Student Skill Is Expected to Bolster Technology. Today's college students the first truly wired generation are far more Net-adept than the general population. By John Schwartz. [New York Times: Technology]

Yea, lots of NYT stuff today.  This is really a note to myself to follow up.  Course, the article does lend support to a book I read recently (The Next Deal by Andrei Cherny) -- need to write a piece on the book, need to learn this blog tool, need to work, need to solve Mideast Peace problem (arrggg!). 

Anyone wanna go fishing? :)

9:26:27 AM    

Getting Information From State Web Sites at a Price. Residents of many states can find exhaustive information about legislation free on stateWeb sites. By Rebecca Fairley Raney. [New York Times: Technology]

Not sure where the author of this piece was going, other than to quote a professor who believes charging for content is taboo on the net.  The whole issue of public access to government is perplexing.  On the one hand, you must have information to keep folks aware.  On the other, some of the services offered add quite a bit of value, at some considered cost, that needs to be recovered.  So, it seems to me, that if you need more than what you would find in a visit to the files at the capitol (i.e. you want to collate and track several bills over time) then you should pay for the convenience (the real world alternative is to pay someone to follow the paper rather than you do it yourself).  Course, if you want to take time to develop a tool to track the raw data -- then go for it.

A lot of services offered by states are actually done by private companies -- and they would like to get paid to. 

9:19:25 AM    

A Battle Over Software Licensing. The battle lines are drawn in the struggle for a uniform standard in software licensing for all 50 states. By Laurie J. Flynn. [New York Times: Technology]

UCITA was ugly when first born, and a makeover ain't gonna help.  Seems to me this is not far different from RIAA's attempts to take over our personal machines via Congress.  Besides, the lawyers have made UCITA so far reaching, the model bill takes 200 pages (imaging changing that much legal code purely on the lobbying power of a few large software firms!).  I mean really, who cares about due process, presumption, and other basic tenets of our justice system!

9:12:15 AM