If California prosecutors have their way, Digg founder Kevin Rose could easily be found guilty of felony computer hacking for widely-reported actions he took yesterday.

Rose set up a Twitter account yesterday pretending to be his cold, which amazingly accrued during the previous 24 hours over 787 followers:

@kevinscold: hanging out w/@kevinrose, making his head hurt and nose stuffed up… hopefully he’ll take me to @digg tomorrow.

Funny, but is it legal?  As both we and Techdirt’s Mike Masnick have explained over the last few month, a very dangerous precedent is being set in the trial of Lori Drew in the aftermath of teenage Megan Meier’s cyberbullying and subsequent suicide. Kevin’s actions in creating a fake Twitter profile for his recent cold mirror the actions Lori Drew is being accused of doing on MySpace.

Back in May I noted what a stretch it was to call the act of creating a fake profile on MySpace “accessing a protected system.”

Only in the biggest stretch in the sense of the word can you call MySpace a protected system, especially when what all Drew did was click on a very prominent sign-up button, and then enter false information for the personal data.

Mike Massnick noted that developments have occurred in the case yesterday:

While the judge in the case decided not to dismiss the case, he apparently has decided that evidence of Meier’s suicide will not be allowed in the case. This, at least, is a good decision. The lawsuit itself has nothing to do with the suicide, and allowing it to be used in front of a jury would likely lead to the same emotional response that resulted in the original charges being filed. Of course, with the case getting so much widespread publicity, you’d have to imagine that many jury members will already be familiar with what happened in the case.

The fact that so many potential jurors will already be familiar with the story is exactly the problem with the judge deciding to let stand the case, despite the strong reasons for dismissal. This means that even though said jurors will likely be instructed not to take the mitigating circumstances of Megan’s death into consideration, they will.

This will set an unfortunate precedent for the future. It’s important to note that Lori isn’t being prosecuted for what she did with the fake MySpace profile, only that she set one up.

I don’t think that realistically those of us that set up a joke profile like Kevin’s can expect prosecution for every frivolous act. On the other hand, it does set up the dangerous situation in which we’re all liable for criminal prosecution at any moment. By making innocuous actions criminal, it completely devalues and blinds law enforcement to actual online criminal behavior.

In an age where anyone’s free speech becomes illegal, only unpopular speech will be prosecuted. In other words - was harassing a young woman and taunting her to the levels of extreme emotional distress immoral and wrong? You’d be hard pressed to find someone to say no to that. Does that mean that the law should be perverted so that she can face justice by way of the legal system? I say no - the cost to all of us is simply too great.

We’ve all created fake profiles similar to what Kevin did yesterday, and if Lori Drew’s prosecutors have their way, we could all see headlines like the one above with our names in Kevin’s spot, and the convictions will be a lot more easy for prosecutors to achieve.

—Related Articles at Mashable | All That’s New on the Web:Kevin Rose: Mobile Web Is The Next Big ThingDiggers Revolt Over New Comment System (Resolved?)YA DIGG? Yahoo Buying Digg, AllegedlyUStream to Play Host to Digg TownhallLinkedIn Opens Office in LondonFirehose: Slashdot Launches Digg CloneWhiskipedia - Where Alcoholics Go To Know

Last night we wondered if the Twitter users @theREALalgore was in fact the real Al Gore. The concensus of the commentors seems to be that there was no way in heck that it was, and that was further confirmed today by what appears to be the officially sanctioned real Al Gore Twitter account over at @al_gore.

First noticed by Mashable commentor Joseph Morin, the account seems to have been launched shortly after his with Kevin Rose on the Digg Dialog. While it’s certainly taken him a lot longer than the next day turnaround he promised back in September, he’s on now and posting links to his blog and general goings on.

He’s definitely accrued a boatload of followers in his first day on Twitter. As I’m writing this, he’s up to almost 5,500 followers, though the only follower he’s reciprocated for so far is the corporate Current account.

It’s fairly hard to tell at this point if Gore is going to follow suit with many his fellow political tweeters and have interns and staffers handle the account or if he’s going to handle it himself - the current tweets on the account don’t give much indication either way.

