There are interesting dynamics to the financial and technological scenes that suggest broadband access may arrive sooner than generally expected. It may also arrive through unexpected channels. On the other hand, fiber-to-the-home, widely regarded as the Holy Grail of residential broadband, might never become widespread. In any case, there is likely to be considerable turmoil in the telecom industry over the next few years. Robust growth in demand is likely to be combined with a restructuring of the industry.

This paper also appears in the September 2003 issue of First Monday. You'll want to print it to read it, so I've linked directly to the PDF version.

The Many Paradoxes of Broadband | Andrew Odlyzko [PDF]

What if you could file-share someone's consciousness? Would it be a violation, or the ultimate communication therapy?

Obviously the sort of thing that ought to be recommended frequently on MemeStreams. Can you really spend reputation...

Salon.com | Truncat by Cory Doctorow

Elonka wrote:
] As I dug through the files, I found a lot of the usual stuff:
] price lists, articles, pictures, exhibition catalogs and
] whatnot, but then ran across something that I *wasn't*
] expecting to see: A classified KGB document!

Wow!

RE: KGB Document in the Sanborn Files

More recommendations from friends in Atlanta. The best explanation that I can offer for this is that its "light" industrial music, if you can imagine such a thing. Like Front 242, but more human. Two thumbs up.

Fischerspooner

] Late this year the company plans to begin auctioning the
] best seats to concerts through ticketmaster.com.
]
] With no official price ceiling on such tickets,
] Ticketmaster will be able to compete with brokers and
] scalpers for the highest price a market will bear.
]
] "The tickets are worth what they're worth," said John
] Pleasants, Ticketmaster's president and chief executive.
] "If somebody wants to charge $50 for a ticket, but it's
] actually worth $1,000 on eBay, the ticket's worth
] $1,000."

Ticketmaster Auction Will Let Highest Bidder Set Concert Prices

] More stringent security measures. Universal electronic
] Surveillance. No-Knock Laws. Stop and frisk laws.
] Government inspection of first-class mail. Automatic
] fingerprinting, photographing, blood tests and urinalysis
] of any person arrested before he is charged with a crime.
] A law making it unlawful to resist even unlawful arrest.
] Laws establishing detention camps for potential
] subversives. Gun control laws. Restrictions on travel.

In 1975 RAW predicted the last two years. This man must be put in office.

Robert Anton Wilson on Terrorism

] Robert Anton Wilson is running for Governor of the
] Republic of California as the unofficial write-in candidate
] for the Guns and Dope Party.

OMFG! I shouldn't have changed my residency. I so want to vote in this thing!

Robert Anton Wilson For Governor

] The denizens of Open Cultures want their connected
] collectivism to liberate the world from regulations,
] markets, and intellectual property. But what if victory
] only clears the way for corruption of their beloved
] culture? When I listen to Ceca, I have to wonder what
] dark passions and ancient evils have been held in check
] by the grim totalitarianism of the profit motive. We may
] yet find out.

This is thought provoking, although he is comparing apples and oranges...

Freedom's Dark Side

] NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) - Washington authorities are
] investigating a teenager suspected of making a copycat
] variant of the devastating Blaster Internet worm and his
] arrest is pending, law enforcement sources said on
] Friday.

I've edited this post about 1000 times trying to get the facts straight here.

The FBI's big news is that they caught some kid who renamed msblast.exe to an "anatomical reference" and rereleased it, infecting 7,000 computers...

There are various people calling for the FBI to nail this kid's ass to the wall. It pisses me off. This kid did not write the worm caused so much trouble, he released a simple variant. He is not a real threat, as far as I've been able to tell. Those 7000 machines would have gotten the other variant anyway.

Burning him at the stake accomplishes only one thing; it sends a clear message to the real worm authors that they can do these things and someone else will take the fall for them.

Slap this kid on the wrist and go find the real criminals.

This afternoon's idiotic FBI adventure.

John Ashcroft's Patriot Act Summer Tour

Summer Tour 8/27/03