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Cost of the War in Iraq
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Saturday, February 22, 2003
Council Movement
Against War Join
More than 100 US Cities
Los Angeles Council Adopts Resolution Against Iraq War
By Barbara Whitaker
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 21 — With the gallery packed with peace advocates, the City Council passed a resolution today opposing unilateral war against Iraq and urging President Bush to employ all diplomatic options to deal with the crisis. After the 9-to-4 vote, Los Angeles became the country's largest city to oppose such a war, joining more than 100 other cities and counties including Chicago, Philadelphia and Detroit. The Council had been deadlocked on the issue on Tuesday, but the measure passed today after a member changed her vote and a member who had been absent voted in favor. Council members who opposed the measure had several concerns, among them that it was not the Council's business to take such a stand.
Councilman Eric Garcetti, the sponsor of the resolution, said the measure was a response to petitions from a growing number of city residents opposed to a war. About 300 antiwar demonstrators came to City Hall to support the motion. "They've sent a message to our president that he is out of touch with the people," said Suzanne Thompson, a local director of Neighbors for Peace and Justice, a Los Angeles group that is campaigning against war with Iraq. "They had to act at City Council because the Congressional leaders didn't have the courage to say no to war."
The Council voted unanimously to support a part of the resolution urging the government to provide additional money for better equipping police officers and firefighters who respond first to disasters. Councilwoman Jan Perry, who had opposed the measure on Tuesday, added an amendment seeking more aid for the homeless, nearly 20 percent of whom are veterans. Such sentiments pleased the audience. "I'm very proud of the Council for thinking globally and locally," said Randy Herr, a demonstrator. "If we go to war and it costs billions, that is money that is being robbed from our cities, our schools, our health care and our people."
But demonstrators were overwhelmingly opposed to the war, with one father and son dressed in ripped clothing, bandages and fake blood. "I think that today there are two superpowers," said the father, Fred Greissing, who was carrying his 9-year-old son, Anthony. "One is the United States and the other is public opinion, and I hope my feeble theatrical display might just save some Iraqi child a broken arm, third-degree burns or death."
more @ New York Times
post by vasco on 11:26 PM
Giants of Research Are
Developing TIA's Jurassic
Inteligent Database System
Development continues on Pentagon's massive data-mining system
By Sharon L. Crenson
Financed by more than $20 million in government contracts, researchers are taking the first steps toward developing a system that could sift through the financial, telephone, travel and medical records of millions of people in hopes of identifying terrorists before they strike. So far, the companies awarded contracts by the Defense Department are using only fabricated data in their work on the program, which is called Total Information Awareness. The Pentagon's technology chief, Pete Aldridge, has said the department is interested in tying together such privately held data as credit card records, bank transactions, car rental receipts and gun purchases, along with massive quantities of intelligence information already gathered by the federal government.
The project has met some resistance in Congress because of privacy concerns. Some lawmakers are pushing an amendment to a spending bill that would prohibit the system from ever gathering information on American citizens without a congressional vote approving it. Meanwhile, contractors and researchers told The Associated Press that they have already been developing pieces of TIA. For example, Doug Lenat, president of Texas-based Cycorp, said his researchers had already built a system to identify phone-calling patterns as they might exist among potential terrorists overseas.
Other TIA contractors include defense giant Raytheon and Telcordia, a telecommunications company specializing in research and development. Several other companies have been waiting to finalize deals. So far, contractors have worked with fake data, things like made-up telephone numbers and receipts that look like real consumer records, but aren't, according to interviews and public records. Aldridge outlined the program in a news conference in November after questions arose about the choice of John Poindexter to head TIA. The former admiral and national security adviser to President Reagan has been a lightning rod. A figure in the Iran-Contra scandal, he was convicted on charges of lying to Congress, destroying official documents and obstructing a congressional investigation. The verdicts were overturned on appeal.
Overseeing the research is the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency, or DARPA, the same office that developed the Internet. According to the published solicitation, DARPA planned a five-year timeline for TIA: three to develop ideas and demonstrations, two to build and expand on the most promising ones. The TIA budget is $30 million from the current and past fiscal years. In all, 26 bids were received, said DARPA spokeswoman Jan Walker. Four companies were awarded contracts. According to the TIA Web site, many other organizations were already working on pieces Poindexter planned to connect to TIA.
The companies included:
-- Cycorp, based in Austin, Texas, which was awarded $9.8 million to work on a prototype database. The company specializes in searching data.
-- Telcordia, based in Morristown, N.J., which won a $5.2 million contract to focus on connecting data already available within different government offices.
-- Hicks Associates, of McLean, Va., which was awarded $3.6 million to study the feasibility of TIA, how it would develop, and to create a prototype.
-- Booz, Allen & Hamilton, based in Falls Church, Va., which won a $1.5 million contract. Its purpose was not publicly disclosed.
