Hermit

NYTimes journalist Howard W. French reports
on how in China “little sister is watching” along with many of her fellow
Chinese students at the behest of their Universities (and China‘s
government) to infiltrate online discussions and “steer what they consider
negative conversations in a positive direction.” Anything “they deem offensive”
is reported to the University for deletion.

The specific little sister, a sophomore, mentioned in Mr. French’s article
is one of 500 “volunteer” student thought police recruits at her particular
University, Shanghai Normal University.  Mr. French mentions that,
“For years China has had its Internet police, reportedly as many as 50,000
state agents who troll online, blocking Web sites, erasing commentary and arresting people for what is deemed anti-Communist Party or antisocial
speech.”

Beyond the official Internet police and the legions of student “volunteer”
thought police encouraged by universities are unmentioned companies (Google,
Microsoft, Yahoo, & Cisco?) that engage in government mandated censorship.
But Mr. French suggests that “While the national Web censorship campaign
all but requires companies to demonstrate their vigilance against what
the government deems harmful information, the new censorship drive on college
campuses shows greater subtlety and, some would say, greater deviousness.”

Despite a growing chorus arguing
against allowing giant telecommunications companies from creating tiered
pricing services, a Republican defeat of a Democratic amendment in the
House of Representatives made a “net neutrality” law less likely. Legislation
for “net neutrality” is still in the wind over at the Senate via Maine’s
Republican Senator Olympia Snowe and North Dakota’s Democratic Senator
Byron Dorgan [Google].

(If I understand correctly) “Net neutrality” [Google–News]
means that LISNews.com ideally gets the same quality of service over the
internet from the telecoms as Microsoft.com. But the telecommunication
companies would like to be able to charge more if website operators want
better service. The tradeoff is that while Microsoft could afford it, LISNews and other small websites probably wouldn’t be able to. The concern is that while big media players
would get the fast lane, the telecom’s would stick LISNews in the slow
lane (or bumped off the information highway altogether).

For consumers, this could mean the telecommunications companies could
arbitrarily limit the speed with which different websites are accessed,
or possibly even deny access to legal sites. While telecoms have protested
they wouldn’t do that, there isn’t any law saying they can’t and the giant
telecoms AT&T, Verizon, and Comcast have apparently been lobbying hard
against such a “net neutrality” law (which suggests that small websites
_may legally_ end up in a slow lane, or bumped, unless they pay more).

Microsoft, however, has lobbied _for_ “net neutrality”. They aren’t
alone, supporters for “net neutrality” include the ALA,
eBay, Yahoo, and from InformationWeek:
the “AARP, Consumers Union, Consumer Federation of America, Free Press,
the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, MoveOn.org, Gun Owners of America,
MySpace.com and Vint Cerf” as well as “Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, Google
CEO Eric Schmidt, Intel President and CEO Paul Otellini and IAC/InternActiveCorp.
Chairman and CEO,” amongst
others. Read more at: SavetheInternet.com
/ F.A.Q. See also:
CNET,
FT.com,
LAtimes,
MSNBC.

Despite a growing chorus arguing
against allowing giant telecommunications companies from creating tiered
pricing services, a Republican defeat of a Democratic amendment in the
House of Representatives made a “net neutrality” law less likely. Legislation
for “net neutrality” is still in the wind over at the Senate via Maine’s
Republican Senator Olympia Snowe and North Dakota’s Democratic Senator
Byron Dorgan [Google].

(If I understand correctly) “Net neutrality” [Google–News]
means that LISNews.com ideally gets the same quality of service over the
internet from the telecoms as Microsoft.com. But the telecommunication
companies would like to be able to charge more if website operators want
better service. The tradeoff is that while Microsoft could afford it, LISNews and other small websites probably wouldn’t be able to. The concern is that while big media players
would get the fast lane, the telecom’s would stick LISNews in the slow
lane (or bumped off the information highway altogether).

For consumers, this could mean the telecommunications companies could
arbitrarily limit the speed with which different websites are accessed,
or possibly even deny access to legal sites. While telecoms have protested
they wouldn’t do that, there isn’t any law saying they can’t and the giant
telecoms AT&T, Verizon, and Comcast have apparently been lobbying hard
against such a “net neutrality” law (which suggests that small websites
_may legally_ end up in a slow lane, or bumped, unless they pay more).

Microsoft, however, has lobbied _for_ “net neutrality”. They aren’t
alone, supporters for “net neutrality” include the ALA,
eBay, Yahoo, and from InformationWeek:
the “AARP, Consumers Union, Consumer Federation of America, Free Press,
the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, MoveOn.org, Gun Owners of America,
MySpace.com and Vint Cerf” as well as “Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, Google
CEO Eric Schmidt, Intel President and CEO Paul Otellini and IAC/InternActiveCorp.
Chairman and CEO,” amongst
others. Read more at: SavetheInternet.com
/ F.A.Q. See also:
CNET,
FT.com,
LAtimes,
MSNBC.

