Recently, a French judge in the city of Bordeaux ruled in favour of a restaurant owner who was unhappy with the negative online attention his bussiness was receiving due to a very critical review by a French food blogger. With some 3000 followers, the blog Cultur'elle was deemed to be too influential by the ruling judge, mainly because of the prominent position it held in Google Searches related to the restaurant. Not only was the blogger forced to delete her critical article; she is also expected to pay a total amount of 2500 euro in reparations to the restaurant and its owner. According to the BBC, the French blogger replied to the verdict saying that "this decision creates a new ...
Read more...

Combating Climate Change in the International Community Without a doubt, man-made climate change is the greatest danger the world faces today. Hanging over the entire scope of human civilisation as a universal sword of Damocles, academics around the world are convinced that this imminent threat needs to be addressed as soon as possible. With a truly global impact, its universality has in turn begged for an international solution. Without participation from the world’s leading climate change contributors, any action undertaken by the others may be insufficient. Recently, a UN report published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) stressed the necessity to do something about climate change, yet also emphasized the possibility to do so when the international community ...
Read more...

Through substituting a tactic for a strategy, the deaths of innocent civilians have resulted in the growth of the militant organisations that are supposed to be fought. Unfortunately, however, there is no doubt that the use of drones and similar developments will become even more common in the years to come, and will be changing the rules of modern warfare. The Danger of Drones An Anthropological Assessment of UAV Warfare Ever since George W. Bush declared a war on terror, unmanned aerial vehicles, popularly known as drones, have been at the centre of this unconventional war effort. In February 2002, three alleged militants were killed in the first targeted killing mission carried out by a drone.[1] Shortly after, the virtual ...
Read more...

In the episode 'Society' of the Ricky Gervais Show (S3, E10), a very interesting discussion on personal responsibility comes up. In the conversation, Karl questions "how far we [should] take all this stuff of safety gear, slowing down, and wearing bright clothes at night; it's just too much". At this point, he is obviously still being Karl, and unknowingly advocating for a less safe environment. When Ricky asks Karl if he thinks people should be forced to wear a crash helmet, Karl states that he thinks "you shouldn't get fined for not having one". A situation is sketched in which a father of two children gets into a vegetative state after having crashed on his motorbike without a crash helmet ...
Read more...