Copyright Law

I read a great article recently regarding the ongoing debate concerning music sharing and copyright law. Orson Scott Card’s article MP3s Are Not the Devil is a must read for anyone interesting in this issue. What makes this article valuable to the debate is not his largely pro-sharing view point but the long standing copyright issues he includes that are not currently part of the debate. If we are going to redefine copyright law and what it means in our society then we should also look at why we have copyright laws, who they are suppose to protect and how the currently law is fulfilling those needs. We need to look at the whole picture, not just how we can keep the current model. Copyright laws were created for a purpose and we need to find a way to fulfill that purpose in the context of our current technological society.

Internet Safety

Since it inception the Internet has been both a wonderful and dangerous place. And due to it wide spread use, Internet Safety has rightfully become a major issue. But I think we deceive yourselves when we think that the Internet is more dangerous then our physical communities. People have not become more malicious with the advent of the Internet. And just as we wouldn’t let children wonder into local bars or leave our credit card numbers lying in public places we need to take appropriate precautions with regards to the Internet. It is no more dangerous, it just requires a different knowledge base. I have been contributing to an online resource that aims to provide this knowledge base. The Internet Safety Wiki is becoming a wonderful resource and could use the help of all concerned individuals.

'Free Software'

An interesting confusion abounds in much of the general population's conception about the word free in 'free software'. It has even been a misunderstanding of mine. The word free has little to no connection to price or cost but it has more to do with the freedom of use and distribution. Those concerned and connected with this movement have little or not objection to software engineers making their living selling software. And while there is a strong philosophic deference between these two connotations of the word 'free', the economic reality of 'free software' generates and will maintain this confusion. 'Free software' will always cost nothing to the end user and therefore will be perceived as being free. So, it seems ironic then to me that a man so concerned with the strict use of terminology, as Richard Stallman, would demand use of words that will forever distract people from his philosophic ideals.

The World is Flat

During the last week I have been reading Thomas Friedman’s The World is Flat. While reading this book I could not help but agree with Friedman. The evidence he cites and the experiences that he relates jive with what I see and encounter in the world around me. Globalization is happening and it is happening now. However, while Friedman does an excellent job of explaining the forces that have created the twenty-first century and their effects on the global economy, I feel he left some of the more important questions unanswered.

We should ask: “Is a flat world really a better world?” When North America and Europe passed through the Industrial Revolution the thought was that this economic structure would be better. Certainly, the millions of people who flocked to the urban centers thought that their lives would improve. For the aggregate better or worse, those economic changes had their consequences. In reality not much changed. Now this question is largely academic. Globalization will happen; it has already started and stopping it would absolutely be the wrong decision. This leads to what I consider the most important question.

How can we, as players in this new economic structure, influence this radical change such that it is for the better? When the paradigm is shifting is when the paradigm can be influenced. Too long have we lived in a world where 20 percent of the population own 80 percent of the wealth. We may have the chance to change that. It is not good enough to simply include people from more countries into that proverbial ‘20 percent’. It will truly be sad that if at end of this transition we can only say, “The more things change the more they really stay the same.”

Video-Sharing Web-Sites

The economic structure of the internet is often convoluted and hard to understand. But it is nice to see that it still works the same as it does in any other sector in spite of this. CNNmoney did a nice piece on the current state of video-sharing web-sites. Due largely to the success of the phenomenon YouTube.com there are now around 450 similar competitors. But according to this article, their time might be running out, they simple can’t remake their overhead. This is good news for consumers and investors alike. This virtual marketplace call the Internet is showing signs of maturing. Much of what caused the major clap in internet stock at the turn of the millennium was our inability to evaluate the value of these companies. But we are now starting to see normal economic principles have their effect, only best will survive. If only the same could be said about the content on these sites.

True Equality

When considering and discussing gender roles and gender gaps it is wise to tread lightly and carefully. With this issue it is easy to be misunderstood. So in expressing some thoughts and ideas which really transcend but do touch these issues I hope I can be understood. In a publication for The Computing Research Association Ron Wyden, a senator from Oregon, expressed his disappointment in the academic community for not complying more fully with the spirit of the law know as Title IX. He felt that government grants and other programs discouraged and hindered women from entering and succeeding in fields typically dominated by men. While I agree fully that woman are just as adept and capable as men in these and any other field, I have to disagree with this notion that we need to baby-sit these programs. When we force equal treatment we lose the opportunity for true equality. When we are compelled we loose the chance to change our attitudes and nature. We need to be fairer and give equal opportunities to all but we never will if we simple resorted to forcing ourselves to do so.

The Cuckoo’s Egg

The conclusion that Cliff Stoll ends his account in The Cuckoo’s Egg with was different then I had anticipated. Throughout the book, the author goes in to great detail describing his extended encounters with a German hacker trying to steal government secrets. However, the moral of his story was not about the importance of using strong passwords or the need to develop better encryption algorithms. No, he concludes by stating why these attacks were so repulsive. He concludes with the observation that this transcendental computer network was more then hardware—it was the front for a community of users. A community built on trust and cooperation that was being violated by this hacker.

These ideas of community reminded me of a lecture given by Robert Putnam at BYU a few years back. Robert Putnam is famous for his controversial book Bowling Alone which details his study on the decline of Social Capital, and his forum lecture touched on the same subject. In his book and during his lecture he contended that the United States has undergone a unique breakdown in civic, social, and political life. Additionally, he felt that this breakdown has caused negative ripples in our cultural pond.

Now, if Cliff Stoll could feel that a fringe network of University and Governmental computers was sufficiently developed to constitute a community worth protecting, then he and anyone that agrees with him would have to consider the social networks of today to be even more fully developed. Then, is Robert Putnam wrong? Has he only witnessed a shift, not a decline, in Social capital? Or is he still right because these social replacements are insufficient to take the place of more traditional forms? Can the clans of World of WarCraft sufficiently replace bowling leagues?