Poll: Youth online abuse falling but prevalent

Sarah Ball, a victim of cyber bullying during her high school years, sits for a portrait at her home on Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013, in Spring Hill, Fla. Ball, now a student at a nearby community college, maintains a Facebook site called "Hernando Unbreakable", an anti-bullying page and mentors local kids identified by the schools as victims of cyberbullying. (AP Photo/Brian Blanco)

Sarah Ball, a victim of cyber bullying during her high school years, sits for a portrait at her home on Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013, in Spring Hill, Fla. Ball, now a student at a nearby community college, maintains a Facebook site called "Hernando Unbreakable", an anti-bullying page and mentors local kids identified by the schools as victims of cyberbullying. (AP Photo/Brian Blanco)

Sarah Ball, a victim of cyber bullying during her high school years, poses for a portrait at her home on Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013, in Spring Hill, Fla. Ball, now a student at a nearby community college, maintains a Facebook site called "Hernando Unbreakable", an anti-bullying page and mentors local kids identified by the schools as victims of cyberbullying. (AP Photo/Brian Blanco)

Sarah Ball, a victim of cyber bullying during her high school years, sits for a portrait at her home on Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013, in Spring Hill, Fla. Ball, now a student at a nearby community college, maintains a Facebook site called "Hernando Unbreakable", an anti-bullying page and mentors local kids identified by the schools as victims of cyberbullying. (AP Photo/Brian Blanco)

Grapic shows opinion poll on online bullying; 2c x 5 inches; 96.3 mm x 127 mm;

WASHINGTON (AP) — More young people are reaching out to family members after being harassed or taunted online, and it's helping. At least a little.

A poll released Thursday by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and MTV found incidents of "digital abuse" are still prevalent but declining somewhat. It found a growing awareness among teenagers and young adults about harm from online meanness and cyberbullying, as well as a slight increase among those willing to tell a parent or sibling.

The findings come a week after two Florida girls, ages 12 and 14, were arrested on felony charges for allegedly bullying online a 12-year-old girl who later killed herself by jumping off a tower at an abandoned concrete plant.

"I feel like we're making progress. People should be encouraged," said Sameer Hinduja, co-director of the Cyberbullying Research Center and professor at Florida Atlantic University.

The AP-NORC/MTV poll found that some 49 percent of all teenagers and young adults in the United States say they have had at least one brush with some kind of electronic harassment, down from about 56 percent in 2011. Of those who have encountered an incident, 34 percent went to a parent — compared to 27 percent just two years ago. And some 18 percent — up from 12 percent in 2011 — asked a brother or sister for help.

When asked what helped, 72 percent of those encountering digital abuse said changing their email, screen name or cell number, while 66 percent said talking to a parent. Less than a third of respondents found retaliation helpful, while just as many said it had no effect and 20 percent said getting revenge actually made the problem worse.

Girls were more likely than boys to be the targets of online meanness — but they also are more likely to reach out for help.

Sarah Ball was a 15-year-old high school sophomore at Hernando High School in Brooksville, Fla., when a friend posted on Facebook: "I hate Sarah Ball, and I don't care who knows."

Then there was the Facebook site dubbed "Hernando Haters" asking to rate her attractiveness, the anonymous email calling her a "waste of space" and this text that arrived on her 16th birthday: "Wow, you're still alive? Impressive. Well happy birthday anyway."

It wasn't until Ball's mom, who had access to her daughter's online passwords, saw the messages that Ball told her everything.

"It was actually quite embarrassing to be honest," remembers Ball, now an 18-year-old college freshman. But "really, truly, if it wasn't for my parents, I don't think I'd be where I'm at today. That's for sure."

The poll also indicated that young people are becoming more aware of the impact of cyberbullying. Some 72 percent, up from 65 percent in 2011, said online abuse was a problem that society should address. Those who think it should be accepted as a part of life declined from 33 percent to 24 percent.

Hinduja credits school programs that are making it "cool to care" about others, and increased awareness among adults who can help teens talk through their options, such as deactivating an account or going to school administrators for help in removing hurtful postings.

That was the case for Ball, whose parents encouraged her to fight back by speaking up. "They said this is my ticket to helping other people," Ball said.

With their help, Ball sent copies of the abusive emails, texts and Facebook pages to school authorities, news outlets and politicians and organized a local anti-bullying rally. She still maintains a Facebook site called "Hernando Unbreakable," and mentors local kids identified by the schools as victims of cyberbullying.

