28 July 2002

Reclaiming the Commons BOSTON REVIEW -- There's a good piece from Dave Bollier called Reclaiming the Commons. Bollier also wrote Silent Theft: The Private Plunder of Our Common Wealth. x: JD's New Media Musings; Doc Searls.

Trying on Other Peoples' Lives Dave Winer -- Dave remembers "what it was like being a teen, looking for role models, trying on other people's lives as one might try on a shirt, hat, or pair of sunglasses. It's really interesting to watch that process, in real-time, on young Aaron Swartz's weblog. He's self-aware as he tries on Richard Stallman's life."

Barbie Girl Claimants Told to Chill Out 9TH CIRCUIT -- Both clients should just chill out, so says the court. The ruling contains concise definitions of trademarks, dilution, branding, and more.

Tangling the Web SLATE -- Bill Barnes says, "Until recently, it's been difficult for a computer to ask a Web site for information." Companies like Zenark in Dublin are making web services like LEGOs, snapping together in almost limitless combinations. Barnes believes, "As the big sites bring their Web services on board it's easy to imagine your home page summarizing the items you have for sale on eBay, displaying whether you're available to chat via AOL or Yahoo!, and mapping the current location of the airplane you're on via Expedia."

Blog is a Real Word NEW YORK TIMES -- William Safire mentions Blog. Safire is considered an authority on American English, which means that the work "blog" will be in the Oxford English Dictionary next year.

Ego and Arrogance in Blogging Jonathon Delacour -- Ego and arrogance often run hand in hand with blogging. Delacour cites the advice of Mike Sanders for all bloggers. (1) Introspection must ultimately be done in private. (2) A blogroll, link or complement on a blog are at the lower end of the giving spectrum. (3) Share your experiences, but be aware of self- centeredness.

Political Activism Against Berman Bill ERIC ALBERT -- Here is a very reasonable plan for political action regarding Internet users' rights. Eric has an excellent grasp of fund raising. You would need this kind of funding awareness because American elected representatives, like Berman and Hollings, have received hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations.

Radio: Editing Your Home Page DAVE WINER -- David Watson wrote that he was having trouble editing the templates for his Radio weblog using the browser form. Perhaps he didn't know that you can edit the templates in any text editor. Open the www sub-folder of the Radio folder, and look for #template.txt. Open it in your favorite editor, make a change, save, refresh your desktop website home page in the browser. If you don't like what you see, bring the editor to the front, choose Undo, save, refresh. The browser interface is there for newbies and for light tweaks. For serious template work, use a real text editor, you won't be sorry. Screen shot.

Hacking Back Your Copyright ERNIE THE ATTORNEY -- "The copyright owner has to notify the Department of Justice 7 days in advance of taking action." Perhaps this advance notice is to be used to advise ministers of justice in other countries how Americans are going to trespass on cyber properties. If an American starts to hack into a foreign web site, they could face trespass charges or cases of wrongful use. For example, the Aussies have section 9a of the Victorian Summary Offences Act (1966),  under which "a person must not gain access to, or enter, a computer system or part of a computer system without lawful authority to do so". The penalty if convicted is up to six months' jail.

Computers Have Not Killed Libraries CLONMEL, Ireland -- Even on the small college campus in Clonmel, it's possible to conclude that cheap access to the Internet as well as to compact discs and DVDs have become a huge draw for libraries. On top of that, computers also have made using the library itself significantly easier.

Event: SIGGRAPH in San Antonio SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- SIGGRAPH opened with roaming jackals filming attendees alongside rubber chicken look-alikes responding to conflict by inflating and digitally enhanced laundry. [Michael Stroud at Wired.]

Event: O'Reilly Open Source in San Diego SAN DIEGO, California -- O'Reilly's Open Source Convention is always a worthwhile occasion. This year, Open-source guru Bruce Perens is convinced by his Hewlett-Packard boss not to reveal secrets of DVD hacking to conventioneers. [Randy Dotinga reports.]