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Hackers

This is the post excerpt.

Who are the Hackers? Illicit computer intruders who are often thought of as pathological individuals or groups seeking personal thrills, monetary gains, publicity for their causes, and numerous other goals. Many hackers are not malicious, in that they hack for the delight of lurking. However, others are intent upon gathering information for profit or intelligence gain, corrupting data or denying access to a system, or simply to see what harm they can cause. Here are recent Hacking attacks that took place in the US.

In December 2013, retail giant Target announced hackers had stolen the personal information of over seventy million customers and the credit card information of forty million shoppers through malware planted in Target’s servers.

In November 2014, a previously unknown hacker group named Guardians of Peace claimed it stole 100 terabytes of data from Sony Pictures Entertainment in a massive data breach. Sony later confirmed the hackers made off with the personal records of 6,000 employees, as well as unreleased movies, private emails between executives, and unfinished scripts, while destroying 3,000 computers and 800 servers in the process.

On June 4, 2015, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) made an alarming announcement: a “cyber-intrusion” led to hackers stealing roughly four million current and former federal employees’ personal information. news agencies labeled this attack as one of “the biggest ever of the government’s computer networks.” On July 9, 2015, OPM released a second shocking announcement: in a second “cyber incident,” hackers stole the personal information of 21.5 million people, including “19.7 million individuals that applied for a background investigation, and 1.8 million non-applicants, predominately spouses or co-habitants of applicants” from OPM’s background investigation databases, along with 5.6 million fingerprint records. Although these numbers are overwhelming, attacks like these are rapidly becoming the norm in an increasingly digital age. In February 2016, the Internal Revenue Service announced that as a result of a 2015 cyberattack, hackers gained access to and stole tax data from up to 700,000 taxpayer accounts and attempted to break into another 575,000 accounts unsuccessfully.

In July 2016, online publisher WikiLeaks released 19,252 emails and 8,034 attachments hacked from the accounts of top members of the U.S. Democratic National Committee between January 2015 and May 2016. No doubt this is why James R. Clapper, former Director of National Intelligence, has named cyber threats as the top “strategic threat to the United States.”

  • Gunzel, J. A. (2017). TACKLING THE CYBER THREAT: THE IMPACT OF THE DOD’S “NETWORK PENETRATION REPORTING AND CONTRACTING FOR CLOUD SERVICES” RULE ON DOD CONTRACTOR CYBERSECURITY. Public Contract Law Journal, 46(3), 687-712. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/1918883911?accountid=33975

 

Should Facebook act as a gatekeeper for the content posted on it?

Facebook is a social platform that allows its users to be in constant interaction with viral posts in addition to other posts from friends and family. Users are free to post any kind of content not only that, they can also report any kind of content that they find inappropriate. One type of post that is quite controversial is the hot post, this type of post usually contains a piece of news that goes viral and circulates quickly without having any accredited source along with it. I believe that Facebook is responsible to filter out this type of posts as it might create chaos and shift the public opinion.

Facebook is also constantly in touch with journalists and media publishers as it is becoming a platform for news. But is it a credible source?

Sometimes Facebook makes exceptions to its social standards policy for the benefit of newsworthiness. Facebook was once criticized for temporarily removing a post containing a historical photo of “a young naked Vietnamese girl running away from a napalm attack taken by Associated Press photographer Nick Ut, that was credited with dramatically altering public perception of the Vietnam War in 1972.” (Drange, 2016) The photo was flagged by many users to be removed just like any other content suspected of violating Facebook’s social standards. The photo was later restored after a careful review from top executives as It had historical significance and was Journalistically newsworthy.

Should all the inappropriate content that goes against Facebook’s policy must be removed? Users have the option to flag any content that they find inappropriate. The filtration process should be part of Facebook’s mission to provide users with a risk-free and harmless experience. This leads to the question of does gatekeeping restrict users freedom?

Many social media experts believe that “Facebook’s reliance on users manually flagging content” is not sufficient enough to fight hate speech, illegal or inappropriate content. As this process requires great engagement from the approximately 2 billion users. “According to Chris Cox, Facebook’s chief product officer, Facebook has invested heavily in making it easier to allow people to be able to report things as they see it.” In other words, users are free to report the content that they think is inappropriate and does not meet with Facebooks policy and social standards. Cox also acknowledged that the system is not perfect and that needs more work to improve its services.

