30/03/2018

The archive contains older posts which may no longer reflect my current views.

# Liked: To Facebook — and Its Critics: Please Don’t Screw Up Our Internet...

Jeff Jarvis asks that we do not throw the baby out with the bath water and for all sides to exercise caution when dealing with data and privacy matters on the web.

Just as Facebook blames "bad actors" for ruining it for the rest of us so society points the finger and accuses Facebook itself as being such an actor, ruining the web for the others trying to use it for good.

It's all a question of scale and starting points.

As Jarvis points out, there are many using social media for good, just as there are many whose personal feeds don't include constant rage, aggression and bigots. It would be ridiculous to deny them of their experiences because of some bad actors.

Does the management of personal data on the web need legislating? Quite possibly, but it should be approached carefully so as not to wreck any chance of real progress.

Ultimately, we have to think and decide for ourselves, we have to take personal responsibility for what we do. Not just how we behave but whether, as individuals, we are happy to be actors in this play. Some are not, some won't even attend the theatre. But others feel they can achieve something useful, can learn their lines and use their performance for good, to affect change.

It is a decision we all have to make but must also respect those of others and not shut down the theatre just because we got stage fright.

# It's a shame that Messages in iCloud didn't make it out of beta. I got so used to it syncing between the phone and MacBook - it worked flawlessly for me but Apple have obviously deemed it not ready for prime time.

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# I've been contemplating a modification to the site: changing the link colours from their innocuous dark blue. In "dark mode" the orange really stands out from the text but I think the blue gets a little lost. Thoughts welcome?

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