http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=2021
Judge OKs anon comments, some bloggers don’t
July 20, 2009 by Dissent Filed under Court, Internet, U.S.
There are a couple of interesting new posts around the blogosphere concerning anonymous online commenters. The first, over at Volokh, discusses a recent case out of Tennessee, State v. Cobbins, where a judge denied defendants’ motion to require a media outlet to disable a portion of its Web site enabling Web users to post comments (mostly anonymous) about the pending case. Defendants argued that the site comments could prejudice jurors. The judge denied the motion for a variety of reasons, noting the importance of the First Amendment rights at stake:
The right to speak anonymously extends to speech via the Internet. Internet anonymity facilitates the rich, diverse, and far ranging exchange of ideas. The “ability to speak one’s mind” on the Internet “without the burden of the other party knowing all the facts about one’s identity can foster open communication and robust debate.” People who have committed no wrongdoing should be free to participate in online forums without fear that their identity will be exposed under the authority of the court.
Read more on Legal Blog Watch. The blog entry goes on to discuss the recent trend on some legal blogs to require commenters to provide their real name and email address. [Perhaps we need an “Anonymous Lawyer” blog? Bob]
Too good to be true? Probably.
http://www.techradar.com/news/internet/google-promises-the-end-of-viruses--617790
Google promises 'the end of viruses'
Engineering director claims Chrome OS will finally defeat malware
By Adam Hartley Monday at 11:30 BST
Google's Engineering Director has promised that its forthcoming Chrome OS will see 'the end of malware'.
Google is promising what the latest issue of New Scientist magazine refers to as "a carefree antivirus nirvana" with its forthcoming Google Chrome OS.
… Via New Scientist
Of course, this was before the iPhone (June 2007)
http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/021863.html
July 20, 2009
NYT Posts Unreleased Government Report on Dangers of Using Cell Phones While Driving
"The following body of research, conducted by the Department of Transportation and completed in 2003, has not been made public until now. The documents pertain to the safety of using wireless communication devices while driving. The New York Times obtained the research from the Center for Auto Safety and Public Citizen, two consumer advocacy groups that earlier this year acquired more than 250 pages of undisclosed material through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit." See also Related Article.
[From the report:
The experimental data indicates that, with the exception of the consequences of manipulating a
wireless communications device, there are negligible differences in safety relevant behavior and
performance between using hand-held and hands-free communications devices while driving from
the standpoint of cognitive distraction.
This all started with the evil conspiracy to eliminate the buggy whip industry. No doubt Congress will take action to “Keep American in the Forefront of 19th Century Technology!”
http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/021859.html
July 20, 2009
Will There Be a Fight To Save American Manufacturing?
New York Times: "The United States ranks behind every industrial nation except France in the percentage of overall economic activity devoted to manufacturing — 13.9 percent, the World Bank reports, down a percentage point or so in a decade. The 19-month-old recession has contributed to this decline. Industrial production has fallen 17.3 percent, the sharpest drop during a recession since the 1930s... Manufacturing has long been viewed as an essential pillar of a powerful economy. It generates millions of well-paid jobs for those with only a high school education, a huge segment of the population. No other sector contributes more to the nation’s overall productivity, economists say. [Didn't they say that about farming? Bob] And as manufacturing weakens, the country becomes ever more dependent on imports of merchandise, computers, machinery and the like — running up a trade deficit that in time could undermine the dollar and the nation’s capacity to sustain so many imports."
Related postings on financial system
Once again I will be able to argue with the Antitrust lawyers that it is simpler to wait a full “Internet century” (about 10 years) for the “next big thing” to supersede Google, or for Google to follow Microsoft's example and shoot itself in the foot once too often.
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/17-08/mf_googlopoly
Why Is Obama's Top Antitrust Cop Gunning for Google?
By Fred Vogelstein
"I think you are going to see a repeat of Microsoft."
