I interviewed Steve Gordon for <a href="http://Pitchforkmedia.com">Pitchforkmedia.com</a> about the R.I.A.A. but he comments on various subjects and was recently received a Fulbright scholarship. I found he and his colleagues at Digital Music News a pretty nuanced group. The interview can be found here: <a href="http://pitchforkmedia.com/features/weekly/06-04-03-live-at-the-witch-trials.shtml">http://pitchforkmedia.com/features/weekly/06-04-03-live-at-the-witch-trials.shtml </a> Brace yourself: it's 4,300 words! Cheers, J T. <div>On 5/9/06, Tayssir John Gabbour <<a href="mailto:tjg@pentaside.org">tjg@pentaside.org </a>> wrote:<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">kevin island wrote: > Could anyone point me to tech writers who eschew the usual libertarian > biases? I'm especially interested in people commenting on net > neutrality and the wider availability of broadband access. > (Vint Cerf and Tim Berners-Lee expressed sympathy with net > neutrality, but they seem to issue their views from a fairly > lofty plane: <a href="http://dig.csail.mit.edu/breadcrumbs/node/132.">http://dig.csail.mit.edu/breadcrumbs/node/132.</a>) I'm sure you know these guys, but just in case... Richard Stallman has impeccable tech credentials. He founded the successful Gnu, which uses direct action for various tech issues. He's essentially a left-liberal in US terms. <a href="http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=9350">http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=9350 </a> <a href="http://www.stallman.org/rss/rss.xml">http://www.stallman.org/rss/rss.xml</a> <a href="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/">http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/</a> Larry Lessig is a Stanford law prof (lawyer-producing lawyer), very qualified. <a href="http://www.lessig.org/">http://www.lessig.org/</a> <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/LessigAtSwarthmore">http://www.archive.org/details/LessigAtSwarthmore</a> Bob McChesney is the best historian of US media I know. His radio show has interesting guests who occasionally discuss net neutrality. However, he's not really about tech, but rather the wider context of media... really points out how media filters work, what biases the "unbiased" press hold, etc. <a href="http://www.will.uiuc.edu/am/mediamatters/">http://www.will.uiuc.edu/am/mediamatters/</a> <a href="http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/2427/">http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/2427/ </a> Incidentally, if you want to read Bernays' _Propaganda_, I hear it might be available from a bittorrent site... if it's legal in your nation. Comes to mind because McChesney spoke of the ability for politicians to censor things by simply not talking about them, which Bernays covers. <a href="http://www.pentaside.org/article/propaganda-bernays-1928.html">http://www.pentaside.org/article/propaganda-bernays-1928.html</a> Slashdot is pretty much the hub of serious tech journalism. People love deriding it, but whatever. <a href="http://slashdot.org/">http://slashdot.org/</a> Tayssir > > People who affect a "from the trenches" voice often express alarm when > the idea of enforcing net neutrality comes up. Here's a good example of > the kind of thing I often find: > > <a href="http://www.telepocalypse.net/archives/000822.html">http://www.telepocalypse.net/archives/000822.html </a> > > and > > <a href="http://scrawford.blogware.com/blog/_archives/2005/11/11/1381605.html">http://scrawford.blogware.com/blog/_archives/2005/11/11/1381605.html</a> > > > An excerpt: > "I am as committed to the ideal of the open internet as the next guy, > and my dream is to have OneWebDay support that goal.  But the mischief > that can be done to our future (in so many unexpected ways) by insisting > on statutory and regulatory definition of neutrality seems to outweigh > the possible benefits of this path.  There is so much nonsense, so much > horse-trading, between where we stand now and the glorious goal of > neutrality.  The sad fact is that Americans don't mind vertical > integration one bit, and the duopolists know that.  Not only that, but > price discrimination in a competitive market is actually a good thing. > Now all we need is a competitive market. > I'd rather see a future that doesn't depend on a "third pipe" but that > includes broadband internet access that is neither cable nor DSL.  I can > imagine a network owned by its users, or by a cooperative, or subsidized > by a large company that has no interest in controlling use of the > network.  Our devices will be doing most of the computation, so there > will be no way to tell the difference between devices and routing. > We'll have network-aware applications, too. > This admittedly techno-determinist view fits with how the internet was > supposed to work.  Routing is not supposed to be centrally determined, > and the idea of mesh networks pushes this even more to the edge -- > individual devices will make decisions about routing.  As long as we > don't make this kind of broadband provision illegal (even by accident, > by some casual legislative drafting), it will likely emerge in time." > > > Many tech-oriented people seem to think that a regulatory or political > solution will have the unintended (and tragic) consequence of squelching > the emergence of the ultimate (and superior) technological solution. I > have my doubts. Even if we accept that people should be free to vote > with their feet, who is to say they will have anywhere to walk to? > > Will a "third pipe" (say, broadband wireless in addition to cable and > DSL) make a big difference? I'm interested in the potential for > community or municipal broadband; however, large incumbent service > providers have been lobbying against these efforts. > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Yahoo! Messenger with Voice. > <<a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/mail_us/taglines/postman3/*http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=39666/*http://messenger.yahoo.com"> http://us.rd.yahoo.com/mail_us/taglines/postman3/*http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=39666/*http://messenger.yahoo.com</a>> > PC-to-Phone calls for ridiculously low rates. > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > ___________________________________ > <a href="http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk">http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk</a> ___________________________________ <a href="http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk">http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk</a> </blockquote></div> -- J T. Ramsay 1626 S. 2nd St. #2 Philadelphia, PA 19148 cell: 267 252 0852 <a href="http://blackmailismylife.com/blog">blackmailismylife.com/blog</a> [NEW!]