Gingrich vs. Romney: Whose website got the most hits?

Does the number of people who click on a political candidate's website have any correlation to how many votes he or she receives?

On Tuesday night, we might find out.

Experian Hitwise, an online measurement company, has released some data on how many people have visited Mitt Romney's website versus how many people have visited Newt Gingrich's website in the last four weeks.

The results are mixed.

In Florida, Romney is the clear winner (online). Over the last three weeks, his website got 39.5% of traffic to the four remaining Republican presidential candidates' websites from Florida users. Gingrich came in second with 26.53%. Rick Santorum's site got 19.20% of the traffic, and Ron Paul got 14.75%.

But outside of Florida, the top two positions were reversed. Experian reports that last week in the U.S. overall, Gingrich's site got 35.74% of the hits, while Romney's site received just 29.31%. Then came Ron Paul, who got 20.48%, and finally Rick Santorum with 14.47%.

Weird!

And add this to the mix: Up until mid-January, Gingrich was clearly leading in online hits from Floridians. It wasn't until the week of Jan. 15 that Romney started to take the lead.

Matt Tatham, a spokesman for Expedia Hitwise, said that online visits do not necessarily translate to offline votes. "You never know what people are going to visit on," he said. "The Romney traffic could just be due to him being in the news more than the others."

He added that most of the Romney searches in the last week have centered on his tax returns and his net worth.

"Sometimes Internet users just search on people -- they want to know their background, find out what the family is like, see what the life looks like. But having said all of that, maybe it will translate to votes. You never know. You could argue both sides."

As for whether Gingrich should be heartened by his website's nationwide online hit lead over Romney, Tatham didn't think so. "If you are them, you are only worried about one state," he said.

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Photo: Newt Gingrich supporter Mary Gaulden listens to the Republican presidential candidate speak at a campaign rally Monday in Tampa, Fla. Credit: Jim Lo Scalzo / EPA

Obama and Romney campaigns use Square for fundraising

Barack Obama's use of social media is credited with helping him reach out to voters in a groundbreaking way that helped him win the 2008 presidential race. In 2012, the Obama campaign is eying a new way to reach voters and donors too -- Square.

The president's reelection campaign, as first reported by Politico, is outfitting its staff across the U.S. with the small plastic smartphone credit card readers and mobile payment apps from Square, the San Francisco start-up run by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey.

But just as the Obama campaign isn't alone in its embracing of social media this year, it too isn't alone in deploying Square for easier, faster fundraising on the campaign trail. On Tuesday, Republican Mitt Romney's campaign announced it too would be using Square for fundraising in Florida, where Romney is facing rivals Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul and Rick Santorum in a Republican primary.

"We have plans to roll it out nationally but right now we're using Square just in Florida as a sort of beta test," said Zac Moffatt, the Romney campaign's digital director. "The challenge on this sort of thing is never with the technology, it's with the compliance. We're making sure everything we're doing follows fundraising rules and is compliant with the FEC [Federal Election Commission] and that it works well. So, for now, were just focusing on making it all work on this smaller scale, but we'd like to scale this out in time, the right way."

Moffatt said the Romney campaign has been talking to Square about how to best implement the company's card reader and app for "probably about six months. This is one of the challenges we face relative to the Obama campaign -- we have only so much manpower. So we've had to plan this out the right way so that we're using the resources we have in an effective way."

To aid its ability to scale-up its use of Square, the Romney campaign is considering developing its own Square-compatibly app that a supporter could download to their smartphone to make a donation or possibly even collect donations on behalf of the campaign -- but that's an idea that hasn't been finalized just yet, Moffatt said.

The campaign looked to Square for fundraising because of the company's ability to turn a smartphone into what is essentially a mobile cash register with a simple app download and a Square card reader in the headphone jack.

"Ease of use is a big part of why we're using Square," he said. "Anything that reduces the barrier for entry is a No. 1 priority for us. Our apps, well that's something to think through. We still have some things to figure out -- whether or not the Apple is going to take 30% of a donation or not, details like that. But we're always looking to get as close to one touch donations as we can."

For the sake of convenience, Moffatt said, all of the Romney's campaign's Square usage will be iPhone based for now, though Android phones may be added in the future. The "beta test" will take place Tuesday night at the Romney campaign's election party in Florida, he said.

"There will be thousands of people there, so we'll be using Square for merchandise sales and fundraising," Moffatt said. "There will be lots of things like this in 2012 and the question always is, does this technology work for us? We have a lot faith this could be something pretty powerful for us moving forward."

