Craigslist is a recent recipient of moral panic backlash. Once the “Craigslist Killer” was arrested for allegedly killing a young woman he met on Craigslist, state attorney’s general went into overdrive. They appeared on news programs ad nauseum to decry the evil of Craigslist’s adult services section. The end result was the site censoring itself to avoid the hassle. Lately we’ve had police warning about potential robbers lurking on Facebook to see when you might not be at home, and then stealing from you. There’s not been any evidence that this is an actual problem.

At best, these moral panics raise people’s anxieties for no reason. At worst, they can cause people to be concerned with the trivial, and neglect the real dangers out there.

1. Netflix goes to Canada – After 10 years of existence, Netflix is finally going north of the border. Later this fall, the streaming service will also be available. It will initially only be available in English, but they have plans to open a French site soon.
2. Windows Mobile 7 nears release – Microsoft is finally nearing release of it’s new mobile operating system. This time around, they are trying to mimic Apple and Research In Motion’s success with a closed environment. Apps will only be sold through their Microsoft Marketplace. They will also have tighter hardware controls with hardware makers.
3. Apple gives away free cases – Stung by the Consumer Report downgrade, Apple decided to take on “antenna-gate” head-on. They will be giving away free cases to iPhone 4 buyers, which should alleviate the dropped call issues.
4. Facebook expected to hit 500 million users this week – They plan to celebrate the half-a-billion mark with Facebook Stories, “a collection of real-life blurbs from Facebook users about how the social networking site has impacted their lives.” Facebook users now equal the populations of the U.S., Japan and Germany combined.
5. New Motorola Slide-Up Device Coming – The new device will be with Verizon, and it appears to be a combination of the Droid and the Palm Pre.