around good person who was described by her sister Carla as one who “supported people whose lives were defined by poverty” and “fed stray dogs and cats in every city she visited.” When she wasn’t traveling from India to Egypt covering media news there and in the many countries in between, she would head back to her New York City base or travel to Florida to visit relatives. Fine died in Bombay in November 2007 following a long illness that only a few people were even aware of. She is survived by her sisters, Carla, Ellen and Jill; and her nephews Ben and Jono. Mumbai Attacks Tie Up Media Coverage of a hostage situation in Mumbai by local news outlets has prompted new media regulations in India. Last November, armed terrorists attacked the nation’s financial capital, killing more than 125 people and taking hostages at two luxury hotels and the Chabad House (a Jewish outreach center). Over the course of the three-day occupation, TV reporters swarmed the site, interviewing hostages by phone and even speaking to some of the gunmen. In the aftermath of the crisis, members of the media were strongly criticized by the government, who said their aggressive tactics hampered national security and endangered lives. Additionally, news stations drew government disapproval over images of the famous Taj Hotel engulfed in flames as well as footage of the dead, which were replayed over and over and eventually rebroadcast internationally. In response to this government outcry, the country’s leading broadcasters have banded together to enact a set of selfregulatory guidelines. The new rules include a pledge not to report hostage situations or conduct interviews with victims or attackers while an event is taking place. They have also promised to exercise caution when airing footage of dead or wounded. The new regulations have been described by media professionals as an attempt to pre-empt government censorship on the news. Behavioral Ads Debated in U.K. Internet advertising, and behavioral targeting in particular, has been a topic of recent dispute in the U.K. Last month, David Heath, member of Parliament and leader of the Liberal Democrats’ Commission on Privacy, led a debate in the House of Commons about whether or not online advertising compromises privacy. In addition to the MPs, representatives from behavioral targeting companies and execs from Internet advertising heavyweights, including Yahoo and Google, took part in the discussion. In the end, the group voted that Web ads do not compromise consumer privacy. Also in December, research institute New Media Knowledge convened a similar assembly of behavioral analysts and advertising researchers to debate the same issue. Titled “The Fire and The Fury,” the panel was made up of reps from Phorm and Specific Media, firms that specialize in advertising targeting, as well as a research fellow and privacy advocate from the Oxford Internet Institute. Throughout the event, Phorm Commercial director Nick Barnett was bombarded with questions regarding legal and ethical aspects of his company’s technology, which targets Web users based on what sites they go to. Though Barnett maintained that the company’s technology is perfectly legal, Ian Brown of the Oxford Internet Institute argued the illegality of the personal information of consumers being passed on to Internet service providers without their consent. Thus far no official legislation has been passed on the issue. Famous Quotes “How did we get here?” –U.S. President George W. Bush showing his aloofness at a Sept. 18, 2008 emergency meeting on the imminent economic meltdown as reported in The New York Times , Dec. 21, 2008. JA N U A R Y 2 0 0 9 (Continued from Page 2)
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