-- Raytheon Co., based in Lexington, Mass., which confirmed that it is under contract with DARPA. Spokesman David Shay declined to outline Raytheon's specific role.
Another research firm, RAND Corp., based in Santa Monica, Calif., confirmed it was expecting to work on TIA. Neither the company nor the Pentagon would provide details.
more @ The Mercury News.
post by vasco on 1:38 AM
Friday, February 21, 2003
University Professors
Becomes IT Vendors
to Worth Better
The best education that money can buy
By Eric Wilson
How much is a university professor worth? About $250,000 a year, if you are an IT vendor. The harder question is figuring out if vendor-sponsored professorships or products are good or bad for our educationally independent universities. There was a time when academics had little to do with IT vendor marketing departments. Alan Fekete, chairman of the curriculum committee at the University of Sydney's School of IT, remembers what is was like when he was a student, although he does not fancy going back there. ``It's true there has been a shift,'' he says. ``When I was a student 20 years ago there was no industry feel to education. ``We now realise you have to teach students to make the connection between the concept and its application. But I don't think it's gone too far towards industrial training. I can't imagine the university would agree to a position where the company had any control of the curriculum.'' Of course, the idea of incorporating vendor-based material is to make graduates more job-ready. So in Sydney University's case, first-year students are taught to program in Java, not in an ``academic language''.
But the abandonment of academic languages in preference for industry standards may have some unexpected effects. For example, C++, the language from which Java sprang, was once an academic language too. In fact, most ``industrial'' languages were born out of academia, not commercial operations. So if the universities embrace the IT industry too closely, eventually the industry will become much poorer. ``Academic languages like Prolog and ML are taught because they are quite different and give students a different way of thinking about the world,'' Fekete says. ``We did teach some which don't get a lot of use, but not as our main languages. But that was an optional course and plenty of students chose not to do it.''
more @ SMH.
post by vasco on 6:04 PM
Hollywood's Protection
Demands Are Lethal to
Technology Industry
Copy Protection Efforts Misguided, Says Lessig
Lawmakers will be making a big mistake if they bow to Hollywood pressure and enact new copyright-protection legislation based on today's Internet use patterns, says Stanford University professor Lawrence Lessig. Currently, millions of consumers are downloading music to their PCs because slow dialup connections make it impractical to stream content quickly to a variety of devices. "In the future, it will be easier to pay for subscription services than to be an amateur database administrator who moves content from device to device. We're legislating against a background of the Internet's current architecture of content distribution, and this is a fundamental mistake," Lessig told participants at the Digital Rights Management Summit held at Intel headquarters.
At a heated Digital Rights Summit at Intel Corp. (INTC)'s headquarters, Lessig joined entrepreneurs and other academics in warning that Hollywood's copy-protection demands could strike a lethal blow to the U.S. technology industry. Punctuated by hisses, applause and shouts of "Amen!" from members of the 100-person crowd, the four-hour debate illustrated the gargantuan gap between Silicon Valley and Hollywood when it comes to so-called digital rights management. Entrepreneurs here say Hollywood's insistence on embedding anti-copying technology in devices would crimp product innovation in the flagging technology sector. Executives at startups say they have lost manufacturing contracts and venture capital funding because of the mere threat of litigation from the entertainment industry.
more @ Associated Press.
Received from NewScan Daily newslist. NewsScan Daily (FREE), a lively summary of information technology news. To subscribe, send email to NewsScan@NewsScan.com and in the subject line type "subscribe". Copyright 2003. NewsScan Daily (R) is a publication of NewsScan Inc.
post by vasco on 1:26 PM
Zapatista Movement
Say "No!"
to the War of Fear
By Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos. Translated by irlandesa
Communique' from the EZLN which was read during the demonstration in Rome, Italy, on February 15, 2003. It was read by Heidi Giuliani, the mother of activist Carlo, who was assassinated by the Italian police in Genoa in July of 2001.
Zapatista Army of National Liberation. Mexico. February 15, 2003.
Brothers and Sisters of Rebel Italy: Greetings from the men, women, children and old ones of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation. Our word is made cloud in order to cross the ocean and to reach the worlds which are in your hearts.
We know that today demonstrations are being held throughout the world in order to say "No" to Bush's war against the people of Iraq. And it must be said like that, because it is not a war by the North American people, nor is it a war against Saddam Hussein. It is a war by money, which is represented by Señor Bush (perhaps in order to emphasize that he is completely lacking in intelligence). And it is against humanity, whose fate is now at stake on the soil of Iraq.
This is the war of fear.