Ball said she thinks if other teens are reaching out more for help, it's as a last resort because so many kids fear making the situation worse. That was one reason Jennifer Tinsley, 20, said she didn't tell her parents in the eighth grade when another student used Facebook to threaten to stab and beat her.

"I didn't want them to worry about me," Tinsley, now a college student in Fort Wayne, Ind., said of her family. "There was a lot of stress at that time. ... And, I just didn't want the extra attention."

According to the Cyberbullying Research Center, every state but Montana has enacted anti-bullying laws, many of which address cyberbullying specifically. Most state laws are focused on allowing school districts to punish offenders. In Florida, for example, the state legislature this year passed a provision allowing schools to discipline students harassing others off campus.

In Florida's recent cyberbullying case, the police took the unusual step of charging the two teen girls with third-degree felony aggravated stalking. Even if convicted, however, the girls were not expected to spend time in juvenile detention because they didn't have criminal histories.

The AP-NORC Center/MTV poll was conducted online Sept. 27 through Oct. 7 among a random national sample of 1,297 people between the ages of 14 and 24. Results for the full sample have a margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3.7 percentage points. Funding for the study was provided by MTV as part of its campaign to stop digital abuse, "A Thin Line."

The survey was conducted by the GfK Group using KnowledgePanel, a probability-based online panel. Respondents are recruited randomly using traditional telephone and mail sampling methods. People selected who had no Internet access were given it for free.

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Associated Press Director of Polling Jennifer Agiesta and AP News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius contributed to this report.

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Follow Anne Flaherty on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AnneKFlaherty

___

Online:

AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research: http://www.apnorc.org

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-10-24-Poll-Online%20Bullying/id-a75e102adbaa4f828aceb8f9a364cf03
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Samsung hit with fine in Taiwan, probe into failing devices in China

Bogus online comments land Samsung with $340k fine in Taiwan; Chinese investigation into dead phones results in apology and warranty extensions

A double-whammy of bad news for Samsung this morning. In Taiwan, the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) hit the Korean company with a NT$10 million ($340,000) fine after finding that it organized an online campaign to post critical comments on HTC products, while praising its own. The commission found that through local marketing companies, Samsung hired "a large number of writers" to leave the comments on Taiwanese discussion forums, in violation of fair-trade laws. The marketing companies involved were also given smaller fines.

And in China, an investigation into failing Galaxy S3 and Note 2 handsets by state TV criticized the company's warranty arrangements. The issue concerns certain handsets dropping dead out of the blue, apparently due to faulty NAND chips in some devices. In response, Samsung's Chinese arm has issued a apology, saying the issues were the result of a "management problem" and that it welcomed the media scrutiny. The firm also promised to extend the warranties of devices made before Nov. 30, 2012 for an additional year.

Source: AP via SamMobile; Engadget

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/CISAbuLWQow/story01.htm
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HealthCare.gov fixes will meet deadlines, contractors say

The glitch-ridden website built for people to purchase compulsory health insurance under the Affordable Care Act will be fixed in time for applicants to enroll in plans before the law’s deadline to sign up, contractors who built the site assured lawmakers on Thursday.

“The experience will be improved as we go forward, and people will be able to enroll by the Dec. 15 time frame,” Cheryl Campbell, senior vice president for CGI Federal, the company that helped build the government website, told members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. “We’re seeing improvements day over day.” (People who want their coverage to become effective Jan. 1 must enroll by Dec. 15.)

The launch of HealthCare.gov has been fraught with accessibility problems since it launched Oct. 1. Users have complained that they are unable to create accounts or complete the application process to buy insurance from companies participating in the new government-run marketplace.

On Thursday, the Republican-majority committee questioned four private contractors who coordinated with the Department of Health and Human Services to build the site about why the site has so many early problems.

The contractors testified that their contributions to the site had tested well before the launch and that they had not recommended that the site launch be delayed.

Despite assurance that the website would be fixed in time, the White House on Wednesday night announced that applicants would be able to sign up for insurance until March 1, 2014 — the original deadline was Jan. 1 — without facing a penalty. Republicans and even some Democrats, meanwhile, have called for the law's individual mandate to purchase insurance to be delayed for at least a year because of the problems.

