The State is keeping more secrets. Really, the opposite should be happening. Government should be opening up, bringing services, data and forums for public comment online.

VIDEO FUNNY: The Lonely Island - The 'Bu

This shit is going to get better and better. Gotta keep it Free. (clicky clicky on those devils if you haven't)

Oh, and on that tip, I saw via the Common Cause blog that Marc Cuban is complaining about the form-letters being forwarded., saying it's spam. He also links to a post calling for tiered internet service so that fantasy applications like remote medical diagnostics can emerge.

My response:

It's the beauty of the marketplace, man. You speak with the voice of a billionare investor. That's a loud voice. Sometimes you get spoken back to by a few thousand of us little people. Welcome to parity.

The problem with teiring service is not that the principle of Network Neutrality is involuble. The poster above who suggested home-alarm data as that which could be "privileged" is correct. There are already laws around this that impact things like 9-1-1 service.

But if you really think BellSouth wants to tier internet service so grandma can get a video checkup, I've got a bridge here in Brooklyn you've just got to see. We don't have technology or trained personnel to even begin to imagine that as a reality. It's pure vaporware spin.

On the other hand, you're a founder of HDnet, a company that produces video entertainment of the highest-bandwidth that conumers can currently recieve. It's pretty easy to imagine real ways in which tiered service might be of use there.

Here's what I believe: If large corporations determine how internet traffic will be teired, it will almost certainly not be done in the public interest, or in the interest of creating a vital market for service and data online. It will almost certainly be a move to consolidate the existing marketplace, to commoditize and productize the network, to turn the internet into a consumer medium.

This will raise higher barriers to entry. It will stifle innovation. It also threatens the principles of standardization and interoperability: a "market driven" tiering structure would likely lean towards propritary technologies and business practices, creating corporate/national vertical silos which may impair global connectivity.

The great pracitcal benefit of the internet has been the decentralization/re-distribution of the means of communication. That's what makes all this cool, really. Incidentally, is also the phenomena which enabled your fantastic personal wealth. (Yahoo made you a billionare. Their money comes from harnassing online communication.)

Color me cynical, but I'm unconvinced that your support for net teiring is motivated by a desire to "keep the net healthy." I suspect it's about maximizing shareholder value.

I don't know if the comment was accepted or not. There seems to be some moderation happening. Ah, email verification. There it is. Anyway, it's interesting how billionare blogging works. I suspect in todays business culture it's nearly impossible to be very honest.

Hoes Joking

Wonky post. Stuck in my head thanks to Sterling Newberry, the three dynamics to measure the potential of your project by:

1. Accessability: is your project equitably available? Will it only work for a select "elite" few, or is it something that is open to any and all qualified participants?
2. Sustainability: how dependent is your project on external sources of support? Can it operate under its own power?
3. Scalability: can you scale? Can your idea go national or global and still be a great project?

This isn't a "check all that apply" type metric. More like axes to think along when evaluating what you're up to. Some things need to be closed and private. Some things only work when they're small. Some things are ephemeral.

That's all cool. When thinking about a project, these are just useful lines of evaluation to help entrepreneurs and instigators brainstorm effectively. However, Institutions, particularly public ones -- including State institutions, the Academy, the Press, and the Non-Profit Sector -- should almost always seek to maximize along all three vectors.

The Market -- as an Institution in its own right -- should also be judged on these criteria. How easy is it for new players to break in? How sustainable is the system? Can the it continue to scale (globalize) as is, or are different tactics necessary? These are hard questions which social scientists (economists, economic sociologists) are truly trying to engage. The finance, public policy and political communities are lagging pretty badly.

I know the Pimp is in the cultural zeitgeist, and what with Hustle and Flow's song winning an oscar, and being set in Memphis and all, it seems like ground zero for political pimpdom. But I have to say, neither of these sites is very pimpin'.

The site attacking Harold Ford Jr. went up first, and the Frist site is a mocking response, but I think Democrats are displaying their cultural tone-deafness when they say FancyFord.com portreys Congressman/Candidate Ford as a pimp.

It's attacking Ford for allegedly living well, and (semi covertly) for also being black at the same time. There's implicit racism in that charge, but it says something about the partisans on our side that the put two and two (upper class + black) together and get Pimp. Politics is about making waves, I know. But come on. Those sites just ain't pimpin'. This is pimpin'.

And anyway, Frist is more of a whore. Corporate, but still a whore.

Creepy paralells with how the war in Iraq was sold.

In other news the Army will close down Abu Ghraib, though actually what they mean by "Close Down" is "Relinquish Control." The prison will remain in operation, but with Iraqis in charge. I'm sure this means no one will ever be torture there again.

And finally, Rummy proclaims that "if civil war breaks out," the US will pretty much let the iraqis handle it, this is in line with reports last year that the strategic focus for the US to step up air operations. Basically if the shit hits the fan, will do the bombing, and Iraqis mostly the street-level fighting.

They think that will work. Others disagree. I think it's unlikely to work out. If we start blowing shit up, we could face a popular uprising, and our supply lines are vulnerable to that sort of thing. Could get ugly.

Something got me inspired to do a little clean up over at Vagabender, and I re-read a bunch of it. It's a great record to have, that website.

"Yeah, man. Instead of buying that dime-bag, I decided to just send the money directly to Osama. I just write out a check to Al-Qaeda, drop it in the mail, and because I hate America it gets me just as high."

Oh man. Those were some good times.

I realize big chunks of the story at the end are missing: Iowa, Burning Man, etc. I have photos and memories. Maybe something will happen there.

There are 102 new billionares worldwide this year. No word as to how the rest of the income spectrum is doing, though this is pretty neat.

Got 30 minutes to burn? Watch the video here (link on the right hand side launches player) from about three and a half years ago. Warning: it might make you throw up a little bit in your mouth.

I watched this live on TV back then, and that's when it became clear to me that Bush was set on invading Iraq, and when I started actively thinking about what I could do to stop that. In retrospect, the propaganda is so blindingly obvious. Drones! Oi.

It's a little lo-fi, but it's def. listenable. Jigsaw Gentlement Podcast from the Pordland Mercury. That's the band my friend John Henry sings/fronts. Hopefully their new CD will be buyable online.