Corporate Assault on Personal Property and the Private Sphere. Electronic Frontier Foundation: Johansen's prosecution marks the first time the Norwegian government has attempted to punish individuals for accessing their own property (i.e. watching DVDs under Linux). [via Cory Doctorow via Tesugen.com] [Jinn of Quality and Risk]
Perhaps it's just me, but more and more I am getting the sense that something is wrong with how we are collectively responding to rapid information transfer enabled by the Internet. In fact, I am starting to think that as a group, we are increasingly exhibiting signs of manic depression.
We spent the 5+ years between 95 and 00 in a manic state of unbounded optimism. Our belief in technology and its ability to transform society knew no bounds. We talked ourselves into a stock bubble on the grounds that the companies we were rewarding with huge valuations were beyond the limitations of economics and sound business practice.
Just as quickly as that period wound down, we are plunged into depressive state of dark fear and loathing. Our belief in our vulnerability knows no bounds. In response, we are in the process of allowing legislation that will strip away most privacy rights, we have allowed the CIA to kill American's abroad on the suspicion of terrorist activity, and we are about to make a strategic shift to post over 100,000 troops in the Middle East for the next decade.
If this is the start of a group mind (enabled by rapid information transfer), it's clear to me that it is in trouble. It needs help. It needs to find a new set of feedback mechanisms that slow it down and reign in the excesses. A new level of complexity. Neither the unbounded optimism of the late nineties nor deep depression of the start of this century is founded on fact, reason, or a firm grasp of reality. [John Robb's Radio Weblog]
10:39:18 AM 
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