Smart Alecs Misc.5/24/2001; 11:54:23 PM I don't talk about education much, but inasmuch as we have the "right" to education, the internet and computers is certainly impacting that right. ''Smart Alecs'' is a fairly even-handed article laying out the pros and the cons of computers (and by extension, the Internet) as they are affecting education. I would like to say one thing: Basically, both sides of the debate are correct. It's just that the two sides aren't talking about the same computers.The people who believe computers are harming kids say things like this:'Theodore Roszak... stated, "They (the students) feel that information is all you need, and it comes out of a computer. The fact that there?s a whole world of books in the library is vanishing. These kids are under the impression that because there are a lot of eye-popping effects on the computer, that?s superior. But the World Wide Web is a mishmash of whatever anybody wants to put up there, and what they often get is misinformation and incomplete information."...''"Computers create the lethal impression that everything about learning is supposed to be fun."'This is true... but this is the "learning game" designer's fault, not the computer's! If you treat the computer as a glorified television, or even worse, as a self-grading worksheet, then of course this hurts the child. No news here! Then again, an education founded on worksheets, memorization, and a motley collection of 'educational' films isn't exactly the epitome of education either. I remember these classes... I can't think of a worse way to "learn" history and at the same time completely miss the lessons history has to teach. One wonders how much of what Theodore sees is "computers" affecting students, and how much of it is just crappy education.There are better ways to approach computers then treating them as a glorified worksheet: '"The Internet and new technology is the most powerful tool for learning ever. Children who have access to this new communications medium will learn more effectively then those who don't," he said. "When kids are online, they're reading, analyzing, evaluating, comparing their thoughts, and telling their stories, collaborating, innovating."'Note the contrast between what "computers" are to the naysayers, and what "computers" are to the advocates. Here the computer is a tool of communication and discovery... and it can be the most flexible tool for that imaginable. Once you stipulate each side their definition of computer, they are both correct.Computers are both the most mind-expanding tools ever created and the most mind-numbing tool of mental oppression ever. The really sad part is, left to their own devices, I suspect most kids would very much prefer to use the computer in its exploration and communication mode, at least after learning enough skills to comfortably navigate in the discovery space; you have to try to ruin the experience by forcing the children to do the digitized worksheets and bleep-bloop-bloop education games, which can amuse but quickly wear out their welcome.The moral of the story is that computers, as they usually do, only amplify trends, they do not create them. If your idea of education is worksheets and filmstrips, the computers will enable you to do even more damage to your children then you could do previously, but the fault lies with your idea of education, not the computer. If your idea of education is a voyage of discovery and dialog with both peers and others who have already traveled the road, then the computers will enable you to give your students even more exposure to those experiences, but the credit is not due to the computer.I think one's attitude about computers in education serves as a sort of Rorschach test on your attitude about education in general; examining one's reasons for reacting to the issue can be enlightening.

Report Downplays Echelon Effect
Surveillance and Privacy from Government
5/24/2001; 11:37:37 PM 'A global surveillance system known as Echelon does exist and has the ability to eavesdrop on telephone calls, faxes and e-mail messages, a European Parliament committee has concluded.

'In a 250KB draft report, the committee said that Echelon -- operated by English-speaking countries including the United States, Canada and Great Britain -- is designed for intelligence purposes but that no "substantiated" evidence exists that it has been used to spy on European firms on behalf of American competitors.'

Rethinking Music Security
Music & MP3
5/23/2001; 10:15:07 PM 'Last Friday, a consortium of more than 100 content and technology companies called the Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI) failed to reach a consensus on a screening application that would enable media players to distinguish between secure and unsecure files.

'The lack of agreement means that for yet another year, portable and PC media players will continue to play both secure and unsecure music files and MP3 files.'

Net TV firm set to guard Canadian border
Misc.
5/23/2001; 10:12:14 PM 'JumpTV, which has yet to turn on the most controversial part of its service, says it will avoid the lawsuits by limiting its viewership to Canadians, with technology that purports to pinpoint Web surfers by country, region and even ZIP code.

'If implemented, it would be the first time a high-profile Web entertainment service has set up a technological walled garden attempting to eliminate the international reach of the Web.'

