Archive for May, 2010
Pad Computing in Sci-Fi and in Real Life
by sky on May.28, 2010, under Communicating, Cyber-nomads, Media, Mobile devices, Mobile issues, Our networked world
The iPad immediately led me to think about how tablet computing is portrayed in science fiction. TV and movies – because that’s the only place you actually saw little beasties like these 10 or 20 years ago.[1] Today they’re (literally today) all around the world.[2]
In Sci-Fi Channel’s series Caprica, portable computing has become “foldable” and takes the form of sheets of “paper” on which characters, symbols and other stuff light up so you can read them. The paper is touch-sensitive and you can move the characters around as well as tap them (read “keyboard”). (continue reading…)
Secret courts, secret orders
by sky on May.27, 2010, under Frothy Concepts, Identity & The End of Privacy
Cory Doctorow posted a BoingBoing article about a recent National Security Letter requiring the Internet Archive to reveal user information to the FBI. In case you’re not familiar with this process, certain government agencies can issue these letters under the PATRIOT act, which require you to disclose information about your online users, and you can be required not to disclose even the existence of the NSL to anyone else – not your board of directors, not your employees, not even your dog. You can tell your attorney, otherwise this would violate due process of law because you would be denied legal representation. EFF stepped into this[1] as legal adviser to the Internet Archive and Brewster Kahle. The legal grounds on which they contested this was that the Internet Archive is a library (recognized by the State of California) which is exempt from these requirements under US law. The provisions apply to providers of Internet communication services (such as ISPs, duh, by definition).
Regardless of how you feel about government agencies having unchecked access to this kind of information — If you ran an online service that promised “we never share your information with anyone else” – what would your reaction be to an NSL requiring that you give up something like IP addresses, or physical address, or other information about a user of your service, without informing anyone? Would you be happy telling your users that you never share their information?
Reclaim your Facebook privacy
by sky on May.25, 2010, under Identity & The End of Privacy, Security
 Neat idea – go to ReclaimPrivacy.org and get a “bookmark” that contains code that you can use to scan your Facebook privacy settings to see exactly how private you might not be! |
| I thought I had most everything set pretty well, but I was a bit surprised at my results. What’s more, this piece of code can fix the settings for you – simple as clicking a button. (continue reading…) |
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Welcome!
I hope you’ll enjoy this mix of topics stemming from my ongoing experiences in the world of online communication. Oh, and sometimes the inspiration comes from face-to-face communications too. Many were sparked by my work as Chief Technology Officer of The Dalai Lama Foundation from 2003 through 2010. See also the Foundation’s Study Circles site, where we keep an ongoing conversation going about ethics in the world. Current Features—
CyberSpark.net — Cyber-defense for free speech and human rights onlineMany Paths to Peace — Explore the many ways compassionate peacemakers are working to make this a better world. (Video interviews)
