Twitter killed in China due to OAuth
Amongst the more popular applications are desktop applications like TweetDeck, Seesmic, or EchoFon, but there are also web-based and mobile applications. Many allow what is called "basic authorisation" which allows users in countries where Twitter is blocked to still access the site and post Tweets. In China and Iran, Twitter has been used to disseminate information authorities would rather keep under wraps. And despite best efforts they have so far been unable to completely block access to the micro-blogging site.
Now it appears, Twitter is helping to lock out those in countries which operates a restrictive Internet. For sometime Twitter has begun to roll-out "OAuth", a technology that enables applications to access Twitter on the user's behalf with without asking directly for their password. Of course it is more secure, but for those stuck behind the Great Firewall of China, or similar blocks, it now prevents access altogether. It is possible that founder Jack Dorsey, Twitter CEO Evan Williams and co-founder and Creative Director Biz Stone are not even aware that new authorisation rules will affect millions of Twitter users in China, Iran and other countries. But given how Twitter has celebrated the democratisation of the web through its application, it seems to be a major oversight.
OAuth will result in applications no longer being allowed to store passwords and users may require to reauthorize them in order to allow them to continue functioning. For those in the free west, few will even blink as the change takes place. But in countries that censor the web, Twitter will now fall well and truly out of bounds unless Internet users take the plunge and pay for a VPN [Virtual Private Network] or proxy server. For some this is complicated or cost prohibitive. Even with a VPN, access may be further complicated when using mobile devices.
Censoring countries often try shut down or limit access to websites like Google, YouTube and Twitter by using sophisticated web blocking technology. The power of Twitter is that it allows all its data to be used by third parties, through a so called API. This makes it possible for everyone to build their own Twitter application. Since there are so many applications and websites that allow you to use Twitter, it is impossible for those countries to shut them all down.
But with the roll-out of OAuth such circumvention of the firewalls will end since user information will always have to go to Twitter.com to give a website permission to use their account. So if Twitter.com is blocked in the country where access is sought there will be no way of granting access [Jaron.nl].
Some bloggers have suggested various ways to bi-pass the new authorisation rules, but such information will be difficult to access in countries where access to the Internet is restricted. Having to go through some of the complicated procedures involved will prove too much for many users. Of course there are many people still tweeting out of China. Many are expats, who can afford to pay for a VPN which costs upwards of $55 per year. There are Chinese Twitter users too. Some use paid-for VPN, while others use software such as Puff and Freegate, which are free but often unstable.
One Twitter user in China, who goes by the name of longzaijianghu, spoke to tvnewswatch about his difficulties in accessing Twitter in recent months. "It's the problem of OAuth. But I have found Puff to be a very useful software. I can use it to scale the wall at home," he said. But he was wary about using such software elsewhere. "I don't try it in office yet because there's monitoring," he said, "A VPN will be a better choice, and the pity is I cannot access Twitter in office. I hope i can find a better solution."
tvnewswatch, London, UK
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
TV is bad for health, psychologist says
Children may spend more than seven hours a day sat looking at a screen and this can increase risks of obesity and heart disease, Dr Sigman claims. In addition there are other symptoms resulting from watching too much television including a lack of attentiveness, sleep disorders and even autism.
Television has long been blamed for a number of social ills. But there is growing evidence that the flickering screen might result in more than square eyes. "Irrespective of what our children are watching or doing on the screen, a clear relationship is emerging between daily hours of screen time and negative medical, psychological, behavioural and educational consequences," Dr Sigman says, "The more hours per day, the more likely the risk of these negative consequences and the greater their intensity."
He says that most of the damage appears to occur after one-and-a-half hours viewing per day, irrespective of the quality of the content. Worryingly a child is often exposed to three to five times this amount. The concerns have resulted in some countries placing restrictions on content. France, for example, banned TV programmes aimed at under-threes two years ago [Daily Mail].
It is not the first time that concerns have been raised over the effects of television on children. In 2004 a report revealed a connection between attentiveness and television exposure. Dr. Dimitri Christakis from the University of Washington in Seattle, said, "We found that watching television before the age of 3 increases the chances that children will develop attentional problems at age 7." The study noted that teachers had seen a virtual "epidemic" of children with ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), something which had increased dramatically over the last 25 years. These children have less ability to listen, pay attention, and engage in independent problem solving. The teachers have often blamed "the advent of fast-paced, attention-getting children's programming" for the epidemic of ADHD, and authors of the 2004 study believe they are right [Medicine Net].
But it is not only children who are at risk. A study published last year warned that watching television prior to going to bed can result in poor sleep quality and even lead to chronic health problems. Psychiatrists found that watching television was a common pre-sleep activity and sleep patterns were often based around schedules rather than sunset or biological factors.
Dr Mathias Basner, of the Division of Sleep and Chronobiology, University of Pennsylvania, said, "While the timing of work may not be flexible, giving up some TV viewing in the evening should be possible to promote adequate sleep. According to our results, watching less television in the evening and postponing work start time in the morning appear to be the candidate behavioural changes for achieving additional sleep and reducing chronic sleep debt" [Telegraph].
The saturation of technology may be making things worse. Outside the living room there are the distractions of the Internet via the PC. Smartphones have made it possible to continue browsing the net while sat on trains or buses and the television may even invade the coffee shop or pub. Reading is fast becoming screen-based as web based news portals replace the newspaper and books are now virtual with the advent of the iPad, Kindle and similar devices.
The traditional reading of the morning paper has been pushed aside by breakfast TV and radio. Those that drive to work may be led by a small screen and a voice giving out instructions, while the radio drones in the back ground. Commuters on buses and trains can be seen buried in games or looking at mobile screens, and for many people the day might be spent staring at a computer monitor. There is no respite at the end of the working day as people return home and flop onto the sofa to catch the evening news, a late night film or DVD before retiring to bed and repeat the same routine again.
Perhaps we will all end up square-eyed with the attention span of a goldfish. Even those who use the net are becoming less absorbed in what they read, and people may spend only a few seconds on a page [BBC]. In fact the chance of you having read this far is probably very slim. But well done if you have [pictured: cover of the 1979 album Remote Control by The Tubes].
tvnewswatch, London, UK
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