In order to enhance the gatekeeping process and as a result of using the live video feature to broadcast the shootings and suicides , Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg hired 3,000 people to curb the spread of violent videos and “to review reports of violent content, whether in live video streams or in Facebook posts, as well as to better moderate other types of banned content, such as hate speech and child exploitation.” (Chaykowski, 2017)
Is Online Higher Education useful?

I think online courses offer a great educational opportunity to students who have access to least served traditional institutions. The down side is online courses can be very difficult as there is no direct interaction with the professors. Moreover, taking online courses can be tricky as some students might fall under a fraud scheme. They also provide access to students regardless of where students live or when they need to take the course.

References

Chaykowski, K. (2017, May 3). Facebook Is Hiring 3,000 Moderators In Push To Curb Violent Videos. Retrieved from Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kathleenchaykowski/2017/05/03/facebook-is-hiring-3000-moderators-in-push-to-curb-violent-videos/#35a4087058cb

Drange, M. (2016, October 25). Facebook Struggling With Role As Editorial Gatekeeper. Retrieved from Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattdrange/2016/10/25/facebook-struggling-with-role-as-editorial-gatekeeper/#528b2e9727d2

To what extent should we hold Social Networks accountable for the privacy of its users?

Facebook designers certainly did not think it well regarding the misuse of data shared on Facebook. They expected the best intentions out of people neglecting that many would have their own agendas to benefit from data shared on the social platform. According to “Dr. Siva Vaidhyanathan, a media studies professor at the University of Virginia, People should have been concerned about their personal data since 2010, when Facebook was at the peak of its popularity. Siva believes that Facebook has been deceitfully misusing users personal data such as “shopping behavior and life choices to become easy targets for ads” (Mimis, 2018). What has currently changed; however, is the public awareness. Ever since the US elections of 2016, it has been clear that Facebook has been exploited to favor U.S. president Donald Trump. Since the most recent data breach scandal by Cambridge Analytica, data analytics firm, the number of Facebook subscribers have been decreasing in thousands as fear for misuse of personal data increase. Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted to the breach of trust between “Facebook and the people who share their data with us and expect us to protect it” therefore Facebook will be forced to develop more strict procedures to monitor the content shared on it. (All Things Considered, 2018)

I think that Facebook as a social network was a threat since the start that must be strictly regulated whether users decide to keep or delete their Facebook accounts. As for where does the responsibility lie more regarding the content posted on Facebook, who is responsible this mostly depends on users. Users must know as a fact that every content posted online is no longer private. In this case, the best practice would be to post wisely by becoming media literate.

On the other hand, according to “HMG Strategy Founder and CEO Hunter Muller, organizations that collect consumers’ personal data have a moral responsibility to keep it safe and secure. “Every entity that collects, stores, analyzes and distributes our data is responsible for making sure our data is not misused. Most companies would never allow themselves to be in the position that Facebook finds itself in.” (Hoffman, 2018)

References

Confessore, N. (2018, April 10). Cambridge Analytica and Facebook: The Scandal and the Fallout So Far. Retrieved from The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/04/us/politics/cambridge-analytica-scandal-fallout.html

Meredith, S. (2018, March 23). Here’s everything you need to know about the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Retrieved from CNBC: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/21/facebook-cambridge-analytica-scandal-everything-you-need-to-know.html

Bergevin, P. (2018, Mar 20). Mark zuckerberg is no james madison; the constitution was designed to         constrain our worst impulses. facebook encourages them. Retrieved from Wall Street Journal:                 https://search.proquest.com/docview/2015558597?accountid=33975

Jeremy C Young Special,To The. (2018, Apr 08). How to fix facebook. Retrieved from The Register-Guard:                 https://search.proquest.com/docview/2022847701?accountid=33975

All Things Considered. (2018, Mar 21) Will facebook’s cambridge analytica scandal actually cause users    to delete the app? (2018). Retrieved from Washington, D.C.: NPR         https://search.proquest.com/docview/2016358249?accountid=33975

Mims, C. (2018, Mar 20). Facebook’s identity crisis looms; the company’s core business continues to         prove vulnerable to exploitation by spammers and bad actors; meanwhile our personal data     remains at risk. Wall Street Journal (Online) Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/2015539281?accountid=33975

Hoffman, T. HMG strategy’s hunter muller: Is facebook giving the tech industry a bad reputation?               (2018, Apr 09). PR Newswire Retrieved from             https://search.proquest.com/docview/2023080060?accountid=33975

To what extent are Celebrities Endorsements on Social Media affecting Consumers?

