disintegrated in the skies over Chelyabinsk, Russia.
The estimated size of the object, prior to entering Earth’s atmosphere, has been revised upward from 49 feet (15 meters) to 55 feet (17 meters), and its estimated mass has increased from 7,000 to 10,000 tons. Also, the estimate for energy released during the event has increased by 30 kilotons to nearly 500 kilotons of energy released. These new estimates were generated using new data that had been collected by five additional infrasound stations located around the world – the first recording of the event being in Alaska, over 6,500 kilometers away from Chelyabinsk. The infrasound data indicates that the event, from atmospheric entry to the meteor’s airborne disintegration took 32.5 seconds.
The trajectory of the Russia meteor was significantly different than the trajectory of the asteroid 2012 DA14, which hours later made its flyby of Earth, making it a completely unrelated object. The Russia meteor is the largest reported since 1908, when a meteor hit Tunguska, Siberia.

NASA

This large “flying V” is actually two distinct objects — a pair of interacting galaxies known as IC 2184. Both the galaxies are seen almost edge-on in the large, faint northern constellation of Camelopardalis (The Giraffe), and can be seen as bright streaks of light surrounded by the ghostly shapes of their tidal tails.
These tidal tails are thin, elongated streams of gas, dust and stars that extend away from a galaxy into space. They occur when galaxies gravitationally interact with one another, and material is sheared from the outer edges of each body and flung out into space in opposite directions, forming two tails. They almost always appear curved, so when they are seen to be relatively straight, as in this image, it is clear that we are viewing the galaxies side-on.
Also visible in this image are bursts of bright blue, pinpointing hot regions where the colliding gas clouds stir up vigorous star formation. The image consists of visible and infrared observations from Hubble’s Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2.

Bento&co

Thomas Bertrand, Bento&co

Être au Japon, cela pouvait apparaître comme un désavantage (c’est loin, les frais de port coûtent plus chers, etc…), Mais c’est en fait un énorme avantage : être proche des fabricants de nos produits avec qui nous tissons des relations de confiance. Nous travaillons avec des fabricants qui, pour la plupart, ne pensaient pas vraiement vendre en grande quantité leurs produits hors du Japon.
Nous essayons d’avoir une sélectionde produits cohérente avec l’image de notre site et donc des produits de qualité. Nombreux sont ceux qui aimeraient pouvoir acheter chez nous des boîtes Hello Kitty ou autres, malheureusement, ce genre de produits sont souvent de très mauvaises qualité et ne sont pas fabriqués au Japon.

Astrology Mentor

A+E Networks

Daily Mail Reporter

Jupiter and Saturn have protected life on Earth for hundreds of millions of years by shielding us from comets.
Many large comets hurtling towards Earth all the way from the edge of the Solar System have been batted away by the two gas giants, preserving life as we know it.
The guardian planets effectively act as the planet's bouncers, research has shown.
Most scientists agree that a catastrophic asteroid collision 65 million years ago wiped out the dinosaurs.
Astronomers know that Jupiter and Saturn's gravitational fields can eject comets into interstellar space, or draw them in so that they crash into the giant planets.
The new study suggests we may owe the guardian planets more than we think.
One minor extinction event 40 million years ago was probably caused by an unusually intense burst of comets that slipped past Jupiter and Saturn.
It was clear the Earth had benefited from Jupiter and Saturn standing guard like giant 'catchers mitts', deflecting or absorbing comets that might otherwise strike the Earth.

NASA

Le Comité international de la Croix-Rouge (CICR)

Le 17 février, le Comité international de la Croix-Rouge (CICR) commémorera son 150e anniversaire et le début de son action visant à porter secours à des millions de personnes et à améliorer la vie d’un nombre incalculable de personnes frappées par des conflits armés. Alors que des populations subissent les affres de la guerre en Syrie, au Mali, en République démocratique du Congo et ailleurs, le CICR est plus que jamais déterminé à poursuivre sa mission humanitaire.

