I Have a (Digital) Dream Digital Divide4/27/2001; 4:55:02 PM '"You don't want to reach a fatalistic attitude," said Henry Jenkins, director of comparative media studies at MIT, and co-organize the conference. "You have to hope for a utopian world. Martin Luther King held up the dream we have to frame for the digital population of the United States. '"We need a diverse cyberspace. Not a race-blind cyberspace."'Question for pondering: What is a "diverse" cyberspace? "Cyberspace" is easily as large as a nation, if you add up all the people in all the world connected to it. Does Switzerland need to be more diverse? I don't think one can rationally talk about "cyberspace" in this context, any more then we could seriously discuss "diversifying" Switzerland.The existance of sites catering to various races or cultures? Such sites already exist; they must not mean that.Shall we tag people with their race and perhaps gender in online environments, so people can see the "diversity" around them? Yep, that's stupid, I'm running out of ideas.How do you convert "We need a diverse cyberspace. Not a race-blind cyberspace." into a concrete action? When you boil it down, this entire article is essentially content free. It's really the same story as the music companies, or the movie companies: A story about people who have built lives around a social structure ("race" and "ethinicity" and "relations" between them, or scarcity economics as the case may be) that essentially does not exist in cyberspace, and are trying to drag the old stuctures in with them and impose them on an unwilling and uncooperative Internet."Race" and "ethnicity" exist everywhere, of course; nobody ceases to be human by going online. But the "relations" part naturally changes wildly, because the environment is totally different. So much of "race relations" is tied up in the physically interacting with people; I see your skin is differently colored and your clothes are strange, your accent and language is strange, you smell of foods I don't eat, so I leap to conclusions about you. That's not the whole story, of course, but that's where it all begins. Little of that exists online, so it should be no surprise that there are changes to "race relations" that render them virtually unrecognizable once the foundation of traditional race relations is removed.The concept of "diversity" as it is known at large universities is inextricably tied to the physical world, and getting "diverse" people physically together. If people want to ensure "diversity" online, they really need a more concrete idea of what "diversity online" means. If they force the old relationships into cyberspace, they are liable to do far more harm then good, just as the music companies want to do. Only this time it's not merely economic damage, people will be hurt.This is of course a seperate issue from getting disadvantaged people online, which is the only digital divide I believe truly exists... but then, that has little to do with race and more to do with economic status. The article, and the people with whom it deals, conflate these two issues... because the importance of getting the disadvantaged online is almost self-evident, while "preserving diversity" is nearly meaningless.
Microsoft's Passport service: No Marylanders allowed? UCITA4/26/2001; 11:46:24 PM 'It also appears that Microsoft is attempting to bar residents of Maryland and, potentially, other states considering the Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act from using Passport with this sentence in the terms-of-use agreement: "Use of the Passport Web Site and service is unauthorized in any jurisdiction that does not give effect to all provisions of these terms and conditions, including without limitation this paragraph."' 'Maryland's much-maligned UCITA, which is slightly different from the version originally proposed, gives its state courts jurisdiction over software licensing issues for Maryland residents and companies. (Here's the text of Maryland's UCITA, but it's in rich text [rtf] format.)''Of course, UCITA also binds consumers to the software license agreements they sign, so it would seem that Maryland's UCITA would contradict itself in this case -- by giving Maryland courts jurisdiction over software disputes at the same time it ties the user to an agreement to use courts in King County, Wash.'If you need an idea for a book to write, write Corruption Never Pays: Why Laws You Buy Always Come Back To Haunt You. It seems corporate megaliths never learn some lessons...
Watermark Crackers Back Away
DMCA
4/26/2001; 9:22:34 PM '"We, the authors, reached a collective decision not to expose ourselves, our employers, and the conference organizers to litigation at this time," Ed Felten, a computer science professor at Princeton, told a crowd of reporters who gathered in the lobby of the Holiday Inn where the Fourth International Information Hiding Workshop was taking place.'
That's officially, of course. Unofficially, some of us have already read the paper...
Punching Holes in Internet Walls
Censorship
4/26/2001; 1:04:52 PM 'In the Middle East, for example, anti- Islamic sites and gay sites are often off- limits. In China, the prohibition includes the sites of Western publications, human rights organizations and Falun Gong, the banned spiritual movement. And Saudi Arabia also blocks sites for financial reasons: its ban on Internet telephony favors its own state-run telephone monopoly.'
'Countering such government restrictions are services, some free, that are provided by companies like SafeWeb (www.safeweb.com), Anonymizer (www.anonymizer.com), SilentSurf.com (www.silentsurf.com) and the Cloak (www.the-cloak.com). During the conflict in Kosovo in 1999, for example, Anonymizer, based in San Diego, set up free services so that Kosovo residents could communicate with less fear.'
iMotors shutters site Personal Commentary4/26/2001; 12:11:30 AM 'iMotors shut down its operations because it didn't have enough cash to grow its business, according to the note. The company, which sold used cars over the Internet after refurbishing them, said it would refund deposits placed with it and honor car warranties on vehicles it had already sold.'If I can just hold out long enough, iRights be the last site on the net with a name of the form "iNoun". Then my name will look... *gasp*... original! One down, hundreds to go... Wish me luck!Update: And there goes iSyndicate! Droppin' like flies!
