Expect Resistance & Library Autonomous Zone

Web Censorship for Dummies. Annalee Newitz, AlterNet. Posted January 3, 2006.

Here’s an interesting story about CP80, a lobbying group pushing the “Internet Channel Initiative,” a “technology solution” designed to limit pornography. Their idea is to put all pornography on one “channel” (i.e., port) and so be able to limit access to that port. However, this television metaphor doesn’t fly because ports are used to differentiate types of communication protocols (http, smtp, etc.), not kinds of content.

But beyond the technological problems with their initiative, check out the corporate sponsors — amazon, iTunes, Best Buy, Sony Musci Store, Hickory Farms(?!) etc. This is even more troubling because these companies have alot of power and pull and they obviously aren’t even thinking about the free speech implications of this “initiative”, only the bottom line. This is the epitome of corporate irresponsibility. I think these companies should be at the top of the “do not shop at” list!

Free Software Foundation GPLv3 draft

The first draft of version 3 of the General Public License was released today. I haven’t read through the whole thing, or compared it to earlier versions, but DID notice this interesting little section on DRM:

Some countries have adopted laws prohibiting software that enables users to escape from Digital Restrictions Management. DRM is fundamentally incompatible with the purpose of the GPL, which is to protect users’ freedom; therefore, the GPL ensures that the software it covers will neither be subject to, nor subject other works to, digital restrictions from which escape is forbidden.

Why we should care about network neutrality, now. Free Government Information, January 13, 2006.

My latest update on network neutrality is on FreeGovInfo.info. It includes cites to Jeff Pulver, The Wall Street Journal, and Financial Times.

Data Mining 101: Finding Subversives with Amazon Wishlists | Applefritter

The Electronic Frontier
Foundation points to this article that describes in detail how data mining works. It uses the Amazon.com “wish lists” (which many people make public), open source tools, and a little ingenuity to
locate people who want to read “subversive” books. It even creates maps showing where they live.
This article has a lot of technical detail, but the interest for most librarians will be in how simple it is to use reading interests to create a profile of a person. The author notes:

This is what’s possible with publicly available information, but imagine if one had access to Amazon’s entire database - which still contains every sale dating back to 1999 by the way. Under Section 251 of the Patriot Act, the FBI can require Amazon to turn over its records, without probable cause, for an “authorized investigation . . . to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities.” Amazon is forbidden to disclose that they have turned over any records, so that you would never know that the government is keeping records of your book purchases. And obviously it is quite simple to crossreference this info with data available in other databases.

On a final note, the FBI is now hiring computer scientists to implement a project that sounds very similar to what I just did…

Open Access, Closed Debate, By Roy Mark, Commentary, Internet News, December 30, 2005.

Jeff Chester of the Center for Digital Democracy calls
it “walled gardens.” Now we call it a debate over “open access” vs “net neutrality.” With recent FCC decisions, “Network operators have the right to manipulate traffic with the goal of steering consumers to certain Web sites over others” according to the advocacy group Public Knowledge. As the Center for Digital Democracy says, “An Internet without open access requirements would hardly resemble the Internet as we know it today. Without such requirements, the power to discriminate would be given to those who control the conduit–the few gigantic service providers that will remain.”

As Congress begins to contemplate this, Mark says:

Let’s see, Congress favoring the Verizons and Comcasts of the world over consumer interests? Gee, what are the odds?

Tag It: Acqusition, Yahoo Acquires del.icio.us

Yahoo.licio.us? That’s right, Yahoo has acquired del.icio.us the social bookmarking, social software web service for storing and sharing web bookmarks.

Cities Explore Wireless Possibilities, by Chloe Albanesius, National Journal’s Technology Daily [subscription required]
Issue Of The Week: Monday, December 05, 2005.

In the wake of Philadelphia’s decision to build its own wireless network, cities large and small have explored similar projects to boost competition and tourism.

World Summit on the Information Society

WSIS is underway in Tunis, Tunisia. The big discussion is over the governance of the internet. Check out the live webcast. I see alot of government officials and Jean-Philippe Courtois, the president of Microsoft International, but there’s nobody on the slate from activist and non-profit organizations interested in open access, lessening the digital divide etc. hmmmm.

“Network neutrality” is an important concept that librarians should
understand. The issue arises because broadband network service providers
(e.g., cable and telephone companies) have the technical ability to filter,
slow, encumber, and block users’ access to the web, web sites, individual
web pages, particular kinds of services or files. If the FCC mandated
“network neutrality” it could limit how much and what kind of filtering and
blocking could be done. (See What is Network
Neutrality and Why Should Libraries Care?)

Recently there has been a small whirlwind around comments by Ed
Whitacre, the CEO of the large telephone company, SBC. He says that
companies (such as Google and Yahoo) that make money using SBC’s broadband
connections should pay him.

How do you think they’re going to get to customers? Through a
broadband pipe. Cable companies have them. We have them. Now what they
would like to do is use my pipes free, but I ain’t going to let them do
that.
— At SBC, It’s All About “Scale and Scope” interview with
Edward Whitacre, edited by Patricia O’Connell, Business Week,
November 7, 2005

This shifts the discussion from one of mandating network neutrality to
one of monopoly control of broadband access. There are some interesting
comments and discussion on this new issue here:

• Network neutrality v. platform competition, by Susan Crawford, October
  30, 2005.

  After two days of impassioned speeches about network
  neutrality, I am beginning to think that we’ve been drawn onto the wrong
  battlefield…. I think the real fight should be over rights of way and
  platform competition. There’s a clear lack of competition in the last mile
  – that’s where choice has to exist, and it doesn’t now.

• Net Neutrality and
  Competition, by Ed Felten, Freedom to Tinker, October 31, 2005

  If SBC gets paid by Google, it’s because SBC faces less
  competition and hence has more market power. As Susan Crawford observes,
  Mr. Whitacre speaks with “the voice of someone who doesn’t think he has any
  competitors.”

• Net Neutrality Will Triumph, by Dana
  Blankenhorn, November 1, 2005.

  The fact is that Whitacre is a Bellhead, playing an old game
  of monopoly based on media power. The Internet routes around such games.
  And the Internet is the market, not the dial tone.

• Why We Need a
  Democratic Information Network in Minneapolis, New Rules Project.

  There is an alternative. Publicly owned, open access networks
  can ensure a competitive market for broadband. Indeed, they may be the only
  way.

ongoing á Word Processing Blues

Tim relates his problems with an old MS Word file and how he solved it with Emacs (an open-source multi-platform text editor [and much more] that has been around since 1976] and CSS.
He concludes:

[A]ssuming you had a Web editor with a good change tracker, why would anyone want a word processor any more?