High Court to Hear Net Porn Case
Free Speech
5/21/2001; 2:13:31 PM 'The Supreme Court said Monday it will revisit the free-speech debate over congressional efforts to limit children's access to online pornography.

'The court agreed to review lower court decisions blocking enforcement of a 1998 law making it a crime to knowingly place objectionable material where a child could find it on the World Wide Web.'

First Anniversary
Personal Notes
5/20/2001; 11:48:53 AM No [more] posts today... it's my first wedding anniversary! Party time!

Eurocops want seven-year retention of all phone, Net traffic Misc.5/18/2001; 3:20:13 PM 'The official EU body that represents the member governments will recommend the long-term retention of personal data at a meeting with the European Commission later this month, according to documents leaked to London-based civil liberties journal Statewatch. 'The Council of the European Union, which represents the 15 member governments, will discuss implementing a policy originally designed with the FBI six years ago. It calls for the retention of "every phone call, every mobile phone call, every fax, every e-mail, every website's contents, all internet usage, from anywhere, by everyone, to be recorded, archived and be accessible for at least seven years," notes the journal.'I'm not certain this is even technologically feasible. Oh sure, the data can be collected, but I'm not convinced we could store it for seven years and have it usable and relatively easily retrievable. I would not be surprised that that would be the most complicated database undertaking in the world. Probably only scientists could match that amount of data (astronomers in particular), and they tend to have obvious ways of organizing the data (such as by position in the sky and time). Even trying to identify the point of origin of all these phone calls, faxes, e-mails and whatnot as quickly as they occur will be difficult, let alone getting them to a storage facility.Even though our storage technology is improving, data use on the internet is also increasing rapidly. I don't think this is going to work half as well as the lawmakers think it will. Clearly the lawmakers (yet again!) have failed to consult anybody who actually knows about technology. Even storing the contents of "every site on the Internet" at any given point in time is beyond the capabilities of anybody I know, such as Google, let alone for seven years (as I presume that means some sort of snapshot system). Idiots.

Proposed international law treaty puts rights at risk Misc.5/18/2001; 2:58:20 PM 'But the treaty's drafters began their work before cyberspace took its present form. Back then, business in other nations included a physical presence. You went there, set up shop and agreed to abide by that place's rules.... Cyberspace has blurred all borders....'Some nations' laws deny rights we take for granted in the United States and some other democracies. If critics are correct, the Hague Convention would turn local laws into international fiats, making the most restrictive laws anywhere the effective law of the Internet.'I don't have the faintest idea what the solution is to the problem of international legal conflicts is. However, I do know that the most obvious solution, which is this, will not work. This will only please the most restrictive regimes imaginable... and actually not even them.

MS incites UCITA breach UCITA5/12/2001; 7:11:27 PM 'Whereas Maryland's version of UCITA gives jurisdiction to Maryland, Microsoft insists that jurisdiction for the use of Passport resides in the law and courts of Washington state. As a result of this conflict, it appears that Maryland residents are not allowed to use the Microsoft service.''Although this conflict did seem to be an amusing instance of both Microsoft and the legislative sponsors of UCITA in Maryland getting hoisted on their own petards, I at first didn't see any significant consequences to all this legal snafu. Passport is a free service, and Maryland's version of UCITA includes an escape hatch for free products, designed in part at the behest of open-source software advocates. But then I remembered that the Passport license is subsidiary to the license for MSN; so I checked the license terms of MSN....'My intuition says we're missing some critical part of this story, but I'm not really certain what it is. What were Microsoft's lawyers thinking?

They Know If You've Been Bad or Good Surveillance and Privacy from Government5/12/2001; 11:34:03 AM 'Independence Hall will forever be depicted in history books as the birthplace of the United States. Along with the Statue of Liberty and the Washington Monument, it is among the most recognizable symbols of freedom in the world. Ironically, this building where the Declaration of Independence was signed, emancipating Americans from an intrusive government, is now the site of a high-powered video surveillance camera.'From the no unenforcable law series on iRights. (I need to re-factor this site's catagories, "No Unenforcable Law" would become a new catagory, headed up by the Human Justice story.)