While I doubt we’ll see anything as salacious as what Valleywag suggests should he handle the account himself, it would be interesting for folks on either side of the political spectrum to get a peek inside the general goings on of the former vice-president. While he certainly is going to attract a following as is, I know folks on the other side of the fence like me aren’t particularly interested in subscribing to a bland propaganda channel.

If I know there’s a person behind the words, rather than a vetted and edited 140 character description of some link he wants to pimp, I’m more likely to pay attention, and that’s sort of the point of social media in general, and Twitter in particular. If there’s anyone from the political sphere who could understand that, it should be Al Gore.

Here’s hoping he does.

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 I was shocked, as many of you were, that the Revision3 video network laid off a number of superstars from their content lineup, including Martin Sargent, Sarah Lane, Gary Vaynerchuk and Epic Fu’s Zadi Diaz. The reasons cited for the layoffs were “budgetary cutbacks that have been a direct result of the economic meltdown.” Given the sheer size and scope of the attention that revolves around the Revision3 production machine and the calibre of both the shows and the named talent being let go, I felt that there had to be more to the story than what we were seeing.

On the one hand, pageviews aren’t exactly the best measure as to how a site like Rev3 is doing - a more accurate picture would be painted if they disclosed what sort of video views were being served up site-wide and show by show. As this information isn’t being disclosed, I have to admit the possibility that the official company line is true and that the shows in question just weren’t performing in terms of numbers for Revision3.

That certainly seems to be what GaryV thinks. He put out a short update to his fans as to why he won’t be available on the Rev3 network moving forward, and said that if he were in charge of the deal over at Rev3, he woulda canned it a long time ago. His reasoning was that he was the primary beneficiary of the relationship, and the Rev3 folks got nothing from the deal.

It’s been a while since I’ve subscribed to the full stable of programming from Rev3, so it was difficult to confirm my suspicions as to what was going on there without consulting some others.  I pinged my Twitter list the other day to get some information on what sort of ads are running on the network. 

The answers I got back from those who responded (and were verified by my own spot checking) were GoDaddy, Netflix, Michelob and Becks beer, GoToMeeting, and GoToMyPC in their pre-roll and post-roll positions. They also seem to run a lot of CPC pop-over ads that run in the lower portion of the videos that run in the flash player.

All of this seemed to confirm the suspicion I had behind the real reason for the layoffs - and that is that they at Rev3 are having a hard time selling sponsorships.

Don’t get me wrong - any criticisms I have of Rev3 are not out of malice or spite. If anything, they’re out of love. They have a great batch of programming, and up until these layoffs, they were doing nothing but getting stronger with each new show they put together.

CPM and CPC are a Good Start…

But for folks like me and many of the content producers who read Mashable, you recognize the sponsors on the list, and are well aware of what sort of boilerplate deals they offer. GoDaddy is a standard affiliate program - you apply for a code, and when folks apply for a domain, they get a discount. Any upgrades they buy, the producer gets a cut.  Netflix has a similar affiliate program, giving a kickback for every new user who signs up for service using the producer code.

GoToMeeting and GoToMyPC operate both on a CPM basis as well as affiliate basis, depending on how many layers of ad brokerage you are going through to get the deal with parent company Citrix.  Similarly, the pop-over advertisements are typically referred to as remnant advertising, and on a good day will fetch you a few bucks CPM, barely enough to cover the production cost on UGC and bandwidth, much less paying talent.

Much like many of the layoffs occurring throughout Silicon Valley and the rest of the Web 2.0 sector, these had more to do with business model issues, as opposed to general economic travails. That isn’t to say that web video isn’t profitable at all.  There are lots of aggregators, networks and producers making decent cash and are if not squarely in the black, are almost there (AskANinja, Hulu and Wizzard all spring to mind).

Armchair quarterbacking it from where I sit currently, I’d be inclined to say that while the Rev3 crew is stellar at content production, their focus hasn’t been as focused as it needs to be on monetization.  While there have been some sponsorship style ad deals, like the Air Force ads and the beer buys, the majority of what’s on the network appears to be lower grade CPM and CPC style ads, which will be very difficult to make sustainable on an outfit with production costs like theirs.

Making the layoffs, by that measure, may have been the opposite move they’d want to make to bridge this gap.  Those that were let go were superstars, so to speak, and that translates to a monetizable brand. When you’re looking for something that’ll make your network some cash in a crunch, what’s more important than download numbers is having a recognizable name. 