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Photo: A demo of Square's card reader and iPhone app in action. Credit: Square

Aneesh Chopra, the first White House chief of technology, resigns

Aneesh Chopra, the first White House chief of technology, has resigned after almost three years on the job.

Chopra's resignation was announced in a post on the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy's blog that did not explain why he's leaving the Obama administration. The Washington Post reported that he is rumored to be considering a run for lieutenant governor in Virgina.

"When President Obama came into office in January 2009, the administration found a federal government relying too heavily on 20th century technology," John P. Holdren, director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, said in the blog post. "On his first day on the job, the president created the position of 'chief technology officer.'"

Chopra was sworn in as the first U.S. chief technology officer May 22, 2009. The job called for "looking at ways technology can spur innovations that help government do a better and more efficient job."

Holdren said Chopra had "a dizzying array of accomplishments" while in office, which included input on crafting the president's National Wireless Initiative, which calls for "the development of a nationwide public safety broadband network"; establishing "a set of Internet policy principles, including the call for a Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights"; and leading "the implementation of the president's open government strategy focused on unlocking the innovative potential of the federal government to solve problems and seed the jobs and industries of the future."

Obama, who is known as a more tech-friendly president than his predecessors, said in a statement that Chopra "did groundbreaking work to bring our government into the 21st century. Aneesh found countless ways to engage the American people using technology, from electronic health records for veterans, to expanding access to broadband for rural communities, to modernizing government records."

The White House under Obama has used technology -- social media in particular -- much more than previous administrations. This can be attributed to the rise in popularity of social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, but Chopra may have had an influence as well.

Before his White House job, Chopra was chief technology officer for the state of Virgina. On "The Daily Show," host Jon Stewart once jokingly called Chopra the "Indian George Clooney."

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Photo: Aneesh Chopra smiles during a roundtable discussion at the 2010 International CTIA Wireless convention in Las Vegas. Credit: Ethan Miller / Getty Images

#TwitterBlackout: Tweeters protest nation-specific blocks [Updated]

Twitter faced a growing backlash on Friday, less than a day after it announced that it can now block specific tweets from being published in specific countries that legally require such censorship.

On Friday, a day after the country-specific plan was announced, #TwitterBlackout and #TwitterCensored were trending topics on the hugely popular social network.

In the case of #TwitterBlackout, thousands of users from around the world threatened to boycott using the service on Jan. 28, with the hactivist group Anonymous among those calling on tweeters to skip the site for a day. The group Reporters Without Borders issued a letter on its website to Twitter's executive chairman, Jack Dorsey, asking him to "reverse a policy that violates freedom of expression."

The trending topic #TwitterCensorship was filled mostly with tweets from users complaining that Twitter shouldn't be censoring any of its users. Fear over increased censorship also was widely expressed, as was some frustration as some believe Twitter's new policy may result in less censorship,  not more.

In the past, Twitter only withdrew a user's tweet globally -- meaning the entire world wouldn't be able to see a tweet if the site censored it. But now, the San Francisco company has built a tool that allows them to censor tweets just in the country that calls for the censorship, but others outside of that nation will be able to view the message share on the service.

Twitter said Thursday in a blog post that it doesn't want to censor anyone's tweets but legally has to do so in certain cases, such as France's and Germany's ban on "pro-Nazi content."

The company also said it has teamed with the free-speech and online-rights website ChillingEffects.org -- an online partnership between the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Harvard, Stanford, Berkeley, University of San Francisco, University of Maine, George Washington School of Law and Santa Clara University School of Law clinics -- to document who is asking for a tweet to be censored and why. Such notices will be published at chillingeffects.org/twitter.

Jillian C. York, the Electronic Frontier Foundation's director of international freedom of expression, argued in a blog post defending the company that the move doesn't "represent a sea change in Twitter's policies."

"It's been difficult to comment on the move given the extreme reaction by Twitter's own community," York said. "Lots of 'I told you so' from the conspiracy theorists who think that this is because of Saudi Prince Alwaleed's stake in the company, compounded by the #occupy crowd continuing to claim their hashtag was censored in Twitter's trending topics made me want to avoid the subject entirely."

But, of course, York doesn't avoid the subject.

"Let's be clear: This is censorship," she said. "There's no way around that. But alas, Twitter is not above the law. Just about every company hosting user-generated content has, at one point or another, gotten an order or government request to take down content. Google lays out its orders in its Transparency Report. Other companies are less forthright. In any case, Twitter has two options in the event of a request: Fail to comply, and risk being blocked by the government in question, or comply (read: censor).  And if they have 'boots on the ground', so to speak, in the country in question?  No choice."

