Op-Ed Columnist – A Word From the Wise – NYTimes.com
This opinion piece by Thomas Friedman is a few days old, but it hits right on a topic that I’ve thought about quite a bit lately. He quotes the Chief Executive of Intel.
Otellini noted that a 2009 study done by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation and cited recently in Democracy Journal “ranked the U.S. sixth among the top 40 industrialized nations in innovative competitiveness — not great, but not bad. Yet that same study also measured what they call ‘the rate of change in innovation capacity’ over the last decade — in effect, how much countries were doing to make themselves more innovative for the future. The study relied on 16 different metrics of human capital — I.T. infrastructure, economic performance and so on. On this scale, the U.S. ranked dead last out of the same 40 nations. … When you take a hard look at the things that make any country competitive. … we are slipping.”
We live pretty comfortably here in the States. I would argue that much of that comfort is built on an investment in a number of commons networks like the interstate, postal service. Other social policies like education (which Friedman focuses on) and intellectual property also have played a part in our ability to innovate, which ultimately helps business and our standard of living.
While he doesn’t come right out and say it, I think Friedman’s argument could be extended to say that the relentless focus on short term profit (immediate gratification) is harming our long term ability to compete globally. This unfortunately is no easy mindset to change, as it appears to pervade politics and business.
I can’t think of any reasonable way to respond, but it’s good to know that I’m not the only one feeling this way.
YouTube’s Content ID Censorship Problem Illustrated | Electronic Frontier Foundation.
As I would have expected, the EFF has a great response to the Lessig-on-YouTube debacle. I’m glad they agree on the (strong) word “censorship.”
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Bogus Copyright Claim Silences Yet Another Larry Lessig YouTube Presentation | Techdirt.
Lessig recently gave a “webside chat” on the usual issues of copyright and fair use that was posted to YouTube. The video included clips of music that is covered under copyright, but in this context appear to be fair use. The details aren’t immediately clear, but it seems that Google’s automatic copyright filters stripped the audio track from the video (though it is now available again — with a link to purchase the music featured in the video).
This is an incredibly timely coincidence with my last post about the censorship of digital speech. In this case, there wasn’t even a button to push–an automatic filter indiscriminately altered what Lessig had to say.
The democratization of web publishing, I believe, is an inherently good thing. It would be shameful if speech gets quashed because of a business extending its power over any medium it touches.
Techdirt isn’t usually a source I like to cite, but when Lessig tweets a story about himself, you know it must be legit.
Internet overtakes print in news consumption among Americans.
Between this report and the Post Office’s request to cut home delivery, it would seem as though we are in the midst of a huge shift away from print. I wouldn’t say that it is going away, but this begins to highlight the importance of a number of issues in information freedom (neutrality and access to name two). The architecture of physical information has certain values we may want to ensure are carried into the digital world. If those in power were able to control what appeared on the page at the touch of a button, imagine how different the world might look.
Time to re-read Code and donate to the EFF 
Web Security Trust Models | Freedom to Tinker
Really interesting post on different ways that we might structure trust/certificates online.
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