The debate continues around the world about whether computers should be required to blacklist porn and other sites, and now according to a New York Times report China will require pre-installed software on all new PCs that permits the government to proscribe sites that would be harmful to web surfers. If recent history is any guide, this means censoring sites that speak out against government policies or against corruption. [Update: China Backs down[1]…read footnote in the expanded post] [Read more…]
Identity in the Age of Cloud Computing
JD Lasica has just published a report Identity in the Age of Cloud Computing, based on an Aspen Institute meeting in mid-2008. It is one of three such Aspen Institute reports he has written, and all are available as free ebooks.
First, here’s my own take on cloud computing in the future. I can see that within a very few years (maybe now for some of us), many of us will not know (or care to know) where our data reside. Instead, we’ll be using our home computers as netbooks, connecting to our databases, friend-networks, profiles and documents, and we really won’t care where the data live. Today we see this happening with the rise of Google Docs (documents), gmail (Yahoo and Hotmail too, of course for years), and I see more and more people content to “just Google” to find answers to questions and no longer needing to have all of the books sitting on bookshelves at home. [Read more…]
China firewall lockdown again
With the upcoming 20th anniversary (4th of June) of the Tienanmen Square demonstrations (which I followed on television in the US, to the extent that photos were available), is coming up and access to “social media” sites that would permit people to share their thoughts is being blocked. The New York Times has also picked up on this.
Netbooks and the Fragility of the Internet
I am increasingly concerned about the fragility of the Internet. With our data living more and more in the cloud, we are vulnerable when networks fail. Without email, without the documents I’m writing or editing, I have to sit out any network blackout that takes place. This happens to me more often than I’d like – probably a couple of times a month in my home office. I’m on Comcast cable for my connectivity, and though I frequently get 10 megabits/second of bandwidth, and almost always have at least 1.5 mbs, there are times when it gets so unreliable it might as well not be there, and then there are times when it just stops working for a couple of hours. [Read more…]
Wireless data in London #TG2009
I’ve been informed that the Traveling Geeks will be provided with British Telecommunications [BT] OpenZone wireless connections while we’re in London in July. From what I read, BT has been building out these services for a couple of years now, and they prominently feature “outdoor” public access to wi-fi. Central London has some number of indoor hotspots and outdoor coverage areas. When I get there I’ll know better how this works in practice.
In the US, several cities have experimented with open or public wi-fi access. [Read more…]
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