Nonetheless, York said she understands why people are angry.

"Twitter has previously taken down content -- for DMCA requests, at least -- and will no doubt continue to face requests in the future," she said, referencing Twitter blocking tweets in the past to follow DMCA copyright laws. "I believe that the company is doing its best in a tough situation…and I'll be the first to raise hell if they screw up."

[Updated 3:03 p.m.: Twitter updated it's blog post on the censorship changes in response to the user backlash seen over the last day.

The company said that it believes "new, more granular approach to withheld content is a good thing for freedom of expression, transparency, accountability -- and for our users. Besides allowing us to keep Tweets available in more places, it also allows users to see whether we are living up to our freedom of expression ideal."

Twitter also answered threee questions it says it has been asked since Thursday. The questions and answers from Twitter:

Q: Do you filter out certain Tweets before they appear on Twitter?
A: No. Our users now send a billion Tweets every four days -- filtering is neither desirable nor realistic. With this new feature, we are going to be reactive only: that is, we will withhold specific content only when required to do so in response to what we believe to be a valid and applicable legal request.

As we do today, we will evaluate each request before taking any action. Any content we do withhold in response to such a request is clearly identified to users in that country as being withheld. And we are now able to make that content available to users in the rest of the world.

Q: What will people see if content is withheld?
A: If people are located in a country where a Tweet or account has been withheld and they try to view it, they will see a alert box that says "Tweet withheld" or "@Username withheld" in place of the affected Tweet or account.

Q: Why did you take this approach, and why now?
A: There's no magic to the timing of this feature. We've been working to reduce the scope of withholding, while increasing transparency, for a while. We have users all over the world and wanted to find a way to deal with requests in the least restrictive way.]

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Images: Screen shots of Twitter users complaining about Twitter's new nation-specific censorship policy. Credit: Twitter

Twitter can now censor tweets nationally, rather than globally

The wings of some Twitter users may be clipped a bit less going forward.

The San Francisco-based company said Thursday that it will now be able to censor tweets in specific countries that ask it to do so for legal reasons, rather than having to block tweets globally as before.

"As we continue to grow internationally, we will enter countries that have different ideas about the contours of freedom of expression," the company said in a blog post. "Some differ so much from our ideas that we will not be able to exist there. Others are similar but, for historical or cultural reasons, restrict certain types of content, such as France or Germany, which ban pro-Nazi content."

Up until this point, Twitter was only able to censor tweets worldwide, which means nobody would get to see a blocked tweet, the company said.

"Starting today, we give ourselves the ability to reactively withhold content from users in a specific country -- while keeping it available in the rest of the world," Twitter said. "We have also built in a way to communicate transparently to users when content is withheld, and why."

When a tweet is blocked in a country, a message will appear stating that the tweet has been withheld in that nation alongside a link that explains the reason as to why the tweet was blocked.

"We haven't yet used this ability, but if and when we are required to withhold a Tweet in a specific country, we will attempt to let the user know, and we will clearly mark when the content has been withheld," Twitter said. "As part of that transparency, we've expanded our partnership with Chilling Effects to share this new page, http://chillingeffects.org/twitter, which makes it easier to find notices related to Twitter."

Twitter says in its help center that the ability to block a tweet in a specific nation will allow it to "respect our user's expression, while also taking into consideration applicable local laws."

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Images: Screen shots of what blocked content will look like. Credit: Twitter

Tweets deny that Anonymous will try to hack into Facebook

Anonymous has lobbed many online attacks against high-profile websites, but so far the hacktivist group has never hacked into the world's largest social network, Facebook.

And, if you believe most Anonymous connected Twitter accounts, that won't be changing anytime soon -- despite ongoing rumors and a YouTube video stating an Anonymous-backed Facebook strike is planned for Saturday.

The question of whether Anonymous will attack Facebook got started with that YouTube video, published Monday. The video, which can be seen above, states that the group is targeting the social network as a part of an online war in reaction to two controversial online anti-piracy bills known as SOPA and PIPA that were abandoned by several Washington politicians last week.

"Hello. People of the world. We are Anonymous," a computer generated voice-over says in the video. "The time has come. An online war has begun between Anonymous, the people, and the government of the United States. While SOPA and PIPA may be postponed from Congress, this does not guarantee that our internet rights will be upheld."

Later, the video states that "while it is true that Facebook has at least 60,000 servers, it is still possible to bring it down. Anonymous needs the help of the people, the people who want to take a stand against the government. The people who want to make a difference. This is what we must do."