CPMs Pay the Bandwidth Bills. Sponsorships Pay the Salaries.

For a real world example, why is it, do you think, that Cisco signed on to sponsor the Mashable Conversations video podcast (one with zero subscribers at the time when they signed the deal) before we’d ever put out an episode?  Why do you think Seagate continues to sponsor Robert Scoble’s endeavors, despite the fact that he doesn’t have the distribution of larger blogs like us?  The answer is the same in both cases - those advertisers want to have their name associated with the brands they’re buying into. 

Broadening the focus up here away from online video and just Revision3 for a moment (we’ve probably picked on them enough for one day), I’m guessing that if you take a look at the majority of the layoffs being tracked where the economy is being cited as a factor, you’ll see a lot better reasons than the economy for slimming down, or at least much more localized factors.

Unlike other video networks that are cutting back on inventory right now, at least Revision3 is continuing to expand their programming lineup, and hopefully they’ll get lucky and snag a superstar out of that batch. I’ve been watching Kevin Rose’s online video efforts since they were on RantTV, so I’m definitely rooting for him.

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A year ago I reviewed the first episode of NBC tech drama Chuck. Overall the writers have done an excellent job in bringing in geek technology without making it appear fake. From dropping a wikipedia here and a router there, it’s a fun little show.

However in this week’s episode, a comment was made by Chuck’s sidekick Morgan that clearly had me wondering. I’ve embedded the clip below (30 seconds). Morgan (and clearly NBC as the creator of the show) didn’t get the memo from Diggnation founder Kevin Rose. You see Diggnation is sponsored by the Zune, the Microsoft music player. If Kevin and Revision3 are taking the $$ from Microsoft for the Zune, you know that it is a damn fine quality product and should not be joked with. Let’s hope that next week Chuck will check the current lineup of sponsors for Diggnation and properly handle them if the need arises inside of the episode.

CN Sponsor: CloudContacts - make your business cards work for you!
Other CenterNetworks Coverage: iminlikewithyou, FriendFeed, Web Jobs

My name is Sean P. Aune and I am a Big Brother fan. It’s not always an easy thing to admit, but every summer I plant myself in front of the television for three months and yell at the contestants I hate.

For those unfamiliar with the show, a varying number of people enter a “house” (really a decorated sound stage at CBS), spend 90 days scheming to vote each other out, and the winner takes home $500,000. The show has a different format here in the USA than it does anywhere else in the world, but it is still part of the huge global brand.

Since season 1, the show has been transmitted 24/7 over the Internet, with people going to websites to post constant updates about what is going on in the house. It was almost social media before there was a social media. So give these 60+ Big Brother resources a look and discover the show, or walk down memory lane, exploring past seasons.

(Our own Adam Ostrow is also a fan, but I’m not sure he’ll fess up, so I’m doing it for him!)

Official Sites

Big Brother After Dark - Page from Showtime channel, Sho 2, for the late night live show that plays every night during the season. Has a chat room powered by Meebo for fans to discuss the latest happenings in the house.

Big Brother Official Site - The official site of Big Brother USA on CBS that features houseguest profiles, episode videos and more.

Real Player Subscription Page - For those who just can’t get enough of these people trapped in a soundstage/house, you can subscribe to the 24-hour feeds.

Fan Sites

BigBrotherAccess.com - Done in a bit of a news style with nice large warnings for potential spoilers, and news on some of the other “houses” around the world.

BigBrotherChatter.com - During the Big Brother seasons the chat is open to all, during the off-season you must subscribe.

BigBrotherFanClub.com - Though its name mentions the show, it does cover various reality shows, but has a heavy emphasis on its namesake.

HamsterWatch.com - Lots of analysis of how the show is going, breaking it down by each player/hamster.

JokersUpdates.com - Hyper-active forums that are almost difficult to keep up with and are policed for the most minor of infractions, which can actually get in the way of discussion. 24/7 updates of what is happening on the live streams during the course of the show. Been around since the first season, making it one of the oldest fan sites.

Monty’sTV.com - Monty’s has been following the show since season 1 and always has up to the minute information.

MoreBigBrother.com - Recaps, commentary, analysis and more of the current season of the series.

PowerOfVeto.com - Forums, vidcaps, video and more to help feed your addiction.

