The Internet Freedom Fight

Ken AshfordScience & TechnologyLeave a Comment

The cool thing about the Internet is that nobody owns it.  Sure, you may have to pay for access to the Internet, and once on it, you may pay for various servies — but the Internet itself exists within its own realm, with little regulation and virtually no ownership by government or private corporations.  It’s a totally egalitarian world.  This has been known as "Network Neutrality", one of the guiding concepts of the Internet since its inception.

Think about that for a second, while I tell you how that may change.

Congress is planning to turn over control of the Internet to a handful of telecommunications companies (AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, Time Warner, etc.).  Up to now, these companies provided the portals onto the Internet, but — by law — they couldn’t censor or regulate what you see or do.  But, if they telecoms get their way, they will be able to do that.  Want to visit certain sites?  You may have to pay AT&T to do it.  They may also create "premium lanes" where faster services are given to themselves and "customers" willing to pay premium prices.  They may force you to use their browsers, rather than browsers of your choice.  And so on.

The bottom line is this:  The Internet, as we now know it, may be a vast wasteland of mindless everything (including this blog), but it’s everybody’s vast wasteland of mindless everything.  That can change.  Read more and get active.

UPDATE:  From SaveTheInternet.com, here’s what may happen if "net neutrality" is gutted:

  • Google users—Another search engine could pay dominant Internet providers like AT&T to guarantee the competing search engine opens faster than Google on your computer.
  • Innovators with the "next big idea"—Startups and entrepreneurs will be muscled out of the marketplace by big corporations that pay Internet providers for dominant placing on the Web. The little guy will be left in the "slow lane" with inferior Internet service, unable to compete.
  • Ipod listeners—A company like Comcast could slow access to iTunes, steering you to a higher-priced music service that it owned.
  • Political groups—Political organizing could be slowed by a handful of dominant Internet providers who ask advocacy groups to pay "protection money" for their websites and online features to work correctly.
  • Nonprofits—A charity’s website could open at snail-speed, and online contributions could grind to a halt, if nonprofits can’t pay dominant Internet providers for access to "the fast lane" of Internet service.
  • Online purchasers—Companies could pay Internet providers to guarantee their online sales process faster than competitors with lower prices—distorting your choice as a consumer.
  • Small businesses and tele-commuters—When Internet companies like AT&T favor their own services, you won’t be able to choose more affordable providers for online video, teleconferencing, Internet phone calls, and software that connects your home computer to your office.
  • Parents and retirees—Your choices as a consumer could be controlled by your Internet provider, steering you to their preferred services for online banking, health care information, sending photos, planning vacations, etc.
  • Bloggers—Costs will skyrocket to post and share video and audio clips—silencing citizen journalists and putting more power in the hands of a few corporate-owned media outlets.

    • Vatican Reluctantly Enters 20th Century

    Ken AshfordGodstuff, Sex/Morality/Family ValuesLeave a Comment

    Too bad it’s the 21st century.  The story:

    The Vatican is preparing to publish a statement on the use of condoms by people who have Aids, a senior Roman Catholic official has said.

    Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan told La Repubblica newspaper that Pope Benedict XVI asked the Vatican’s council for health care to study the issue.

    The Vatican says abstinence is the best way to tackle HIV/Aids.

    But last week, a retired archbishop backed the use of condoms for married couples to prevent Aids transmission.

    Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, who used to be Archbishop of Milan, said that in couples where one partner had HIV/Aids, the use of condoms was "a lesser evil".

    Endorsement of condoms for married couples with AIDS.  Well, that’s a step forward I guess.

    On Science And Tongues

    Ken AshfordScience & TechnologyLeave a Comment

    EinsteintongueHow did the blind man catch the ball?

    With his tongue.

    Okay, he caught the ball with his hands, but he "saw" the ball with his tongue.  And that’s how he was able to catch it.

    The tongue, as it turns out, is an excellent input device.  By equipping a blind man with helmet-mounted cameras and sonar, and sending the signals to the tongue, scientists are able to give him the ability to detect the presence of objects in front of him. 

    With the proper high-tech rigging, the tongue can act like a compass.  If you detect a pop-rock "pop" on the right side of your tongue, that means that an object is 90 degrees to your right.  The stronger the sensation, the closer the object.  With the proper equipment, a blind man can walk effortless through doorways and avoid obstacles in unfamiliar places.

