shouting loudly

In a(nother) huge election day win, yesterday the FCC deregulated the “white spaces” between TV stations, allowing technology firms and enthusiasts the right to play around in these unused channels of high-quality spectrum. In a 5-0 decision, the Commission issued a ruling allowing anybody to transmit messages in white spaces, within fairly limits on the [...]

In a blog post over at The Publius Project, Judith Donath asks “Is Reputation Obsolete.”  It’s a provocative piece and well worth a read.  Honestly, I’ve spent the past week trying to dip into the literature on reputation systems and to call it the shallow end of the pool would be an insult to pools.  [...]

The publishing industry is terrified of moving from the print-and-ship meatspace model to digital distribution. Over at HuffPo, Hugh McGuire tells publishers to embrace the digital transition. He discusses why and how book publishers should eschew the music industry’s fear-driven tactics and meet customers where they are with what they want.

Why are media and power always a bad combination? Whether it is the elite who is abusing the media for its own purposes (in the words of Chomsky and Herman, to ‘manufacture consent‘) or whether it is the media themselves who are powerful, often heard as in ‘the media are biased‘, the message seems clear [...]

The New York Times has an interesting article about the problem of people getting locked out of their inboxes. In particular, the article singles out Google, who don’t do much to help people get back in if they get locked out. Which is too bad; a few hundred call center reps would be a very [...]

Here’s a minilink from Lokman: Media Bloggers Association launches blogging insurance program This is actually a reasonable next step for blogging as it becomes a major media outlet and big business. It’s little different than Errors & Omissions insurance for other professionals, including media producers such as filmmakers.

I’m stoked by Damian Kulash’s New York Times opinion calling for mandated network neutrality. It’s a far more accessible, engaging piece than almost anything written on the subject, and he makes a compelling case. Kudos to him. P.S. On a personal note, it’s been a metric year since I blogged, and for good reason. Life [...]

At yesterday’s FCC hearing into Comcast’s practice of blocking BitTorrent traffic in Cambridge, Comcast hired several dozen seat warmers to reduce the number of critics who could get into the hearing. The hearing was held at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society. When Catherine Bracy, the Center’s administrative manager, opened the door to the [...]

Danah boyd has a great post examining the dangers of losing our online identities at the whims of corporate decisionmakers. If we get our GMail/FaceBook/Yahoo! account hijacked, what can we do when the company deletes it and all our related data? If we’re connected, that’s one thing, but what about those who are not so [...]

In a filing with the FCC (pdf), Comcast claims that, thanks to market competition and blogging watchdogs, there is no need for regulatory intervention to protect net neutrality. The company’s recent discrimination against peer-to-peer traffic is the cause of the hearing. Last August, Comcast denied the charges (which were first documented on… drumroll please… a [...]