Digital Parsimony

To remove a defaming page about us on the internet we ask Google to remove it from their search results, and then Yahoo, and then everywhere else. Matt Cutts, SEO expert at Google, discusses this in detail.

Instead, we should be talking to the creator of the page directly and having them remove or modify the content of the page all-together, it will remove the results from not only Google and Yahoo, but everywhere else you haven’t thought of.

We’re signing legislation like the Internet Safety Act that prevents people from accessing the internet anonymously. Supposedly this is going to stop sex offenders and help the police catch them. Instead, it’s going to do more harm than good, completely eradicating available and open WiFi in places like Starbucks and your favorite sports bar.

We also take them off Facebook and Myspace. Instead, we should be figuring out a way to stop them from making sexual advances towards kids all together. Facebook has removed 5,585 sex offenders from their site since May of last year. Great, the only reason we’re doing this is because it’s measurable and easy to enact. This quote made me really think about us concentrating on the things we fear, instead of real problems:

“Why are we so obsessed with the registered sex offender side of the puzzle when the troubled kids are right in front of us? Why are we so obsessed with the Internet side of the puzzle when so many more kids are abused in their own homes? I feel like this whole conversation has turned into a distraction. Money and time is being spent focusing on the things that people fear rather than the very real and known risks that kids face. This breaks my heart.”
[Boing Boing: Internet not full of pedos, the statistical edition]

Last week, I wrote about doctors making patients sign EULAs that disallow them to give feedback on the services they received on review sites like RateMDs.com. Another instance of not concentrating on the real problem, but simply being afraid of losing clients due to poor service. Why doesn’t Apple make people sign EULAs to not review their products? That’s because they try to make great products which customers will review positively. We need to figure out how to make these tools work for us, instead of trying to fight them.

I got bored with the layout I previously had and I figured, it’s time for a little change. The new one is still getting tweaked, so bear with me. I added links on the side to all my social “homes”. From there, you can get to my LinkedIn profile, my Facebook page, or follow me on Twitter.

I would also like to transition this blog into a different direction. I intend on posting a little less on the things happening in my life and a little more on technology, design, and simplicity. I figure I can use Facebook and Twitter to post personal things, and this blog to talk about the things I think about on a daily basis.

Lastly, head on over to the about page, I added a feed that’s constantly updated with what I’m bookmarking on Delicious, what pictures I’m adding over at flickr, what news I’m sharing on Google Reader, and even what I recently posted on Twitter.

Update: And with the change of pace comes the slightly different name. When I thought of daily parsimony I must have been kidding myself, I may not be able to do this daily. So, I unveil to you, digital parsimony. At least it’ll keep me on topic.

Read an interesting article about security and its economic and social impact over at the Washington Post today. Here’s How America Looks to the World

Some years ago, I received a terror threat. If I did not apologize publicly and profusely for a column that blasted the Iranian regime, I would be killed by Friday, Sept. 13 — what an auspicious date! So I sent for the security experts, and this is what they told me: Your front and back doors are worthless; get armored ones. Order bulletproof windows. Build a safe room. Install panic buttons. Get rid of that silly chicken-wire fence and put in a steel and concrete one. Don’t use the driveway; try to vary your access routes (which, I think, meant sneaking home through the neighbors’ gardens). Pretty soon, we were talking six-figure costs and contemplating emigration to Iceland.