Libertarian, or Just Bizarro? Misc.4/25/2001; 12:48:06 PM 'What if you could take all the haters and the perverts and the spammers and stick them on their own private Internet?'That way, they could do whatever they want without bothering the rest of us, and we wouldn't have to spend our money or time regulating them.'If it sounds too simple, it probably is.'Bah. This isn't worthy of top billing on Wired.com. The most telling quote:'Though the idea may have appeal among some of the special-interest groups above as well as Web anarchists and dyed-in-the-wool libertarians, nobody seems clear on what exactly splinternets are, how they would work, or what Crews is really talking about.'Nobody, including the reporter, it seems; see Update below.Proposals of this nature go beyond "the devil is in the details"... there's nothing but details. Vague promises and claims are utterly useless; only practical proposals that can be analysed are useful. Put simply, without details the proposal is on par with a proposal that we be able to deliver pizzas over the phone line; easy to propose, but pure nonsense in the real world. Without more specificity, it's just beating at air.Until he spends a bit more time thinking about the non-existant idea(s) he is so busily proselytizing, Crew belongs firmly in the catagory of "bizzaro".'Indeed, "the exclusion of others" seems to be the most prominent thread in Crews' vision, not the politics of ownership or regulation....' '"Do people really want to be connected to everyone? I don't think so." Crews said. "Fundamentally, people want to be connected to other people like them."'*shudder* That's the wrong point of view... people don't so much seek out the company of people like them as avoid the company of people they don't like... which may or may not be "people unlike them". There's no need to break off and form your own net... just find somewhere you like and stay there! Most people already do this. Except for perhaps isolating children, this proposal solves a problem that doesn't really exist, and institutes a form of isolationism that could cause trouble later.
Dancing
Glossary
4/23/2001; 7:23:49 PM Dancing: ''Dancing'' is a term I made up to describe a method of argument I encounter far too often, wherein the arguer continually changes what proposition they are proposing/defending in order to avoid the counter-arguments being made. The mental image is a proverbial Wild West outlaw shooting at someone's feet, demanding the person being shot at ''dance for them''.
See full definition.
Inescapably Connected: Life in the Wireless Age Technology & Sociology4/22/2001; 2:17:23 PM 'The network knows where we are. The network is there, all around us, a ghostly electromagnetic presence, pervasive and salient, a global infrastructure taking shape many times faster than the Interstate highway or the world's railroads. This is different from the radio-spectrum Babel that defined the 20th century: the broadcast era. We aren't expected merely to tune in and listen. This network is push and pull, give and take. It broadens our reach. If we lock our keys in the car, the network can unlock it for us from thousands of miles away -- just a few bytes through the ether.'From the last page of the article: 'We don't have to become neurons in the New World brain to feel that we're already gaining something. I have noticed that the mobile-gadget wielder develops the odd sensation of being entitled to all sort of facts. You get in the habit of knowing things, or at least of being able to find out. It's as if there's a permanent mental hotline to the information specialists at the public library. Can't quite identify Bob Dole's running mate in 1996 or that actor up on the screen or a science-fiction story encountered 10 years ago? You get a twitchy feeling that you ought to push a button and pop up the answer.'A couple of months ago, my wife and I lost internet connectivity for a week, while switching cable modem services. I am a computer scientist, my life revolves around computers. She's a zoologist, uses the Internet mostly to check e-mail. Quite different people.The interesting this is we both experienced what James Gleick described. We could live without e-mail. I could live without updating my weblog. (The lack of outlet for writing was a bit more difficult to deal with, but I managed.) I could live without browsing the web, or downloading patches, or all the other myriad of things I do on the Internet. What we both missed most was the ability to casually look things up on the Internet. We heard a medical term we wanted to look up and couldn't until later. We sometimes play along with Who Wants to be a Millionaire and try to find the answer to the questions in less then thirty seconds (practice for Phone-a-Friend... it's virtually impossible unless you get lucky with Google). I felt like a part of my memory was missing, but surprisingly, so did she, considering how much more "connected" you'd think I'd be.It's hard to believe, but the next hundred years really are going to make the last hundred look like a joyride, barring catastrophe...
Industry Wants to Opt Out of “Opt-In” Privacy from Companies4/22/2001; 1:37:29 PM An extremely level-headed and well-written article about opt-in versus opt-out.'Ultimately, however, the scales are likely to be tipped not by economic arguments, but by structural ones about the nature of privacy. Under a regime of “opt-out” over-disclosure, it will take a longer time before the market manages to reach equilibrium, ... A regime of “opt-in” under-disclosure, on the other hand, will bring market forces swiftly to bear to bring about a “correct” equilibrium.'I like this logic. It also allows for a middle ground between opt-in and opt-out, which is, as usual, where we will most likely end up.
Technical & Legal Approaches to Unsolicited Electronic Mail Spam & E-Mail4/21/2001; 4:55:42 PM A paper. Abstract follows:
Unsolicited electronic mail, also called "spam," is both a nuisance to Internet users and a threat to network security. Spam imposes substantial costs on Internet users and providers, who have undertaken a variety of actions in response--many of which have been counterproductive. Informal responses such as social pressure and industry self-regulation have been almost entirely ineffectual in battling spam. Technical responses have fared somewhat better, but often at a high cost. Efforts to filter or block spam, for example, frequently prevent legitimate messages from getting through. Other technical responses have done little to stem the tide of spam, and in some instances have led to expensive legal disputes.Lawsuits have been somewhat successful in addressing the most extreme instances of spamming, and a number of jurisdictions have enacted specific laws in an attempt to regulate spam. But legal approaches in general seem to have been no more successful than technical responses to the spam problem, and the primary result to date is a great deal of uncertainty surrounding spam. Ultimately, a consensus approach that coordinates legal and technical responses is likely to provide the only effective solution.After reading this paper, I feel a bit better about my own writing style... a sampling of the first 20 pages indicated that about half of the paper is footnotes, and that's by area, not char count. By chars, there's more footnotes then content. And I thought my tendency to ramble in the footnotes was bad...