The federal government plans to announce official enrollment numbers by mid-November, officials said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/healthcare-gov-website-problems-will-be-fixed-145058596.html
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Healthcare.gov problems are target at Hill hearing

From left, Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini, Humana CEO Bruce Broussard, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida CEO Patrick Geraghty, and other health care chief executive officers arrive at the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013, to meet with White House officials regarding President Barack Obama's health care law. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

From left, Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini, Humana CEO Bruce Broussard, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida CEO Patrick Geraghty, and other health care chief executive officers arrive at the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013, to meet with White House officials regarding President Barack Obama's health care law. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio speaks during a new conference following a meeting at the Republican National Committee offices on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, left, and House Majority Leader Eric Canton of Va., right, walk away from the microphones following a news conference after a meeting at the Republican National Committee offices on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

From left, Tufts Health Plan President and CEO James Roosevelt, Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini, Humana CEO Bruce Broussard, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida CEO Patrick Geraghty, Kaiser Permanente CEO Bernard Tyson, and other health care chief executive officers arrive at the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013, to meet with White House officials regarding President Barack Obama's health care law. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The principal contractors responsible for the federal government's troubled health insurance website say the Obama administration shares responsibility for snags that have crippled the system.

Executives of CGI Federal, which built the federal HealthCare.gov website serving 36 states, and QSSI, which designed the part that verifies applicants' income and other personal details, were testifying Thursday before the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

As the hearing began, Republican committee members said the website problems are symptomatic of deeper flaws in the Affordable Care Act, and they accused administration officials of misleading Congress with repeated assurances that the rollout was on track.

"The American people deserve something that works, or start over," said Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Pa., adding that the administration should suspend the health law until problems are fixed.

Democrats acknowledged the website problems but defended the law, saying millions of uninsured Americans are counting on it to finally get coverage — and thousands are succeeding in signing up. They accused Republicans of trying to sabotage the law, not to fix it.

"Republicans don't have clean hands coming here," said Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J.

The hearing comes as President Barack Obama's allies are starting to fret about the political fallout. Democrats had hoped to run for re-election next year on the benefits of the health care law for millions of uninsured Americans. Instead, computer problems are keeping many consumers from signing up through new online markets.

One House Democrat says the president needs to "man up" and fire somebody, while others are calling for signup deadlines to be extended and a reconsideration of the penalties individuals will face next year if they remain uninsured.

The focus on the contractors is a first step for GOP investigators. After the failure of their drive to defund "Obamacare" by shutting down the government, they've been suddenly handed a new line of attack by the administration itself. Administration officials, including Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, are to testify next week.

Cheryl Campbell, senior vice president of CGI, suggested in prepared testimony that Congress should look beyond the contractors. HHS "serves the important role of systems integrator or 'quarterback' on this project and is the ultimate responsible party for the end-to-end performance," she said.

Overwhelming interest from consumers triggered the website problems, she said. "No amount of testing within reasonable time limits can adequately replicate a live environment of this nature," she said.

Andy Slavitt, representing QSSI's parent company, said the operation's virtual back room, known as the federal data hub, is working well despite some bugs. But his company was also involved with another part of the system, a component for registering individual consumer accounts that became an online bottleneck.

Slavitt blamed the administration, saying that a late decision to require consumers to create accounts before they could browse health plans contributed to the overload. "This may have driven higher simultaneous usage of the registration system that wouldn't have occurred if consumers could window-shop anonymously," he said.

Rep. Joe Pitts, R-Pa., chairman of the panel's health subcommittee, said he wants to focus on the administration's decision not to allow browsing, or window-shopping. That's a standard feature of e-commerce sites, including Medicare.gov for seniors. Lack of a browsing capability forced all users to first go through the laborious process of creating accounts, overloading that part of the site.

"Who made that decision? When was it made? Why was it made?" Pitts asked.

Acknowledging what's been obvious to many outside experts, the administration said Wednesday that the system didn't get enough testing, especially at a high user volume, before going live. It blamed a compressed time frame for meeting the Oct. 1 deadline to open the insurance markets. Basic "alpha and user testing" are now completed, but that's supposed to happen before a launch, not after.

The administration provided no timetable to fix extensive computer snags but said technicians are deep into the job. Its explanation, posted online in an HHS blog post and accompanying graphic, identified six broad areas of problems and outlined fixes underway but in most cases incomplete.

The HHS explanation identified some bugs that have gotten little outside attention. Technical problems have surfaced that are making the application and plan-shopping functions difficult to complete. That's a concern because those stages are farther along in the signup process than the initial registration, where many consumers have been getting tripped up. The problems are being analyzed and fixes are planned.

