Can the Pope Stop Flamewars?

Flame wars have been a part of the Internet ever since the Internet existed.  When the first computer was connected to another, it was likely an argument over which operating system was better got started five minutes later.  Every year, the Internet churns out more bile than the livers of the world could even dream of, and it’s finally gotten bad enough that, of all people, the Pope has stepped in.  This and how Firefox and Chrome are trying to be a little less creepy, here on Uproxx News

First, His Holiness has weighed in on the Internet, and, perhaps not surprisingly, has stated that Catholics should act like polite, gentle, kind people, instead of giving into what Penny Arcade has called the Greater Internet F***wad Theory in pursuit of hits.  Among the bad practices the Pope called out were ‘incendiary rhetoric’ and fake profiles on social networking.  In other words, the Pope wants Catholics to be nice to other people and honest online as well as in real life, so much so that the Holy See is drafting a set of guidelines for how to behave online.

Yes, you read that correctly, the Pope is going to tell Catholics how to behave on the Internet.  We’re wondering exactly how long the parts on MMOs and online gaming are going to be.  It’d be nice to know that if the guy ganking us on WoW is Catholic, he’s got to tell a priest about it.  We hope the Vatican becomes more tech-savvy, as we’d kill to see them start a guild in Stormwind and start trying to convert members of the Horde.

Meanwhile, while the Vatican is asking people to just be polite online, Firefox and Google Chrome are doing their best to enable people to act badly online, or at least not spill their entire browser history all over the Internet.  Both are developing tools that block advertising networks from collecting information about you.

This has been a concern for years, as, bafflingly, people seem to have a problem with large, faceless conglomerates collecting as much information about you as possible and using it both to try and sell you crap and also selling that information off to the highest bidder.

Chrome already has a plug-in that can block this, although it’s only from networks that allow you to opt-out, which is like saying you can shut off the security cameras at the 7-11, but not the ones hidden in your toilet.  Firefox, on the other hand, is actually going to put out a series of updates that will, hopefully, allow you to finally browse the weirdest parts of the Internet without seeing ads pop up for them five hours later, possibly in front of your grandmother.

Allegedly the next version of Internet Explorer will include this as well.  We’re a little skeptical, but we bet they’ll include it almost entirely just to give Google the browser equivalent of a swirly.

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  • The Pope wants Catholics to be polite online. Also, he wants to put an end to this whole naughty schoolgirl thing on the Internet once and for all. Hey, if anybody can do it, it’s the Pope! (Yahoo!)
  • Firefox is trying to protect your privacy. OK, they’re doing a terrible job, but at least they’re trying. (PC World)

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  • Speaking of Big Brother, Arkansas and New York have decided to push government intrusion into your personal life to new heights. How? By banning you from being on your cellphone or listening to your iPod in public! The Arkansas law would forbid you from having more than one headphone on when you’re next to, perpendicular to, or basically anywhere near a road. If that doesn’t sound incredibly stupid enough for you, the New York law would ban people from being on their cellphones in crosswalks. Both try to use laws banning drivers from using their cellphones in certain situations as templates, because you totally hear about pedestrians going screaming off the roads and colliding into each other at 60 miles an hour. (KATV)
  • Also, according to a survey, social networking makes people think they’re jumping into bed faster in their relationships, but mostly they aren’t. Who says social networking doesn’t do great things? (Reuters)

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  • How many Firefox users will benefit from their ad-blocking? 364 million worldwide and growing. (TechCrunchies)
  • Mozilla’s got nothing on the Catholics, though: there are a billion of them. Literally. (Zenit)

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