Its objective is not to defeat Hussein in Iraq. Its goal is not to do away with Al Qaeda. Nor does it seek to liberate the people of Iraq. It is not justice, nor democracy, nor liberty which drives this terror. It is fear. Fear that the entire world will refuse to accept a policeman which tells it what it should do, how it should do it and when it should do it. It is fear. Fear that the world will refuse to be treated like plunder. Fear of that human essence which is called rebellion. Fear that the millions of human beings who are mobilizing today throughout the world will be victorious in raising the cause of peace. Because the victims of those bombs which will be launched over Iraqi lands will not only be Iraqi civilians, children, women, men and old ones, whose deaths will be merely an accident in the headlong, arbitrary path of he who, from his side, calls on God as an alibi for destruction and death. The person leading this stupidity (which is supported by Berlusconi in Italy, Blair in England and Aznar in Spain), Se~or Bush, used money to buy that power which he is trying to hurl upon the people of Iraq. Because it must not be forgotten that Señor Bush is the head of the self-proclaimed world police, thanks to a fraud which was so immense that it could only be covered up by the shadows of the twin towers in New York, and by the blood of the victims of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
Neither Hussein nor the Iraqi people matter to the North American government. What matters to it is demonstrating that it can commit, its crimes in any part of the world, at any moment, and that it can do so with absolute impunity. The bombs which are to fall in Iraq seek also to fall on all the nations of earth. They would also fall on our hearts, and thus universalize that fear which they carry within. This war is against all humanity, against all honest men and women. This war seeks that we should know fear, that we should believe that he who has money and military force also has right. This war hopes that we shall shrug our shoulders, that we shall make cynicism a new religion, that we shall remain silent, that we shall conform, that we shall resign, that we shall surrender...that we shall forget... That we shall forget Carlo Giuliani, the rebel of Genoa.
For the zapatistas, we are the men who dream our dead. And today our dead are dreaming a rebel "NO." For us there is but one dignified word and one conscientious action in the face of this war. The word "NO" and the rebel action. That is why we must say "NO" to war. A "NO" without conditions or excuses. A "NO" without half measures. A "NO" untarnished by gray areas. A "NO" with all the colors which paint the world. A "NO" which is clear, categorical, resounding, definitive, worldwide.
What is at stake in this war is the relationship between the powerful and the weak. The powerful is powerful because he makes us weak. He lives off our work, off our blood. That is how he grows fat while we languish. The powerful have invoked God at their side in this war, so that we will accept their power and our weakness as something that has been established by divine plan. But there is no god behind this war other than the god of money, nor any right other than the desire for death and destruction. The only strength of the weak is their dignity. That is what inspires them to fight in order to resist the powerful, in order to rebel. Today there is a "NO" which shall weaken the powerful and strengthen the weak: the "NO" to war.
Some might ask whether the word which has convened so many throughout the world will be capable of preventing the war or, once it has begun, of stopping it. But the question is not whether we can change the murderous march of the powerful. No. The question we should be asking is: could we live with the shame of not having done everything possible to prevent and stop this war? No honest man or woman can remain silent and indifferent at this moment. All of us, each one in our own voice, in our own way, in our own language, by our own action, must say "NO." And, if the powerful wish to universalize fear through death and destruction, we must universalize the "NO." Because the "NO" to this war is also a "NO" to fear, a "NO" to resignation, a "NO" to surrender, a "NO" to the forgetting, a "NO" to renouncing our humanness. It is a "NO" for humanity and against neoliberalism. We would hope that this "NO" would transcend borders, that it would sneak past customs, that it would overcome differences of language and culture, and that it would unite the honest and noble part of humanity, which is also, and it must not be forgotten, the majority.
Because there are negations which unite and dignify. Because there are negations which affirm men and women in the best of themselves, that is, in their dignity.
Today the skies of the world are clouded over with warplanes, with missiles - which call themselves "intelligent" merely so that they can conceal the stupidity of those who are in charge of them, and those who, like Berlusconi, Blair and Aznar, justify them - with satellites which point out where there is life and where there will be death. And the land of the earth is tarnished with machines of war which would paint the earth with blood and shame. The storm comes.
But dawn shall come only if the words made cloud in order to cross borders is turned into a "NO" made stone, and they make an opening in the darkness, a crevice through which tomorrow can slip. Brothers and sisters of rebel and dignified Italy: Please accept this "NO" which we, the zapatistas, the smallest, are sending you. Allow our "NO" to unite with yours and with all the "NO's" which are flourishing today throughout the earth. Viva the rebellion which says "NO!" Death to death!
From the mountains of the Mexican Southeast. By the Comandancia General of the Clandestine Revolutionary Indigenous Committee of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation.
read more @ FZLN.
