newspeak

Motherboard: How First Nations Kids Built Their Own Internet Infrastructure | OpenMedia.ca.

Community broadband is one of the most neglected topics. One doesn’t have to wonder why. Its continuing success, even in the fact of laws against it (as there are, and used to be even more, against very local radio stations), is, well, great. To put it into perspective: It’s as if local groups were getting together to build and then provision libraries, all on their own, using their own funds, and sometimes despite official hostility—and not for providing subversive material or violating copyright.

via Born-Digital Access Research Summary – Google Docs.

Archives are increasingly digital; they are also mostly out of the public sector. The technology for these, along with that for modern libraries, uses both open and closed software, and it’s not clear which license and community programme is in the advance. There’s also an odd epistemological dissonance among open source communities: Most developing as members of well-known open source projects seem unaware of the Digital Asset Management side of open source, including the quite well-known (in these circles) Fedora Commons, short for Flexible Extensible Digital Object Repository Architecture. (Fedora, the Red Hat sponsored project, applied for trademark status in 2003, by which time Fedora–the DAM–had been around for a while. According to Wikipedia, Cornell and UVA “formally disputed the request,” but all parties agreed that Fedora (Linux OS) and Fedora (DAM) could both use the same name as long as it was clear enough which was which.

Of course, that does not explain why there’s this epistemological wall. Other issues at stake, not the least being adherence to local culture, to a project or community’s or company’s identity. But this kind of isolationism is hardly unique or new to Fedora Project.

Gordon Campbell » Blog Archive » Gordon Campbell on Japan’s current doubts that the TPP has any future.

As Glyn Moody noted in a Tweet, it’s an excellent summary and analysis. Campbell relies heavily on the Yomiuri Shimbun,a business journal, which gives, in its full (and in English) editorial, summary judgement on the accord—and on other, better opportunities for Japan. Campbell’s piece is worth reading in its entirety; it’s also short. It’s also worth noting his essential outrage at the breathtaking arrogance of the TPP, which is vaster than any empire, its frank benevolence toward major corporate entities, its “grotesque” contempt of the public—even of countries. From the major corporation perspective, the issue is about returns on investment and the security of those returns. Big Pharma wants to protect the data related to biologics, to extend protection to 12 years; countries outside the US (which is voicing Big Pharma) argue for five years. But this is not just so that they can sell their own generics and rake in the cash. It’s because in the case of biologics—the bone of contention here, among many—people afflicted with a vast range of disorders are affected by the cost and availability of these drugs. As generics, they become more affordable and lives are eased, even saved; as objects of profit and control, they remain exclusively for the super-elite. That exclusivity, girded by the accord, accelerates wealth inequality and cements its channels; it does not promote invention, and even if it did, the accord would limit the effects of any disruptive idea.

As Campbell concludes, referring specifically to his home country, New Zealand:

Does anyone really think all these bridges can be crossed by early September? Even if the TPP ministers tried to declare victory and announced a ‘broad agreement’, the US Congress would baulk at endorsing any agreement where the relevant details have yet to be decided. The Japanese are being urged to re-assess whether the TPP really is worth any further effort. At the very least, Trade Minister Tim Groser should be coming clean with the details of what remains in contention. What is the balance of costs and gains on the TPP currently looking like for New Zealand?

For example: it is simply not good enough for Groser to insist that people won’t be paying more across the counter for medicines under the TPP….This does not address the already conceded extra costs that the TPP will impose on Pharmac, the health budget and the availability of medicines. Where does the government stand on this? Does it really think it can win enough on dairy to justify these added costs? Or…given the plight of our dairy farmers does it think that any hope at all of progress on this front is good news, politically?

The National Bureau of Economic Research.

I confess that I always enjoy—and learn from—reading NBER posted articles. Acquired this pleasure in college, while working at the Physics Library at UC Berkeley. Started out with the Bureau of Standards—-wonderfully arcane yet oddly important work defining the common things in ways that could carry contracts; that is, to stabilise referents. Little did I know then that my life now would be so concerned both with the economics writ large and standards, especially open standards.

via Analysis of August 2015 Leaked TPP Text on Copyright, ISP and General Provisions | ARL Policy Notes.

A very clear description and analysis of what is known (by us, the people) of TPP on IP issues of interest. There are several domains that really need public attention. One is copyright duration; longer periods diminish democratic environments but embiggen already big wealth. And this leads to the general sense–right or wrong, who can say?–that the TPP seems designed to make extant wealth bigger and impoverish the potential for a more equal future.

uBlock/README.md at master · gorhill/uBlock · GitHub.

I was pointed to this blocker—it’s not an ad blocker as such; it’s far far more interesting than that. Thus:

Ads, “unintrusive” or not, are just the visible portions of privacy-invading apparatus entering your browser when you visit most sites nowadays. **uBlock₀’s main goal is to help users neutralize such privacy-invading apparatus** — in a way that welcomes those users who don’t wish to use more technical, involved means (such as [µMatrix](https://github.com/gorhill/uMatrix)).

I haven’t tried it out yet. But I’m looking forward to doing so.

Google Minus: Google keeps backing all the wrong social products | Ars Technica.

A good article. One wonders if Google’s missteps relate not to any founder’s geek vision of others’ minds, but to the calculation of which application, social or not, can earn more money through ad dollars. Networks for Google are tributaries of revenue ideally going to Google, not streams of social discourse aiding no one in particular.

OS X El Capitan: Working & Not Working Apps | MacRumors Forums.

I’ve been using the dev versions of OS X for over a year now, and El Capitan is offering more whiplash than Yosemite ever did. Stalwart apps, like Adium, JustNotes (uses SimpleNote) and even, on occasion, Chrome dev, crash after short periods of use or even, in the case of Adium, nearly immediately. The precise cause varies, but I think the crashes relate to security provisions introduced by El Capitan. The list compiled here, at MacRumors (a great site), is useful. Does this long list give me pause? Nah. The opposite. It’s actually immensely, uhm, enjoyable to go through the code (that I can) and try to trace the issues. As well, it’s useful to think of El Capitan as a kind of platform for apps—you know, what we used to call programs. (And the genealogy of the term, “app,” is itself of interest, and what it says about the user’s ability to intervene ….)

via Mozilla utilizes open education resources to improve participation | Opensource.com.

Mozilla has long realised the importance of formalised education. So have I–Mark Surman and I even discussed years ago to further formalise open source collaboration…..

via What amateurs can learn from security pros about staying safe online | Ars Technica.