Monday, December 09, 2002

Useit.Com: In the Future, We'll All Be Harry Potter. Much of the Harry Potter books' charm comes from the quirky magic objects that surround Harry and his friends. Rather than being solid and static, these objects embody initiative and activity. This is precisely the shift we'll experience as computational power moves beyond the desktop into everyday objects. [Tomalak's Realm] This is one of the things we've been talking about in the Smart Mobs topic I mentioned earlier today. 9:47:36 PM    comment []

Basketball Pipeline condemns the Mavs for blowing their great start to the season with an historic collapse against the Lakers. And he's right. I'm less sure about going easier on Bill Walton as a commentator, but, then again, I didn't hear the game in question. I've begun thinking about whom the Wizards might draft next year. (Yeah, they're a decent shot to make the playoffs, but, c'mon. I think it's about 50/50 for playoffs or lottery and, either way, drafting in the mid-first round.) Like Walton's been on my mind . . . . 4:41:46 PM    comment []

Five from BNA News: CHINA DETAINS STUDENT OVER INTERNET USE China Labor Watch reports that authorities have detained a university student for posting politically sensitive articles on the Internet. The student was taken into custody on November 7th and has not been seen since. http://uk.news.yahoo.com/021208/80/dgad3.html FBI RAIDS MASSACHUSETTS SOFTWARE COMPANY FBI agents raided a Boston software company on Friday on suspicion of ties to terrorism. Agents confiscated files and computer equipment of Ptech Inc., a company that specializes in programs that help run corporate networks. http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/4682169.htm JOHANSEN DECESS TRIAL UNDERWAY IN NORWAY TODAY The criminal prosecution of Norwegian teenager Jon Johansen, the person credited with creating and releasing the DeCSS DVD scrambling program gets underway in Norway today. The trial is scheduled to run through Friday, December 13th. http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,56771,00.html http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/editorial/4697274.htm MICROSOFT LOBBIES AGAINST GOVERNMENT OPEN SOURCE ADOPTION The WSJ reports on Microsoft's battle against open source software. The paper says that the company is waging a major lobbying and public-policy campaign to stop U.S. and foreign governments from adopting open source software. http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1039385065588947193,00.html LIQUID AUDIO BOARD VOTES TO DISSOLVE Liquid Audio, which produces software to prevent the illegal distribution of digital song files, plans to dissolve its operations. The company will cease operations and distribute its cash reserves to shareholders. http://news.com.com/2100-1023-976359.html 2:41:01 PM    comment []

The "official duration" has passed in our conversation with Howard Rheingold about Smart Mobs and stuff, but we're still at it. We're talking about Open Spectrum, and the Broadcast Flag, and wireless security, and Free, community, WiFi networks, and more. 1:40:46 PM    comment []

News from Japan: Ruling bloc to revise privacy bill: New version to address concerns of media organizations. At a meeting late Thursday, coalition officials agreed to drop all of the "basic principles" for privacy protection, including restrictions on the acquisition and use of private information, that would have applied to all parties handling such information, ruling bloc lawmakers said. . . . Elsewhere, when government ministers issue directives or recommendations on privacy protection, the existing bill says they "shall give consideration" to not infringing on the freedom of expression, the freedom of study, the freedom of belief, or the freedom of political activity. The revised bill will have clearer wording to deter government intervention, saying the ministers "shall not infringe on" such freedoms. Win some, lose some? 12:40:44 PM    comment []

Karl Auerbach: ICANN "Out of Control", interview by Richard Koman, at O'Reilly. 12:40:41 PM    comment []

An international coalition that includes artists, scientists, engineers, scholars, and others is declaring December 24, to be "World Sousveillance Day", or "World Subjectrights Day". At noon on Tuesday, December 24, 2002, ordinary people all over the world will call into question the growing and dehumanizing effects of increased video surveillance, automated face recognition, and Covernment (Corporate+Government) tracking in public places, as well as private places. World Sousveillance Day is for Watching the watchers. It's about More privacy and less secrecy. How do you observe WSD? Rather than protesting by carrying signs, or by marching, citizens will protest by going on shooting sprees. Armed with their own photographic or videographic cameras and recording devices, and shielded with masks or disguises, ordinary citizens will dish out some accountability while remaining anonymous to the massive proliferation of face tracking surveillance. HOW CAN I PARTICIPATE? All you need to do is bring a disguise and a camera --- any camera (even a fake or maybe camera, a broken camera, or one with an empty film magazine) --- to a place where video surveillance is used. HOW WILL I KNOW WHO I SHOULD SHOOT? Taking pictures of the surveillance cameras, or even just wearing a disguise, will cause models to appear very quickly for you to photograph. When you point your camera at their cameras, the officials watching their television monitors will very quickly dispatch the models for you to shoot. This is a universal phenomenon that happens in nearly any large organization where video surveillance is used. Models often carry two--way radios and wear navy blue uniforms with special badges. Most will be eager to pose close to your camera, especially the hand models . . . . Get those cameras ready . . . there's also a contest. From the FAQ: Q. I have heard that WSD is a protest? Is this true? Will there be a march? A. If you prefer to think of WSD as a protest, it can certainly be explained that way. . . . . Q. If WSD isn't a protest, than what is it? A. Another equally valid interpretation is that WSD is an agreement with the status quo rather than a protest against it. In this interpretation cameras are good, so let's have more of them. Pictures are good, so let's all take pictures. If a department store is such a dangerous place that cameras are needed, then so be it. What's good for the goose is good for the gangster. Everyone shoots everyone and we're all happy. Only criminals are afraid of cameras, so let's give representatives of the Surveillance Superhighway a chance to define themselves by seeing if they're afraid of cameras. When we ask why we are under video surveillance, we are told by the Bigs that only criminals are afraid of cameras, or we are asked why are you so paranoid. Now is the time to allow the Bigs to define themselves. 10:40:24 AM    comment []