In my opinion, celebrities on social media are crucial to brands. Celebrities utilize social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram to communicate with their followers and stakeholders. These channels have also opened the opportunity for companies to interact and engage with potential consumers.

“A celebrity endorser is generally defined as any individual who enjoys public recognition, including a movie / television star, Media personality, athlete, politician, artist or a businessman, who uses this recognition on behalf of a consumer good by appearing with it in an advertisement” (McCracken, 1989). Using celebrities in order to promote a product or a certain brand has proven to be a very successful advertising technique. With more social networking sites available nowadays, celebrity endorsement is currently taking over any other advertising technique. “The pages of brands and celebrities have one fundamental difference. On brand pages, the customer engagement decreases with an increasing number of fans while the average fan engagement increases on celebrity pages. “In addition, the feedback on their posts in terms of likes and comments is nearly twice as high compared to brand posts”. Using celebrity endorsement in social media have given brands the opportunity to not only increase the engagement on their own page, but also to advertise on the celebrity’s page.

Many well-known brands have already involved their celebrity endorsers in social media campaigns, like L’Oréal featuring Eva Longoria and Nike featuring Cristiano Ronaldo.

In investigating the effects of celebrity endorsement, “researchers have found that people are more likely to adopt an attitude or behavior of another person if they identify with him or her” The aim of celebrity endorsement is to transfer the celebrity’s features, as portrayed by the media and enforced by the roles he or she plays in society, to the endorsed product or brand, and then from the product into the life of the consumer.

“The elaboration likelihood model is a model where a celebrity endorsing a product acts as a stimulus that influences the way a consumer processes the given advertising message through to the point of the decision to purchase the product”. The source credibility and source attractiveness models are two other models that are commonly used. “The source credibility model argues that the effectiveness of a message is depending on what level of expertise and trustworthiness the endorser has” (Erdogan, 1999). “Celebrities are perceived as credible spokespersons or opinion experts for the endorsed brands, providing a positive impact on attitude change and behavioral compliance” (Schlüschen, 2016). The source attractiveness model relies on the celebrity’s likability and appeal that makes them ‘aspirational figures’ to their fans and a positive influence towards advertising effectiveness. Research has shown that users are more likely to change their beliefs to physically attractive endorsers than unattractive ones.

In addition to credibility and attractiveness, the source model trustworthiness refers to “the honesty, integrity and believability of an endorser” (Erdogan, Baker, & Tagg, 2001, p. 40). Companies look for endorsers that are trustful, believable and reliable. Trustworthiness is a crucial factor when it comes to credibility and likability is mentioned as one of the most important aspects of trust. When a consumer likes a celebrity the trustworthiness of the brand is increased. Celebrities with great sport performances can be attractive because consumers have profound respect for their achievement and therefore are attracted to them. For example, Adidas, as one of the biggest and most prominent sports brands, is constantly trying to sign endorsement deals with the greatest names in major sports. In February 2017, Leo Messi confirmed the lifetime deal with Adidas on his official Facebook page along with a picture captioned: “Happy to be able to continue working with Adidas for many more years!” (Sokkaa, 2017)

Management, 15(4), 291-314. http://dx.doi.org/10.1362/026725799784870379

  • Erdogan, B.Z., Baker, M.J., & Tagg, S., (2001). Selecting celebrity endorsers: The

practitioner’s perspective. Journal of Advertising Research, Vol. 41, No. 3, 39-48

Internet in Germany

Germany has a relatively lower social media usage figures than its neighboring developed countries. “As of January 2018, only 46% of the German population was active on social networks, compared to 71% in the US” (Statista, 2018). Germany’s high proportion of older people could be one reason for the decline in the number of active Germans on social media. “As of 2018, the median age in Germany is 46 years” (Worldometers, 2018). “36% of Germans are 55 years and over” (IndexMundi, 2018). Mostly, this age group is less likely to adopt new technologies and use social media.

