If you’re going to spread your message on Twitter, it’s best to avoid the Viagra technique. That’s the message coming from capitol hill as Congressman Steve Stockman (R-TX) released evidence in a press release that he is being spammed by twitterbots. “Obama’s anti-gun campaign is a fraud,” Stockman said in the release. “Obama’s anti-gun activists are trying to defraud Congress using the same scam that sells ‘male enhancement pills.’  Every day thousands of Americans call, write and email the Capitol opposing Obama’s anti-gun schemes.  Obama’s supporters are panicking…

The French were not able to maintain their 75% tax on the super rich, so now they’re aiming for the super, super, super rich by going after companies like Google, Facebook, and Amazon. Their latest scheme: an Internet tax that will affect those collecting personal data from French citizens. This concept emerged late last week in a report commissioned by President François Hollande that details the unfair ways that large American internet-based companies are able to circumvent the French tax system and still remain relevant to its citizens. According to the report, personal data is the “raw…

There is no longer a need to argue that governments, the US government in particular, have been attempting to gain information about individuals through official requests to internet companies such as Google, Facebook, and Twitter. As the internet and social media continue to expand and the amount of information people willingly and unwillingly put only grows exponentially, the value of this data is unquestionable. Businesses want it. Other internet companies want it. Sharing has become normal in our society and that data is extremely valuable. When governments increase their interest…

One would think that Facebook had learned its lesson about censorship. It has a hard enough time keeping self-harm and pornography off its pages and has run into troubles in the past over less-controversial censorship accusations. Now, Breitbart is reporting that a meme published by the Special Operations Speaks Political Action Committee (SOS PAC) was removed and the person who posted it was given a 24-hour “time out” from posting other images on Facebook. The message was contained in a meme which demonstrated how Obama had relied on the SEALS when he was ready to let them get Osama bin Laden,…

There’s a storm brewing. Several, actually. With Sandy and a handful of other storms converging over different parts of the United States in the next few days, it’s possible that there will be power outages and heavy rains across the country right before and even on election day on November 6th. It’s a long shot; the majority of the fiercest weather is expected to have passed by then. Still, it’s worth noting particularly when swing states such as Ohio are expected to be impacted by the storms as can be seen in the map above from the Star Journal. In fact a 2007 study at The Journal of Politics concluded,…

Next Generation Identification. NGI. These three words and three letters are the most dangerous move the US Government has ever planned since Prohibition. It’s bigger than SOPA. It’s bigger than any privacy, detention, or body scanning debacle that the government has rolled out, and there have been plenty of them the last few years. The $1 billion project isn’t just about facial recognition according to NewScientist. It “will also add biometrics such as iris scans, DNA analysis and voice identification to the toolkit.” All of this should terrify us. The motives are (publicly) good – create…

The Obama camp knows social media. They realize that Twitter is big and Facebook is bigger, but Reddit is the place that will generate real voters and get them to the polls in November. If you’re not familiar with Reddit, you wouldn’t understand. The GOP isn’t familiar with Reddit, so they don’t understand. The most viral post on Facebook can generate thousands of views, though even well-shared posts have a challenge ever breaking 10,000 referrals to any given piece of content. Every day, posts that hit the front page of Reddit gets hundreds of thousands of referrals. Dozens of posts do that. Every….

You won’t hear much about it until after November, but regardless of which way the US government races go there is a good chance that a bill will be introduced to add a tax to broadband internet services. The FCC has been eying the prospects of adding more clout to their Connect America Fund, an effort to make broadband internet connectivity available even in remote areas of the country. Technically, it couldn’t be true tax. The Internet Tax Freedom Act of 1998 prohibits that. Instead, it would be proposed as a fee to internet service providers that they could pass on to their customers if they choose….

As elections at the national, state, and local approach, the political attack ads will increase. It’s the way of US politics, but it can often be almost as entertaining as it is disgraceful. Case-in-point: this video by a political action committee in Florida that supports Jim Frishe against Jeff Brandes for the State Senate seat in Florida’s 22nd District. In it, “driverless, remote control cars” are not just a waste of money but a danger to the elderly in the area. There’s really no need to expand on why this is ludicrous, but Jalopnik does anyway: She is the “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up” lady for…

The Romney campaign announced today that those who download the “Mitt’s VP” app for iOS and Android will be the first to know who his choice is for running mate in the upcoming presidential election. The app will push the name of the GOP vice presidential nominee directly to mobile devices as soon as word comes out from Romney campaign headquarters. “The first official way to learn the name of the Republican vice presidential candidate is by using our new ‘Mitt’s VP’ app,” said Romney digital director Zac Moffatt in a statement. “Users of the app will be the first to get the news on the biggest…