Archive for the 'internet' Category

don’t break the internet

The Internet’s Domain Name System (DNS) is a foundational block upon which the Internet has been built and upon which its continued functioning critically depends; it is among a handful of protocols upon which almost every other protocol, and countless Internet applications, rely to operate smoothly.

Read more here: don’t break the internet – stanford law review

I wonder how many congress-people could explain how DNS works in less than a minute. This was mentioned in another blog post I linked to, but the willful anti-intellectualism displayed by our representatives is astounding.

I’m also seriously bothered that Senator Franken is a co-sponsor of PIPA. Unbelievable. Did he come out a little too strong on the side of net-neutrality, and now all of big media is breathing down his neck?

I just spoke to Senator Franken’s office – you can contact them here

The OpenCongress page will give you an idea of the supporters of this bill.

If you want to read more about this issue, the “Protect Innovation” website will give you a rundown.

ignorance

This is a must read if you are concerned about free speech and the internet.

Dear Congress, It’s No Longer OK To Not Know How the Internet Works

So it was as proponents of the Hollywood-funded bill curmudgeonly shot down all but two amendments proposed by its opponents, who fought to dramatically alter the document to preserve security and free speech on the net. But the chilling takeaway of this whole debacle was the irrefutable air of anti-intellectualism; that inescapable absurdity that we have members of Congress voting on a technical bill who do not posses any technical knowledge on the subject and do not find it imperative to recognize those who do.

This used to be funny, but now it’s really just terrifying. We’re dealing with legislation that will completely change the face of the internet and free speech for years to come. Yet here we are, still at the mercy of underachieving Congressional know-nothings that have more in common with the slacker students sitting in the back of math class than elected representatives. The fact that some of the people charged with representing us must be dragged kicking and screaming out of their complacency on such matters is no longer endearing — it’s just pathetic and sad.

Digital Divide

I’ve blogged about this before, but it bears repeating. America is suffering compared to other countries with regards to internet access. We pay more for slower connections with fewer options thanks to our “free markets”.

Great op-ed in the New York Times about this new digital divide:

It doesn’t have to be this way, as a growing number of countries demonstrate. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development ranks America 12th among developed nations for wired Internet access, and it is safe to assume that high prices have played a role in lowering our standing. So America, the country that invented the Internet and still leads the world in telecommunications innovation, is lagging far behind in actual use of that technology.

The answer to this puzzle is regulatory policy. Over the last 10 years, we have deregulated high-speed Internet access in the hope that competition among providers would protect consumers. The result? We now have neither a functioning competitive market for high-speed wired Internet access nor government oversight.

Our family has CenturyLink (was Qwest) for our internet. I pay $60/month for 20mbps down/ 896kbps up

Comcast’s package is $58/month for roughly the same speed.

CenturyLink does not offer me a higher speed – Comcast does: 30mpbs for $68/month, 50mbps for $115/month or 105mbps for $200/month.

That’s basically my options.

There is the Minneapolis wifi, 6mbps for $30/month. Not fast enough for me…

Just for comparison – I looked up British Telecom… Looks like I could get 100mbps down / 15 mpbs up for $70 / month

Yeah, less than half the cost of the Comcast.

BT’s 40mbps down / 10 mbps up is $54 /month

So, I could get twice as fast download speeds and 10 times faster uploads for less money in the UK.

stop SOPA and PROTECT-IP

Dear Readers of my blog…

I copied this text after I emailed my representatives via the electronic frontier foundation. Easy and important for you to take action on this by doing the same. See https://eff.org/r.C8A for more info…

I just emailed Congress to urge them to oppose the Internet Blacklist Legislation, known as the PROTECT-IP Act in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House. This legislation seeks to give the executive branch power to conduct slash-and-burn campaigns against websites that allegedly host – or even link to – content that infringes on intellectual property rights. That would “disappear” whole domain names, fundamentally undermining Internet security, and/or choke off their financial support. The Internet Blacklist Legislation puts more sites than ever at risk, effectively upending the DMCA safe harbors that have been crucial to the growth of Internet innovation and creativity. 

Sadly, these short-sighted and dangerous bills won’t do much to stop online infringement – but they will jeopardize our ability to speak and read online with the kind of freedom we cherish in the offline world. Deep-pocketed Hollywood lobbyists are aggressively pushing to control and censor the open Internet, willing to sacrifice free speech and our Internet culture in hopes of controlling how people view their movies and products. 

We need to stop this bill before it goes any further. Will you contact your representatives in Congress and urge them to oppose the Internet Blacklist Legislation? Visit: https://eff.org/r.C8A

And more…

The corporations are winning…

Steve Wozniak to the FCC: Keep the Internet Free:

“We have very few government agencies that the populace views as looking out for them, the people. The FCC is one of these agencies that is still wearing a white hat. Not only is current action on Net Neutrality one of the most important times ever for the FCC, it’s probably the most momentous and watched action of any government agency in memorable times in terms of setting our perception of whether the government represents the wealthy powers or the average citizen, of whether the government is good or is bad. This decision is important far beyond the domain of the FCC itself.”

(Via Daring Fireball)

More Net Neutrality Fail

FCC: We Didn’t Impose Stricter Net Neutrality Regulations on Wireless Because Android Is Open: “

FCC statement:

Further, we recognize that there have been meaningful recent moves toward openness, including the introduction of open operating systems like Android. In addition, we anticipate soon seeing the effects on the market of the openness conditions we imposed on mobile providers that operate on upper 700 MHz C-Block spectrum, which includes Verizon Wireless, one of the largest mobile wireless carriers in the U.S.

In light of these considerations, we conclude it is appropriate to take measured steps at this time to protect the openness of the Internet when accessed through mobile broadband.

WTF? As Nilay Patel writes:

[I]t doesn’t matter how open your OS is when you’re stuck with a filtered and throttled connection, and it’s a pretty huge stretch to think Android’s openness (however you want to define it) has anything to do with network access itself.

(Via Daring Fireball.)

Mark this day

Mark it down as the day the internet (as we know it) died.

Obama FCC Caves On Net Neutrality:

“An anonymous reader writes ‘…the rule, which will be voted on during tomorrows FCC meeting, falls drastically short of earlier pledges by President Obama and the FCC Chairman to protect the free and open Internet. The rule is so riddled with loopholes that its become clear that this FCC chairman crafted it with the sole purpose of winning the endorsement of AT&T and cable lobbyists, and not defending the interests of the tens of millions of Internet users.”

(Via Slashdot)

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