Christine Varney's blunt assessment sent a buzz through the audience at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Varney, a partner at Hogan & Hartson and one of the country's foremost experts in online law, was speaking at the ninth annual conference of the American Antitrust Institute, a gathering of top monopoly attorneys and economists.
… The technology industry, she said, was coming under the sway of a dominant behemoth, one that had the potential to stifle innovation and squash its competitors. The last time the government saw a threat like this—Microsoft in the 1990s—it launched an aggressive antitrust case. But by the time of this conference, mid-June 2008, a new offender had emerged. "For me, Microsoft is so last century," Varney said. "They are not the problem. I think we are going to continually see a problem, potentially, with Google."
… She acknowledged that her remarks might ruffle some feathers at Google headquarters in Mountain View, California. "If any of my colleagues or friends from Google are here," she said, "I invite you to jump up and scream and yell at me."
Nobody took her up on that offer. But it is safe to assume that plenty of Googlers were jumping and screaming six months later when President Obama appointed Varney head of the Justice Department's antitrust division, making her the government's most powerful antimonopoly prosecutor.
… "Part of what you have to do when you're going to try to bring a [Sherman Antitrust] Section Two case is you have to create the political climate," she said. [Because neither the B-school nor Google's customers believe you have a case. Bob]
… In and of itself, Google's size is not a legal problem.
… Because its search and advertising algorithms are secret, there is no way for competitors or partners to know whether Google tweaks results to direct traffic to its own properties over theirs.
… And even if Google is behaving honorably now, it is creating a system full of temptations should the company ever come under financial pressure.
… Some antitrust experts argue that the natural business cycle will take care of this problem without government intervention, but Varney's three top economists have all said that they favor a hands-on approach. [What did they say when the Republicans were in charge? Bob]
This is an interesting business model. Would it work for other professions?
http://www.killerstartups.com/Web20/pubmeddy-com-science-articles-resources
PubMeddy.com - Science Articles & Resources
Hundreds of articles are published in various fields of medical research ranging from obesity, stem cell, various human syndromes and so forth on a daily basis. The information is usually stored in various publicly available databases. Pubmeddy.com takes that information and automatically makes webpages that users can access to read the articles or research papers of their choice.
This means that now instead of conducting a search that goes “stem cell papers” or “obesity” users can resort to this site and find the latest articles that are published by the scientific community. The site is updated by the hour, which means if you are interested in various fields of biomedical research, you can just check out the website and see what is new at a glance. Websites such as this one (solely devoted to biomedical research) are not that commonplace, and as such it can gather a considerable following.
This is brilliant. Now I can point my students to tools they can try before downloading and installing (i.e. immediate feedback.)
http://www.killerstartups.com/Web20/click2try-com-try-open-source-software-at-no-cost
Click2Try.com - Try Open Source Software At No Cost
Quite a well-focused community site, Click2Try will allow you to put open source software to the task without having to incur into downloads of any kind, and without having to worry about setting anything up. Basically, through the site you can gain access to software applications that are pre-configured and already functional, and that are installed on a virtual machine that is also private, and accessible from your desktop.
The advantages of such an approach are obvious: you eliminate long downloads and time-demanding installation procedures, whereas you also dispense with upgrades and integration issues of every kind. In short, a system like this one ensures that you will do without each and every software headache one knows that has to be faced when putting a new application into motion.
There are both standard and premium subscription plans, and there are also different evaluation packages so that if you want to see whether such an approach is what you need in order to have a less-stressful time with your computer this might be where it’s at.
Expect many pointers to presentations and videos...
http://en.oreilly.com/oscon2009
OSCON 2009
[I'm interested in:
Introduction to Forensics
http://en.oreilly.com/oscon2009/public/schedule/detail/8194
Cloud Computing - Why IT Matters
http://en.oreilly.com/oscon2009/public/schedule/detail/9210
Enabling Academic Research – Open Tools and Services on Microsoft Platforms
http://en.oreilly.com/oscon2009/public/schedule/detail/10209
No comments:
Post a Comment