RealityBBQ.com - Started off as just a Big Brother site, but has now expanded to numerous reality shows, but with a heavy focus on their roots.

RealityFanForum.com - Has discussion areas and live feed updates to keep you up to date on what is happening in the house.

SillyHamsters.film.com - Hamsters is a nickname for the contestants and this blog follows the action in the house with live blogging during the live eviction episodes.

WeLoveBigBrother.com - Updates, news, forums and more from this site dedicated to the show.

Big Brother 10 Houseguest Sites

Maybe it says something about the people who get on Big Brother, but it seems every season that MySpace is the Big Brother houseguests’ social network of choice, and the profiles are always hideously designed. We did not add any profiles or fan pages that were set to private (surprisingly many were).

Angie Swindell’s Official Fan Page on MySpace - Run by a fan, this page is for fans of Angie Swindell.

April Dowling’s Official Fan Page on MySpace - A public page for fans of April to show their appreciation.

Jessie Godderz’s Official Fan Page on MySpace - Official fan page of Mr. Natural Iowa 2008, and current Big Brother houseguest, Jessie.

Keesha Smith’s MySpace - Big Brother houseguest and waitress at Hooters chain restaurant.

Libra Thompson’s Official Fan Page on MySpace - 31-year-old mother of two from Spring, TX.

Michelle Costa’s MySpace - 28-year-old from Cumberland, RI.

Big Brother 9 Houseguest Sites

Adam Jasinski’s Facebook Page -The winner of Big Brother 9 comes to Facebook.

Adam Jasinski’s Personal MySpace - As with most Big Brother contestants, he also has a MySpace page.

Alex Coladonato’s Official Fan Page on MySpace - A DJ from Staten Island, NY who appeared on season 9 of Big Brother.

Amanda Hansen Official Fan Forum - Houseguest from season 9 that is best known for saying “bueno” every 10 seconds while in the house.

Chelsia Hart’s MySpace Page - Though she said many times in the house she was horrible with computers, she’s giving MySpace a go.

Jacob Heald’s MySpace Page - One half of the first couple eliminated from the house.

James Zinkand’s MySpace Page - Better known as Crazy James, the houseguest with the pink mohawk.

Jen Deez’s MySpace Page - Was the real life girlfriend of Ryan, and part of the second couple evicted.

Joshuah Welch’s MySpace Page - A rabid fan of his alma mater, University of Texas, Joshuah was well-known for his outbursts.

Matt McDonald’s MySpace Page - A roofer from Boston who is probably best known for trying to dodge the constant advances of fellow cast member, Natalie.

Natalie Cunial’s MySpace Page - The Bikini Barista from “the Beaver State” constantly chased “her Matty” around for affection.

Neil Garcia’s MySpace Page - Was partnered with Joshuah, but left the game after a week due to matters of a personal nature that were never revealed.

Sharon Obermueller’s MySpace Page - 24-year-old from Kansas who was evicted with Jacob, but came back when Neil left and ended up taking fifth place.

Sheila Kennedy’s MySpace Page - A former Penthouse Pet of the Year, Sheila was a 45-year-old single mother… ya know?

Big Brother 8 Houseguest Sites

Daniele Donato’s LiveJournal - The second place finisher’s blog since she left the house.

Daniele Donato’s MySpace Page - Daughter of the ultimate winner of season 8.

Dick Donato’s MySpace Page - Better known as EvelDick, he went on to win the season much to every other person’s amazement.

Eric Stein’s Official MySpace Page - Eric was the big twist of the season as “America’s Player”.

Jen Johnson’s MySpace Page - Jen was… a Jenius? Not sure how you describe her and keep it sane sounding.

Jessica Hughbanks’ MySpace Page - Entered the house as part of the enemies twist, ended up dating Eric for a time after the show ended.

Joe Barber’s MySpace Page - Another part of the enemies twist, went out fairly early.

Kail Harbick’s MySpace Page - Multiple business owner from Rainbow, OR.

Mike Dutz’s MySpace Page -Mike… does anyone remember Mike doing anything of significance?

Nick Starcevic’s MySpace Page - Was after Daniele in the house, ended up dating Jen out of the house.

Zach Swerdzewski’s MySpace Page - Came in third for the year.

