"Rapid diffusion of Internet technology raises questions whether the Internet might help overcome barriers to democratic participation in international organizations. Important insights about these issues can be gained from a recently created organization: the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). This paper recounts the recent history of the grassroots user movement to promote democracy in ICANN and identifies lessons for social movements use of the Internet."

Hans Klein's Papers

"A series of commentaries on the ICANN and Internet governance."

Hans Klein (@gatech.edu) is publishing a series of critical articles on DNS governance.

Klein seems to suggest that ICANN offers lessons about citizens using the Internet for all kinds of democractic participation in the future.

The Cyber-Federalist :: Hans Klein

"Tens of thousands of anti-war protesters circled the White House on Saturday after Jesse Jackson and other speakers denounced the Bush administration's Iraq policies and demanded a revolt at the ballot box to promote peace."

Large anti-war protests this weekend.

Marchers in Washington, elsewhere protest plans for war against Iraq

"The maker of an implantable human ID chip has launched a national campaign to promote the device, offering $50 discounts to the first 100,000 people who register to get embedded with the microchip. "

An orwellian nightmare that fits in the palm of your hand. No, I mean *IN* the palm of your hand.

Wired News: Implantable Chip, On Sale Now

"The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, passed in 1996, makes it a crime to provide "material support" to any group designated as "terrorist" without regard to whether the support was actually intended to further terrorist activity."

Fight Terrorism Fairly

"Across London, these posters can be seen telling us all that we are 'Secure beneath The Watchful Eyes' of the Metropolitan Police."

English tube posters promote police surveillance. This is hillarious. I really want one of these posters. They are likely real, but no one seems sure that they are official. I imagine that it will be covered in the English press before too long. There is also a really good link here to one of those really poorly designed US military branch seals. This one has the illuminati pyramid looking down on the planet. I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Samizdata.net - Big Brother is watching: Not in 1984 but in 2002

"There are a number of words and phrases which we recommend avoiding, or avoiding in certain contexts and usages. The reason is either that they are ambiguous, or that they imply an opinion that we hope you may not entirely agree with. "

The jargon of copyright. There are some very interesting observations in here about the BSD license, intellectual property, etc... Some counter jargon is offered. I don't like a lot of it. People say "Open Source" because they don't want to imply "Free as in Beer." There needs to be a word that means "you can do whatever you want with the code" that doesn't also mean "we're giving the code away for free." There needs to be a word that encompases Copyrights and patents without implying property. There needs to be a word that replaces "theft" and "piracy" when discussing the unauthorized use of copyrights and patents. (I fear even saying "unauthorized use." We need more words...)

Confusing Words and Phrases that are Worth Avoiding - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation (FSF)

I have an answer: movie buffs. "

Thank you Captain Obvious. Why the hell is it that Kevin Kelly gets published in the New York Times for pointing out something so plain that one wonders what Mr. Valenti was thinking when he said it. Is it because he is rich and famous, or is it simply because he bothered to write them? I think its the former more then that later.

I might ask Mr. Valenti if he owns a fork. And if so, if the company that made his fork has a patent on forks, and if not, why said company went to the expense of producing and distributing forks without having a patent to prevent competition.

Making My Own Music

"An attack on the software license behind the Linux operating system has stirred up a free software controversy in Washington."

This is getting a lot of coverage and I want to comment on it.

1. This is the right letter for the wrong reasons. The goverment SHOULDN'T release GPLed code. GPL is not public domain. BSD is public domain. GPL forces you to distribute your source code if you develop tools on top of GPLed code. Many organizations cannot distribute source code because they are trying to protect trade secrets. The BSD license makes code available for use by the broadest set of interests, with both open and closed source models. The government shouldn't be imposing a particular perspective on how software is supposed to work, especially when the matter is far from closed in the private sector. We can revisit this in the future if most organizations are releasing GPLed code.

2. "Why don't we also reject any software patents and copyrights that could discourage the adoption and use of software developed under federal funds?" Spafford asked. What is important is what is not being said. Federal funds should not be used to develop technology which is not placed in the public domain. This is just as important on the copyright side as it is on the copyleft side.

A more balanced statement about the need for government research to be placed in the public domain would have been much more effective. Its unlikely that Smith's constituency was not influential in the nature of this statement. Furthermore, a lot of the funding for major GPLed projects comes from the federal government, so attacking this funding serves an obvious interest. As a result the general outrage about the letter is not misplaced. However, I agree. Government research should not be GPLed.

Wired News: Letter: Free Software Hurts U.S.

"Why is the Internet supported by only 13 root-server arrays? Are there no other data centers on the planet qualified to support top-level domain service? Is there no better architecture than a root arrangement? Most importantly, why is ICANN in charge of the Internet, and to whom is it accountable? "

Getting political on the recent attacks.

Perspective: Waiting for the Net meltdown - Tech News - CNET.com