Just a bit of an update with things happening with regards to online regulation and protection. Further to the posts I’ve written about whether social media networks need regulation there have been some additional moves made by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) who govern the age ratings for video content and video games.

It seems the BBFC are to introduce age ratings for downloaded content and games - obviously this is voluntary as the anonymity of the Internet means it’s virtual impossible to uphold. However as I’ve mentioned before parents must take more responsibility for this and at least the tools for them to use to do so are becoming ever more available. If parents’ methods of protecting their children is made as easy as possible you are only going to see them being increasingly adopted.

In addition there is an interesting post about the issue of informed consent posted by dot life. It correctly states that the current situation is a bit of a farce - since when do people read terms and conditions online? However a working group has been appointed to come up with recommendations by the end of the year. Hopefully with several country’s Information Commissioners and firms like Microsoft and Facebook involved there might be interesting results. Perhaps recommendations for online privacy best practices for online companies to aspire too?

After all the toing and froing with Phorm and various opponents including the ICO it seems another solution is being made available to Internet users and it’s free!

Rather than blocking the Phorm cookie required by the service or even opting out it takes it to the next level of actually providing Phorm with completely erroronous data. Called AntiPhorm this software runs in the background and simulates natural web surfing activity but of course this isn’t want Phorm wants as it’s effectively feeding random data into their system!

So if Phorm decide to continue with their current opt out stance enough people installing this simple piece of software will be a decent spanner in their works. 

If Phorm is listening sort yourself out and change over to opt in - people are only going to resent, sue or try and sabotage your attempts. You might even be surprised how many people sign up for Phorm if it really provides such well targetted adverts as you claim.

AOL have bought Bebo even managing to repel the apparent attempts by Google to get a piece of the action to bolster Orkut.

After my post a couple of days ago about AOL trying to update their brand maybe I was a little premature saying they weren’t causing much of a buzz online. Buying one of the big 3 social media sites is not to be underestimated. However some people are already suggesting that maybe AOL getting involved at this stage in the game might mean that the social media bubble is about to burst.

I can’t see this by any sense of the word. Social media is just being to mature in some areas. Back in February of this year the decline of Facebook users was widely reported as negative. I personally saw this as just a change in user habits. You always get the initial excitement about the latest trend and Facebook was no exception. However the casual user of Facebook could quite happy drop off the network once they get bored that their list of friends are have grown tired of the aimless wall-posts.

The real social users have Facebook as a tool to extend their social lives. I myself don’t logon half as much as I used to - my status can stay the same for days on end. However when I’m planning to meet up or have an event on the cards Facebook is my communication tool of choice. Maybe this is because many of my friends are scattered across the UK rather than being local but all the same it works well for me.

Of course there is the inevitable photos and videos uploaded after the event and for someone who has never been one for collecting photo albums (my entire University life was contained in two rolls of film) I’ve now got far more to look back at - surely not a bad thing?…then again.

So I’m sure the user trends show even more seasonal use of Facebook over time. December was very busy, January very quiet - much like everyone social calendar. Coincidence? Not called social media for nothing. Just time has led to an amplification of this trend.

I don’t think the social media sites are blind to this change in activity either. Facebook are on the verge of a major facelift in the near future. From the screen shots I’ve seen they are trying to make the interface work for all the different types of users that frequent the site - keep those bloody applications separate please!

So no the bubble ain’t for bursting. The question is will AOL make a good go of Bebo or will Bebo go the way of AOLs other online shopping trips?

IPv4 has been around since 1981 and at the time who could have expected the online revolution that would follow? It’s been known for some time now that the range of unique internet addresses isn’t going to last forever. The number of people coming online is still growing and those that are already online are adding more and more Internet able devices. So the future is going to require a system with the capacity for many devices for every person.

The current estimate states that the IPv4 addresses will run out in 2011. That’s just 3 years from now. There is a possible intermediate step of using NAT - this effectively allows sub-networks running off a single IP address. However everyone agrees this is only a short term extension and in the long term IPv6 is the only solution.

IPv6 will effectively give enough addresses for billions of devices per person - they certainly aren’t taking any chances here (nanotechnology maybe might stretch this eventually but that’s a different post)! However with only 3 years to go there doesn’t seem to be the urgency to switch to 6 as maybe there should be.

Some ISPs do provide IPv6 but it seems that they aren’t pushing this as much as they could. The other issue is that at least for home routers IPv6 capabilities are in the minority - my favourite brand Netgear don’t seem to offer IPv6 support at all or at least I can find absolutely no mention on the website!

Some of the bigger players are trying to nudge along the others, for example Google has launched search for IPv6 - just a bit of a gimmick to raise the profile maybe but Google have a habit of making people notice. 

My real concern is that the general underinvestment in networking in this country is going to lead to providers leaving the move to IPv6 as late as possible. The lack of affordable home kit is also a concern and I hope this isn’t a move by hardware companies to make a killing in the years to come when new purchases and upgrades alike will increase.

I don’t think IP addresses will actually run out but I do have a nasty feeling a last minute panic might ensue which is only going to cause problems for the man on the street. Just the person who won’t have a clue how to solve the issues. Cue ISP complaints to hit record numbers!

It’s quite possible for IPv4 and IPv6 to live happily alongside each other so ISPs should be making all new customers sign up for IPv6 now rather than upgrade later. This gradual transition should actually make things easier for the companies themselves as well.