Slashdot Mirror
ICQ Universe
scubacuda writes "PC World: ICQ Universe (now owned by AOL) will soon be the first to offer social networking services on an IM platform. One has to wonder what types of legal issues might surface as social networks (particularly those unsecured) become more popular. For example, could being an IM buddy with someone later come back and haunt you?"
I am totally baffled... More and more, I have the impression that a majority of slashdotters is really afraid of any form of bidirectional and/or replyable (you call it tracable) communication. For heavens sake : where's the principle of "innocent till proven otherwise" ?
I notice this attitude going on at my kids school too : don't talk to anyone, don't look at anyone, don't think about anyone. Curl up inside your safe self-shell and murmur away. I once had hope that the internet, and especially AIM were a way out of this downward spiral, but the FUDders and paranoiacs are well on their way to ruin that utopia.
When will I end this grieving ? When will my future begin ?
Although online social network technology makes it easier for law enfrocement to track people and find out who they are connected too, it also makes life harder for the law. These types of networks encourage large numbers of connections. While the subjects of an investigation might only call a dozen different people by phone, they might have hundreds of contacts in an online environment. Tracking down all these contacts, most of whom are innocuous, becomes a labor-intensive needle-in-a-haystack problem.
The more contacts people have, the harder it is to determine which contacts are the salient ones from the standpoint of investigation.
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
Usenet posts, for example. Slashdot posts too. However, with so many people being online, unless one plans to run for a major office, things won't be scrutinized much (or, atleast one can hope for that).
I wonder how a race for a public office in 2020 would look like. A multimedia ad sponsored by next generation media cronies will say, "Candidate xyz posted *THIS unpatriotic message* on slashdot in 2003, so don't vote for him" A lot depends on how the people evolve by then -- may be they will wisen up and can think for themselves, or may be they no longer cease to be people and just become sheeple.
Definitely, interesting times ahead.
S
I think it will take less time that the 5-10 years you talk about... software development moves quite quickly - although I would have to say that software innovation moves less slowly ;-)
How difficult would it be to create a network that caters for the different social groups that you talk about. But, are there any differences between the networks that these groups create? Sure, the criteria for determining who is added/excluded from a group will be different, but the underlying requirements are the same. Psychologists feel free to correct me if I'm wrong!!
I think you're right, but I'm not sure it'll even last that long.
The thing that has made IM so popular is not that it tries to facilitate the true exchange of human social networks, but instead it tries to support it. If organisations like ICQ refocused their efforts on how best to support existing types of human networks instead of trying to replace them, then I think they might be on to something.
I can't remember the details, but MS (of all companies) was really on to something like this a little while back. They also limited group sizes, which is a clever way of ensuring meaningful interaction between acquaintances when they're online.
-- james
Okay, I've read the article.
So, could somebody please explain something to me: how is this different from what ICQ and the other IMs already offer? It almost feels to me like somebody putting a nice new coat of paint on something that's already there, and then bragging about it.
Robert B. Marks
Author, Demonsbane in Diablo Archive
Humm, I remember when ICQ was a wonder and people from around the world would drop by for a visit and a chat. Now that has changed and the only people who ever want to message me anymore are those 27 year old russian girls with websites and they want me to look at their pictures. Eh? I know where to get good p0rn and it isn't from the web or from fake 27 year old girls. I doubt very seriously that any sort of social networking system in the AOL crapware that ICQ has become can ever be good. -Unless of course there are plenty of pretty 27 year old russian girls who want to really meet me that is. So sayeth the gadlaw.
Enjoy your Karma, after all you earned it. Feel your Karma Joe, feel it burn.
Curl up inside your safe self-shell and murmur away.
Isn't that precisely the attitude that is fostered by these invite-only networks? The great thing about the internet today is that you can talk to people whether you belong to their clique or not.
The fact that posts like these are public record does mean that you do have to watch your words, but I don't think that is a problem as long as your posts are reasoned out and you're prepared to defend your position, or admit that you were wrong. If someone really wants to dig up dirt they will always find something, so you might as well speak freely.
If someone really wants to dig up dirt they will always find something, so you might as well speak freely.
totally. In these, an AIM social network is no different from your local darts club. The point I'm trying to make is that I'm stunned by the FUDders that want to make us believe that AIM is a jungle with a IDthief behind every tree. I can't and won't let them say such nonsense. AIM is a free speech network wheer you can say dumb things that can blow up in your face. Just like real life. But that's no excuse to label it as dangerous.
When will I end this grieving ? When will my future begin ?
Of course we all have said things we regret, too many people spout off when they shouldn't. But your example of political races would prove interesting to me. If candidate X posted feelings one way on an issue 5 years ago and is now campaigning the other way, I'd certainly like to know why.
I'm not drunk, I just have a speech impediment. And a stomach virus. And an inner ear infection.
I meet new people via friends. You know, I get added into a group conversation (IM or IRL) and I say hi and they say hi.
I've never used social networking websites.
The social networking craze is eerily reminisent of the dotcom heyday - sure the technology is cool but does it really make all that much of a difference in the world or to people? Will people pay for it? I doubt it.
I have no idea why all the VC's are dumping money into these things.. it's only a matter of time before this little "bubble" bursts.
--
|-_-| . o O ( bEef!)
that's not a problem of IM, that's a problem of your country. Guilty until proven otherwise.
For example, could being an IM buddy with someone later come back and haunt you?
In the same way talking to the person in the checkout line in front of you could come back to haunt you. Slashdot of all places tries to explain that things done on the internet are NOT NEW just because they are on the internet, and then we have a story driving the other point of view. You always have to be careful with other people, but in order to live, you can't hole up in the basement thinking mommy told me not to talk to strangers.
//Blessed are they that run around in circles, for they shall be known as wheels.
Come play Moral Decay!
Not at all. I don't see anything Orkut's communities do that a decent webforum doesn't already do better, presuming that the webforum allows people to link their usernames to their own webpages, as lots do.
Actually, /. is a fine example of what I mean by "really useful added value". Its primary purpose is to disseminate news that geeks will find interesting, but it also has some networking features: you can define other users as friends, foes, &c., you can get more information about people via their user pages, you can send messages internally, you can see who "friends of friends" are, and so on. LiveJournal is a pretty good example too -- primary purpose is providing a blogging tool; the ability to define profiles, interests and friends allows for networking.
Needlessly long reply to what I'm sure was sarcasm, but eh.
Dance like nobody's watching. Sing like you're in the shower. Fuck like you're being filmed.
that "degrees of seperation" is bullshit.
It's just a matter of how generalized you allow a "seperation" to be.
Bush declared that we will capture Osama -> one degree.
What bull.