Google Leaving The Censorship Business

Posted by ryan as Interweb, News, Serious Nod, Technology, War on the Internet

I’ve recently read that Google has made the decision to no longer censor google.cn. They also plan to leave the country and kill the domain if needed. That is if they can not operate under China’s conditions and laws. I applaud this as helping any government to censor information is ridiculous for any American company. Read about their decision from Google’s blog.

Free Press Calls Out Astroturf

Posted by ryan as Interweb, Technology, War on the Internet

Free Press is a huge net neutrality organization. Here it is in their own words.

Free Press is a national, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization working to reform the media. Through education, organizing and advocacy, we promote diverse and independent media ownership, strong public media, quality journalism, and universal access to communications.

Free Press was launched in late 2002 by media scholar Robert W. McChesney, journalist John Nichols and Josh Silver, our executive director. Today, Free Press is the largest media reform organization in the United States, with nearly half-a-million activists and members and a full-time staff of more than 30 based in our offices in Washington, D.C., and Florence, Mass.

You can read the rest of the Free Press description and their mission statement on their about us page.

7 Songs = $1 Million = RIAA

Posted by ryan as Bummer, Interweb, Music, Technology, War on the Internet

Ars Technica reports on a recent RIAA court trial that is taking steps to showcase what is occurring in the courtroom of the RIAA’s legal battles with one person who is accused of downloading and sharing seven songs on a popular file-sharing network, and the recording industry wants over one million dollars in return.

Joel Tenenbaum’s first strategy for dealing with an RIAA settlement letter wasn’t real helpful: he called them up and offered $500 instead of $3,500. His offer was rejected. When the case actually went to court, Tenenbaum tried to settle again, this time for $5,000, but by then the RIAA wanted $10,500.

Tenenbaum’s next strategy has worked far better. He attracted the attention of law professor Charles Nesson and the students in his CyberOne class. The group has been a boil on the music industry’s smooth skin already, launching such media-worthy initiatives as a Twitter feed about the case and a brand-new website, and now agitating for online streaming of the entire trial. > continue reading

The 50 most significant moments of Internet history by Cnet

Posted by ryan as History, Interweb, Technology, War on the Internet, Web Devlopment

So Cnet UK  has an artcle called The 50 most significant moments of Internet history. Take a look and see if how many of these moments you remember and what you find as more significant that others.

Piracy Discussion Continues

Posted by ryan as Interweb, News, Technology, War on the Internet

The Pirate Bay is big target these days for all those who are trying to convince the masses that pirating is wrong and we need to stop the direction that the free open internet is taking us. We must control it, shape it to the old established model and we will all live happily ever after. The problem is, the issue is far more complex than that of bad people seeking to harm those good product producing people. A black and white affair that can be not only be handled by demolishing P2P networks, but also by suing the consumer. If only we can unplug this darn internet. Go back to the golden times. Oh, the good ol’ days. But lets face it, these times, they are a changing. How does one create something and make a living off of that effort? I believe the answers will come, and not only come, but will present themselves in ways we never imagined. The concept of a connected people without boundaries to communicate, share, and spread ideas for good, and not only commercial products is a great element we have been blessed with. We can struggle as a culture right now as to where this cross road will take us, but for me as a developer of websites, I am an optimist that that road will be in a positive direction.

Ah, but I digress. Here is an article that talks about Pirate Bays comments on piracy to the BBC called: The Pirate Bay to BBC: We Don’t Want To Be Information Slaves. Its a good read and should get you started on considering the issue of piracy and how it fits into our culture.

“The generation that scares the music industry more is the next one, the one that’s coming up now because they’ve never known anything different. There’s always been peer to peer [for them], there’s always been very easy ways to get on whichever service you want and the music is there. So the question of how to get it…it’s not backroom dealing or someone setting up a table on the street corner, it is always there, so the music industry is struggling because they have to figure out how to convince that generation to think of anything other than “this is the easiest and most free way to get my music.”

From there I have posted another great video below discussing piracy and its role.