World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)

Display	Friendly Code	Numerical Code	Hex Code	Description
+	+	+	+	Plus
−		−	−	Minus
×	×	×	×	Times
÷	÷	÷	÷	Divide
=	=	=	=	Equal
≠		≠	≠	Not equal
≈		≈	≈	Approximately equal
<	&lt;	&#60;	&#x3C;	Less than
>	&gt;	&#62;	&#x3E;	Greater than
≤		&#8804;	&#x2264;	Less than or equal to
≥		&#8805;	&#x2265;	Greater than or equal to
±	&plusmn;	&#177;	&#xB1;	Plus or Minus
%	%	&#37;	&#x25;	Percent
∞		&#8734;	&#x221E;	Infinity
∑		&#8721;	&#x2211;	Sum

Steeve Iuncker

Yakoutsk janvier 2013

La ville de Yakoutsk, qui se trouve dans le nord de la Sibérie orientale, connaît des température hivernales inférieures à − 50°

Michael Dunford

Europe’s vital axis

 

石井四郎

石井四郎，日本千叶县加茂村人，日本军人。日军731部队首脑。
第二次世界大战结束前，曾率领兄弟及同村亲兵在中国等地进行活人细菌感染、解剖实验，致使不完全统计约有3000余名中国人、朝鲜人、蘇聯人、美国人、英国人、蒙古人被活生生的进行细菌实验后无麻醉解剖至死。
据称第二次世界大战结束后，石井四郎用其细菌研究的资料数据和驻日美军进行交易，逃避了战争法庭的审判。之后随着1952年后日美缔结和约，日本政府得到了赦免战犯的权力，于是一大批B C类战犯都得以免于罪责。
1952年，中国出版的刊物《世界知识》中的《抗議侵朝美軍的滔天罪行》一文声称石井四郎等原731部队成员前往韩国，协助进行细菌战。此說法後來被藤井志津枝重復。戰後石井四郎對禪著迷，宛如禪僧般地生活,每天都去若松町自家附近的月桂寺，向僧侶請教。
千葉県山武郡芝山町加茂の旧地主、石井家の四男として生まれる（長男は日露戦争で戦死。次男は陸軍嘱託。三男は陸軍技師、て後に731部隊長）。少年期より秀才ぶりを発揮し、京都帝国大学医学部を首席で卒業後、細菌学、衛生学、病理学の博士号を取得した。
知的だが野心的でエキセントリックな人物であったとされる。当時の軍医は中将までしか昇進出来ないことに強い不満を持ち、革新的な研究成果を欲していたとされる。また、当時の日本人としては珍しく身長は六尺(180cm)を超えていた。
京大時代からの恩師であった清野謙次の勧めにより、石井は中国での戦線拡大に伴う日本の資源不足による苦戦を解決するため、当時国際法で戦場での使用が禁止されていた細菌兵器に目をつけ、鉄資源に乏しい日本において「細菌兵器は安上がりで最も有効な兵器」と提唱し陸軍の首脳部を動かす。
戦後石井はGHQと交渉して731部隊関係者の戦犯免責を実現させている。 その後、新宿区内で医院を開業し、近隣の住民が怪我や病気になると無償で診察、治療を行ったという。特に子供の患者については後々までも気にかけ、命を救うことが出来ると「本当によかった」と漏らしていたという。晩年にはキリスト教に入信した。

