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Lawrence Lessig's Blog
Lawrence Lessig is Professor of Law at Stanford Law School, Founder of the Stanford Center for Internet and Society, Author of The Future of Ideas: The Fate of the Commons in a Connected World, and Chair of the Creative Commons project. His blog page is one of the best places on the Net to keep up with copyright, free speech, and intellectual property issues.

posted by Lorenzo 11:05 AM

 

How Industry Intends To Kill The InterNet As We Know It
(Jeff Chester, Center for Digital Democracy, 10-30-02)
The Internet's promise as a new medium -- where text, audio, video and data can be freely exchanged -- is under attack by the corporations that control the public�s access to the 'Net, as they see opportunities to monitor and charge for the content people seek and send. . . . Beyond political and press circles are another equally important development: new technologies being developed and embraced that can, in practice, transform today's open Internet into a new industry-regulated system that will prevent or discourage people from using the net for file-sharing, internet radio and video, and peer-to-peer communications. These are not merely the most popular cutting-edge applications used by young people; they also are the tools for fundamental new ways of conducting business and politics. . . . Most people now pay a flat fee for online access. But the big media companies offering Internet service; Comcast, ATT, AOL -- would like to change that, and already have in a few test locations. . . . To make the case to regulators that such pricing is fair and overdue, cable operators have begun a PR effort, spinning that a small percent of users account for a disproportionately large amount of bandwidth used on broadband networks. They've created and embraced the pejorative term, "bandwidth hog," to describe those -- such as music-obsessed college students -- who find robust uses for high-speed connections. Already major news sources, such as the BBC, and technology journalists are using the term in their reports. . . . Bandwidth caps have already been implemented in Canada by major Internet service provider Sympatico, Inc., and observers have been quick to note that the limit -- 5 GB per month -- would effectively restrict regular use of emerging applications such as Internet radio, streaming media and video-on-demand. . . . When you consider the fact that the largest American telecommunications firms are often part of the same mega-corporation with music, video or movie-producing entertainment divisions -- such as AOL-Time Warner -- you can see how an industry-regulated Internet would handily end music and movie industry worries about Napster-like file swapping by people who don�t want to pay industry-monopolized retail prices for content. . . . This new threat to online communications is a direct consequence of recent Federal Communications Commission policies by Chairman Michael Powell that permit cable companies to operate their broadband platforms in a "discriminatory, non-open access" manner. This legalese means the FCC, the historic guardian of the public interest in the communications field, has abdicated its founding charge: to serve the public interest before private interests. . . . In sum, the Internet as we now know it -- and its revolutionary promise -- may soon pass into the history books. In the absence of public policy safeguards, the emerging pricing and control structures will fundamentally change the kinds of information -- and way it�s delivered -- on the Internet. The ramifications extend far beyond the quarterly reports and shareholder earnings for the nation�s telecommunications corporations. . . . The consequences are cultural and will affect the pace and character of progress in the early 21st century. If the communications companies impose tolls, roadblocks and dead ends on the information 'superhighway,' they will be robbing public trust resources in much the same way 19th century mining companies pilfered public lands and 20th century radio and television networks privatized the public�s airwaves.

posted by Lorenzo 1:16 PM

 

Free State Project sets meeting
By ALBERT McKEON, Telegraph Staff - Tuesday, November 12, 2002
Many people savor New Hampshire because it espouses free living, taxes less than other states, offers a decent job market and has a coastline � granted not the longest of shorelines but it touches an ocean nonetheless. So don�t be surprised if 20,000 liberty-oriented people move here this decade. The very things that make New Hampshire attractive to its citizens also entice the members of the Free State Project. Claiming 2,000 members, the project has a goal of creating a �free state� in America. The group does not wish to secede from the United States, but only limit its government. �We�re not trying to change the country. We just want to create a sphere of lib-erty where people can live their lives in peace,� said Jason Sorens, Free State Project president and founder. New Hampshire places high on the project�s wish list of 10 desirable states. The others are Vermont, Maine, North and South Dakota, Delaware, Montana, Idaho, Alaska and Wyoming.

posted by An Old Curmudgeon 10:08 AM

 

The Right Wing Republicans Have Made Compassion and Democratic Values Seem Radical
November 11, 2002 - The New Radical Left (And the Old Folks Who Fuel It)
By Maureen Farrell - A BUZZFLASH READER COMMENTARY

They say people become more conservative with age. Until recently, that seemed so. For the legions of us who came of age as the left became a cartoon, a rightward shift was inevitable. We grew to distrust all of it: long overdue advances in civil rights were accompanied by open season on anything white and male; the women's movement was hijacked by champions of unwed childlessness; and valid opposition to the Vietnam War gave way to factions shamelessly spitting upon soldiers It was distasteful and disgraceful and we gravitated towards the center. Nevertheless, what was real and honorable about the left stayed with us, always. We didn't understand why universal medical care was so scary, for example, particularly considering America's runaway corporate welfare. We weren't sure how helping the less fortunate became so threatening, since taxpayers blindly fund a defense budget of nearly $400 billion per year. We also wondered why people were up in arms over welfare to single mothers, but not over the $2.3 trillion the Pentagon misplaced. "Every gun that is made, every warship that is launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed," Dwight D. Eisenhower once said. Would Ike be "too liberal" these days, too?

