Mr. Topp and the Big Bad Blog

Since I began using Twitter, I have loved the shortened URL. It allows me to stay within Twitter’s 140-character-limit when I want to link to something. And I like to link to things.

Two recent events have me reconsidering.

The first is Digg’s introduction of the Digg bar, which threatens to bring shortened URLs into mainstream browsing. This has set-off a number of old-standing complaints about URL shortening, which can be briefly summarized as making the Internet less transparent and introducing centralized points of failure. There are also concerns about having search engines function properly when links are sent via third parties.

The first complaint was moot when dealing with Twitter — I have chosen who to follow, and on that basis I trust what they are linking me to. The latter two were unfortunate trade-offs that were made up for by Twitter’s utility.

But Digg is not Twitter — there is no essential need to keep that URL short in Digg that I can see. Digg is merely trying to gain a share of the URL-shortened traffic by embedding it into their new tool. An understandable strategy, but not one that I like.

This broadening of shortened URLs into a larger context has me reconsidering my own use of them, and wondering why we really need them in the first place. It seems strange to me that the benefits of URL shortening cannot be achieved in a way that eliminates (or minimizes) the process’s negative impacts. My suspicion is that this means that nobody has really tried.

The second recent event is the so-called Stalk Daily worm on Twitter. (It is so-called, because it appears that the Stalk Daily website had nothing to do with it.) While it was not actually how the worm spread, initial belief was that links to the Stalk Daily website could infect your account.

With shortened URLs and possibly infected Twitter contacts, suddenly every shortened link was suspect. Twitter was no longer safe. One Twitter contact who links frequently went on ignore for the day — particularly in his Tweets about the Stalk Daily problem. I could not identify whether or not any of the links were safe.

Which is how I have come to the conclusion that shortened links need to go. They are problematic and dangerous — but some of my favourite web tools require their use. A conundrum, but one for which a solution must be out there.

observations and opinions digg, links, seo, twitter

Shortly after the witching hour, when the sun has risen and the monsters have left, the links come out to play. In the brightness of the morning sun, you can see links for miles.

	The benefits of being a close second.
The Transfiguration Catholic Church might want to re-think their URL
	Racism or victims calling “foul” when there was none? The police chief provides clear guidance: “If I see three or four young black men walking down the street, I have to stop them and check their names,” said Mills, who is white. “I want them to be afraid every time they see the police that they might get arrested.
Has John Stewart become the voice of the moral majority?
	Help wanted in Toronto: Dwarf needed for house party
A very bizarre lawsuit over trademark infringement. Those logos look nothing alike.
	According to Google, over half of the takedown requests they receive under the guise of copyright protection actually target the competitors of those making the request, and over a third of requests are invalid.
Japanese Boob Machine
	The New Scientist presents Tactile Illusions
Seth Godin asks: Where have all the agents gone?
	Sci Fi to SyFy
Shipment of pet fish contains a dead body, instead. The article does not say whether or not the dead body was later flushed down the toilet.
	Do you only have one eye? Yes? OK, have you ever considered putting a video camera in your spare eye socket?
COUNTRYMEN, I AM TO BURY, NOT EULOGIZE, CAESAR; IF EVIL LIVES ON, BEQUEATHING INJURY, GOOD OFT EXPIRES: A PALSIED, AWKWARD DEATH!
	The first rule of Fight Club is: Don’t get the mentally disabled to fight for your own entertainment.
The wonderful world of customer service
	Dr. Mario on Universal Health Care
Neil Gaiman has discovered the ideal job: certifying places as elf-free (or not)
	The New York Times has decided to start threatening blogs that link to them. Note that the image directly to the left is from the New York Times. Oh my!

linking copyright, elves, fight club, links, racism, tourism

Facebook has done a quick damage-control turnaround and reverted to their old Terms of Service. The Electronic Privacy Information Centre is now calling for new laws to protect web users. Some part of me calls it overreaction — Facebook’s modified terms of service, while considerably worse than some popular sites, were not abnormal for a service like theirs. That said, it is probably past time for a limit on what rights can be given away by users when agreeing to a TOS or EULA on registration to a website or service. There needs to be recognition that these are not read, and certain rights should be reserved by end users regardless. Of course, this needs to be a carefully designed law and not a quick kneejerk reaction, as the latter would do more harm than good.

A BBC blog/column thing about links on the web and piracy.

Architects MAD are designing a city centre:

More can be found here

And we end with some Cyanide (and Happiness):

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

morning coffee architecture, cyanide and happiness, electronic privacy information centre, end user license agreement, EULA, facebook, links, piracy, privacy, rights, terms of service, tos

Wherein I try (again) to share all the things that caught my attention during the week. Images are links too, you know!

The music industry likes to make threats to get homemade videos on YouTube that include the music they “own” taken down — in truth these have the power to help the musician’s career. A related blog explores the problems with the music industry.

Goats get arrested for car theft. I mean … car theft? How would the goat drive?

Apple claims that jailbreaking iPhones is illegal. The term is ‘jailbreaking’ because it allows the user to use software that is not directly approved by the hardware manufacturer, thereby breaking free of the hardware manufacturer’s confinement. It’s hard to see why people who choose to do this should be arrested, really. And I wonder what Apple would say if Microsoft decided that iTunes was no longer permitted to function on their operating system, and anyone who tried to download iTunes for Windows should be arrested.

Would people stop claiming to have created perpetual motion machines? Please?! And if you actually do make one, how about actually giving some proof — you will make the entire scientific community shit themselves. Really.

Beware of confidence men attempting to sell you something called a telephone — it is a clever ruse to try to sell you non-existent and impossible technology!

Follow Shakespeare on Twitter.

Sure, you’re guilty of rape. But given that you used to be a sheriff and have a “stable” relationship with your wife, we’ll just let you wander free until sentencing.

Now enjoy your commercial break!

linking goats, iphone, jailbreaking, links, music, perpetual motion machines, shakespeare, twitter, youtube