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cybering
Wednesday, July 31, 2002
Peter Merholz recently posted his intention to write an essay about cyberrelationships on his blog, PeterMe. The page includes a list of links on the subject. Peter had crossed my mind just yesterday, when I read William Safire's most recent "On Language" column, entitled "Blog." I tend to respect Safire's etymological, if not political, commentary, and he does have a staff of researchers, so it was quite disappointing how misinformed he was about the nature of, purpose of, and genesis of "blog." In fact, I believe it's taken as historical fact that Peter Merholz created the word, quite intentionally, announcing "I am now going to pronounce weblog we-blog, blog for short," sometime in 1999.
More on big brother and your computer, this time via a bill introduced in the House of Representatives as an addendum ot existing copyright law.. that would allow media conglomerates to hack your computer or network and take any sabotaging action they deem appropriate to protect "their" material. Read the bill, write to your representative, stop the madness.
Here's some basic copyright info from the Digital Future Coalition. The EFF's Intellectual Property page; links, essays, archive.
posted by nixie
Thursday, July 25, 2002
Immediately post-September 11 the web functioned as a grassroots community and information/emotion-sharing forum. Heartwarming and worth archiving, which the Library of Congress is doing. However, a month later, we had the Patriot Act, spectres of national ID cards linked to comprehensive personal databases, and erosion of privacy protection and freedom of speech.
It's very frustrating, the degree to which mainstream media tend to misrepresent government regulation and surveillance of electronic communications. I noticed this most strikingly the night Ray Suarez, of PBS's NewsHour, interviewed the outgoing FCC Chairman about his final act, rubberstamping the AOL-Time Warner merger. It's quite incredible that in all the fingerpointing and scapegoating over big business shell companies, accounting dodges, collusion with investment banks and analysts, and see-no-evil CEOs, the role of our own government in fostering an environment of loopholes and rampant greed, corporate-friendly regulations, and tax breaks is completely finessed. AOL and Time Warner's much-vaunted synergy is tanking, and the FCC had the information to foresee and forestall that, thus protecting investors. However, Ray Suarez's "tough questions" about this merger okay amounted to o-ing and aah-ing over IMs. It was truly as painful as one President's astonishment over electronic grocery check-out scanners.
Recently, I actually heard David Brooks, young Republican pundit and cultural zeitgeist temperature-taker, dismiss the broadening of law enforcement's power to wiretap, snoop, and survey without a warrant, as "now they just get to use Google like the rest of the world, it was crazy before how their hands were tied." Excuse me, but when I use Google, I don't get a comprehensive list of your recent search results. With such lame disinformation being presented about the specifics, no wonder there's not more informed debate and unified outrage.
Why not inform yourself?
JP Barlow's Crime and Puzzlement
EFF Analysis of the US Patriot Act
EFF's Chilling Effects of Anti-Terrorism
FBI Statement to Congress on Internet Predators (from 2000. but note how stalk-and murders are lumped with the Florida kid who sent a bored IM to a Columbine High School girl on AOL, saying "don't go to school tomorrow." He faced 5 years and a 250,000 fine.)
Pilot arrested for making an inappropriate comment about airport security. Rumor is he said "You're checking my bags for for nail clippers when I could crash the plane?" Sort of a reasonable question, and one I can imagine those down-home, inevitably Southern-drawling-type pilots making as a wry joke.
ISPs and web servers bombarded with subpoenas
Telecoms can sell your calling record to 'affiliates', from the Interesting Times weblog. Many great links in its archive.
John Gilmore's challenge to mandatory ID checks for airline travel. His FAQs: eloquent.
Gilmore's take on What's Wrong with Copy Protection. His dialogue with Intel. His January 2001 comments.
Richard Stallman's Reevaluating Copyright, 1996 article: prescient.
posted by nixie
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