青木冨貴子

わたしが向かおうとしているのは、芝山千代田駅から二・七キロほど南東にある小さな集落、地名を芝山町大字大里、小字を加茂という。この村いちばんの大地主の家に生まれた石井四郎は、内地から優秀な医師や科学者を集めて、満州で細菌兵器の研究・開発・大量生産に取り組んだ。その施設は、石井自身の言葉によると「丸ビルの十四倍半」もあるほど大きな研究室や飛行場、農場、馬場のほかに、東郷村と名づけられた官舎や国民学校、大浴場、酒保、郵便局、病院まで備えたまさにニュータウンと呼べるほどの規模だった。
関東軍七三一部隊に送り込まれた加茂の村人の顔ぶれもさまざまだった。貧しい小作人の次男、三男はもちろんのこと、十五歳の少年から、大工、左官屋、タイル職人、運転手、中華料理店のコックに至るまで、地元の働き手が根こそぎ動員されたといってよい。その数は百数十名ともいわれ、彼らは内地の二倍、三倍の給料をもらって、故郷へ仕送りをした。
ソ連軍が満州へ雪崩れ込んだ終戦の夏、命からがら内地に帰り着いた村人は、以来、貝のように口をつぐんで闇の帝国の秘密を守り通した。「七三一部隊の秘密は墓場までもっていけ」と厳命した石井の言葉にしたがい、隠れるように暮らし、なかには恩給も受けられず生活に窮乏するものもあったという。大地主だった石井家と加茂の村人は蔦のように絡み合いながら繋がり、その特別の連鎖が奥深い闇を生み落としたのである。
石井家から伸びる長い蔦を手繰り寄せるうち、わたしは石井家のお手伝いさんだった渡邊あきという女性が存命であることを知った。当時九十歳、東京の東大井に住んでいることもわかった。渡邊あきを訪ねたのは二〇〇三年五月である。むかしながらの大通りに面した書店の裏手、息子が新築した家の一室で、渡邊あきは穏やかな表情でわたしを迎えてくれた。
数ヵ月後、これまで存在すら全く知られていなかった石井四郎直筆の「1945－８－16終戰当時メモ」と「終戰メモ1946－１－11」が見つかり、わたしは急いで帰国した。かつて終戦直後、部下にノートを託そうとスイカを下げて石井四郎が歩いた道。当時はさぞかし殺風景だったろう同じ道路を五〇年以上後にわたしも歩いて石井の記したノートを見に行くのである。その巡り合わせの不思議さにとらわれながら辿り着いた渡邊家で、周一から二冊の大学ノートを受け取った。
A５判の黄ばんだ大学ノートで、一九四六（昭和21）年のノートには表紙に「石井四郎」と本人が名前を記している。開いてみると、鉛筆で、旧漢字を使った独特の崩し文字で書かれている。判読できない文字や数字が並んでいる。表題にメモとあるように、その日の出来事や用件を綴った覚書であり、いわゆる備忘録である。丹念に読みはじめるうち、行間から石井の息遣いが次第に伝わってくるようで、わたしの手はふるえた。

Thomas H. Maugh II

By the middle of the 6th century, the Emperor Justinian had spread his Byzantine Empire around the rim of the Mediterranean and throughout Europe, laying the groundwork for what he hoped would be a long-lived dynasty.
His dreams were shattered when disease-bearing mice from lower Egypt reached the harbor town of Pelusium in AD 540. From there, the devastating disease spread to Alexandria and, by ship, to Constantinople, Justinian’s capital, before surging throughout his empire.
By the time Justinian’s plague had run its course in AD 590, it had killed as many as 100 million people — half the population of Europe — brought trade to a near halt, destroyed an empire and, perhaps, brought on the Dark Ages.
While a 6th century plague might seem an esoteric subject, Little and others think that it has great relevance in a modern world that is continually threatened by emerging diseases. A second pandemic of plague struck Europe in the Middle Ages — the so-called Black Death — killing 25 million people and once more producing widespread social disruption.
A third pandemic began in China in the late 19th century and spread to North America, where a large reservoir of the disease remains active in animals throughout the Southwest.

Peter Kriedte

Population change in Europe, 1500-1800
Population - unit: million
(Index)

	1500	1600	1700	1800
Northern Europe (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland)	1.6 (100)	2.6 (162)	3.1 (194)	5 (312)
Northwest Europe (British Isles, Netherlands, Belgium)	6.3 (100)	9.7 (154)	12.7 (202)	21.2 (337)
Western Europe (France)	17 (100)	17.9 (105)	20.8 (122)	27.9 (164)
Southern Europe (Portugal, Spain, Italy)	16.4 (100)	21.7 (132)	21.7 (132)	31.3 (191)
Central Europe (Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Poland, Czech Republic)	18.5 (100)	24 (130)	24.5 (132)	33.5 (181)
Eastern Europe (European parts of Russia)	12 (100)	15 (125)	20 (167)	36 (300)
Southeast Europe (Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Balkan countries)	9.1 (100)	11.2 (123)	12.2 (134)	20.8 (229)
European total	80.9 (100)	102.1 (126)	115 (142)	175.7 (217)

World War II

World War II was the deadliest military conflict in history. Over 60 million people were killed, which was over 2.5% of the world population. The tables below give a detailed country-by-country count of human losses.

