Hack Blogspot

Image by New Media Days via Flickr For Julian Assange , the WikiLeaks founder and guiding spirit, it must have been sweet. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was trying to smooth over the embarrassment, while the White House huffed that a criminal investigation was underway. The French government was decrying "the height of irresponsibility," and Pakistan was reckoning with a rebuke from its traditional patron, Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, the pasty-faced Assange, a self-appointed knight-errant who has been doing battle with official secrecy since 2006, was in the shadows somewhere - few knew where - undoubtedly savoring the ruckus caused by WikiLeaks' exposure of confidential State Department cables. In an uncomfortable irony, however, he had to do the savoring in a secret location, because Interpol, the international anti-crime organization, has issued a high-priority "red notice" asking member countries to arrest him. President Obama's spok...

President Obama has apparently had a moment of epiphany and realized that new media and new technology can cleave young people from the truth and render them addicted to gadgets and entertainment. He said as much — attacking the iPod and iPad — at a speech to graduates of a college in Virginia last week. The president is doubly correct. First of all, he is right (as I have written a number of times) that the Internet, Facebook and, yes, the new iPad and many other devices can interfere with people becoming wise and knowledgeable, rather than simply deluged with facts. They can also become estranged from real relationships and from themselves as they become obsessed with pretending to be stars on YouTube or worthy of “followers” on Twitter or popular with thousands of “friends” on Facebook. Second, Obama is correct because his own ascension to power is a product of those very forces. He used celebrity and star power and the anonymous, pervasive reach of the Web to win his election. ...

President Hugo Chavez is tops on Twitter in Venezuela less than 2 weeks after launching his account, surpassing Internet-savvy foes who dominate the social networking site and use it to oppose him. Chavez's account, "chavezcandanga," had racked up more than 237,000 followers as of Saturday morning — besting the 234,000 who receive tweets from Globovision, the only TV channel that remains critical of the socialist leader. In recent televised appearances, Chavez has trumpeted the meteoric rise of his Twitter popularity while downplaying the critical, often disparaging messages he receives. "Some criticize me, others insult me. I don't care," he said. "It's a form of contact with the world." The president joined Twitter on April 27 in an attempt to counter adversaries who have actively used the site to make accusations of human rights violations, organize protests and — above all — ridicule Chavez. He urged supporters to join as well, ca...

A rating for British party leaders' online popularity has been made available with the use of social networking websites such as Twitter and Facebook. MPs and candidates were said to be turning to the popular social forums as part of their campaign to test the political waters. And one company, Yomego, has assessed their "social media reputation scores" (SMRs), based on the "noise" and "sentiment" surrounding the politicians, The BBC reported. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was said to have a popularity score of 68.20, out of 100, while that of Lead of the Opposition David Cameron's was 58.98, compared to leader of the Liberal Democrats Nick Clegg's 68.49, which was the highest.

Striding purposefully, his smile lighting up a rainy afternoon, Barack Obama appears to have arrived here early to tour an elementary school he attended as a boy. But wait. It's not him. The U.S. president is still back in Washington shepherding his healthcare bill toward passage. He's not due to arrive in Indonesia until next week. So who is this guy? He's Ilham Anas, a 34-year-old teen-magazine photographer who has parlayed a striking resemblance to the American president into his own brand of celebrity. Since his sister told him in 2007 that he looked like the then-presidential candidate, Anas' face and megawatt smile have been seen on Southeast Asian TV and the Internet, pitching over-the-counter medicine and other products. He has also appeared on his nation's premier television talk show and had a cameo in a movie, all while fielding offers from marketers across Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines. Anas is the first to admit it: He...

An organization called Rethink Afghanistan has executed a widespread war protest on the White House’s Facebook page. It began with a drive for 20,000 signatures at Rethink Afghanistan’s website, but folks who added their signatures were also given instructions for participating in the Facebook protest. Hundreds of people have posted the following message or something very close to it to the White House page: “President Obama, I am one of more than 20,000 signers of this petition from Rethink Afghanistan: ‘In your State of the Union address on January 27, 2010, I want you to provide a concrete exit strategy for our troops in Afghanistan that begins no later than July 2011 and which completes a withdrawal of combat troops no later than July 1, 2012.’ Petition: http://bit.ly/7romlW“