CNET Axes Blogger Who Exposed Whitehouse.gov Privacy Issue

[Paul Ferguson <fergdawgster () gmail com>]

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Via The EFF.

[snip]

Commentary  by Hugh D'Andrade

Former CNET blogger Chris Soghoian has produced some of the best coverage
on the issue of privacy for users of government websites. His work on the
use of YouTube cookies and other tracking technologies on whitehouse.gov
brought public attention to the issue, and inspired EFF to get involved.

Beyond informing the public, Soghoian's work in this area has arguably had
positive effects on policy. The Obama team has made several commendable
adjustments to their privacy and video hosting policies including adding a
prominent link to their privacy policy and using YouTube's new "delayed
cookies" functionality-- results that seem related, at least in time, to
Soghoian's sustained coverage of the issue.

It comes as a surprise, then, to hear that CNET will no longer carry
Soghoian's blog. While Soghoian's confrontational style and irreverent
approach may have been factors, it appears the decision to drop his blog
largely stems from a minor kerfuffle over a headline. A Soghoian post
initially titled "White House Ditches YouTube After Privacy Complaints"
brought loud denials from the YouTube and the Obama team. The Obama folks
belatedly said that their use of non-YouTube video was only an experiment,
a possibility that Soghoian mentioned in his article.

If companies like CNET want the energy and edginess of bloggers like
Soghoian — who did real research and reporting instead of just
republishing or commenting on the work of others — they need to be
willing to support them when that same edge sparks a backlash from powerful
forces. Without such backbone, it's hard to see how Internet news sources
will ever be able to fill the shoes of the rapidly disappearing print media
empires.

Meanwhile, the problem of cookies and other tracking technologies on
government sites remains. We're looking forward to reading Soghoian's
continuing coverage of it on his new blog, Slight Paranoia — already he
has blogged about his development of a Firefox add-on that installs opt-out
cookies for most of the major targeted advertising networks. And we hope
that CNET, along with other media, will continue to cover the story and
keep the pressure on YouTube and the White House to protect the privacy of
those using government websites.

[snip]

Link:
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/03/cnets-fails-stand-blogger

Chris is also the guy who drummed up the fake boarding pass brouhaha a
couple of years ago. His blog is located at http://paranoia.dubfire.net/

- - ferg

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-- 
"Fergie", a.k.a. Paul Ferguson
 Engineering Architecture for the Internet
 fergdawgster(at)gmail.com
 ferg's tech blog: http://fergdawg.blogspot.com/

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