Wayne State LIS student, Garrett Hungerford who runs Library Zen has used the new Google Co-op service to create a search engine of library blogs. The Library Zen companion site is called LISZen. (Hmm, if only I knew a library-related blog I could submit…)
- JH
Well. The issue of net neutrality has finally docked in the Canadian media with stories as reported by Kyenta. What is net neutrality? It’s basically federal legislation that prevents telecommunications companies (like Bell, Rogers, and Telus) from filtering content from the Internet. As Michael Geist says in a blog posting,
In recent months, Internet service providers in Canada and the U.S. have begun to sketch out a vision of a two-tiered Internet in which they charge websites to deliver their content to consumers, limit consumers’ ability to use certain applications, and reserve the right to charge premiums for the use of services such as Internet telephony.
Net neutrality prevents that kind of corporate freedom, and such legislation made its rounds in the United States where telecommunications giants essentially prevented its becoming law. According to The Canadian Press, “U.S. legislators are currently reviewing their decision to scrap the law … big U.S. telecom companies are on their best behaviour as they await a final green light.” And now it’s coming to Canada.
Usually when we hear about a public policy issue on the news and a particular stance is supported by a corporation or industry spokesperson, we can be pretty sure that the public interest lies somewhere opposite anything the spokes say. Net neutrality is a bit more complicated, though, because one industry group (content providers like Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, etc.) claims to support net neutrality legislation and another (telecommunications companies and internet service providers or ISPs, like Bell, Rogers, Telus, etc.) opposes it.
ISPs (the telecoms) want to be able to be the Internet’s content gatekeepers. As Ben Scott (of Free Press and SavetheInternet.com) told the CP, telecoms “say, `Well, we own the wires and instead of treating all bits alike in a non-discriminatory fashion, we’re going to set up special deals and if you [content providers like Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, etc.] have the money, you can pay us to make your websites go much faster. And you can pay us to set up an exclusive deal where your website goes very fast and your competitor’s doesn’t.’ â€
Content providers, then, support net neutrality because it would prevent ISPs from charging them for preferential access to customers (e.g. if you want faster access to customers, you have to pay us). The content providers are calling foul, claiming that without net neutrality laws, the Internet will belong to the wealthiest corporations who can buy the prime bandwidth from the telecommunications corporations. Indeed, we might ask - if people have to pay to be seen, where will that leave the CBC or alternative media? Or blogs like this one? Or anti-poverty groups? And in case you think websites can’t be blocked, think again. FreePress reports:
…already there’s been extensive documentation of abuse of power from network owners. For example, in 2004, North Carolina ISP Madison River blocked DSL customers from using its rival Vonage’s Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) services. In 2005, the Canadian telecom corporation Telus blocked its users from accessing a pro-union website during a Telus labor dispute. And in 2006, Time Warner blocked a mass-email campaign from its customers that was critical of AOL’s proposed tiered email system.
Bad, right? Right. Here are some sources to check out (in addition to the ones listed in this posting):
* The final report of the Telecommunications Policy Review Panel (especially the parts about “unjust discrimination”). The TPRP was mandated to conduct a review of the Canadian telecommunications framework (Michael Geist provides a fairly nuanced analysis).
* The Alternative Telecommunications Policy Forum has an excellent page on net neutrality.
* Kevin McArthur from StormTide Digital Studios (in Duncan BC) has created this website on net neutrality.
* Free Press and SavetheInternet.com
* And Heiko has already gone through the world and annotated all the good Net Neutrality vids out there. Thank-you!
Three last thoughts:
One. I feel so lucky to live in Ottawa right now - there’s a not-for-profit Internet service provider here called the National Capital Freenet. And the public library happens to be a partner in the project. Therefore, a little less money goes to corporations trying to make a buck.