Big Brother 7 - All Stars is not getting a listing as all the contestants were from previous seasons.

Big Brother 6 Houseguests

Howie Gordon’s MySpace Page - A player in season 6 & 7, he has the MySpace page that seems to be required of all players.

Howie Gordon’s Personal Website - Was also part of season 7, one of the few former houseguests with a dedicated website.

James Rhine’s Official Site - Always seemed to win Power of Veto just when he needed it the most.

Janelle Pierzina’s MySpace Page - Another season 6 player to return for season 7, and she even showed up in season 8 as a challenge host.

Janelle Pierzina’s Official Fansite - Has a forum, media and chats occasionally attended by Janelle herself.

Kaysar Ridah’s MySpace Page - Returned in season 7, All Stars, arguably one of the most popular houseguests ever.

Kaysar Ridah’s Official Site - Official fan forum for the former houseguest.

Michael Donnellan’s MySpace Page - MySpace page for the artist of the houseguests.

Michael Donnellan’s Official Site - Official site for Michael’s artwork, he was Kaysar’s secret game partner in the house.

Sarah Rejsa’s MySpace Page - Was James Rhine’s partner and girlfriend in the house.

Big Brother 5 Houseguests

Adria & Natalie Official Site - The hidden pair of twins in the house who played as one when the season started and then as separates.

Holly King’s Official Site - An actress with an incredibly squeaky voice that had an in-house relationship with Jase.

Marvin Latimer’s Official Site - Maybe he was inspired by the twins, because Marvin seems to be selling ways to lose weight now.

Earlier Big Brothers

Dr. Will Kirby’s Official Site - Winner of season 2, appeared in season 7, now appears on Dr. 90210.

Eddie McGee’s MySpace Page - Winner of season 1, now making his own short movies.

Marcellas Reynolds Official Site - Appeared in seasons 3 and 7, was long considered to have made the worst move in the history of the show when he failed to use the Power of Veto on himself in season 3.

Mike “Boogie” Malin’s Official Site - Appeared in season 2 and 7, going on to win the All Stars game.

—Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:EA Games and Endemol Create Virtual Reality ShowsBig Brother Australia Embraces Social NetworkingDell to Dell: Hey Bro, Here’s $155 MillionTengaged: Meet New Friends. Then Eliminate Them.OurChart.com - The L-Word Launching Lesbian Social NetworkOri Brafman’s Introduction to Sway [Authors@Mashable]Kids Create TV Shows on Qubo

Source:Mashable!

Since the launch of the iPhone 3G, the past couple of weeks have been prime time for companies to launch new mobile sites. Digg is taking advantage of the new surge of interest in mobile applications to reveal its upgraded mobile version of Digg. If you don’t have the new iPhone, it’s all good.

The new Digg mobile site isn’t necessarily an iPhone app–it just looks cooler on the iPhone than the Blackberry. Upgraded features for Digg’s new mobile version include multiple views of popular stories, improved usability for surfing between stories, and faster page loads. You can also add stories to your Favorites while logged in. This new mobile version is designed to operate more like the Web version of Digg, so navigation overall has been improved, specifically the ability to tab between topics and consume more content throughout the site.

The release of the new mobile version also coincides with Digg’s reported traffic increases due to its new recommendation engine. It’s clear that Digg Founder Kevin Rose looks to mobile as the future of media consumption. Ensuring that Digg’s own mobile version is as easy to navigate and interact with as its Web version is important in the grand scheme of things.

—Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:Better Digg Access from your MobileDigg Finalizes Comments UpgradesDigg Needs Your Comments About its Upgraded Comment SystemLinkedIn Launches MobileYouTube Mobile Site LaunchesReddit River - A Lighter Version of Reddit for MobilesDigg Adds New Features to API

Digg co-founder Kevin Rose today made clear on Leo Laporte’s TWiT Live video broadcast that Allen & Co., a New York-based boutique investment bank and broker that counts Digg among its list of clients, is not shopping the company.

While he explained in customary fashion that it was accepted company policy to essentially remain mum about purported pending corporate deals, validly or invalidly suspected, he offered the abovementioned response to an inquiry from Laporte about recent speculation. Some might interpret Rose’s response either as vaguely logical - he appears to offer a rudimentary explanation that meetings with larger companies involving partnership developments and the like can be misconstrued and inflated as acquisition-speak - or evasive.

