Hedgehog

The BBC is currently broadcasting a superb documentary series about the internet and how it will change any and all of us in the future.
Last night’s episode, Homo Interneticus, was all about social networks such as Facebook and how they influence our lives.

At the end of this episode, an online test was mentioned which attempts to determine how you behave when online, in animal terms.

Of course, I had to take it. My result:

You are a Web Hedgehog

HedgehogSlow-moving – Web Hedgehogs are careful internet users, taking their time to find the right information – just as the real-world hedgehog carefully searches out insects and berries.
Solitary – Hedgehogs lead mainly solitary lives and are happiest foraging for food of their own. In the ecology of the Internet, you also prefer to go it alone, rarely relying on information on social networks or other sites whose content is created by its users.
Specialised – The hedgehog relies for protection on its highly specialised ability to roll into a spiky ball. Similarly, your test suggests you are a specialised web user, best suited to concentrating on one thing at a time rather than attempting to multitask.

Yourself?
Test requires (painless) registration and about 20 minutes of your time.

Piracy Settlement-O-Matic

Former online cigarette salesmen now enforce copyright:

Taking their cue from Amazon’s one-click ordering system and the RIAA’s settlement-o-matic website, a company named Nexicon is developing a technology that tracks users who share music and film illegally, and then demands payment for the downloaded file. According to ZDNet, the company is currently conducting a test of the system using Frank Zappa tracks, and is actively monitoring some 19.6 billion file transmissions every day.

Emphasis mine.

King Of The Rickroll

I’m going to have to mention the name of Rick Astley now, but fear not: it’s for purely sociological reasons. You see, Mr Astley has been rickrolled:

Over the last year or so, Astley has watched with puzzled amazement as “Never Gonna Give You Up” has been mocked, celebrated, remixed and reprised, its original music video viewed millions of times on YouTube, all by a generation that could barely swallow its Gerber carrots when the song first topped the pop charts.

Here’s just one particularly puzzling example.