ГУЛаг

   

Alexander Wienerberger

---

Passers-by no longer pay attention to the corpses of starved peasants on a street in Kharkiv, 1933.

John C. Campbell

The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivization and the Terror-Famine; Famine in the Ukraine, 1932-1933 by Robert Conquest
Two books remind the world of Stalin's campaign against the kulaks and the drive for farm collectivization accompanied by force, terror and famine, especially in the Ukraine. Conquest's study places these events in the context of Bolshevik politics and policy and describes the famine in grisly detail. On one of his main themes, the deliberate destruction of the independent peasantry for reasons of ideology and power, the record is indisputable; on his other theme, that the famine was an act of genocide directed against the Ukrainian nation, the case is less clear, although Ukrainian nationalism was a constant concern of the Bolshevik leadership. As the Soviet government then and later denied the existence of the famine, there is no official body of evidence on which the story can be based, but Conquest has done a masterful job in collecting material from eyewitness accounts of foreign journalists and emigrés, and also from fact and fiction published in the U.S.S.R. itself. The volume edited by Serbyn and Krawchenko, less ambitious but covering some of the same ground and with similar sympathy for the Ukrainian cause, has a useful chapter on sources. It also describes fully how the famine was often dishonestly reported to the West (especially by Walter Duranty of the The New York Times) and how the Western governments chose to close their eyes and ears.

Nicholas Eberstadt

In the late 1950′s and early 60′s, China suffered a prolonged and terrible famine. The human toll was higher than from any other famine in modern times — and in all likelihood, greater than from any previous famine in human history. While a precise count of the victims will never be possible, Western analyses of official Chinese census figures subsequently indicated that as many as 30 million Chinese perished from ”excess mortality” between 1959 and 1961. Even today, the sheer magnitude of that catastrophe seems almost incomprehensible: it would be as if the entire population of California had been swept off the face of the earth.
Unlike so many earlier bouts of mass starvation in Chinese history, this one did not come on the heels of extraordinary flooding or exceptional drought: China’s own meteorological records confirm that weather conditions across the country were actually slightly better than usual during the deadly years between 1958 and 1962. This was, instead, a man-made disaster: there was nothing ”natural” about it.
In 1958, Mao Zedong’s Communist Government unleashed the fateful ”Great Leap Forward” campaign; wildly ambitious targets notwithstanding, the program swiftly and methodically brought about a nationwide collapse of Chinese agriculture (a calamity never before witnessed in this ancient land). Yet instead of immediately redressing the damage they had caused, the merciless utopians of China’s new dynasty insisted on forcing their experiment forward and made a point of denying relief to the country’s desperate peasants — thereby vastly and needlessly magnifying the human cost of the tragedy.
Unlike other monumental atrocities in living memory — the Holocaust, the gulag, Khmer Rouge Cambodia — the story of China’s state-sponsored famine remains largely unknown to the world’s informed public. For unlike the Nazis, the leaders of the Soviet Union or the Pol Pot regime, the Government and party responsible for the great Chinese famine are still in power — and still suppressing information about the carnage they wrought. With ”Hungry Ghosts: Mao’s Secret Famine,” however, there is at last an accessible — and, as it happens, a masterly — account of the greatest peacetime disaster of this century.