The German hesitancy to taking part in social media is also likely based on Privacy concerns. There is a deep German distrust of personal data collection by Google and Facebook. Another reason for this may be Germany’s complex history regarding privacy: The Nazi rule relied greatly on spying on people. Many older Germans have a fixed idea that sharing personal information can put them and their loved ones in danger. In addition to the cultural conservative norms in the social relations perspective, there is a lack of national personalities embracing social media on platforms such as Twitter. For example, German chancellor Angela Merkel does not have an official Twitter account. Furthermore, the strong traditional media such as newspapers and state-owned broadcasters may still be the most trusted source of information for many Germans, reducing the need to look for news on social.

Nevertheless, Social media usage is rapidly growing among young Germans. “Over 80% of German millennials now use social media, and this number will keep growing as more choices of Social Networks are offered.” (Simpson, 2017). “Future growth is set to continue with a solid uptake from the younger generation, with 90% of 14 to 29-year-olds registered on at least one social media platform.” (ExtraDigital, 2016)

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The Top Social Media Networks in Germany are:

  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Xing – German version of LinkedIn
  • Wer-kennt-wen
  • StudyVZ
  • LinkedIn
  • MySpace
  • de
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • KWICK!
  • Instagram
  • Yappy

Facebook use has grown rapidly since 2010. It is now the unquestionable frontrunner of German Social Media, “with a two-thirds market share among social networks in Germany and around 31 million users in Germany.” Facebook has been criticized recently for abusing its position in the market regarding their handling of sensitive personal data that enable them to micro-target advertising online. “On February 12, the Berlin regional court ruled that Facebook’s use of personal data is illegal. The Federation of German Consumer Organizations (VZBV) accused Facebook of violating consumers’ rights in several ways. The Berlin regional court agreed with the accusations that Facebook’s default settings and its terms of service violated consumer protection laws.” (Deutsche Welle, 2018).

“Instagram has 9 million active users. Instagram also released a load of business tools last year for brands, which has helped aid its growth among marketers.”

The number of Germans using Google+ has grown. It allows the user to write long, descriptive posts. It has proven especially attractive to businesses with an international outlook due to its ability to create communities and its easy integration with the other Google tools.

German’s use of Twitter used to be insufficient for expression due to the German language and the former 140-character limit barrier that can be used in a tweet. As a result, Twitter was used just to find out information rather than tweeting themselves. “Recently, Twitter has been experimenting with some users giving them twice the space (280-characters) to write their messages”.  (Independent, 2017)

YouTube is commanding the highest media budgets along with Facebook. “YouTube is often separated from social media budgets and counted toward online video budgets or display advertising.” (Davies, 2017).

German platform Xing has been the most popular professional network in Germany, “with 10.5 million total users there and in German-speaking nations Switzerland and Austria.” It is primarily used for recruitment purposes. “It’s been growing steadily, with a reported 10.6 million members in the DACH region in 2016” (Davies, 2017).

LinkedIn has steadily gained stability, “with 9 million users across Germany, Austria and Switzerland”. Since many people studied abroad in countries where LinkedIn is the dominant network. In addition, the new features and tools in LinkedIn have helped it gain stability. (Davies, 2017).

Why should more people become Media Literates

Media and literacy is considered to be a crucial skill in today’s society. “Media literacy can be defined as the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and create messages in a variety of forms” (Livingstone, 2010). It describes a set of capacities related to media consumption and creation that one can acquire. Digital media literacy extends the traditional understanding of media literacy to include new skills that are required to navigate today’s new media environment, and it also involves creative production and instruction on how to evaluate and use information critically.

Media Literacy involves the following :
– Awareness of the impact of media on the individual and society
– Understanding the process of mass communication
– The ability to analyse and discuss media messages
– Awareness of media context
– Production of content
– Understanding and appreciation of media content.

Freedom of speech is the right to express any opinions without control. Using Social Networks, One can easily express their opinions by producing content or by giving feedback on the other’s content like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Youtube. However if one is not Media Literate then they will not be able to make use of social networks.