Two. I dashed onto YouTube to pull up Jon Stewart’s Net Neutrality video because it’s very very funny and clever - only to find that the main one had been pulled off the site “due to copyright infringment.” I wonder when that happened: pre or post Google-Takeover? And is that a sign of things to come? Anyhow - this is now drifting into the Off-Topic of the WIPO Broadcasting Treaty, so I will end by saying that a lesser-viewed version of the Jon Stewart episode is here until further notice. If it goes, too, we may have to start a new YouTube (maybe YouTubeTwo?).
Three. E-mails to the Minister of Industry Maxime Bernier and Minister of Canadian Heritage Bev Oda anyone? And pop your name onto the petition at www.neutrality.ca (and please follow the other instructions for action given there).
Four. Thank-you, Kyenta, for the heads’ up on this one. We’re looking forward to hearing what the CIPPIC tells you…
-SIO
The founder of Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales, recently sent a message to the Wikipedia mailing list asking what people would recommend the WikiMedia foundation attempt to buy if they had $100 million dollars for that purpose?
I would suspect that there’s a fair level of seriousness to the offer (from whichever dot.com billionaire it may be who is offering it) as this isn’t the type of thing you would go public with if it wasn’t a strong possibility.
WikiMedia denizens created a page to record suggestions and the ideas range from “buying rights to a complete set of standard undergrad textbooks” to “build a fully open source directoy of photos of major 20th century figures” to purchasing and releasing various government and non-government documents that aren’t already in the public domain.
My idea? I think there would be a certain poetic justice if they bought Encyclopedia Britannica, put the current version up as a “locked” starting point then allowed people to build forks from that. Of course, if that isn’t possible, there is a version of Britannica, that is available to them right now.
(via BoingBoing)
- JH
Sometimes, a hug is all what we need. Free hugs is a real life controversial story of Juan Mann, A man whos sole mission was to reach out and hug a stranger to brighten up their lives.
In this age of social disconnectivity and lack of human contact, the effects of the Free Hugs campaign became phenomenal.
As this symbol of human hope spread accross the city, police and officials ordered the Free Hugs campaign BANNED. What we then witness is the true spirit of humanity come together in what can only be described as awe inspiring.
In the Spirit of the free hugs campaign, PASS THIS TO A FRIEND and HUG A STRANGER!
After all, If you can reach just one person…
- JH (thanks to Linda B. for the forward!)
A writer in the UK has released Abracadabra!, a free e-book about the Beatles’ “Revolver” album on the 40th anniversary of that LP being released. If you’re more interested in the public sharing of information than the Beatles, you might also want to check out “In the Public Interest: The Future of Canadian Copyright Law” which features articles by some of Canada’s leading copyright scholars and has also been made available for free under a creative commons license.
J.
The National Film Board of Canada has put a bunch of their classic animated shorts online for free viewing. The Big Snit is required viewing for all Canadians.
An interesting discussion over at Metafilter about the issue of trademark protection by corporations. This is an ongoing issue (think kleenex, coke and xerox - er, Kleenex(tm), Coke(tm) and Xerox(tm) but this particular thread was inspired by Adobe’s policy on the use of “photoshopping” as a verb, namely:
CORRECT: The image was enhanced using Adobe® Photoshop® software.
INCORRECT: The image was photoshopped.â€
J.
Freeway Blogger is a clearing house for photos of signs that people are erecting on highways around the United States and beyond to protest the Iraq War and the Bush Administration - some humourous, some pointed, some poignant.
J.
An artist has been inspired by the “Captain Copyright” (self-link) debacle to respond in the form of a children’s book. The book tells the story of a greedy pig who has a magic box that can produce copies of anything. Instead of promoting sharing, the pig charges others to use the box and to maintain control of anything they copy. The book is available online via a Creative Commons license.
I know of at least one other group of individuals who are planning to respond to Captain Copyright - this time in the form of a comic book called “Captain Commons with his sidekick EFF”. Know of any others? E-mail me and I’ll add them here.
(via Boing Boing)
J.
Is that a good term to describe what happens when the new Canadian Minister of the Environment removes existing documents regarding Global Warming from the government’s offical web site? (via Sask Writers Listserv)
J.
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