Given my current insane workload, I can only rejoice at the last minute decision by the FCC to pull from this morning’s meeting agenda a new rulemaking that would start the broadcast media ownerhsip fight all over again. Contrary to what I’m sure will be the popular wisdom, I think this demonstrates a healthy, functional agency rather than the usual partisan sniping. My analysis below.
Tales of the Sausage Factory:
Tales of the Sausage Factory:
Small But Potentially Significant Spectrum Ruling
Unnoticed by most folks, the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau issued a public notice on the legality of cell phone jammers. (They aren’t.) Oddly, this may have very significant impacts for users of unlicensed spectrum.
Tales of the Sausage Factory:
Thinking a Bit More Clearly on Grokster and Brand X
A bit of time lends perspective. There is already a ton of stuff out there on this, but I’ll add a few perspectives that I hope are fresh. . . .
My Thoughts Exactly:
Hitchhikers and Acts
RIGHT NOW on KFJC, the best radio station in the universe, they’re playing the original Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy radio show.
Later on in the show Ann Arbor will be reading from my Acts of the Apostles (look left for free download), and will continue to do so in weekly installments through August.
In case you’re not reading this entry RIGHT NOW, I think you’ll be able to download archived shows. Look for Ann Arbor’s UnBedtime Stories.
(Also, mind you, it’s also OK to buy printed copies for dollars money.)
Tales of the Sausage Factory:
Consumers Union Gets Active on Muni Broadband
My friends at Consumers Union have set up a page on community internet on their HearUsNow.org.
They also have a take action page. I urge folks to check ’em out.
I really will get some more stuff posted soon. Just been real busy.
Stay tuned . . .
Inventing the Future:
The Imagination Age
This month’s Tech Review has an editorial that begins “Inventing the future…” and end with these two paragraphs:
“Traditionally, Technology Review hasn’t written that much about society. Our subject matter is emerging technologies, and they have historically been purchased by corporations, universities, and governments. That’s because emerging technologies used to require an extraordinary capital investment, one well beyond the means of most people in their private capacities. Nor did most people see the need to experiment with really novel technologies. Thus the personal computer, the local-area network, the Internet itself were all first used in commercial, government, or academic settings.
”But this is changing. The spread of cheap laptops, handheld devices, affordable Internet access, Wi-Fi, and a dozen other consumer technologies has led to a wonderful explosion of new social applications for them. But here’s the really interesting thing: most of these social technologies have simple editing and programming tools that let ordinary folks do innovative things that risk-averse corporations and government agencies would be hesitant to try. We suspect that Technology Review will be writing about the impact of new technologies on society much more frequently. Besides, social technologies are more fun.”
Here’s the letter to the editors that I just sent:
My Thoughts Exactly:
Un-ironic
The note just below this one, under the heading “The Ironies” juxtaposes mention of my travails due to a broken computer and the horrible tragedy, the horrendous crime, in London today. I did not mean to imply any equivalence between my troubles and those in London, and I meant no insult to the dead, wounded, or to those who love them, or to anyone affected.
Trusting that people of good will will understand that, I’m going to let stand the entry.
And as for you, dear reader, I hope you’ll stay safe today.
My Thoughts Exactly:
The Ironies
For some time now I have been wanting to write that seminal piece explaining the essence of the philosophy of “technoskepticism” that motivated my desire to start up Wetmachine in the first place. My brilliant essay, in the line of the late Neil Postman’s Technopoloy and all of the grouchy, curmudgeonly works of the late, great Christopher Lasch (Culture of Narcissism, Revolt of the Elites, etc) would, in a playful yet dazzlingly serious manner, address the fundamental ironies of our time resultant from the fetishization of technology that has taken on the role of religion in “modern” societies that naively believe they’re past all that.
Perhaps I would address scary (but nevertheless ironic) phenomena like technology-boosted asymmetric warfare as carried out by midieaval fundamentalists — today’s blasts in London presumably the latest sad manifistation thereof. And perhaps I would digress to discuss internet pornography consumption among teenagers in the pro-capitalism Bible Belt of the USA, another region in which the “internal contradictions” of the fundamentalist-technopolist religion play out.
Alas I have no time to work on this essay today. Because I’m really behind the 8-ball at work, as a consequence of having dropped my Powerbook into a puddle of coffee some weeks ago. It’s still “in the shop” and I’ve been reduced to using the virus-infested, 4-year old Gateway(tm) that is our family computer. Let me tell you, this thing is slow. And, I don’t have all my favorite tools installed on it. And there’s nothing quite so frustrating as trying to write a powerful essay on the ironies of technology addiction on a crappy old Windoze machine, that much I’m sure of.
So perhaps some other time.
Tales of the Sausage Factory:
Black Monday
As I demonstrated last fall when I predicted a Kerry victory, my powers of prognostication are nothing to write home about. OTOH, I suppose this demonstrates the wisdom of the old saw that you ca’t judge an outcome by oral argument.
We lost Brand X by 6-3. Interesting split that put Scalia and Thomas on opposite sides but, as I have observed in the past, telecom issues do not fall into the neat conservative/liberal divisions everyone is so fond of making.
Grokster also went the other way, with the Court not even remanding for trial.
I will have more later when I have read the decisions. Right now I’m trying to sort things out.
Stay tuned . . .
Inventing the Future:
Scaling to the Enterprise (Part 4 of 4)
4. HOW RELIABLE IS THE COMMUNITY?
(See part 1.)
None of the previous matters if the software isn’t useful, or if we are not allowed to use the software. The former is what we’re working on, but the latter is a very complex issue. Croquet is certainly not at critical mass. It could certainly go away. However, we feel it is immune at least from licensing plays such as those that have plagued the use of proprietary systems in higher ed, or those that have fractured the Java community. As the number of users in such systems grows, attempts for controlling proprietary lock-in have been very expensive. Croquet fights this in several ways: with an open source license in which all work on Croquet itself is available to anyone; with a P2P architecture that eliminates any advantage to “controlling the servers”; and with a dynamic language that eliminates any advantage to “controlling the release.” We feel that this last will be further strengthened by upcoming work in architecture and security, to be carried out here at UW. For the general health of the community, I look forward to upcoming announcements.