In my opinion, digital media literacy empowers critical thinking and enhances media experiences. It may expand the degree to which the youths make use of the Internet and Social Networks to engage in political activities online such as seeking out information, producing content, or engaging in discussions on political topics that will help to balance their generally low levels of political engagement by boosting their online engagement. Becoming media literate also empowers citizens by providing  the capabilities such as knowledge, skills and attitude to engage and participate with media and new technologies. It allows for a communication and understanding others and defines the role and functions of media. Media literacy has brought about decisive changes in human communication processes.

 

 

 

 

Sonia Livingstone, (2010). Media Literacy   http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781405186407.wbiecm039/abstract;jsessionid=1133618C3300E2BF3671E9025640F0C2.f01t04

Internet in Russia

Russia has the largest number of Internet users in Europe with 109.6 million Internet users by June 2017. It has the sixth largest base of Internet users in the world after China, India, the US, Brazil, and Japan respectively. Russia has a large population estimated at 143,375,006 in 2017 with Internet penetration at 76.4 % (Internet World Stats, 2017). Internet usage in Russia has increased by 61 % between 2012 and 2015. In 2012, Internet penetration was merely at 44.3 %. This significant growth in internet usage is due in one way to the increased consumption of online news and information by Russian internet users. Out of the 3 hours and 34 minutes Russians spend on average online every day, most of the time is spent reading news.This growing use of the Internet to access current events information is likely a direct response to increased political instability in Russia and abroad. (Deloitte ,2015)

Social network usage has continued to grow with increasing Internet users. According to eMarketer, 75 million Russian people are expected to use a social network at least once per month this year. (, 2017)

When it comes to Russia’s most popular social networking sites, VK (or Vkontakte) is the largest social network, with 46.6 million unique monthly viewers (mainly teens). 42% of Russian Internet users use Vkontakte almost every day. 78% of 18 to 24 year old Internet users, and 54% of 25 to 34 year old Internet users use the site daily. OK.ru (or Odnoklassniki) is the second most popular Russian social networking site with 27% of Russian Internet users using it almost every day. OK.ru is starting to catch up with Vkontakte as teenagers leave higher education. The site has over 31.5 million viewers per month, with 69 % women viewers. (Smith, 2016)

Instagram comes in third place, and is followed with Facebook in fourth place. By comparison to most countries, Facebook does not have a very strong presence in Russia due to its fierce Russian competitor, Vkontakte. Russia has the lowest percentage of Internet users using Facebook among all the countries it tracks, just 13.7% will have used Facebook on their phone in 2016. VCIOM’s study found that only 20% of Russia’s social networkers used Facebook. Mail.ru comes in fifth place followed by Twitter in sixth place with about 7.7 million visitors a month. An extension of the email provider Mail.ru, Moi Mir, is social networking site that is quickly developing into a social hub, with average monthly users of 25 million. YouTube is a popular video site, but is regularly threatened with being blocked. The Russian alternative, Rutube, features Russian-language content and uploads. Pinterest has yet to launch a Russian language version, and in the meantime Russian competitor Pinme has launched to fill the gap in the market. As of August 2017, Pinme had 2.9 million monthly visitors (Pinme, 2017).

Blogging is very popular in Russia. Due to censorship of the site by the Russian government, a popular blogging site LiveJournal has lost a large proportion of its users.  Despite that, LiveJournal still attracts about 15.2 million monthly users (YI SHU NG ,2017)

As of 2016, Linkedin is blocked in Russia by Russia’s communications regulator Roskomnadzor after the social network failed to transfer Russian user data to servers located in the country, violating a law instituted in Russia requiring all online sites to store personal data on national servers. (Lunden ,

A recent study by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) found that the most popular social media topics for Russians are related to humor and health. 43% of respondents found humor to be the topic that is most likely to draw their attention. The second most popular topic was a 41% tie between health and news related content.  Based on this research findings, Russians want to laugh when interacting online but also stay informed about the news and their health. Preferences for the most popular social media topic varied depending on age, gender and location. Humor, sports, and science and technology are more popular between the ages of 18 to 24. Topics such as the news and health and food are more popular among people that are 60 and older. Topics such as sports, cars, and science and technology are more popular among men. While topics about food, family, and healthy lifestyle are more popular among female social network users. (Russian Public Opinion Research Center, 2017)

 

 

Briallyn Smith (2016). The Top 8 Russian Social Networks (And What Makes Them Great). https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/top-8-russian-social-networks-makes-great/