Meanwhile, House Democrats are starting to worry aloud about persistent problems with the rollout.

Rep. Richard Nolan, D-Minn., told The Associated Press the computer fiasco has "damaged the brand" of the health care law.

"The president needs to man up, find out who was responsible, and fire them," Nolan said. He did not name anyone.

Former White House chief of staff Bill Daley, interviewed Thursday on "CBS This Morning," said that Obama "can't just get stuck on this for the next several weeks." As for calls that Sebelius be fired, Daley said that would be like firing the captain of the Titanic "after the ship hit the iceberg."

Obama says he's as frustrated as anyone and has promised a "tech surge" to fix the balky website. White House spokesman Jay Carney said the administration will be more transparent about the problems. After more than 20 days without briefing the media, HHS will start regular sessions on Thursday, he said.

In light of the computer problems, some Democrats are saying Obama should consider extending open enrollment season beyond March 31 and revisit the penalties for individuals who don't sign up and remain uninsured. Under the law, virtually all Americans must carry health insurance starting next year or face fines.

On that point, a change in the timeline for signing up for coverage is underway, the White House said. Consumers have until Dec. 15 to apply for coverage that's effective Jan. 1. Even though open enrollment lasts until March 31, people would face a penalty if they postpone buying coverage beyond mid-February. Calling that a "disconnect," the White House said officials will soon issue policy guidance allowing consumers to sign up by the end of March without penalty.

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Associated Press writers Josh Lederman and Laurie Kellman contributed to this report.

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-10-24-Health%20Overhaul-Problems/id-b031d2ff912248758b8967355a6049de
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Official BBM how-to videos show the ropes to new users

Got BBM on Android? Here are the basics.

BBM is starting to get (kinda-sorta) rolled out today on Android, and to get folks acclimatized, BlackBerry has posted a few how-to videos on their YouTube channel. Videos show how to manage groups, how read/delivered receipts work, handling multi-person chat, checking status updates, sharing files, and adding contacts.

read more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/L-lP313jW_8/story01.htm
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Adblock Plus' new target: Facebook 'annoyances'

Call it "walled-garden manicuring," if you will. Adblock Plus is now capable of blocking that many more of the sorts of annoyances that only Facebook provides to its readers.

Having the ad-blocking plug-in block the likes of sponsored stories, promoted posts, and so on isn't new. What is new is the ability to block things like upcoming events in your area, or "People You May Know" displays.

Twenty-one additional Facebook elements can now be blocked with the new plug-in. Most of them are attempts to glean feedback from the user about other Facebook content ("Games you may like" or "Rate movies you've watched"). Even Adblock Plus' own makers admit, "[These] are not advertisements. Rather, this material is actually from Facebook, and it is served to you based upon the information Facebook receives from your profile and activities."

The privacy implications of this are never gladdening, especially if such material ends up leaking out of Facebook entirely. No surprise then that some people would prefer it was never served up at all. But being able to one-up Facebook's own customization almost certainly won't sit well with Facebook.

Adblock Plus has garnered itself a mixed reputation from content providers and end-users alike. Many end-users understand all too well that the vast majority of sites need ad revenue to survive, but are fed up with obnoxious, experience-killing ads that leak privacy data. But Adblock Plus' attempts to dictate the direction of Web-based advertising via its Acceptable Ads initiative has come off as a heavy-handed attempt to dictate how advertising on the Web should work. (Adblock Plus recently reached out to Twitter to be non-annoying right as that company was filing for its IPO.)

Until now Adblock Plus has focused most of its work on blocking ads on sites where the difference between an ad and the actual content is normally quite clear. But now it seems Adblock Plus is also attempting to change the ways end-users experience sites where content, advertisement, and promotion are heavily -- sometimes inextricably -- mixed.

Facebook could fight back in any number of ways. The most urbane would be to change its service to allow the most annoying content to be removed entirely or maybe after a short period of use. (For example, you have to endure "Games you may like" at least one day a month before you're given the option to toggle it off.) But it's more likely the company'll fight back by finding ways to render Adblock Plus' blocking useless -- a move that could spark an arms race between two of the Web's most contentious and divisive presences.

It all amounts to a striking example of one third-party company providing ways for users to experience another third-party company's content -- perhaps even at the expense of Facebook losing a way to harvest information from its users in an aboveboard fashion.

That's the real worry: What if, when faced with challenges like Adblock Plus to its data-gathering model, Facebook decides to remind folks what's going on Friday night downtown in the middle of a chat session or asks you whether or not you've seen a movie right when you're typing its name in a reply to someone else's post?

This story, "Adblock Plus' new target: Facebook 'annoyances'," was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Get the first word on what the important tech news really means with the InfoWorld Tech Watch blog. For the latest developments in business technology news, follow InfoWorld.com on Twitter.

Source: http://www.infoworld.com/t/web-browsers/adblock-plus-new-target-facebook-annoyances-229247?source=rss_applications
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Pat Miletich on MMA's refusal to throw in the towel, and why the loss of Strikeforce was so significant

Midway through UFC 166's heavyweight title fight, as a concussed Junior dos Santos ate heavy punch after heavy punch, unable or unwilling to mount any semblance of defense, Pat Miletich reached the same conclusion as UFC President Dana White -- the fight needed to be stopped.

Regardless referee Herb Dean, cageside physicians, and most questionable of all, dos Santos' corner, all allowed the Brazilian's beating to continue well into the fifth round, leading Miletich to join the chorus wondering why MMA corners are so hesitant to throw in the towel while the practice is widely accepted in boxing.

"God, you know, there's a lot of pride involved," Miletich said on Monday's edition of The MMA Hour.

"A lot of the guys that are cornering these guys, many times are training partners, pretty strong, virile young guys who don't see themselves as vulnerable probably, to be honest with you."

Miletich went on to cite an example of the problem in action at XFC 26, which aired live on AXS TV last weekend with Miletich in the broadcast booth.

"I witnessed a fight Friday night, Roger Carroll getting beat up by Scott Holtzman," Miletich explained. "It was a hell of fight, but Roger Carroll took a -- I can't even count how many elbows he took. His face was swollen shut and there was no use of the fight going on.

"I'd seen enough and I said that on TV. The boys agreed with me, but it wasn't getting stopped. I think it's just a matter of people not -- they care so much about the guy that they want to see him win. I don't know, they're blind at points. Junior dos Santos took a serious ass whopping, and I tend to agree with some people that, yes, that should've been stopped."

The primary concern in situations like dos Santos' is not the immediate danger -- although that definitely plays a part -- but rather, the potential for tremendous amounts of unnecessary damage to negativity impact fighters later in life.

"I think it's already there. I've seen it in guys that I've trained with in the earlier days," Miletich admitted.

"In both boxing and MMA, guys that aren't the same as they were when we were all young. So it's there."

Miletich has been around mixed martial arts long enough to hold a nuanced perspective on the sport's inner workings. The 47-year-old became the inaugural UFC welterweight champion in 1998, defended the belt four times, founded Miletich Fighting Systems -- a camp which at one time produced champions like an assembly line -- then, among other gigs, worked as a commentator to now-defunct Strikeforce.

When Strikeforce dissolved in early-2013, Miletich was struck particularly hard by the loss; not due to any lack of employment opportunities for himself, but rather, he saw it as a disastrous blow to fighters' ability to negotiate a proper income.

"It bothered me, because more than anything else, (the thing that helps) the growth of the sport and the development is athletes having the ability to truly have organizations bid on their talent and make more money for themselves," Miletich said.

"That's where the competition is important. It's healthy, and until that comes back, some sort of organization that could put something together like that, that was a loss for the sport and the athletes, and for the fans, quite frankly."

In the aftermath of Strikeforce's demise, Miletich believes the current MMA landscape leaves much to be desired. The way he sees it, the fighters at the very top of the ladder are getting compensated, but those below them are left to simply fend for themselves.

"There are a lot of places where guys can get their start," Miletich explained. "I think there's a lot of places where guys can gain experience and get their name known out there, to a certain extent, to make themselves marketable to then go on to the UFC.

"But until you have a place that can pay you as well or better than the existing king of the hill, then it's a pyramid and there's no options. There's no options for the athletes. The only reason I say this now is, having been an athlete, having been from the bottom of the ladder to the top, when there are no options, things tend to -- athletes have zero control. And the athletes definitely need control," Miletich said in closing.

"If I'm in the NFL, I have a lot of control because there are several teams, people are going to bid for my services. And that does not exist in this sport."

Source: http://www.mmafighting.com/2013/10/23/4867936/pat-miletich-on-mmas-refusal-to-throw-in-the-towel-and-why-the-loss
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