Going without Facebook for a few hours on Monday certainly was an eye-opener, not to mention the down time for its subsidiaries WhatsApp and Instagram.
Without focusing on the alleged cause of the disruption, it certainly was a reminder of just how large a role virtual reality plays in our daily lives.
In my case, I had been ready to post my daily news lineup and essay (Letter From Helmand.11) early in the morning but couldn't do so until late afternoon.
When you compare the Facebook blackout with the energy blackouts we've had in some years, it might suggest a case for considering the massive social network a public utility.
As such it would be subject to government regulation, whereas currently it is largely free from official oversight under Section 230 of 47 US Code, which provides it immunity for hosting third-party content.
To state that in plain English, I am a third-party content provider and Facebook is not liable for what I say here.
As to whether Facebook *should* be regulated, I'm conflicted. It is so large and influential, you could argue it effectively is a monopoly. On the other hand, I'm a proponent for unfettered free speech and a free press.
People can come down on either side of that issue; when it comes up I'd prefer to revert to the traditional role of reporting the story and leave the commentators to do their thing.
In any event, it was nice to see the old homepage come back up and reconnect us all!
***
THE HEADLINES:
* Gone in Minutes, Out for Hours: Outage Shakes Facebook -- When apps used by billions of people worldwide blinked out, lives were disrupted, businesses were cut off from customers — and some Facebook employees were locked out of their offices. (NYT)
* Facebook’s Temporary Absence Shows Its Far-Reaching Presence (WSJ)
* AstraZeneca has requested emergency use authorization from U.S. regulators for its new treatment to prevent COVID-19 for people who respond poorly to vaccines because of a weakened immune system. (Reuters)
* Biden says he cannot promise U.S. will not breach debt-ceiling limit (WP)
* Cleanup crews and environmental authorities are racing to contain the devastation linked to a large oil spill off the Southern California coastline. There are questions over why Amplify Energy didn't detect the leak and respond more quickly in the first few critical hours. [HuffPost]
* Did ship’s anchor cause California oil spill? Maybe (AP)
* The effectiveness of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in preventing infection dropped to 47% from 88% six months after the second dose, according to data published that U.S. health agencies considered when deciding on the need for booster shots. (Reuters)
* Energy Prices Spike as Producers Worry Over Pandemic and Climate -- Even as more costly fuel poses political risks for President Biden, oil companies and OPEC are not eager to produce more because they worry prices will drop. (NYT)
* Climate Change Is Melting Russia’s Permafrost—and Challenging Its Oil Economy (WSJ)
* A new report shows just how much climate change is killing the world's coral reefs --Rising ocean temperatures killed 14% of the world's coral reefs, a new analysis finds. But it's not without hope: Experts say many can recover if immediate action is taken to curb future warming. (NPR)
* Rogue Americans stashed assets offshore, eluding victims and impeding investigators (WP)
* VIDEO: Global Trade Recovery Is ‘Strong but Unequal,’ W.T.O.(Reuters)
* The Biden administration reversed a ban on abortion referrals by family planning clinics, lifting a Trump-era restriction as political and legal battles over abortion grow sharper from Texas to the U.S. Supreme Court. The new regulation will restore the federal family planning program to the way it ran under the Obama administration, when clinics were able to refer women seeking abortions to a provider. [AP]
* "More than 100 young artists, teachers and their relatives affiliated with the Afghanistan National Institute of Music, a celebrated school that became a target of the Taliban in part for its efforts to promote the education of girls, fled the country on Sunday, the school’s leaders said." (NYT)
* Rights group: Taliban unlawfully killed 13 ethnic Hazaras (AP)
* Taliban to resume issuing passports to Afghan citizens (CNN)
* Top Vatican cardinal says Biden should not be denied Communion (WP)
* The Texas State Board of Pardons and Paroles voted to recommend George Floyd get a full posthumous pardon for a 2004 drug conviction. (Reuters)
* More than 95 percent of California’s coastal kelp are gone, devoured by a population explosion of purple sea urchins. (Cal Today)
* Former President Donald Trump now has a Dec. 23 deadline to undergo questioning in former “Apprentice” contestant Summer Zervos' defamation lawsuit over what he said in denying her sexual assault allegations, a court said. [AP]
* Japanese-born American Syukuro Manabe, German Klaus Hasselmann and Italian Giorgio Parisi won the 2021 Nobel Prize for Physics for work that helps understand complex physical systems such as Earth's changing climate. (Reuters)
* 40-Year-Old Not Active Enough To Realize Body Falling Apart (The Onion)
No comments:
Post a Comment