On Monday, just a few hours after the video was published on YouTube, the @AnonOps Twitter account -- which many believe to be an authentic Anonymous account -- said there were no plans to hit Facebook.

"Again we must say that we will not attack #Facebook! Again the mass media lie," one tweet said.

Another tweet repeated the denial of the YouTube video, stating "AGAIN: 'Anonymous Threatens Facebook Shutdown Jan' IS A FAKE. RT PLEASE."

But while the attack may not be a legitimate Anonymous operation, and while it may never even take place, the group's lack of hacks against Facebook isn't for a lack of threats.

Rogue members of the collective, which has no publicly clear leadership structure, and possibly even impostors have threatened attacks against Facebook multiple times in the past. Notably, one such threat last August planned for Guy Fawkes Day on Nov. 5 never panned out.

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Image: A screenshot of a tweet from the @AnonOps account that denies the hacker group Anonymous will attack Facebook. Credit: Twitter

President Obama to answer questions in Google+ Hangout on Jan. 30

President Obama is back on social media like it's 2008 -- when the Technology blog described him as "the first social media president."

The president has a presence on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram and Google+ -- both for his reelection bid and for official White House communications. You can even download a ringtone for your smartphone of Obama singing Al Green's "Let's Stay Together" from a recent New York campaign fundraiser.

Next up is the first Presidential Google+ Hangout.

Obama will take part in a hangout video chat with up to nine other Google+ users on Jan. 30.

The hangout will cap a week of White House officials' fielding questions across Facebook, Twitter and Google+ about the president's annual State of the Union speech, to be delivered Tuesday.

And while the focus of the conversation is likely to be on the State of the Union, anyone can submit a question on just about any topic to Obama this week on Google+ and YouTube, the White House and YouTube said in separate blog posts.

YouTube posted even published a video promoting the event Monday showing scenes of tea party, Occupy Wall Street and Arab Spring protests, coverage of the death of Osama Bin Laden and the end of the Iraq War, as well as a brief voiceover from a gay Air Force lieutenant.

"If you could hang out with President Obama, what would you ask him? Would your question be about jobs or unemployment? The threat of nuclear weapons? Immigration reform? Whatever your question is, submit it on YouTube for the opportunity to ask the president directly in a special interview over a Google+ Hangout from the White House," YouTube said.

Of course, Obama won't answer all the questions submitted through the White House YouTube channel, but he will answer "several of the most popular questions" the White House said, and a small number of those who submit questions will be invited to join the president in the video chat.

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Image: Screen shot of the White House on Google+. Credit: Google

White House joins Google+ ahead of State of the Union speech

The White House is now on Google+ and no, it's not technically a move to help President Obama get reelected -- there is a separate Obama 2012 page for that.

So why is the Obama administration now on Google's social network? The State of the Union speech on Tuesday is at least one reason to join Google+.

The annual speech will be broadcast across major TV networks and an enhanced version will be streamed online to the White House's mobile apps and at whitehouse.gov/sotu, with "charts, stats and data that helped inform President Obama's policy decisions as he delivers his speech to the nation," the White House said.

After the speech, which starts at 6 p.m. Pacific time, White House officials will field questions throughout the week regarding the speech, the president's policies, and the direction in which the country and economy is headed. Those questions will be taken from Twitter, Facebook and (as of this week) Google+.

Down the road, the White House may use Google+ Hangouts, the social network's group video-chatting feature, to reach constituents.

"The President and First Lady often call the White House 'The People’s House.' Well, this is another way we're opening our doors (virtually) to citizens around the country," said Kori Schulman, the deputy director of outreach at the White House Office of Digital Strategy, in a blog post. "On our Google+ page, we'll host regular 'White House Hangouts' with administration officials on a range of issues and topics.

"Some Google+ users will be invited to join the Hangout with the White House and have a conversation with policy experts. But the best part is that even if you're not 'in' the Hangout, you can watch the whole thing live on WhiteHouse.gov, on our Google+ page or on the White House YouTube channel."

The White House currently has no Google+ Hangouts planned.

Although the White House's Google+ page isn't an official campaign tool, there is no doubt that the Obama administration and his reelection campaign staff are looking to use every tool possible to reach voters this year.

After all, the president's use of social media in his winning of the 2008 election is often cited as one of the reasons he was able to build up support among voters. The Technology blog even described Obama as "the first social media president."

One other reason the White House might want to be on Google+ -- Republican rivals looking to knock Obama out of office are there too.