Canard Enchaîné

Une palme dans la cyber mare
Non, en dépit des apparences, ''Le Canard'' ne vient pas barboter sur le net. Ce n'est pas faute d'y avoir été invité par des opérateurs plus ou moins bien intentionnés, et parfois par des lecteurs qui aimeraient bien lire en ligne leur hebdomadaire préféré. Et surtout, par les canetons expatriés, qui ne reçoivent parfois leur journal, à l'autre bout du monde, que plusieurs jours après la parution.
Mais notre métier, c'est d'informer et de distraire nos lecteurs, avec du papier journal et de l'encre. C'est un beau métier qui suffit à occuper notre équipe.
Ce site officiel du ''Canard'' se limite donc, pour l'heure, à donner quelques informations pratiques, et aussi à occuper les adresses que des escrocs ont parfois tenté de détourner, en se faisant passer pour nous.
Petit à petit, nous nous efforcerons d'enrichir le contenu, avec une rubrique historique, et, peut-être, un accès aux archives.
En attendant, le très modeste cyber-Canard vous donne donc rendez-vous, mercredi, chez votre marchand de journaux !

The Jaded Network

Android #19, Doctor Gero

Audrey Hepburn

I believe in pink. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing, kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles.

The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides.

For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.

The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mode but the true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It is the caring that she lovingly gives the passion that she shows. The beauty of a woman grows with the passing years.

The most important thing is to enjoy your life – to be happy – it’s all that matters.

I love people who make me laugh. I honestly think it’s the thing I like most, to laugh. It cures a multitude of ills. It’s probably the most important thing in a person.

Graham T. Allison Jr.

The most dangerous message North Korea sent Tuesday with its third nuclear weapon test is: nukes are for sale.
The real significance is that this test was, in the estimation of American officials, most likely fueled by highly enriched uranium, not the plutonium that served as the core of North Korea’s earlier tests. Testing a uranium-based bomb would announce to the world — including potential buyers — that North Korea is now operating a new, undiscovered production line for weapons-usable material.
History shows that the North Koreans will “sell anything they have to anybody who has the cash to buy it.” In intelligence circles, North Korea is known as “Missiles ‘R’ Us,” having sold and delivered missiles to Iran, Syria and Pakistan, among others.
Who could be interested in buying a weapon for several hundred millions of dollars? Iran is currently investing billions of dollars annually in its nuclear quest. While Al Qaeda’s core is greatly diminished and its resources depleted, the man who succeeded Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, has been seeking nuclear weapons for more than a decade. And then there are Israel’s enemies, including wealthy individuals in some Arab countries, who might buy a bomb for the militant groups Hezbollah or Hamas.
President Obama has rightly identified nuclear terrorism as “the single biggest threat to U.S. security.” If terrorists explode a single nuclear bomb in an American city in the near future, there is a serious possibility that the core of the weapon will have come from North Korea.

Ban Ki-moon

As a young boy growing up in a poor village after the Korean War, we did not have much. No phones. No television. But we had something that connected us to the world outside our small village. We had radio. And radio helped open my eyes and ears to the world. Since its invention more than 100 years ago, radio has sparked the imagination … opened doors for change … and served as a channel for life-saving information. Radio entertains, educates and informs. It promotes democratic expression and influences ideas. From short-wave to FM to satellite transmission – radio connects people wherever they are. In conflict situations and times of crisis, radio is a lifeline for vulnerable communities. Radio is both valuable and cost-effective. From day one, the United Nations has been using radio to reach the peoples of the world . UN Radio sheds light on all issues on the United Nations agenda – from sustainable development … to the protection of children … to peacekeeping and conflict prevention. We are proud of our rich history of radio production in many languages, and the innovative ways we use radio to inform and serve the world. On this World Radio Day, let us celebrate the power of radio and let us work together to tune the world to the frequency of peace, development and human rights for all.

Xenia Avezov

The Brazilian-proposed concept of responsibility while protecting (RWP) has polarized opinion on how the international community should respond when civilian populations are targeted. RWP’s supporters claim it would make civilian protection interventions, especially military ones, more accountable and proportionate and rein in perceived misuse of the internationally accepted responsibility to protect (R2P). Some of RWP’s opponents see it as a deliberate ploy by states aligned with China and Russia to impede intervention. In reality, this debate is a distraction from less comfortable truths about R2P.