Of course, Rose has not shown complete disinterest in an acquisition. But he reiterated a long-held view that a complementary, value-added arrangement would have to be stipulated and agreed to in order for talks to proceed to a completed buyout of some sort. One rather unique moment documented quite some time ago was when heads at Digg reportedly met with CurrentTV founder Al Gore. Those talks allegedly fell through due to Digg’s unwillingness to submit to incorporation into the CurrentTV framework.

—Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:The Daily Poll: If Digg Gets Acquired, Users Will …Microsoft and Digg Sign Ad Deal, Acquisition MentionedDigg NOT Buying CoRank and Meneame: Who Is?Digg Doing the Acquisition Dance?Digg Gets $8.5 MillionDigg Confirms Redesign, Image Section & New CommentsReport: Digg Hires Investment Bank to Pursue Sale

Rick Schwartz just sold CNN the domain iReport.com for $750,000. Schwartz bought the domain in 1997 for “$70 to $100,” he told Silicon Alley Insider. CNN likely bought the domain for its I-Report program. You know, the one where You The Viewer get to do all the work. A concept which jibes just so nicely with Schwartz’s latest post on his personal blog.

Good morning from the HIGH SEAS. I am on the 8th day of a 9-day cruise. Most cabins on a ship are about 200 sq. ft. The cabin I am in is 5,300 sq. ft. Complete with private swimming pool, sauna and jacuzzi. The butler brings breakfast at 8:30 and the concierge takes care of all the daily arrangements. This is the 2nd time in the last 12 months I have taken the same cruise and same suite. It just doesn’t get much better. I like this lifestyle and I will do what I can do to protect it.

Source:Valleywag

Why do some stories abruptly disappear from Digg? Duncan Riley of TechCrunch suspects “super users.” But there’s a much simpler explanation: Digg’s shadowy moderators. Digg cofounder Kevin Rose has admitted that the social-news site, a supposedly democratic venue where users pick the headlines, employs moderators: “We have site moderators that ban spammers, remove illegal content, and keep an eye on things. Always have, always will.” But what, exactly, does keeping an eye on things entail?

According to someone who was approached about a job as a Digg moderator, Digg uses one moderator per topic, and their duties go far beyond patrolling the site for spam. While they don’t have the power to launch a story straight to the homepage, they can adjust the criteria to make it easier or harder for a story to make it big. And in so doing, of course, they exercise editorial judgment. When you submit a story to Digg, it’s not just in the hands of the users; it’s also at the mercy of unnamed Digg editors.

What does this say about Digg? First, that it has failed to match its aspirations as a perfect democracy of news. And second, that as a business, it may be less attractive than some think. The craze among investors these days are for startups where users generate the content, for free, while paid workers do as little work as possible. At Digg, it turns out Tom Sawyer is painting the fence, after all.

What should Digg do? As Rose points out, Digg does need to do some policing of the site to deter spammers and criminals. And spelling out what moderators do could make their jobs harder, as people will inevitably use the information to try to game Digg.

But I think Digg needs to err on the side of transparency here. When a moderator gives a story an assist, or holds it back, users deserve to know what’s happened, and why. Otherwise, conspiracy theories about “super users” will continue to circulate. Digg has in fact begun to change the news business, making traditional editors more accountable to their readers. It’s time Digg’s editors were, too.

Kevin Rose’s online-video outfit, Revision3, has launched a show based on the top video picks on Kevin Rose’s social-news startup, Digg. The show launched tonight at 9, while Kevin Rose’s messaging and file-sharing venture, Pownce, threw a party. How does Kevin Rose find the time?

Probably by not watching shows like the newly launched “Digg Reel.” Instead of letting you just watch the top-rated videos on Digg, “Digg Reel” shows them to you — but not before it wastes 96 seconds of your life with a bumper and chatter from overly loquacious host Jessica Corbin.

Source:Valleywag

This photo, taken right at 10 p.m. shows people still waiting in line to get into tonight’s Pownce party at the Madrone Lounge, two hours after it started. Are they that desperate to hoist a beer with Kevin Rose? And do they realize they may be exposed to the jarring powers of Leah Culver’s voice? One bored queue-stander has cracked open a laptop. That’s hot, whoever you are.