Patriot Act on Steriods

Today's article in the Washington Post notes that in the Homeland Security bill, Bush gained measures originally denied him in the Patriot Act to gather information on emails, users,etc from the Internet.  Once the agency gets going, expect rules and regulation to push the envelope further.

8:39:36 AM    

Another reason for individuals to pay attention to tech policy...

Will GOP Shake Up Tech Policy?. A Republican-controlled Congress means new leadership for key committees that shape technology, digital rights and intellectual property legislation. Lobbyists on opposing sides of the issues smell blood. By Brad King. [Wired News]

7:59:31 AM    

The Cluetrain does recognize other conversations...

Cyber-Rights Activists Log a Win. Spanish cyberpunks combine grassroots Internet activism with a door-to-door awareness campaign to successfully stop a regional law that would have treated cybercafes as gambling houses. By Michelle Delio. [Wired News]

In Chapter 4 of Cluetrain, Doc Searls notes the history of mass media as a means of one way communication between the manufacturers and the "interchangeable customer".  The constant bombardment of ads numbs us and thus diminishes their effectiveness.  Relying solely upon such one way communication is risky -- note the number of politicians who lost this past November when they relied solely upon paid media and ignored traditional grassroots campaigns.

The conversations that occur between individuals, those who praise a product or service and recommend that product or service to others is an essential complement to any advertising or communications campaign.  The activists cited in the article acknowledge that fact as they note their campaign would not have been successful had it been conducted entirely on the web.

So, the lesson here is to use the web and the tools the web presents to us, such as blogs, to organize ourselves, to actually discuss the issues (and not blindly accept someone's idealogical brochure) and to act.  Call it Webroots campaigning (Oops, Webroot is a trademark!).  But, you get the point.

7:57:14 AM    

Copyright Thoughts...

Boston Globe: Calling off the copyright war. Jonathan Zittrain. One is crystallized by Calvin Coolidge: ''The business of America is business.'' The other is captured by Thomas Jefferson: ''He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me.'' [Tomalak's Realm]

What must we do to all get along on this issue?  As the article attributes to Johnson, writers write to get paid.  Blog sites almost all contain a copyright declaration, yet bloggers exercise reason in its enforcement.  Do we assume therefore that the Hollywood moguls and others are plain unreasonable or do they just not get it?

7:46:49 AM    

Missing the Cluetrain...

Critics Say Government Deleted Web Site Material to Push Abstinence. Information on condoms, abortion and ways to reduce sex among teenagers has been removed from government Web sites. By Adam Clymer. [New York Times: Technology]

We may not need to worry about paying for information if it isn't there to begin with... 

Course, the answer is, we use the power of the web and make information our own.  Why depend on the government for the only source of information?  Government has always changed the message of whatever media was effective (paper, television, etc) to reflect the philosophy and priorities of the ruling party.  That doesn't stop individuals from adding information of their own and allowing the market (read many individuals) from making its decisions about whom they can trust. 

7:39:59 AM    

Ooh... Ooh!  Neat. 

The itown global network of weblogs is up and open for business.  Very nice implementation. [John Robb's Radio Weblog]

This implementation of Radio addresses a lot of wishes/wants on my list.  If we are to get folks in the University community engaged with blogs, then the implementation, which includes community building (and the road signs posted by an entity such as itown are certainly needed), back office support and some old fashioned cheer leading.

And, the Mayor of iTown lives in Athens.  Go Dawgs!

7:34:15 AM    

Idea to consider...

This is what makes the job worth the effort:  From Gavin Brown, the webmaster at Villa Julie College:

"We are using it (Manila) to publish our academic departments as non-blogged, traditional websites. To that end, we have built a Manila site for each academic department, with a department faculty member as direct editor.

The revolutionary aspect of it is that we are getting our own faculty to do the publishing, directly in Manila. This may not sound like a big deal, but if you know much about colleges, then you may know that getting the faculty to use anything technology-ish is tremendously difficult. Many college websites have poor quality academic department areas due, at least in part, to lack of participation by the faculty.

Manila has enabled us to overcome this hurdle, and has gotten even our most technology-shy faculty to start getting on their websites and build real content. And because they see their own handiwork immediately, they have much more pride and investment in it."

This brings up an interesting point.  It may be that in order to get people used to the idea of weblogging, they should start with a small traditional site that they can easily edit in a browser.  Manila provides that with an Edit this Page button on every page the assigned editor has control over.  As they get used to the experience, they would likely see the benefit to adding a weblog to their site.
[John Robb's Radio Weblog]

7:24:35 AM