IPFM, SIPRI

Global stocks of highly enriched uranium and separated plutonium, 2010
(tonnes)

State	Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU)	Separated plutonium
		Military	Civilian
China	16.0	1.8	0.0
France	31.0	6.0	55.9
India	1.3	0.5	3.7
Israel	0.3	0.8	0.0
North Korea	0.0	0.034	0.0
Pakistan	2.6	0.1	0.0
Russia (to be blended down)	670.0 (+104.0)	128.0	47.7
UK	21.2	7.6	85.3
USA (to be blended down)	510.0 (+104.0)	92.0	0.0
Non-nuclear weapon states	20	0.0	55.6
Germany	0.0	0.0	9.5
Japan	0.0	0.0	46.1
Total (to be blended down)	1,270.0 (+208.0)	237.7	248.8

Shannon N. Kile

There has been considerable speculation that North Korea is seeking to build nuclear weapons using highly enriched uranium (HEU) as the fissile material (rather than plutonium, which is believed to have been used in the first two tests). While it is not known whether North Korea has produced HEU for use in nuclear weapons, the country is believed to have an active uranium enrichment programme. By using HEU for nuclear weapons, North Korea could potentially overcome the constraints posed by its limited stock of weapon-grade plutonium. North Korea currently has enough separated plutonium to construct 6–8 nuclear explosive devices. A test using HEU could pave the way for an expanded future arsenal.
The test used a ‘miniaturized and lighter nuclear device with greater explosive force than previously’. This is consistent with the widespread view that North Korea is trying to develop a device that is compact and light enough fit on top of a ballistic missile—something that has long been considered out of the North’s technical reach.
A successful North Korean test of such of a compact design would bring it one step closer to being able to build a long-range ballistic missile capable of delivering a nuclear weapon.

Matthew Walter, Ira Iosebashvili

Investors trading the Japanese yen on Tuesday got a bad case of whiplash, after a series of statements from top policy makers first appeared to tacitly approve, then criticize, Japan’s quest for a cheaper currency. The result was a drop in the yen to near a 3 year low in early morning trading in New York, followed by a jump of almost 1% in just under 2 minutes a few hours later. The conflicting statements came at a tense time in currency markets. Japan and other developed countries have been pouring money into their financial system, pushing down their currencies in the hopes of spurring their economies. Though they have been successful so far, many traders have been anticipating backlash from leaders of other countries that get hurt as their own currencies rise.

Anja Jentzsch

John Wilbanks

Numerous scientists have pointed out the irony that right at the historical moment when we have the technologies to permit worldwide availability and distributed process of scientific data, broadening collaboration and accelerating the pace and depth of discovery…..we are busy locking up that data and preventing the use of correspondingly advanced technologies on knowledge …

Wikipedia, datacatalogs.org

Open data in government

• Data.gov - U.S. government open-data website
• Data.gov.uk - U.K. government open-data website
• data.govt.nz - New Zealand Government initiative
• data.norge.no - Norwegian government open-data website
• geodata.gov.gr - Greece's open government geospatial data
• opengovdata.ru - OpenGovData Russia Catalog
• Data.gov.au - Australian government open-data website
• Data.gov.ma - Moroccan government open-data website
• Data.gc.ca - Canadian government open-data website
• data.belgium.be - Belgian government open-data website
• opendata.go.ke - Kenyan government open-data website
• data.overheid.nl - Dutch government open-data website
• datos.gob.cl - Chilean government open-data website
• data.gov.it - Italian government open-data website
• datos.gob.es - Spanish government open-data website.
• datos.gub.uy - Uruguayan government open-data website
• data.gouv.fr - French government open-data website
• dados.gov.br - Brazilian government open-data website
• www.opendata.ee - Estonian government open-data website.
• dados.gov.pt - Portuguese government open-data website.
• date.gov.md - Moldavian government open-data website.
• data.gov.in - India Government open-data website.
• data.gv.at - Austrian Government open-data website.
• open-data.europa.eu - European Commission Data Portal.