I haven't seen this reported too many places. Lott Decried For Part Of Salute to Thurmond: GOP Senate Leader Hails Colleague's Run As Segregationist, by Thomas B. Edsall, Washington Post. Speaking Thursday at a 100th birthday party and retirement celebration for Sen. Thurmond (R-S.C.) in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, Lott said, I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, either. Thurmond, then governor of South Carolina, was the presidential nominee of the breakaway Dixiecrat Party in 1948. He carried Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and his home state. He declared during his campaign against Democrat Harry S. Truman, who supported civil rights legislation, and Republican Thomas Dewey: All the laws of Washington and all the bayonets of the Army cannot force the Negro into our homes, our schools, our churches. On July 17, 1948, delegates from 13 southern states gathered in Birmingham to nominate Thurmond and adopt a platform that said in part, We stand for the segregation of the races and the racial integrity of each race. . . . Lott's office played down the significance of the senator's remarks. Spokesman Ron Bonjean issued a two-sentence statement: Senator Lott's remarks were intended to pay tribute to a remarkable man who led a remarkable life. To read anything more into these comments is wrong. Bonjean declined to explain what Lott meant when he said the country would not have had all these problems if the rest of the nation had followed Mississippi's lead and elected Thurmond in 1948. Lott's comments came in the middle of Thursday's celebration for Thurmond, Congress's oldest and longest-serving member. Lott followed at the lectern former Senate majority leader Robert J. Dole (R- Kan). Initially Lott made jokes about Dole and then became serious when discussing how Mississippi voted in 1948. . . . In 1998 and 1999, Lott was criticized after disclosures that he had been a speaker at meetings of the Council of Conservative Citizens, an organization formed to succeed the segregationist white Citizens' Councils of the 1960s. In a 1992 speech in Greenwood, Miss., Lott told CCC members: The people in this room stand for the right principles and the right philosophy. Let's take it in the right direction, and our children will be the beneficiaries. Asked to comment on Lott's remarks at the Thurmond celebration, Gordon Baum, CEO of the Council of Conservative Citizens, said God bless Trent Lott. bloggy comments: Trent Lott shouldn't be able to show his face in public See also Trent Lott's Bizarro World: Up is down, ignorance is strength, helping the downtrodden is offensive, and Civil Rights equals "problems", by Tamara Baker, American Politics Journal. Daniel W. Drezner comments. No reference to it in the evote.com account of the party. (Though it has some other interesting info about Thurmond's thinking nowadays.) Jim Abranms' AP story, Thurmond Celebrates 100th Birthday, mentions the Marilyn Monroe impersonator who sang "Happy Birthday," his segregationist views, that he was the only write-in candidate ever to capture a Senate seat (which says so much, doesn't it), that Lott attended, that seven of nine Supreme Court justices attended (not Rhenquist and not, (ahem) Thomas), and that Bush 43 sent birthday greetings commending Thurmond's patriotism, but does not mention Lott's remarks. (SFGate had the story, too, but it was a reprint of Edsall's WP report.) 7:10:56 AM    comment []

On Economy, Bush Reveals His Soft Spot [Washington Post: Front Page] 6:54:30 AM    comment []

Blue, Blue Xmas for Sims Fans?. The online version of The Sims, the virtual suburbia game, likely won't make it to stores this holiday season. But gamers have plenty of other new titles to hold their attention. By Noah Shachtman. [Wired News] 6:51:56 AM    comment []

"Lots of famous men weren't," said Dad. "Luke Perry, Oscar De La Hoya, Elvis. Most boys and men born outside the US have penises like yours, Jeff: Ewan McGregor - you know, Obi Wan Kenobi in The Phantom Menace - David Bowie, Sting, Prince William." [Adam Curry: Adam Curry's Weblog] 6:51:20 AM    comment []

Wi-Fi Internet Access Is Hot, but Its Profit Potential Is Tepid [New York Times: Technology] 6:50:32 AM    comment []

Virus Throttle a Hopeful Defense. A researcher at Hewlett-Packard's labs has hit on a remarkably simple way to stem the damage computer viruses cause: Slow down connection to the infected machines. By Michelle Delio. [Wired News] 6:49:58 AM    comment []

Speaking of pencils . . . The History of Cumberland Graphite 2:39:05 AM    comment []