Deloitte (2015). Media Consumption in Russia : Key trends https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/ru/Documents/technology-media-telecommunications/media-consumption-in-russia-2015-en.pdf

Ingrid Lunden . LinkedIn is now officially blocked in Russia. https://techcrunch.com/2016/11/17/linkedin-is-now-officially-blocked-in-russia/

Internet World Stats (2017). http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats4.htm

Pinme (2017). http://thenordicnumbers.thenordicweb.com/companies/pinme/analytics

Research: Reviewing Russian Social Media Interests. https://russiansearchmarketing.com/research-reviewing-russian-social-media/

Russian Public Opinion Research Center (2017). https://wciom.com/index.php

YI SHU NG (2017). People are deleting their LiveJournal accounts because of new censorship rules. https://mashable.com/2017/04/10/livejournal-russian-law/#EqZ6ByXgRPqt

 

Should the policy makers in China reduce the legislation on internet usage?

For decades, the Chinese authorities used the government-controlled media to set the public agenda, thereby determining what the public should think about and imparting a dominant ideology in order to maintain the status quo. The emergence of the Internet provided an alternative information channel and enabled millions of netizens to engage in public affairs and express their opinions, thus posing a great challenge to the agenda-setting power of the traditional media and the government

China has the largest Internet population in the world. By the end of 2013, the number of China’s Internet users had reached 618 million (CNNIC, 2013). The Internet penetration rate went from 4.6% in 2002 to 45.8% in 2013. The Internet not only provides unique opportunities for Chinese “netizens” to access a diverse range of information but also, more importantly, creates a public space for netizens to collectively strengthen their opinions on public matters (Qiang, 2007).

The Chinese government has made great efforts to regulate online content and peoples’ internet use: for fear that freedom of speech, combined with the free flow of information could destroy its political legitimacy and its control over the society.  For example, It routinely blocks the websites deemed subversive and undesirable and uses keyword-filtering technology to censor politically sensitive information on the Internet. Despite pervasive government regulations, the anonymous and networked nature of Internet communication makes total control nearly impossible. (Qiang, 2010). Besides using technical means to bypass the blocks, Chinese netizens have also developed linguistic strategies to dodge censorship (Thünken, 2008).

On the positive side, these restrictions has helped in fighting internet addiction. In the last 2 decades, internet addiction has undergone a remarkable transformation in China, from a psychiatric curiosity to a publicly recognized health risk, especially among young people. As of 2012, the internet users under 30 account for 58.2 % of the total netizen population. Therefore, the government has enforced regulations like: no internet cafes or game labs are allowed to operate within 200 meters around schools, strict licensing procedures, control of the business hours, and restrictions of minors’ entry into internet cafes.

The effectiveness of such acts is questionable, but they undoubtedly enable policymakers to show that they are doing something regarding this seemingly intractable social problem. Internet addiction as an issue has been included in the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Protection of Minors in 2007 (Tao, 2007).Recently, more research projects, therapeutic clinics, psychiatric counseling centers, and self-help groups have expanded in urban China (Jiang and Leung, 2012).

  • CNNIC (2012), “The 29th statistical survey report on the internet development in China”. Retrieved  from http:www.cnnic.cn/research/bgxz/tjbg/201201/P020120118512855484817.pdf
  • CNNIC (2013). The 33rd statistical report on Internet development in China [in Chinese]. Retrieved from http://www.cnnic.cn/hlwfzyj/hlwxzbg/hlwtjbg/201401/ t20140116_43820.
  • Jiang, Q. and Leung, L. (2012), “Effects of individual differences, awareness-knowledge, and acceptance of internet addiction as a health risk on willingness to change internet habits”, Social Science Computer Review, Vol. 30 No. 2, pp. 170-183
  • Qiang, X. (2007). The Internet: A force to transform Chinese society? In L. M. Jensen & T. B. Weston (Eds.), China’s transformations: The stories beyond the headlines (pp. 129–143). Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield. htm
  • Tao, R. (2007), Internet Addiction: Analysis and Intervention, Shanghai People’s Press, Shanghai
  • Thünken, F. (2008). Internet censorship in China: Recent developments and perception of Internet censorship by Chinese Internet users. (Unpublished thesis.) Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg