Here I am at the W3C meeting representing Creative Commons. Creative Commons is clearly catching on: whereas I had to explain CC to just about every W3C member at the last meeting 6 months ago, people now come up to me to tell me how much they like CC. I suspect the Firefox search engine […]
Slate’s latest is a must read. The first Presidential debate has forced us to start talking about the issues of accountability, reality-based decision making, and generally how the US needs to be a better world citizen for its own good. It’s about time.
Barely recovered from vacation, Greg points me to two nuggets. First, a fantastic and eloquent op/ed in yesterday’s New York Times written by the Boss himself, Bruce Springsteen: Our American government has strayed too far from American values. It is time to move forward. The country we carry in our hearts is waiting. Second, a […]
When Bush and co. were pushing for war in Iraq, France led the opposition at the UN. I was and remain unhappy with France’s opposition because I believe it was just as poorly motivated as Bush’s war stance: it stemmed from France’s lucrative oil contracts with Saddam Hussein’s government and significant Iraqi debt towards France […]
Verizon just announced its Fiber service. For $35/month, Verizon will lay a fiber line to your home and give you 30Mbps internet connectivity. Then they’ll sell you cable TV, too. And maybe switch your phone service to VoIP? Sounds great, except for the somewhat-hidden gotcha: the FCC is not requiring that this new infrastructure be […]
Bruce Schneier sums it up very nicely: due process is a fantastic security measure. Threats come from all sides, including a potentially tyrannical government. An unchecked Department of Homeland Security is just as bad a threat to our way of life as terrorism itself. Once Again, a civil liberties approach turns out to be the […]
I do not agree with many of John McCain’s positions. For example, he’s against gay marriage, and I’m in favor of it. So while it is easy for me to oppose the recently failed Federal Marriage Amendment, it takes a bit more courage for John McCain to do it. McCain is against gay marriage, yet […]
For a couple of weeks now, I’ve been wondering about what our administration would do if someone got the idea that terrorists might attack on election day. Turns out, they now have a solution: rescheduling the election. I was looking for the right words to describe my feelings on the matter, but then I read […]
I’m not sure what to think of the latest terror attack warnings. On the one hand, I’m particularly frightened by the possibility of an Election Day terror attack, something I’ve been thinking about for a few days. Whatever your political leanings or feelings about the Bush Administration, there’s no denying that Al Qaeda is really […]
Senator Hatch is about to unleash a new bill that would make criminals out of those who “induce” copyright violations. So, if you build any tool that could be used to violate copyright, you’re liable. A computer that can copy songs? Illegal. A VCR that can record a movie? Illegal. A photocopier that can photocopy […]