Author: john

More on University Networks

It looks as though the new FCC rules on wiretaps are being primarily fought by Universities (Colleges Protest Call to Upgrade Online Systems). At issue is the fact that Internet hardware must be upgraded at great cost to allow for authorities to monitor the traffic of those who are under subpoena. While it looks like the Universities are not overly concerned with civil liberties violations (they contend the cost is unjustified, since the existing system of monitoring works adequately), but perhaps there is some element to be concerned about. The Times reports:

…the federal law would apply a high-tech approach, enabling law enforcement to monitor communications at campuses from remote locations at the turn of a switch. It would require universities to re-engineer their networks so that every Net access point would send all communications not directly onto the Internet, but first to a network operations center where the data packets could be stitched together into a single package for delivery to law enforcement, university officials said.

This has the potential to undermine one of, what I believe to be, the greatest characteristics of the Internet: end to end architecture. By placing a machine between the user and the Internet, the free and open nature of the net could be put at risk. Even with the barrier of a judge/subpoena in the way of the “switch,” there is little telling what is stopping the operations center from becoming a communist-style firewall. Even if this possibility is a gross exaggeration, I would argue that any move away from content-neutral packet routing is out of sync with the spirit of the network.

G-Men in the Ivory Tower

Thanks to the British news media (with a little help from the Google desktop news ticker), I learned of a meeting between the FBI and higher-ed representatives to exchange “advice on the culture of higher education.” Included in the talks, and quoted in the article below was UW-Madison’s own chancellor Wiley.

At the moment, local and student media don’t appear to be interested. I’m not quite sure what to make of it either.

FBI Works on Its Image on College Campuses (Guardian Unlimited)

Flockin browser

I just received access to try out a new web browser called “Flock.” While it’s built on Firefox (my browser of choice), it is enhanced by a number of “social” features such as blogging, photo and bookmark sharing. Being on a social-networking kick lately, I’m glad that I’ll get the chance to check it out.
So far, it’s crashed whenever I’ve tried to post to my blog. In its defense, it is only on version 0.5 🙂

The copyright commons

I was contemplating the nature of copyright as a commons today (not that I’m the first), and it occurred to me that it might make more sense to think of copyright as a technology policy. This may make it possible to equate it to other cases of information/transportation commons structures. If copyright is thought of this way, perhaps we can re-think how our we might transform the subsidizing of creative work. Taxing the gas that goes into cars (and the cars themselves) might be equated to mandatory licensing or taxes on blank media. Users and creators both benefit from this commons, and questions of lost revenue and easy/cheap access to entertainment media might be answered if we think of how information can be best fit to our media landscape. Technological locks are a possible way to enforce the law, but this idea seems eerily like putting speed regulators on our cars. We could try to change the norms of copying, so that the law is more respected, but this could be nearly unworkable given current technology and copying habits. My first thought is that this leaves only the tax option. It’s not one that anyone would like, but at least it’s a compromise. This issue certainly deserves some creative thinking.