Now It's Time For Summer Camps To Freak Out Over MySpace
from the it-will-never-end dept
Well, school's now out of session, so we won't be seeing stories about schools freaking out about MySpace for a few months. Instead, we get stories like this one in the NY Times about summer camps freaking out about MySpace and other technology (including one camp that wants to ban video iPods, not because kids should be outside enjoying the great outdoors, but because they might, possibly, maybe, somehow have inappropriate material on the iPod). It's in the MySpace/Facebook freak outs where things get really bizarre. Repeated through the article are worried claims about the threat of pictures of campers or the camp showing up online -- though, no one explains why that's really so bad (other than an insurance agent who seems to want to scare camps about the "risks" associated with MySpace). However, the really bizarre case concerns a girls camp called Camp Fenwood, who apparently has a questionable understanding of the law. Beyond asking for an increased police presence at the camp because of MySpace (why? who knows?) they also claim that they're trademarking the camp name, logo and slogan "so they can legally order others not to use them online." First of all, why hadn't they already trademarked those things for all the normal business reasons? More importantly, it shows a total misunderstanding of trademark law. Owning the trademark to your camp name, slogan and logo doesn't give you permission to order just anyone to stop using it. A camper should have every right to mention it on their own website. It only forbids use that might confuse people into thinking it's an official site of the camp. Of course, the NY Times doesn't bother to mention this, and perpetuates the myth that trademark law allows such total bans on content.
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MIKE!!!
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OH LORD!
/sarcasm
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Re: OH LORD!
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Re: Re: OH LORD!
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Re: OH LORD!
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wtf
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Prevent talking about camp online
Also, I am sure they are not banning cameras, so wouldn't it be reasonable to think that once people LEAVE camp, they are free to talk about it online?
Lastely, I might actually like these camps since they seem to offer wireless online connectivity. Most camps I have been too in the past don't even have a TV.
This is a pure example of what happens when stupid people read (the camp site owners freaking out I mean, not about me writing a comment about it...or is it?).
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Re:
You mean Twisted Sister, Come out and Play or Motley Crue, Shout at the Devil? :)
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Re:
I would have to agree with ya though, all the Metallica, AC/DC, Motley Crew, and various other metal bands I listened to back in the day only made my days at camp bearable.
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*blink*
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hello mother,
hello father,
ive been smoking marijuana
coke is good, but crack is better
i'm so effed up i can't wright this efing letter.
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A shining example...
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Sounds like cult behaviour
These people clearly have a very guilty conscience and have something to hide. But what? Is there child abuse going on? Brainwashing? Who in their right mind would attend such a weird "camp" where they attempt to cut you from outside reality? Is it like some sort of cult? Are they religious nutters?
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Americans are getting silly .
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They're all conspiracy theorists
For example if the campers started carrying around a locked box that nobody could get into, the adminitration would start freaking out, because their wild imaginations can't stand that something is hidden from them, and they don't even understand how to get to that information, so they immidiately think that because they aren't privelaged or talented enough to understand these hidden secrets, that the secrets must be bad/evil/pornographic/wrong/misleading.
This is the same way the politicians think. 'If they are hiding something, it must be bad, and we must protect our children (not to mention the political kudos)' or 'If they are doing something that I can't understand, it must be regulated so that I can understand it and get kickbacks at the same time'
Besides, it's obviously 'very' American to claim property rights to anything and everything that you can get your greedy little hands on.... From your workmate stealing your idea to get a promotion to Hollywood stealing a script so they don't have to share profits... need I say more?
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They're all just...
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ha!
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Re: They're all conspiracy theorists
Good analogy. By that reasoning the very word(s) "MySpace" (My Space), must be like a red rag to a bull if you suffer these paranoid insecurities. Which raises the question, "What ever are parents thinking by allowing their children to attend such a psychologicaly toxic environment?"
"This is the same way the politicians think. 'If they are hiding something, it must be bad, and we must protect our children"
It's not about *protection*, it's about control and domination. I suspect these "camps" have an agenda to turn the minds of their attendees into obsequious, subjugated, mentally crippled little sheep. And then make the collosal error of mistaking that for "respect for authority".
"Besides, it's obviously 'very' American to claim property rights to anything and everything that you can get your greedy little hands on...."
You know, as a non-American I get upset to see you guys turning on one another and attacking your own country, even in sarcasm. (I am assuming you are American) That's all part of the plan, divide and conquer, destroy your identity. It's not just nationalistic propaganda that America was once the bastion of Freedom and opportunity, America really was once a great nation. It's only taken a few short years to turn you from a rightfully proud nation to a bunch of snivelling cowards afraid of your own shadows (no offence intended but that's the long and short of it imho). Focussing on the rot and corruption and directing anger at the quasi-fascist religious extremists in government isn't the way out of this hole. The way out is to regain your pride and self esteem. Not that faux "we kick ass" meglomaniac bullshit, but a genuine deep belief in the dignity of your country and its people, and to say "I refuse to take this abuse any longer" - everything else follows naturally.
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Re: Re: They're all conspiracy theorists
If you can understand these stories, you can understand why so many Americans walk around scared of their neighbors using the government to strong-arm them out of their livelyhood over some accident that should never have amounted to punitive damages in the first place. There are literally people in America that go around getting into accidents just to sue people... that's how they make their living... and the government backs them up in court. No wonder the world sees us as cowards. We only fight when it protects our personal interests, and not our country's.
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ha
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Duh
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Re: Duh
New york times is just a contributor to the confusion that has no idea what it's doing.
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terrorists
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...oh, and counselors having a personal life is a very bad thing as well...geeze, what were they thinking?
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wow...
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Its not just NYT
I found the most outrageous part about the NYT Camp story was when the 22 year old was told to take her drinking pictures off myspace. At what point in our world was it illegal to drink at 22 and take a picture of it?
Now some of you may say, well its up to the parents to tell there children the dangers of these sites. I couldnt agree more. If the parents of that girl who when to Jordan told their daughter about the dangers of Myspace and such sites, she and her parents MAY look less idiotic than they do now. Kids learn. When one unknown person messages them and says nasty stuff they stop snooping. Thats when parents should step in and say "hey if someone messages you gross stuff or anything you dont feel comfortable with, let us know".
I said it before and i will say it again, the problem isnt the sites themselves, its that lack of understanding on the behalf of the institutions or quite possibly, the parents
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Comment
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