Politics 2.0 is Closer Than You Think

Two pieces of news just sort of jumped out at me today:

(1) Dick DeVos, who is running for Governer in Michigan, just announced the winner of a video contest they were running on their website.  The DeVos campaign invited site visitors to make their own political ads in support of DeVos,...

Boy Scouts Now Fight Piracy

In a move that can be described as either truly genius or truly bizarre, the Associated Press reported  that the Motion Picture Association of America has developed a curriculum to teach the Boy Scouts of America about the necessity of entertainment copyright law and the ill-effects of pirating movies. Scouts receive a merit badge after completing the program,...

Just How Bad Is Click Fraud?

A $500 million to $1 billion problem, depending on whom you ask.

In a front page article in The Washington Post, 'Click Fraud' Threatens Foundation of Web Ad, staff writer Sara Kehaulani Goo discusses the mechanics of click fraud, the new forms of click fraud — the fast growing "pay to read"...

A Shakespearian Second Life

Virtual gaming fever has hit the MacArthur Foundation, resulting in the philanthropic organization awarding Indiana University professor Edward Castronova a $240,000 grant to build a Second Life -esque virtual world fashioned after the plays of Shakespeare. The project, entitled "Arden: The World of Shakespeare," is meant to let Castronova and his research team delve into online behaviors by conducting ongoing social experiments online....

Political Junkie? Check out Pollster.com

Mark Blumenthal, the man behind last election cycle's Mystsery Pollster blog, has a new site called pollster.com and it is fantastic.  There is a blog that provides analysis of the latest polling data as well as a section called The Polls that aggregates all the various polls for each Senate and Gubernatorial race and select House races. ...