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post by vasco on 12:45 PM
Thursday, February 20, 2003
Google's Control
May Rule All
Internet Information
One Google To Rule Them All
By Abe Burmeister
Everybody loves Google, yes? It makes the internet work, answers our questions, plus its friendly and pop-up free. Brand Channel just named it the brand of the year, number one the world over. Apple built Google right into the interface to its new browser. Google is rapidly becoming essential, perhaps even omnipotent. And that is the problem. Google is rapidly become the biggest threat to the free internet around. Saw Howard Rheingold speak the other night, at a KQED's Media Salon. Towards the end of the discussion, the moderator (whose name escapes me, sorry) posed a very interesting question. He mention that despite being in the television business, he often wishes that TV was never invented. The negative impact it has on culture far out weighs its benefits, at least in his opinion. The question he asked was: "What can we do now in order to prevent us from looking back in 10 years and wishing the internet never existed?"
My head rolled around that a bit, as the conversation continued. All the usual fears of media monopolies, baby bells, and governments big brothering the internet to further their powers. All legitimate outside threats, but I wasn't getting too worried. The architecture of the internet still encourages free expression, and I've yet to see a model by which any of these forces could really seize control. Not that its impossible, but I'm not losing any sleep, yet. My mind kept racing. Where was there a legitimate threat of the internet being controlled? It hit me. Google. The most powerful address online, the most powerful organization online. And we happily give it this power. For good reason too, its the best search engine around. But as its powers increase so do the threats it presents. We rely upon Google to return legitimate answers to our search queries. And its won our trust by returning good results. So far its all good. But Google has the power to alter it search results. It can subtly send people to websites in favor of one political viewpoint. If Google blocks a website, how easily could we find it? Its easy to put something up online, but its worthless if no one can find it.
Search engines are highly centralized. There are only a handful of companies offering the service. As the volume of information grows it is likely that it will cost even more to start up a new search engine. The result? An industry that is relatively easy to control. Control Google and you've got the internet in a choke hold. Control both Google and the few companies competing with it and you've got the internet on lockdown. Google has already shown a few warning signs. They've caved into pressure from the Scientologists and China and
restricted search results. They leave all moral decisions to one of their founders. So far he seems to be doing a decent job, but how long can that last? What happens when it becomes a publicly traded corporation? And its profits start declining? What happens if the FBI knocks on its door and asks it to restrict access to "subversive" websites?
The more we love Google the more power we give it to. Its a classic catch-22, use Google and it gains the power to use us. And more importantly it increases the ability of other powers to use Google to use us. And as the internet becomes increasingly corporate and governments see it more and more of a threat, the risks increase. Less then a century ago, radio and tv were both seen as liberating, democratic technologies. And when used right they can be. But they are rarely used right nowadays. Lets make sure the internet doesn't fall into the same trap. What can we do? Strengthening Google's competitors might help a bit, except it means living with inferior search results. But if one wants to hotbot will allow you to search using 4 different engines, one is Google, but Inktomi, FAST and Teoma are also available.
One idea for the lazyweb is a decentralized distributed computing search engine. The processing and storing of search results can be done on millions of computers on their downtime ala SETI@home. (On a side note, its pretty pitiful that the most popular distributed computing project around is devoted to something as impractical and absurd as the search for extraterrestrial life). The mechanics of such a system are beyond me, so I can only hope it's a possibility. Until then all we really have is faith that Google and company will return reliable results. "Information wants to be free", yeah I hope so. Its pretty obvious that a lot of people want to control information. And if we want it to be free then we need to keep building the tools that will keep it that way.
more @ Action Pixel.
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post by vasco on 4:47 PM
Photojournalist Publish
in the Net Human
Scenes of I Gulf War
The Unseen Gulf War
By Peter Turnley
As we approach the likelihood of a new Gulf War, I have an idea and it occurs to me that the Digital Journalist may be the place for it. As we all know, the military pool system created then was meant to be, and was, a major impediment for photojournalists in their quest to communicate the realities of war (This fact does not diminish the great efforts, courage, and many important images created by many of my colleagues who participated in these pools.). Aside from that, while you would have a very difficult time finding an editor of an American publication today that wouldn't condemn this pool system and its restrictions during the Gulf War, most publications and television entities more or less bought the program before the war began (this reality has been far less discussed than the critiques of the pools themselves).
I refused to participate in the pool system. I was in the Gulf for many weeks as the build-up of troops took place, and then sat out the "air war", and flew from Paris to Riyadh as soon as the ground war began. I arrived at the "mile of death" the morning the day the war stopped. It was very early in the morning and few other journalists were present. When I arrived at the scene of this incredible carnage, strewn all over on this mile stretch were cars and trucks with wheels still turning, radios still playing, and there were bodies scattered along the road. Many people have asked the question "how many people died" during the war with Iraq and the question has never been well answered. That first morning, I saw and photographed a U.S. Military 'graves detail' bury in large graves many bodies.