Romance Search Problem?

Answers for the cruelest month:

Google Beta Love!

There’s nothing like Spring romance via the “I’m Feeling Luck” button
at Google Romance. On the
first day of the cruelest month what better way to search for a happy love
life than allowing Google to pay for your date in return for your intimate
life’s psychographic details and some relevant Contextual DateTM advertisements?
Without directly addressing it, Google uniquely recognizes that Internet
dating is remarkably similar to Search Engine Optimization SPAM and allows
individuals to “Post multiple profiles with a bulk upload file, you sleaze,”
so that if the first profile doesn’t bag the unwary, erm,
find your potential soul-mate, any of your other factually challenged but
better optimized profile pages might.

p.s. Karl
was quicker but I figured I’d add my personal testimonial: I’ve tried
it and it works great!-) Except for the niggling detail of my being matched
with a fictional character who keeps complaining I’m still in beta….

 

CBS
News is reporting that six senators will try to block passage of the
Patriot Act because it’s renewal is not including minimal protections for
civil liberties by requiring a judge to review the secret warrants the
FBI is using to force libraries and other institutions to provide patron
and customer information to the government law enforcement agency. The
Senators also complained the law does not include forcing the government
to tell American citizens within seven to 30 days that their homes or businesses
were secretly searched.

The six American Senators wrote a letter to the Senate Judiciary committee
and Senate Intelligence committee about their concerns. The three Republicans,
Larry Craig (Idaho), John Sununu (New Hampshire) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska),
and the three Democrats, Dick Durbin (Illinois), Russ Feingold (Wisconsin)
and Ken Salazar (Colorado), had previously sponsored some of the changes
that provided the modest civil liberties that are now being removed in
a House-Senate ironing out of the Patriot Act renewal.

Supreme Court justice nominee Samuel
A. Alito Jr. was the single dissent in a three judge appeal that decided
even incorrigible prisoners have a basic right to read current periodicals
while imprisoned. Alito’s dissenting opinion in the Pennsylvania prison
case favored prison managers who had decided to withhold reading materials
(except for legal documents and religious literature). The lawyers for
the prisoners claimed that the 1st Amendment gave them the right to read
periodicals. The LATimes quotes one of the lawyers saying that, “”Precluding
them from receiving information from periodicals about current political,
social and other activities outside the prison walls … offends the free
speech component of the 1st Amendment,” their lawyer said.” The Supreme
Court will hear the case in March. If confirmed, Alito is expected to recuse
himself setting up a possible 4-4 tie.

Google
the case: Beard v. Banks, 04-1739.

“Supreme
Court to Review a Pa. Prison Policy That Alito Backed in Dissent.”
-By Charles Lane, WashingtonPost

“High
court to hear cases on prison reading, lawsuits.” -AP via CNN

“Alito
Dissent Resonates in Supreme Court Case.” -By David G. Savage, LATimes

vonjobi writes “I wish I could say that the passage below was written by a librarian:

But no, it was written by a reporter who took on the duties of a sales person at a bookstore. See “Bookworm at the bookshop” by Pam Pastor (Philippine Daily Inquirer, 13 July 2005). More…”

Lurker writes; “Winter Garden officials wonder if the project, begun 21/2 years ago, will ever be finished, and residents are angry over the loss of a meeting room.”

From the article:

Residents’ tongues are wagging, and city officials are quietly shaking their heads over the city’s long-awaited new public library.

The first shovel of dirt was turned 21/2years ago on the 12,000-square-foot S.C. Battaglia Memorial Winter Garden Branch library — named for a late citrus baron whose family donated the land…

Read more

Kelly writes “This would be a nice library job in the summer: “With the summer season in full swing, officials in northern Portugal are setting up a library at a popular beach to encourage sunseekers to read as they tan by the seaside.” More at: Travel Channel News

Radames Suarez wants us to know that the ongoing controversy regarding the ALA and oppressed librarians in Cuba has reached the pages of the Washington D.C. Examiner. An excerpt:

Librarians attending the American Library Association’s conference in Chicago this week will hear a speech from that great man of letters Henry Winkler (a.k.a. “The Fonz”). But a bigger story involves who won’t be appearing at the podium: Ramon Coles and Berta Mexidor, the co-founders of Cuba’s independent library movement.

The ALA claims they did not apply to be speakers through the proper channels. But critics say the group’s refusal to accommodate this brave husband-and-wife team is part of a broader hypocrisy on Cuba.

An Anonymous Patron tells us about an archivist who noticed a letter signed by Civil War general Lewis A. Armistead on eBay:

He knew that letter particularly well. Ten years earlier, he examined it himself — at the National Archives in Washington. And he knew there was only one way it could be offered on eBay: It had been stolen.

Read the full story at the Washington Post.