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Monday, February 28, 2005 |
Bruce Sterling, cyberpunk and Islands in the Net.
Via Mumpsimus, a post by Silliman praising Bruce Sterling as the 'Coleridge' of cyberpunk, the movement's 'most serious intellectual thinker.' I was interested that he praised Sterling's novel from the late 1980s, 'Islands in the Net,' as his favorite example of cyberpunk as an exploration of the possible future of society, history and technology. I also really like that book, which last time I checked was out of print, and feel that it hasn't gotten the recognition it deserves, as a creative, colorful exploration of the wonderful and scary implications of late-20th century trends in technology, politics and business for the future.
[Life Tenant (ex-Subdued)]
Sterling's Islands in the Net is probably only my second favorite cyberpunk novel, falling to Stephenson's Snow Crash. Both are bits of "the future is not only almost here, if you squint you can see it now" prophecy. Sterling has stuck with the futurism, in the main, whereas Stephenson's more recently explored new territory in looking back in time.
7:00:21 AM 
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Help Wanted to Expand Free Speech Globally.
A group that wants to assist free speech in authoritarian nations is looking for a technically savvy person -- a CTO or lead engineer type -- who can do a short term study, possibly leading to a longer-term job. This is a paying gig for the right person. The project is intended, in its intitial form, to make possible blogging that is impossible (or at least extremely difficult) to trace. One of the people involved calls it an "anonymous, anti-tyranny blogging service." If you're interested, please send e-mail to Jim Hake at jim@spiritofamerica.net -- Note to other bloggers: Please post your own notice about this. It's a good cause. NOTE: If you tried sending Jim mail earlier today and it bounced, that's because the address was listed incorrectly for a while. Please try again.
[Dan Gillmor on Grassroots Journalism, Etc.]
7:00:12 AM
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Positive About Negativland IPod. Artist Francis Hwang takes a beating from Apple when he tries to sell his special-edition Negativland iPod. In round two, Hwang fights on his own turf. By David Cohn. [Wired News]
Three months ago, artist Francis Hwang was blocked from selling an unauthorized Special-Edition Negativland vs. U2 IPod on eBay's auction site after Apple complained it violated its copyrights.
So now Hwang has decided to ditch eBay. He's selling the iPod on his own website with the intention of turning a statement about pop culture into a free speech issue -- even if Apple launches a legal challenge.
. . .
EBay may have hung up the towel, but Hwang still wants someone to buy what he calls a piece of "intellectual property history."
Hwang loaded the iPod, originally a U2 Special Edition model, with seven albums from Negativland.
The band was sued in 1991 by U2's label, Island Records, for allegedly using an unlicensed sample of "I still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For." The suit was settled out of court and the Negativland song pulled from distribution.
Hwang said he made the iPod as a statement after seeing Apple iPod adverts featuring U2. He thought of all the bands Apple could have used, U2 was a weird choice because of its Negativland lawsuit, which he considered anti-artistic.
"When you look at the Island Records v. Negativland case you see an internet era intellectual property case before the internet," said Hwang.
But what started as an ironic pop-culture joke has now turned into a free speech and consumer rights issue.
. . .
Anyone who visits the archived eBay auction site can see Hwang put a lot of time into his special-edition iPod. Hwang loaded the iPod with 87 Negativland songs, and customized the cardboard packaging by adding pictures of Negativland opposite the picture of U2.
Previous coverage here.
6:58:18 AM
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Locke in modern English.
To understand political power correctly and derive it from its proper source, we must consider what state all men are naturally in. It is a state in which men are perfectly free to order their actions, and dispose of their possessions and themselves, in any way they like, without asking anyone else’s permission - all this subject only to limits set by the law of nature. It is also a state of equality, in which no-one has more power and authority than anyone else; because it is simply obvious that creatures of the same species and status, all born to all the same advantages of nature and to the use of the same abilities, should also be equal ·in other ways·, with no-one being subjected to or subordinate to anyone else, unless ·God·, the lord and master of them all, were to declare clearly and explicitly his wish that some one person be raised above the others and given an undoubted right to dominion and sovereignty.
The latest of Jonathan Bennett’s renderings of the classics of early modern philosophy into modern English is now out on the web: the Second Treatise of Government . In my experience it is a work that students find especially opaque in the original, much as I love the archaic language. (Sceptics might be interested to read Bennett’s rationale for his project.) [Crooked Timber]
6:56:54 AM
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Known Hole Aided T-Mobile Breach. Looks like a hacker was able to break into the wireless giant's customer records and private e-mail last year because the company neglected to patch a security hole in a commercial software package. By Kevin Poulsen. [Wired News]
6:51:53 AM
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