Day: January 12, 2012

DD.tumblr: Whoopee, somebody emptied our bank account today

DD.tumblr, Whoopee, somebody emptied our bank account today:

The bank will cover this expense when its fraud department has digested all the details. But meanwhile, the household is skint. So: if you feel inclined to spit in the eye of the nameless rogue(s) who’ve briefly ruined the domestic tranquility around here, I invite you you to go over to the Ebooks Direct store and buy something using the discount code DDGOTSKIMMED, which will give you 20% off whatever you buy. If you feel inclined to reblog or (if you saw this on Twitter) RT this, it’d be appreciated.
(mutter) Miscreants.

[So go over there and buy a few things, and spread the word, put the auspicious back in someone’s 2012.]

SOPA related: Excessive Force Is Dangerous — To View on YouTube

Excessive Force Is Dangerous — To View on YouTube:

So, how is this relevant today? Well, a link on Reddit led me to a disturbing but entirely consistent-with-this trend discovery: Google’s Transparency Report, in which Google describes the number and type of take-down demands it receives. Did you think that the New Professionals would be content arresting photographers in the street? Hell, no. If we’ve gone digital, so have they. And they know how to work the system. Google reports:

We received a request from a local law enforcement agency to remove YouTube videos of police brutality, which we did not remove. Separately, we received requests from a different local law enforcement agency for removal of videos allegedly defaming law enforcement officials. We did not comply with those requests, which we have categorized in this Report as defamation requests.

Click that link and see the statistics for various six-month periods. Note that Google records not just take-down demands (including categories for executive and police demands premised on “national security” and “criticism,” among others), but demands for user identifying information. Police would never abuse the system by demanding the identity of photographers who posted videos documenting their conduct, would they? Heaven forfend.

So: bear in mind, when you consider measures like SOPA, that giving the government increased power over internet posts and increased ability to seek out user information may not just impact talking about music and movies — it might impact our ability to talk about, and document, police misconduct. Think the police would never seek to abuse such power? Then you’re a damned fool.

[This will get worse before it gets better.]

Insane Entitlement: EMI Sues Irish Gov’t For Not Passing SOPA-Like Censorship Law

Insane Entitlement: EMI Sues Irish Gov’t For Not Passing SOPA-Like Censorship Law:

The sense of entitlement exhibited by the legacy players in the entertainment industry is now reaching positively insane levels — highlighted by the news that major record label EMI (in the process of being acquired by Universal Music to make it the largest record label by far) is suing the Irish government because it feels the Irish government is taking too long to pass a SOPA-like law that would require ISPs to censor the internet and block access to sites it doesn’t like. I’m not kidding. Apparently, because the legislative process is too slow, it feels the need to sue.

[Yuck.]

Source: Techdirt

It takes a toll

Fever Dream of a Guilt-Ridden Gadget Reporter:

There is a hole in my heart dug deep by advertising and envy and a desire to see a thing that is new and different and beautiful. A place within me that is empty, and that I want to fill it up. The hole makes me think electronics can help. And of course, they can.

They make the world easier and more enjoyable. They boost productivity and provide entertainment and information and sometimes even status. At least for a while. At least until they are obsolete. At least until they are garbage.

Electronics are our talismans that ward off the spiritual vacuum of modernity; gilt in Gorilla Glass and cadmium. And in them we find entertainment in lieu of happiness, and exchanges in lieu of actual connections.

And, oh, I am guilty. I am guilty. I am guilty.

Teaching is actually kind of hard

Teaching is actually kind of hard:

Teaching, as “soft” as skill as it may be, is really hard to do well. You have to manage, lead, inspire, guide, correct, encourage, praise….all of it. The only people who think that’s easy are the ones that suck at it. I’ve taught before, I know how hard it is to do well. I like CodeYear’s enthusiasm, I think their hearts are in the right places, but heart and enthusiasm are only inspiration. You still have to do more than dump information on people and assume they’ll get it.

[I teach all the time. It’s awesome, but it’s not easy. it’s why the whole situation in our schools is so heartbreaking. Bad teachers slide by, good teachers are not properly rewarded… feh.]

Source: bynkii.com

Antitrust+

Antitrust+:

Count me in with MG here. This seems like classic antitrust behavior: using a legal monopoly in one market (web search) to gain a competitive advantage in a different market (social networking) through bundling. The idea from the outset was to frame “Google+” as an extension of Google, not something new. Hence the name.

It also occurs to me that there’s no company in tech with as many enemies as Google. Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter — Google has taken the fight to all of them. In this sense they’re like Microsoft 15 years ago.

[And again, the web needs an honest broker in the search space. Only this time it should be distributed mesh of engines.]

Source: Daring Fireball