I don't recall seeing many television images of the human consequences of this scene, or for that matter many photographs published. A day later, I came across another scene on an obscure road further north and to the east where, in the middle of the desert, I found a convoy of lorries transporting Iraqi soldiers back to Baghdad, where clearly massive fire power had been dropped and everyone in sight had been carbonized. Most of the photographs I made of this scene have never been published anywhere and this has always troubled me.
As we approach the distinct possibility of another war, a thought comes to mind. The photographs that I made do not, in themselves, represent any personal political judgment or point of view with respect to the politics and the right or wrong of the first Gulf War. What they do represent is a part of a more accurate picture of what really does happen in war. I feel it is important and that citizens have the right to see these images. This is not to communicate my point of view, but so viewers as citizens can be offered a better opportunity to consider the whole picture and consequences of that war and any war. I feel that it is part of my role as a photojournalist to offer the viewer the opportunity to draw from as much information as possible, and develop his or her own judgment.
< blog's coment > Carbonized bodies are massive missil intense fire power effects, like used by "Shock and Awe" war's strategy, whereby the army launch up to 800 cruise missiles in two days - more than all launched in the forty days of the first Gulf War. In Gulf War II the panic and pain of civil people will be freeze in their carbonized bodies releasing a new creep chapter in the statuary human history. < /comment >
more @ Digital Journalist.
post by vasco on 3:56 PM
Melbourne's University
Refuses Scan Attack
from Recording Companies
The University of Melbourne refused to grant record companies access to students' email accounts after claims music was illegally downloaded over the internet, a court heard yesterday. The recording industry has launched its most aggressive offensive yet against illegal music swapping over the internet. Record labels in the United States and Europe have warned the world's top 1000 companies they must stop illegal music swapping on their networks or face legal action. Sony, EMI and Universal attempted to get an interlocutory order in the Federal Court in Sydney to force the University of Melbourne to grant them access to the email accounts. The interlocutory order application also originally applied to the University of Sydney and the University of Tasmania, but both have since agreed to preserve the computer data until a judge decides whether the universities should grant the record companies access.
Recording companies have asked the Federal Court to allow their computer experts to scan all computers at the University of Melbourne for sound files and email accounts, so they can gather evidence of claimed widespread breaches of copyright. In Sydney yesterday, the companies - Festival, Sony and EMI - reached agreement with the University of Sydney and the University of Tasmania to preserve the files as evidence. The universities have not agreed to hand over the information..Counsel for the companies, Mr Tony Bannon SC, said industry studies of piracy had found public institutions such as universities and libraries were the biggest repositories of unlawful sound recordings. In the Federal Court in Sydney today, record companies will try to seize evidence of song swapping by students using the computer networks of the universities of Sydney, Melbourne and Tasmania. The industry has claimed unauthorised music swapping has contributed to an 8.9 per cent fall in music sales in the past year.
read more @ SMH: "University refuses to give record companies access to student email", Recording firms ask to scan university computers", "It's war on a generation of cyber pirates".
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post by vasco on 5:27 AM
Wednesday, February 19, 2003
8 mb Credit Card Numbers
Exposed in the Biggest
Security's System Break
A third-party processor of Visa and MasterCard credit card accounts was invaded by network vandals, but Visa and MasterCard executives say that none of the credit information was used for fraudulent purposes. In any event, no customer will be liable for any charges that might fraudulently be made to their accounts. A statement from Visa says that its fraud team "immediately notified all affected card-issuing financial institutions and is working with the third-party payment card processor to protect against the threat of a future intrusion. This is not something regional, it was throughout the nation and could be any bank."
In what is believed to be the biggest credit card hacking incident so far, Omaha-based Data Processors International, which processes transactions involving Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover Financial Services for merchants, said in a statement that it had "recently experienced a system intrusion by an unauthorized outside party." "We are aware of the matter and looking into it," said FBI spokesman Paul Bresson, who said he could not comment further on the pending investigation. A MasterCard spokeswoman put the total number of credit cards exposed at around 8 million. "There is an epidemic of credit card thefts from banks and e-commerce companies," said Alan Paller, research director at the Bethesda, Maryland-based System Administration, Networking and Security Institute. Paller and David Robertson, publisher of The Nilson Report, a credit card industry trade journal in Oxnard, California, said they believed the case was the biggest theft of credit card numbers in history. There are more than one billion Visa-marked bank cards in circulation around the globe. MasterCard has some 1.7 billion cards in worldwide circulation.
read more @ Cnet News, Reuters and SMH.
Received from NewScan Daily newslist. NewsScan Daily (FREE), a lively summary of information technology news. To subscribe, send email to NewsScan@NewsScan.com and in the subject line type "subscribe". Copyright 2003. NewsScan Daily (R) is a publication of NewsScan Inc.
post by vasco on 5:14 PM
Tuesday, February 18, 2003
Mobs Wireless Cloud
Broke US Iron Curtain News
on New York Peace March
Technologies of the New York march
By Dave Burstein
Three technologies played a crucial role Saturday.
