Wires Crossed #6 – September 10

PC Madness?

PC Madness?
No, I’m not talking personal computers, but political correctness gone mad, which is what happened when the minions at Xbox Live suspended the account of gamer Josh Moore. His crime? Putting the name of his town, Fort Gay in West Virginia, as his location on his profile page. The smarmy gits at Xbox Live thought he was being facetious, but he wasn’t. There is a town in West Virginia that goes by that name and it is where he lives. Were the Xbox team apologetic? Far from it. In fact, they refused to believe him, but after the intervention of the town mayor and local television station, all’s well and his account was reinstated. But as for the town’s name, I’m guessing it’s not the first time it has caused controversy.

Precious Principal
Barry Lollis is the principal of a local school in Savannah Georgia, and he was not a happy camper when he found out that a student had set up a Facebook site called Barry Lollis is a Communist. Was the student responsible suspended? No, but as far as the school district is concerned anything a student does outside school ours, and is detrimental to the school, can be dealt with as if occurred within the time frame kids are at school. Fair enough, too – respect is a two-way street.

PM’s Comms Manager Denies Phone Hackery
British Prime Minister David Cameron, could be at the centre of a minor scandal thanks to his Communications Director, Andy Coulson. When editor of the News of the World, Coulson resigned in 2007 due to a scandal that saw one of his reporters jailed for six months for hacking phones of high-profile figures in British society. While Coulson denied all knowledge of the affair at the time, there are new allegations being levelled that he knew more than he initially let on. Coulson is saying he knew nothing of the hacking, but as he was the editor of that bastion of journalism excellence, the News of the World, the British police are not likely to take his word at face value.

Get Stalked
Some are calling it a Stalking button, while others are wondering what all the fuss is about. Facebook is trying out a new widget that allows you to subscribe to a friend so you can see all their updates. You mean this doesn’t happen already? I get screeds and screeds of updates every day on my Facebook page telling me what my friends and family are up to, so why would I want an advice telling me that they have updated? Surely people have better things to do, don’t they?