We thought we were just average citizens, with average concerns, until we woke up to find ourselves part of the radical left. We're not sure how it happened, mind you. In fact, we didn't even realize it until a chorus of pundits started steering us a certain way. When MSNBC's Lester Holt happily explained how daisy cutters work, for example, we were filled with queasiness in lieu of national pride. We believed Scott Ritter was telling the truth, no matter how often Paula Zahn warned us not to. And despite the president's assurances he'd like to avoid war, we trusted Newsday's observation that his administration "appeared to be purposely setting the bar too high for Hussein to comply." Chants about "blaming America first" aside, we have always been uncomfortable with our legacy of coups d'etats and assassinations -- and of replacing democratically-elected leaders with tyrants of our own. We'd prefer to spend that money and energy aggressively seeking alternative energy, so babies need not die in our names. And we can't ignore the role we've played in creating problems named bin Laden, Hussein, Noriega and Pinochet; or inconsistencies in official stories; or hidden agendas, regardless how often we're chided by "the liberal media elite." Citing others' misgivings over everything from Wellstone's death to 9/11 to JFK's murder, for example, Ron Rosenbaum recently joined Nicholas Kristof in describing ways the left has gone off track. Certainly, Wellstone's death could have been "one of those things"; Condoleezza "no one would think of flying planes into buildings" Rice might have suffered from memory lapses; and, despite suggestions otherwise, Lee Harvey Oswald may have acted alone. Rosenbaum's absolute certainty regarding all of this is disarming, however, especially to those of us who still have questions -- and realize, once again, that there will never be honest investigations into any of it. Ever. How can we not be "dumbed down" when it's taboo to even question? Do they not see it, too? ...

posted by An Old Curmudgeon 5:19 PM

 

Homer America
Commentary by Bob Wallace
There is a part of me that sees the US as "Homer America." As in "Homer Simpson." There is precedence for this name change: Saudi Arabia is named after the tribe which conquered the other local tribes and then named the whole place � originally Arabia � after themselves. This is exactly the same as if I conquered the US, called it "Wallace America," then renamed my relatives and myself "royalty" and gave ourselves titles like "prince" and "princess." Although Homer America is a much better place to live than Saudi Arabia. And Wallace America would be the best place to live of all. Homer is a particularly American archetype, just as Doug and Bob McKenzie could only be a Canadian one. I don't see anything similiar to the Homer in Greek mythology, but he does exist in the Judeo-Christian tradition, as a modern-day Adam (which means "Man"). Homer is good-natured, but stupid, ignorant, loud and obnoxious. He means well, but fouls up everything he does. He blames his problems on others, but every once in a while he has moments of self-awareness in which he realizes he is his worst enemy. His worst sin appears to be that of Intellectual Sloth (eyes rolled up toward cranium: "Brain, I know that you and I don't get along very well..."). If you were to take a million Americans, boil them down, then take the concentrate and morph it into a cartoon character, you'd have Homer. That is why he is such a uniquely American archetype. I think this is why he is so popular: the Homer in all of us resonates with the Homer onscreen. Homer has his moments, but overall he is not likeable. He's not evil, just stupid (which reminds me of the comment by Spider Robinson and Robert A. Heinlein: "Never attribute to malice what can be explained by stupidity"). Homer is funny in fantasy, but like a lot of things which are funny while unreal, he'd be a horror in real life. Laughing at him allows us to defuse the fact he is a catastrophic symbol of ourselves.

posted by An Old Curmudgeon 7:44 AM

 

Fliers get cannabis activist arrested
By JANEL STEPHENS � St. Petersburg Times
published October 30, 2002
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TAMPA -- Anthony Lorenzo stood beside a papier-mache replica of a 4-foot-tall marijuana joint Saturday night as costumed Guavaween festivalgoers passed by. Dressed in a black T-shirt with white letters reading "DEA," Lorenzo stood with a group of supporters with the Florida Cannabis Action Network and distributed fliers that urged people to "Vote Libertarian to end the drug war," and that talked of reforming state marijuana laws for medical and environmental use.

"We focus on events like Guavaween to get the message out directly to the people," Lorenzo said. Lorenzo and other activists participated in the parade with a float that bore a picture of Uncle Sam urinating on the U.S. Constitution. A jail cell was built in the front of the float with a wheelchair behind bars in protest of what Lorenzo said is a federal attack against medical marijuana in California. The Tampa resident and other activists distributed about 3,000 fliers to the crowd on Seventh Avenue Saturday before police confiscated them, citing a city ordinance that prohibits pedestrians and businesses from passing out handbills in historic Ybor City without a permit.

posted by An Old Curmudgeon 9:17 AM