* I was surprised old-fashioned radios were everywhere, some small transistor models and some boom boxes. The police contained most of the demonstrators, myself included, up to a mile away from the speakers, without any way to hear the event. WBAI-FM, New York's community radiostation, suspended all other programming and carried the event live. That proved to be the only way most could hear.
* The web was crucial for the organizers of the march. I remember traveling 20 hours in crowded car to get together to organize an event years ago; many political people I know now do most work by e-mail.
* Wireless phones coordinated the field people trying to keep the demoin some order, despite twice the expected attendance and police regulations that were very counterproductive, creating a false security. Howard Rheingold in Smart Mobs tells remarkable stories of how the anti-Estrada movement in the Philippines was pulled together by cellphone text messages.
Resurgent community radio brings the issues of "media concentration" at the FCC into sharp relief. While WBAI reported from the left, Rupert Murdoch's New York Post had a front cover with doctored photos of the French and German U.N. ambassadors with a weasel replacing their heads. I hope that even many of those who believe that war opponents are weasels can agree with me that a country is better off with media that covers both opinions. Concentration in an industry like vitamins of telephony leads to higher prices; in broadcasting, the stakes are whether our democracy hears diverse opinions.
These freedom of speech issues carry over and may become the next battleground over the fast internet. The technology is ready to deliver the third internet, fast enough to watch. But it looks like most homes will only have a choice of two providers, one cable and one telco. They have a financial interest - and active plans - to restrict your reliable internet connection to less than the meg or so required for TV quality video. (That includes those advertising 1.5 meg but designing a network that makes that false advertising much of the time.) Instead, SBC, Comcast, Nortel, and Cisco talk at industry events about revenues they expect to gather from "content delivery" - a toll on the internet that will effectively limit choice.
With four comments on the march already posted, I would have saved that thought for another time. But your last posting - "they proceeded to attack and destroy the Starbucks" - was very different from the crowds I spent several hours among. All I saw were peaceful marchers, singing and chanting slogans. With probably 200,000 people, many of them young and desperate to stop a war, I'm not surprised some broke windows and signs. But people like that were perhaps one in a thousand.
(Bruce Sterling Comment) *Interesting "tactical media" NYC angle here. *I wonder how long it will take before people begin routinely referring to the USA as an Iron Curtain country with state-restricted official news agencies. (/comment)
Forwarded by Bruce Sterling.
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post by vasco on 6:11 PM
Voice over IP
Under Attack Again
in the United States
By Jeff Pulver
Back in November the IP Communications Industry had issues with the way the NANPA - North American Numbering Plan Administration -, was approaching VoIP. While the folks at NANPA are still working on their approach to VoIP, those of us who are living in the United States who care about IP Communications now have a much more immediate problem, the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, NARUC, and their 2003 Winter Meetings taking place Feb 22-26. NARUC already has a strong anti-VOIP resolution set to go through their voting process next Sunday. I've posted a draft copy that I've recently received as word document. If the NARUC resolution gets passed it will create unnecessary taxes and crippling administrative burden on the Internet and in fact would mark a real dark day for IP Communications in the United States. Together we need to counter lobbyist scaremongering by explaining to state commissioners that internet connections must not be burdened with crippling administration.
The commissioners are worried that an explosion of internet calls could threaten the Universal Service Fund. The reality is that it will be many years before the volume of calls diverted is enough to affect service funds, giving plenty of time to find a well-thought out response. The move for immediate action is an attempt by some to stifle future internet choices hidden in some legitimate concerns. People can find your State Commissioners email at NARUC. I'm hoping to encorage people to use their own words and to send email to their respective State Commissioners. I've posted a sample letter. People can freely take from my draft letter, although people should use their your own words and mentioning the state they live in will be even more effective. State commissioners play an important role, but few beyond the professional lobbyists contact them on issues. Even a few emails have the potential to sway them on an issue. I'm am hoping that people take the time to reach out to their respective State Commissioners this week and have their voices heard. Together I know we can make a difference. :-)
< Declan Mccullagh coment > If I understand Jeff's message, here we see yet another example of two technologies being subject to different regulations, creating a competitive advantage for one and an unstable situation in general. The solution is to equalize the amount of regulation (or, in this case, someting akin to taxation). But since eliminating a regulatory regime would mean cutting off "free" money flowing to schools and libraries -- not exactly politically palatable -- we're seeing Internert telephony targeted instead with more regulation/taxation. Think of it as a full employment guarantee for everyone at the FCC for the foreseeable future.< /comment >
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post by vasco on 4:40 PM
Finnish Parliament Revised
Censorship Law: Freedom
for Chat and Newsgroups
EFFI: Finland Rewrote the US Internet Censorship Law but Proposes Editorial Culpability for Web Content
Electronic Frontier Finland - EFFI, Press release, Helsinki 16 February 2003
The Finnish parliament has substantially revised a controversial law proposal on restrictions to the freedom of speech. Initially the proposal was seen as a threat to the free communications in the Internet. It was feared any publisher or service provider would have had to log practically all Internet traffic, archive all publications for up to three months and even monitor discussion groups. Electronic Frontier Finland has been the leading critic of the law proposal for more than a year. Kai Puolamäki, an EFFI board member, was invited to present EFFI's critique at the parliament's hearing session. "There were a number of serious problems in the government's proposal", Puolamäki notes and continues: "Luckily, the parliament heard us and took our comments into account. Now the result is a better law. There is no doubt on it - we can make a difference."