    The innovation as other implications as well.  Deep sea divers can dive in pitch black water.   Military men can have a sort of 360-degree "night vision" while simultaneously having unobstructed "regular vision".

    Read more, and appreciate the wonders of the human tongue.

    Renew America Snippets

    Ken AshfordRight Wing Punditry/IdiocyLeave a Comment

    Great moments in right wing punditry abound at Renew America.  These are actual quotes from columnists there, from the past few days:

    Barbara Stock on immigration: "These illegal immigrants say they are coming here for a ‘better life’ just as the people on the Titanic were doing. But there are two major differences between the Mexican immigrants and those doomed souls on the Titanic. Those coming here in 1912 were entering America the correct way…"

    Marie Jon on the Bush legacy: "President Bush, to borrow an old phrase from the makers of Star Trek, has ‘gone where no man has gone before.’"

    Sher Zieve on terrorism:  "I have to question if this most-recent Osama tape was actually made by the ‘man himself’ or some enraged Democrat."

    Curtis Dahlgren in an imaginary conversation with his long-dead grandmother: "Hi Gramma! Sorry I missed your funeral. I think it was a school day."

    Curtis Dahlgren again, telling his long-dead grandmother what’s been happening since she died: "Well, we now have same-sex marriages you know."

    Cynthia A. Janak on the reason for high gas prices: "I guess I have more research to do after I finish writing this article."

    What’s In A Name?

    Ken AshfordRight Wing Punditry/IdiocyLeave a Comment

    Noting the rise of video podcasts, conservative "journalist" and blogger Michelle Malkin has put together a "conservative Internet broadcast network".

    The name of this venture?  Hot Air.

    Yup.  Good title.  There’s even a regular segment called "Vent with Michelle Malkin".

    The irony is reaching epidemic purportions.  It is Maklin, more than anyone else, who screeds daily about the "angry left".  And now she’s the webmistress of a "venting" videoblog?

    This Isn’t News Anymore

    Ken AshfordIraqLeave a Comment

    Just another data point.

    A former high-ranking CIA officer says that thye Bush administration ignored evidence that Iraq lacked WMDs:

    Tyler Drumheller, the former highest-ranking CIA officer in Europe, told "60 Minutes" that the administration "chose to ignore" good intelligence, the network said in a posting on its Web site.

    Drumheller said that, before the U.S.-led attack on Iraq in 2003, the White House "ignored crucial information" from Iraq’s foreign minister, Naji Sabri, that indicated Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction.

    Drumheller said that, when then-CIA Director George Tenet told President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and other high-ranking officials that Sabri was providing information, his comments were met with excitement that proved short-lived.

    "[The source] told us that there were no active weapons of mass destruction programs," Drumheller is quoted as saying. "The [White House] group that was dealing with preparation for the Iraq war came back and said they were no longer interested. And we said ‘Well, what about the intel?’ And they said ‘Well, this isn’t about intel anymore. This is about regime change.’ "

    Drumheller said the administration officials wanted no more information from Sabri because: "The policy was set. The war in Iraq was coming, and they were looking for intelligence to fit into the policy."

    Watch for Drumheller to get swiftboated now.  [UPDATE:  Told ya!]

    Here’s part of the transcript:

    BRADLEY: According to Drumheller, CIA Director George Tenet delivered the news about the Iraqi foreign minister at a high level meeting at the White House.

    DRUMHELLER: The President, the Vice President, Dr. Rice…

    BRADLEY: And at that meeting…?

    DRUMHELLER: They were enthusiastic because they said they were excited that we had a high-level penetration of Iraqis.

    BRADLEY: And what did this high level source tell you?

    DRUMHELLER: He told us that they had no active weapons of mass destruction program.

    BRADLEY: So, in the fall of 2002, before going to war, we had it on good authority from a source within Saddam’s inner circle that he didn’t have an active program for weapons of mass destruction?

    DRUMHELLER: Yes.

    BRADLEY: There’s no doubt in your mind about that?

    DRUMHELLER: No doubt in my mind at all.

    BRADLEY: It directly contradicts, though, what the President and his staff were telling us.

    DRUMHELLER: The policy was set. The war in Iraq was coming, and they were looking for intelligence to fit into the policy, to justify the policy.

