Wednesday 13 August 2014

Oh, Yes, Let’s Listen To ‘A Former Policy Adviser To The Labour Party’, Shall We?

A pervading online misogyny is the most visible reason why the internet is failing to live up to its potential to improve people's lives…
I… What? Says whom?
a report for a digital charity has concluded.
Ah. OK. That can be safely ignored then.
Charles Leadbeater, an author and former policy adviser to the Labour government, argues in the report A Better Web, that the problem is so serious one solution could be awards for women who successfully contend with online abuse.
“Well done, sweetie, that was very brave of you! What a good girl! Here’s a bright shiny bauble for you!” 

I’m betting, given the two quoted examples, that ‘successfully contending with online abuse’ does not mean using the block options or giving as good as you get, but rather running to the press and demanding new laws to stop people being able to disagree with you…
He cites research that the most important signifier of a safe and vibrant public space is "the presence of women and families – when they felt comfortable it was a sign that the space was good for everyone".
I suppose it really rather depends on the sort of women and family, though. I personally wouldn’t feel any safer with these creatures around, would you?

Nor is this the only aspect of the online world confounding this beard-stroking ‘intellectual’:
Leadbeater mentions targeted advertising as an example of the sort of questionable gift offered by the modern internet, telling the story of a friend who was especially pleased with the presents his wife bought for his 40th birthday.
"Each one [of the presents] hit the spot," Leadbeater writes. "That was because, unbeknown to him and in the two weeks prior to his birthday, his wife had been treated to a string of advertisements on her Facebook page, each carefully chosen to appeal to the wife of a jolly, Welsh, bearded, rugby loving, cider-making public professional.
He adds: "Was this a helpful service to a time-pressed working mother of two who needed ideas for her husband's birthday, or a worrying sign of the kind of knowledge that services like Facebook have about us and which could be used in far from benign ways without our knowing?"
Most sensible people, realising everyone else seems to have been happy – the wife, the giftee and the companies that sold the goods – would say ‘Well, the former, of course!’ and think no more about it.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm seriously pushed to imagine someone whose company I'd enjoy less than a man who describes himself as a "jolly, Welsh, bearded, rugby loving, cider-making public professional."

ivan said...

One does have to ask 'what the hell is the twit talking about'.

Having asked that I go on to ask about these advertisements that everyone but me appears to be seeing, am I missing something or is it because I have ABP and NoScript installed in my browser?

Bucko said...

"Leadbeater concludes that the concerns mean that "there is some sense in which the internet is in danger of not meeting its potential"

I assume he's referring to the potential he thinks the internet should have.

I see the potential of the internet to be a place for the free and unregulated exchange of ideas and information.

If dicks like Leadbeater get their way, the internet will not fulfil it's potential as I see it.

Jim said...

Only the Left could manage to complain about something that worked out exactly as planned and perfectly for all involved.

Furor Teutonicus said...

XX who needed ideas for her husband's birthday, XX

"Get yer nickers off!" would cover it... or?

MTG said...

Strange how folk are upset by Charles Leadbeater's food for thought.

The sort of coward deriving pleasure from upsetting females with obscene abuse, is unlikely to be coarse in person. And I cannot imagine an abusive Troll having the nerve to sexually insult a female stranger in person, were civilised men also present.

JuliaM said...

"Having asked that I go on to ask about these advertisements that everyone but me appears to be seeing, am I missing something or is it because I have ABP and NoScript installed in my browser?"

What, you took personal responsibility for something?

You anarchist... ;)

"I assume he's referring to the potential he thinks the internet should have."

Correct!

"And I cannot imagine an abusive Troll having the nerve to sexually insult a female stranger in person, were civilised men also present."

There's precious few left, MTG, and they can't be everywhere.