Freedom of speech instead of restrictions is now expressly the starting point. The scope of retention is more narrow. Archivation time is significantly reduced to three weeks. Any communication not edited by service provider or website owner is not governed by the law - this means chat rooms and newsgroups are saved. Finally, the logging of Internet traffic data is no longer required. So privacy is saved, too. EFFI's chairman Mikko Välimäki is pleased. "This is a second huge victory for us in a short time. Just two weeks ago we persuaded the parliament to return the local EU copyright directive implementation for redrafting. Now they rewrote the law on free speech on the Internet quite in line with our arguments," he concludes. In the final stages EFFI received strong company backup for their effort. Among others, the International Chamber of Commerce joined the critics with a public notice. Also the media support was important. Within the last few months, the law proposal was covered a couple of times in the leading Finnish TV channels and newspapers.
Electronic Frontier Finland - EFFI ry was founded in 2001 to defend active users and citizens of the Finnish society in the electronic frontier. EFFI influences legislative proposals concerning e.g. personal privacy, freedom of speech and fair use in copyright law. We make statements, press releases and participate actively in actual public policy and legal discussions. EFFI has been featured in the national media including TV, radio and leading newspapers. EFFI also works in close cooperation with organizations sharing the same goals and values in the Europe, United States and elsewhere. EFFI is a founding member of the European Digital Rights and a member of Global Internet Liberty Campaign. More information from EFFI's home pages.
more @ EFFI press release.
read also: International Chamber of Commerce "Finnish companies oppose law to censor Internet"; Slashdot "Finland Proposes Editorial Culpability for Web Content"; EFFI's pages on the law proposal.
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post by vasco on 10:57 AM
Monday, February 17, 2003
Police on Horseback Charged
and Beat up Demonstrators
in New York City Protest
By Ronda Hauben
Here is an article I wrote for Telepolis about yesterday's demonstration in New York City. The sentiment of people supporting each other around the world for increased communication and collaboration rather than war and violence is one of the promises that the Internet and the Netizens represent for the world. The article is also available in German.
Denial of Rights of Protestors at Saturday's NYC Demonstration
Massive Anti-War Protest in New York City Demonstrates the U.S. Government's Hostility to Democracy At Home and Abroad. There were marches in cities around the world on Saturday, February 15, 2003. Not, however, in New York City. Protesters were not only denied the right to march, but massive numbers of people were also denied the right to be part of the rally. Police on horseback charged protesters and beat up demonstrators, preventing them from joining officially approved rally on First Avenue. Yet estimates are that 1million people were in New York City on Saturday to protest the U.S. government making war against Iraq.
"New York City politicians didn't want us here," commented one protester. "They tried every single roadblock. We didn't let them win. We are here." Another protester explained, "Just think, people all over the world are doing it. It's the only way to survive. Everybody came for the same reason, No War." Responding to the fabrication of a terrorist alert called "code orange" used by city and federal government officials to deny protesters the right to march on Saturday, a student from Cornell University said: "The city did a lousy job. They give a permit to rally but then they don't let people get there. The fact they didn't give the permit to march is outrageous. The whole code orange is crap." The U.S. federal government had sent representatives to join the New York City government to ensure that an appeals court judge would back the city's refusal to allow a protest march. The claim was, however, that the protesters would be allowed to have a rally. As it turned out, the police denied a great number of protesters the right to join the rally on First Avenue.
It was a cold day (-5 C) in New York City on Saturday. People came to protest the U.S. government plan to make war in Iraq. They came by trainloads and busloads from other cities. They came from all over New York by subway, bus, and on bicycle. There were young and old, students and retirees, labor unions and churches, represented. The city had granted a permit for the demonstrators to rally on First Avenue several blocks North of the United Nations and further uptown. The rally of people stretched from 51st Street to 84th Street on First Avenue, according to reports. But people were enclosed in metal barricades street by street, with police limiting and in many cases denying people the right to walk on the sidewalks or on the cross streets to get to First Avenue. There were numerous reports that protesters were injured and arrested by police blocking their right to join the demonstration. Many people tried to get to First Avenue, but were prevented by the police. Demonstrators who couldn't get to First Avenue because of police blockades, filled 2nd Avenue, 3rd Avenue, and there were also protesters on the next block, Lexington Avenue. On these streets, protesters reported police on horseback beating up people and charging people. Local television coverage later in the day showed protesters being charged by police on horseback and being beaten by police.