    UPDATE:  Josh Marshall talks with Drumheller and gets the scoop.

    RELATED:  Yet another retired general calls from Rumsfeld’s resignation.  That’s eight now, for those of you keeping score.

    And You Thought It Was Over

    Ken AshfordPopular CultureLeave a Comment

    Yup, they’re making another Star Trek movie.  The 11th one since 1979.  The eleventh.  (I stopped paying attention after, like, the sixth one).

    It’s unclear which "generation" the movie will focus on.  The original cast is pretty much a non-starter: Doohan (Scotty) and Kelley (Dr. McCoy) are dead.  Shatner is 75 and fat, but could play Jabba the Hut (ooops — wrong series!).  Plus, his character is dead.  Nimoy is also 75.

    The "Next Generation" movies have generally been lackluster, and who gives a crap about Deep Space Nine, Captain Janeway, or Scott Bakula.

    Still, somewhere on this planet, geeks are rejoicing.

    Mystery Booms

    Ken AshfordEnvironment & Global Warming & EnergyLeave a Comment

    MysteryboomgraphicIs it a sign of the apocalypse?

    Earlier this month in San Diego, there was a large boom, the ground shook, and windows rattled.  But it wasn’t an earthquake, or a sonic boom from a supersonic plane.  In fact, nobody is sure what it was.

    It isn’t the first time this has happened.

    It happened in Maine in February. 

    It happened in Alabama in January (see graphic). 

    And last December, it happened in North Carolina, as well as the Gulf Coast and Whitby, England.

    What’s going on? 

    Seeing as how these events happened on the coast, here’s one explanation — "Seneca Guns":

    The Guns of the Seneca are loud and largely unexplained booming sounds heard along the shores of Seneca Lake and nearby Cayuga Lake, the two largest of upstate New York’s Finger Lakes. Their sound has been described as being like distant, but inordinately loud, thunder while no clouds are in the sky large enough to generate lightning. Those familiar with the sound of cannon fire say the sound is nearly identical. The booms are occasionally sufficient to cause shockwaves that rattle plates. Early white settlers were told by the native Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) that the booms were the sound of the Great Spirit continuing his work of shaping the earth.

    Other similar phenomena are found in coastal North Carolina, also called Seneca Guns, and in the Ganges valley of India, called Barisol Guns, as well as other sundry parts of the world. North Carolinians say their booms are the sound of pieces of the continental shelf falling off into the Atlantic abyss (but there is no geological evidence to support this).

    One oft-advanced explanation is natural gas from decaying vegetation trapped beneath the lake bottoms suddenly bursting forth. This is plausible, since Cayuga and Seneca are two of the world’s larger and deepest lakes. However, the most frequent objection to this explanation is that such gas bubbles often burst into flame upon contact with the air and no such visible phenomenon has ever been reported in conjunction with the Guns of the Seneca. A more likely explanation is the explosive release of less volatile gases generated as limestone decays in underwater caves.

    Current residents of the area around the lakes, given to less grandiose but no less picturesque descriptions than the Haudenosaunee and early white settlers, refer to the eruptions as "lake farts".

    But even if the explanation can be attributed to "Seneca Guns", it begs the question: why the sudden rash of booms now?

    Emilymark.net

    Ken AshfordWeb Recommendations1 Comment

    I spent some of this weekend building a website for a friend.  Please check it out and leave comments here.  Or, if you know and see Emily, let her know.  Or leave a comment on Emily’s message board.

    I’m not looking for compliments — I’m looking for bugs and/or ways to improve it.  Is it legible?  Is it too slow to load?  Does the design suck?

    Yes, I know some of the pages are blank right now.  But other than that, what needs improvement?

    RELATED:  A good serious article on good web design — the author points out what’s wrong with The White House website, and redesigns it.

    You WILL Watch This Commercial!

    Ken AshfordScience & Technology1 Comment

    Wee_big There’s a new technology out there, just patented, that allows broadcasters to prevent TV viewers from changing the channel during commercials.

    Ugh.

    Apparently the technology (it’s a chip, I’m guessing) would be part of the television itself, or the set-top unit.  Although I don’t understand why any TV or cable box manufacturer would want to put such a thing into their product, because it certainly is not going to be popular with consumers.