Conches

Google on Net Neutrality

Good to see Google at the table here.

clipped from googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com Rep. Markey's net neutrality legislation Wednesday, February 13, 2008 at 2:29 PM Posted by Derek Slater, Policy Analyst Today, Rep. Ed Markey and Chip Pickering introduced bipartisan legislation to help preserve Internet freedom and explicitly make "net neutrality" a guiding principle of U.S. broadband policy. The bill would affirm that the Internet should remain an open platform for innovation, competition, and social discourse, free from unreasonable discriminatory practices by network operators. It would also require the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to solicit input on the nation's broadband policy from ordinary Americans by conducting eight "broadband summits" around the country and seeking comments online.

Sprint a Good Guy?

Would love to see Sprint wear the white hat as a market differentiator here...

clipped from blogs.techrepublic.com.com Sprint will make WiMAX an open platform with an SDK and open APIs Date: February 21st, 2008 Author: Jason Hiner From its conception, WiMAX has been engineered to be an open platform for mobile broadband Internet. Later this year, Sprint will release open APIs and a software development kit (SDK) so that hardware and software makers can develop solutions to take advantage of Sprint’s mobile WiMAX network. Both Barry West, Sprint’s CTO, and Atish Gude, the senior vice president of Xohm operations, have unequivocally confirmed these plans. “We’re going to be open on devices and open on applications,” said Gude. “We’re here to serve the Internet. Our foremost priority is providing really good access… This is the open Internet. We’re not going to block anybody.”

Net Neutrality PI - Intro and Free Speech

Intro - Net Neutrality and Water Rights

I believe that Net Neutrality is very poorly understood. There is a clear reason for this. The industry that is most responsible for informing us about net neutrality is also the industry that would be most deeply effected by its implementation, big media.

Net Neutrality is usually represented with a freeway metaphor that espouses the logic of a toll road vs. a public roadway where you pay for speed and a better experience in general. The primary problem with this analogy is that it places all the emphasis on the transport mechanism as opposed to what is being transported. I was listening to an NPR interview with Maude Barlow recently. They were discussing water rights and it dawned on me that this was a much more interesting analogy. Water is becoming a commodity because corporations (Bechtel, Nestle, GE, …) see an opportunity to create profit by controlling distribution of a valuable resource.  This is directly analogous to information and how the telcos are working to control the distribution of information. In both instances, we see predatory corporate practices working explicitly against individuals and our ability to access resources that rightfully belong to the commons.  Additionally, in both examples, there are legitimate and lucrative business opportunities for private corporations to exploit that will actually contribute positively to the well-being of the communities to which they belong.

Salesforce.com Foundation

I don't blog about my J O B much.  However, we just put on an event in NY that I am very proud of.  (...of which I am very proud.) 

I started at Salesforce.com Foundation in September of 2000.   In that year we donated our first instance of salesforce.com to a nonprofit organization, Business Today.  It wasn't until 2004 that we hit triple digits.  As of today, we have donated licenses to over 3,000 nonprofits in 56+ countries.  It is reasonable to say that our work has increased the efficacy of the global social sector.  (Maybe a very small amount but it is a reasonable thing to say.)

Harvard Business Review - Breakthrough Ideas for 2008

I am settling down to bed at a friend's house in Brooklyn after a flying in from San Francisco.  A flying habit that I have is to read the magazines that I never have the headspace to deal with otherwise.  So, I noticed the latest HBR had an article on their Breakthrough Ideas for 2008.

Of the 21 ideas, 9 were specifically technology related.  Of those, they really focused on the ability of technology to connect people across physical distance, or, networks.  This is not a new or radical idea really, even the virtual-world aspect of this is not particularly novel.  The interesting thing is that it is interesting to the HBR as something that business' should pay attention to.

There goes the neighborhood.

Perfect Information

After a conversation with David Geilhufe (www.digitaldivide.net/blog/geilhufe) about perfect information, specifically in its relevance to philanthropy, I got to thinking.  I googled.  I wikipedia'd.  and...

I found a fascinating post that provides a critique of the "perfect information" or economic equilibrium theory that states that the better (or more predictable) our information is, the more efficient (equitable?) our markets will be.  The author, astutely I believe, critiques this lens as irrelevant in a world where change, both subtle and grand, is the norm. 

The difference between Obama and Clinton by L. Lessig

Watch this presentation (http://lessig.org/blog/4obama.mov) by Lawrence Lessig on the difference between Hillary Clinton and Barrack Obama.  This is the first time I have heard anyone lay out real. meaningful differences.  What do you think?

Rumsfeld calls for new US propaganda agency

This is insane.  Could it be that he will get traction with this idea?   

clipped from reclaimthemedia.org Rumsfeld calls for new US propaganda agency                                    Submitted by jonathan on Mon, 2008-02-04 11:03.     Propaganda and War | Newswire Full Story: by Sharon Weinberger, Wired 'll just let Rumsfeld speak for himself: Private media does not get up in the morning and say what can we do to promote the values and ideas that the free Western nations believe in?... ...There are all kinds of opportunities. We do not with any systematic organized way attempt to engage the battle of ideas and talk about the idea of beheading, and what it's about and what it means. And talk about the fact that people are killing more Muslims than they are non-Muslims, these extremists. They're doing it with suicide bombs and the like. We need to engage and not simply be passive and allow that battle of competition of ideas.