On First Avenue there were protesters as far as the eye could see. But even on First Avenue, the police blockaded protesters on each block keeping them barricaded from other protesters on the next block. Those who wanted to leave the blockaded areas were often told by police to go to one street corner, and then the police at that street corner would not let them go anywhere, but back to where they had come from. The constitutional right of people to express their opposition to unpopular government activity is seriously damaged when such tactics are used by the police. Despite all this, there were great numbers of people protesting in New York City. There were many, many homemade signs expressing the disgust of people with the bullying and warmongering activities of the U.S. government. Just a few of the slogans on the many homemade signs included: "Thank you Belgium, Germany, France et al.", "Stop Mad Cowboy Disease", "Listen to the People", "Bush the Terrible", "Danke Schon Deutschland, Solidaritat","He's Not My President", "Drop Bush Not Bombs", "Democracies Don't Start Wars, We End Them", "This War is 100% Bush Shit", "Communication not Annihilation: No War Against Iraq, Netizens Unite", "U.S.A. Says No to War Against Iraq","Another Mathematician Against the war", and "I Want My Democracy Now." A young child being carried on his father's shoulders wore a sign "Dodge the Draft." Demonstrators who had traveled from the state of Vermont who were asked their comments for an article in Telepolis, answered, "We appreciate German attitudes. We represent the majority opinion in our state. They accuse us of being the most liberal state. That's why we are here." Another protester responded, "I would like to thank Germany for taking a courageous stand against my asinine government."
At 68th street and First Avenue, there was a confrontation between demonstrators and police. From 68th Street up First Avenue, there were demonstrators wanting to fill in the ranks of demonstrators below 68th
Street. Police, however, blockaded the demonstrators and wouldn't let them pass from 68th Street. Demonstrators on one side of 68th Street were effectively blockaded from demonstrators on the other side of the Street. "Let them through, let them through," demonstrators on the South side of 68th Street yelled. The police would let a few people through and people would clap. But then the blockade would be set up again by the police. Only at the end of the demonstration, around 4 pm, did the police finally allow the demonstrators North of 68th Street to join those South of 68th Street. The speakers for the rally included an U.S. Army National Guard reservist whose unit had been told it was only a matter of time before it would be sent to Iraq. There was a Palestinian woman and a Israeli refusnik officer. There were poets and elected officials. There were clergy of many denominations. There were calls for peace in many languages, including Arabic and Hebrew. There was a dissident who had fled Iraq in the 1980s explaining how it is not possible to bring democracy to the people of Iraq by bombing them. One of the speakers on the platform said, "The world's worse leaders have the world's worst weapons."
A German student from Ithaca, N.Y. expressed his surprise at the experience he had at the demonstration. "It is different here than how they handle it in Europe," he commented, describing how the police denied protesters the right to walk to the demonstration. "We walked from 59th and Lexington, a crowd of people moving, but the police were channeling them. "Eventually he said it wasn't possible to get any further. The people couldn't go on the sidewalks. "I never saw this before." His German wife added that, "For the first time in 50 years we are proud of our home country and Europe." An American demonstrator noted that, "the New York City radio stations weren't covering the rally, except for WBAI, the one anti-war radio station." She commented, however, "This was the first time I feel connected to the rest of the globe." The assault on the rights of citizens demonstrated by the treatment of protesters on Saturday in New York City demonstrates the lack of respect for democratic rights by both the Bush administration and the New York City government. There are those who wonder if the plan of the Bush administration to attack Iraq is also a pretext being used to take away the constitutional rights of those in the U.S.
While the American people are faced with an electoral system that only allows what many feel is two parts of the same party to participate, there is a long history of protest in the U.S. Often this protest has been waged against vicious repression. But the activities of the U.S. government within the U.S. demonstrate that there is very little popular support for the policies of the government. It is only by waging a campaign to spread fear and terror within the U.S. that the Bush administration, with the support of many from both parties in Congress, can carry out their assault on other countries and people around the world. The anti-war movement within the U.S. needs support from peace loving people around the world to effectively stem the tide toward fascism of the U.S. government. The marches and rallies around the world on February 15 have demonstrated there is such support. People who were doing what they could to protest Bush's policies' in New York City on Saturday, were encouraged by the massive protests of people around the world.
Published @ Telepolis.
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post by vasco on 1:59 AM