Disinformation about Disinformation: L. Gordon Crovitz’s Information Age
Posted by Chris Hoofnagle on August 1, 2012 When one spouts disinformation about disinformation, does it make it information? No, it’s L. Gordon Crovitz’s “Information Age,” the weekly poorly informed and poorly reasoned blather about information policy in the Wall Street Journal. Recall that Crovitz recently wrote about the invention of the Internet and online privacy. I wrote about these last two columns,…
Louis Gordon Crovitz’s Disinformation Age
Posted by Chris Hoofnagle on July 30, 2012 Imagine a newspaper oped with half a dozen fallacies. Such a thing could appear in any newspaper in the US. But now imagine that the author is a Rhodes Scholar and you’re left with the Wall Street Journal’s L. Gordon Crovitz. For years I’ve followed the bizarre arguments of L. Gordon Crovitz, who has a…
2 of Hearts in the WSJ: Bad Apples are Spoiling the Otherwise Pristine Barrell of For Profit Education
Posted by Chris Hoofnagle on July 3, 2012 As an educator, I realize that much of education is…well…a scam. And some scams are much bigger than others. We’ve all read about the graduates with six-figure debt loads from obscure colleges. But the for-profit college world operates on another level. Gawker has had excellent commentary on the issue, and has pointed out that the…
Rest in Peace, Thomas Kinkade
Posted by Chris Hoofnagle on April 7, 2012 Thomas Kinkade, painter of pablum and our nation’s most collected living artist, died on Good Friday. Hmmmm.
The Bigger Pink Slime Problem for Business
Posted by Chris Hoofnagle on April 6, 2012 In a matter of weeks, activists have been able to assassinate a popular product through a confluence of events: an official labeled it derogatorily as “pink slime,” social media buzz (or anti-buzz), and media attention against the background of Americans’ greater concern about processed foods. Could this happen to other products? Does it relate to…
Ron Paul & Clicktivism
Posted by Chris Hoofnagle on March 29, 2012 The point raised by yesterday’s Times article on Ron Paul was that while Paul attracts big crowds, these crowds do not translate into voter turnout. Perhaps the problem is that Paul has appeal within his fervent base, but that base is unable to influence people outside the circle. If Paul can attract thousands to a…
There is no There There — Ron Paul’s Loud, Thin Base
Posted by Chris Hoofnagle on March 28, 2012 Writing in today’s Times, Richard A. Oppel asks, “Whatever happened to Ron Paul?” Ron Paul has fans, in the traditional sense of the word–fanatics. They foam over this small and strange man, whose career in Congress has largely been ineffectual. Thousands go to his rallies, but as Oppel observes, “A Feb. 27 event at Michigan…
Planned Parenthood: Trying to Addict Your Kids to Sex
Posted by Chris Hoofnagle on February 16, 2012 How’s this for a tinfoil hat conspiracy, brought to you by the American Life League– Planned Parenthood’s strategy in this great world is to: Phase one: Get kids addicted to sex. Phase two: profit! Through selling birth control, STD testing, and abortion.
“Incentives” for 5 Star Reviews on Ecommerce Sites
Posted by Chris Hoofnagle on January 29, 2012 In case you missed it, here’s a pointer to a recent Times story concerning baked reviews on Amazon and the like. In it, David Streitfeld describes how one company gave rebates to customers in exchange for five star reviews. They even seem to have a claque to address detractors– Even a few grouches could not…
Should Search Engines Warn of Denialism?
Posted by Chris Hoofnagle on January 29, 2012 Evgeny Morozov argued in Slate last week that search engines could do more to warn readers about kooks online. Among other things, he cites to a recent article in Vaccine that details the tactics of anti-vaccine denialists. Morozov points to Google’s special treatment of certain searches, such as “ways to die.” Perhaps an alert can…