DataCatalogs.org - List of open data catalogs in the world

経済産業省

Open Data METI, Japan

Homepage	http://datameti.go.jp/
Description	Test site produced by METI (Ministry for Economy, Trade and Industry, Japan); Created using CKAN.
Publisher	METI
Metadata License	Other: License Not Specified
Spatial Coverage	Japan

本サイトは経済産業省がオープンデータを実践するために設置した試験サイト（β版）です。本サイトは、データ活用に関心がある企業、NPO、個人等の方々から色々な意見をいただくことで、少しでも使い勝手の良いサイトにしていくとともに、個人情報等に配慮した上で、経済省のみならず政府全体におけるオープンデータ推進の検討に活用させていただくことも考えております。

Jenna Wortham, Nick Bilton

Instagram released an updated version of its privacy policy and terms of service on Monday, and they include lengthy stipulations on how photographs uploaded by users may be used by Instagram and its parent company, Facebook.
Facebook and Instagram have both hinted at plans to incorporate advertisements into Instagram’s application, although they have declined to provide details about how and when ads would be deployed. These freshly drafted terms give the first glimpse of what the companies might have planned.
A section of the new terms of service, titled “Rights,” notes that Instagram will also be able to use your photographs and identity in advertisements. “You agree that a business or other entity may pay us to display your username, likeness, photos (along with any associated metadata), and/or actions you take, in connection with paid or sponsored content or promotions, without any compensation to you,” the new terms say.

Derek Powazek

“If you’re not paying for the product, you are the product.”
I don’t know who said it first, but the line has achieved a kind of supernatural resonance online. And for good reason – it describes a kind of modern internet company that provides a free service. These businesses are designed to aggregate a large number of users in order to sell that audience’s aggregate attention, usually in the form of advertising. … But the more the line is repeated, the more it gets on my nerves.
I’ve worked for, and even run, many companies in the last 20 years with various business models. … There was no correlation between how much money users paid and how well they were treated.
We can and should support the companies we love with our money. Companies can and should have balanced streams of income so that they’re not solely dependent on just one. We all should consider the business models of the companies we trust with our data.
But we should not assume that, just because we pay a company they’ll treat us better, or that if we’re not paying that the company is allowed to treat us like shit. Reality is just more complicated than that. What matters is how companies demonstrate their respect for their customers. We should hold their feet to the fire when they demonstrate a lack of respect.
And we should all stop saying, “if you’re not paying for the product, you are the product,” because it doesn’t really mean anything, it excuses the behavior of bad companies, and it makes you sound kind of like a stoner looking at their hand for the first time.

Institute of Network Cultures

The Institute of Network Cultures analyses and shapes the terrain of network cultures from the inside. No innocent bystander, it actively contributes to the field through events, publications and online dialogue. The sphere of new media has huge potential for socio-technological change – the mission of the Institute of Network Cultures, the INC, is to explore, document and feed this potential.

Is the word ‘social’ hollowed out, or does it still have some meaning? How to understand the thunderous growth of mobile uses in social media? Is there really something like a Facebook riot and how do we start one? Theorists, programmers and artists alike react to the monopolies that control social media – by designing decentralized networks, creating art that’s criticizing and surprising at the same time or by trying to understand the big networks from within. Meet them at the third Unlike Us conference organized by the Institute of Network Cultures on 21-23 March 2013 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Stijn Peeters

Given this monetization of our input and personal data, it is obvious that we do in fact pay a price for using Yelp or FourSquare. The question is not so much whether this is a good thing or not, but rather whether the price is right; we’re providing FourSquare with our minute-to-minute location, and the data we submit about these locations, in exchange for using their nice app and the features it provides. Is this acceptable? The problem in answering this kind of questions is that while it is sort of clear what kind of data the users provide to the services, information about what social networks do with this information is often foggy. The terms of the exchange between the social network and the user are not transparent to the user side of the matter, and perhaps this is the real issue with being the product that’s being sold. Leighton Evans found a nice pub in York, and I found an affordable restaurant in London, but what did Yelp and FourSquare find, and what did they do with it? Without an answer to those questions we cannot yet be sure whether it’s all right to be a commodity.