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Image: A screen shot of the White House page on Google+. Credit: Google

SOPA sent back to the drawing board in wake of Internet protests

The SOPA online piracy bill that helped spark this week's unprecedented Internet protests will be redrafted, its lead sponsor said Friday.

The move came shortly after the Senate postponed a key vote on the companion PIPA bill scheduled for next week and amid calls for consensus before Congress moves forward on any legislation to address the problem of foreign piracy websites.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) had hoped to push his Stop Online Piracy Act through the committee next month. But in the wake of growing opposition triggered by Wednesday's Internet blackout, Smith said the committee "will postpone consideration of the legislation until there is wider agreement on a solution."

PHOTOS: Sites that went dark to protest SOPA

"I have heard from the critics and I take seriously their concerns regarding proposed legislation to address the problem of online piracy," Smith said. "It is clear that we need to revisit the approach on how best to address the problem of foreign thieves that steal and sell American inventions and products."

Smith said his committee "remains committed to finding a solution to the problem of online piracy that protects American intellectual property and innovation."

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) also said he was committed to addressing the problem. But he blasted opponents of his Protect Intellectual Property Act, which unanimously passed the committee last year and appeared headed for approval by the full Senate within weeks before the Internet protests caused several colleagues to withdraw their support.

Leahy said he respected the decision Friday by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to postpone Tuesday's planned procedural vote, which would have brought the bill to the full Senate so it could be debated and amended. And Leahy said he was committed to revising the bill to address opponents' concerns and getting legislation passed this year.

But he warned, "The day will come when the senators who forced this move will look back and realize they made a knee-jerk reaction to a monumental problem."

"Somewhere in China today, in Russia today, and in many other countries that do not respect American intellectual property, criminals who do nothing but peddle in counterfeit products and stolen American content are smugly watching how the United States Senate decided it was not even worth debating how to stop the overseas criminals from draining our economy," Leahy said.

Christopher Dodd, head of the Motion Picture Assn. of America, echoed Leahy's concerns about the impact of the delay and said he hoped the additional time would allow "the dynamics of the conversation" to change.

"As a consequence of failing to act, there will continue to be a safe haven for foreign thieves; American jobs will continue to be lost; and consumers will continue to be exposed to fraudulent and dangerous products peddled by foreign criminals," Dodd said.

Opponents of the legislation were thrilled with the retreat and called for a consensus on how to tackle the problem of foreign piracy websites.

"Over the last two months, the intense popular effort to stop SOPA and PIPA has defeated an effort that once looked unstoppable but lacked a fundamental understanding of how Internet technologies work," said Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista), who has introduced narrower legislation favored by the Internet industry.

The White House also has called for consensus legislation.

Internet activists said Congress should start over in gauging the true scope of the online piracy problem and redrafting the legislation.

"Simply tinkering with the details ... is not the way to go," said Harold Feld, legal director of Public Knowledge, a digital rights group. 

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Photo: Nadine Wolf demonstrates against the proposed Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA) outside the offices of Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) on Wednesday in New York. Credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images.

PIPA anti-piracy bill vote postponed in Senate

Next week's scheduled vote on the PIPA anti-piracy bill has been postponed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, handing a defeat to Hollywood and a major victory to Internet companies that launched online protests to battle the legislation and its House companion, known as SOPA.

"In light of recent events, I have decided to postpone Tuesday’s vote on the Protect IP Act," Reid (D-Nev.) said Friday. He called for all sides to work together to resolve "legitimate issues" raised about the bill to crack down on foreign websites that traffic in pirated movies, music and other goods.

"Counterfeiting and piracy cost the American economy billions of dollars and thousands of jobs each year, with the movie industry alone supporting over 2.2 million jobs. We must take action to stop these illegal practices," Reid said. "We made good progress through the discussions we've held in recent days, and I am optimistic that we can reach a compromise in the coming weeks."

PHOTOS: Sites that went dark to protest SOPA

Wikipedia led a 12-to-24-hour blackout by more than 10,000 websites on Wednesday in protest of the proposed Protect Intellectual Property Act and the Stop Online Piracy Act. The sites directed people to contact their members of Congress, flooding Capitol Hill with calls and emails.

The bills are strongly backed by the entertainment industry and had been on a fast track to approval, with the Senate set to hold a key procedural vote on Tuesday. But the protests led several co-sponsors of the legislation to pull their support, with numerous other lawmakers vowing to oppose the legislation in its current form out of concern that it could squelch free speech on the Internet and lead to the shutdown of legitimate sites.

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Photo: Protesters in New York on Wednesday demonstrate against the proposed Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect Intellectual Property Act. Credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images