Also at stake is whether the ‘business models’ of the dominant telecom and media giants or the open and decentralized principles of the Internet and digital media will set the course of development in the decades ahead.Canada in the minority on vertical integration, UBB

To whom it may concern:

The early Internet was so accidental, it also was free and open in this sense. The Internet has become as important as anything man has ever created. But those freedoms are being chipped away. Please, I beg you, open your senses to the will of the people to keep the Internet as free as possible. Local ISP's should provide connection to the Internet but then it should be treated as though you own those wires and can choose what to do with them when and how you want to, as long as you don't destruct them. I don't want to feel that whichever content supplier had the best government connections or paid the most money determined what I can watch and for how much. This is the monopolistic approach and not representative of a truly free market in the case of today's Internet.Steve Wozniak to the FCC: Keep the Internet Free

Thoughts of Herbert Marshall McLuhan come to mind.

On a slight revise version then of the "Medium is the Message."

Own the Medium then you own the message.

The point is then such a convergence of broadcasting telephony and internet, become a way for large corporation to transform the population as they are now by our acceptance of data trains and speeds, that we have to undo the damage already done by the conglomerates on the psychology of the people.

Technological Determinism

Media determinism, a subset of technological determinism, is a philosophical and sociological position which posits the power of the media to impact society. [69]

McLuhan explains technological determinism as it relates to media.

Quote:

"the printing press, the computer, and television are not therefore simply machines which convey information. They are metaphors through which we conceptualize reality in one way or another. They will classify the world for us, sequence it, frame it, enlarge it, reduce it, argue a case for what it is like. Through these media metaphors, we do not see the world as it is. We see it as our coding systems are. Such is the power of the form of information." [70]

Wednesday May 11, 2011

The government's plans to include lawful access provisions within its omnibus crime bill has attracted mounting attention in recent days as many commentators express concern that the legislation could create criminal liability for linking to content that incites hatred and for using anonymous or false names online. The concerns started at the Free Dominion site and have since spread to Brian Lilley at the Toronto Sun and Jesse Brown's blog at Maclean's. 


As I have argued for a long time, there are many reasons to be concerned with lawful access. The government has never provided adequate evidence on the need for it, it has never been subject to committee review, it would mandate disclosure of some personal information without court oversight, it would establish a massive ISP regulatory process (including employee background checks), it would install broad new surveillance technologies, and it would cost millions (without a sense of who actually pays). Given these problems, it is not surprising to find that every privacy commissioner in Canada has signed a joint letter expressing their concerns.

Preliminary test

The Federal Communications Commission's Office of Engineering and Technology released a report dated July 31, 2007 with results from its investigation of two preliminary devices submitted. The report concluded that the devices did not reliably sense the presence of television transmissions or other incumbent users, hence are not acceptable for use in their current state and no further testing was deemed necessary.[12]

However, on August 13, 2007 Microsoft filed a document with the FCC in which it described a meeting that its engineers had with FCC engineers from the Office of Engineering and Technology on August 9 and 10. At this meeting the Microsoft engineers showed results from their testing done with identical prototype devices and using identical testing methods that "detected DTV signals at a threshold of -114 dBm in laboratory bench testing with 100 percent accuracy, performing exactly as expected." In the presence of FCC engineers, the Microsoft engineers took apart the device that the FCC had tested to find the cause of the poor performance. They found that "the scanner in the device had been damaged and operated at a severely degraded level" which explained the FCC unit's inability to detect when channels were occupied. It was also pointed out that the FCC was in possession of an identical backup prototype that was in perfect operating condition that they had not tested.[13]

[edit] FCC decision

TV broadcasters and other incumbent users of this spectrum (both licensed and unlicensed, including makers of wireless audio systems) feared that their systems would no longer function properly if unlicensed devices were to operate in the same spectrum. However, the FCC's Office of Engineering and Technology released a report dated October 15, 2008, which evaluated prototype TV-band white spaces devices submitted by Adaptrum, The Institute for Infocomm Research, Motorola and Philips. The report concluded that these devices had met the burden of "proof of concept" in their ability to detect and avoid legacy transmissions,[14] although none of the tested devices adequately detected wireless microphone signals in the presence of a digital TV transmitter on an adjacent channel.

On November 4, 2008, the FCC voted 5-0 to approve the unlicensed use of white space,[15] thereby silencing opposition from broadcasters. The actual Second Report and Order was released ten days later and contains some serious obstacles for the development and use of TV Band Devices as they are called by FCC. Devices must both consult an FCC-mandated database to determine which channels are available for use at a given location, and must also monitor the spectrum locally once every minute to confirm that no legacy wireless microphones, video assist devices or other emitters are present. If a single transmission is detected, the device may not transmit anywhere within the entire 6 MHz channel in which the transmission was received.[16] It is hoped that, within a year, this new access will lead to more reliable WiFi and other technologies.

On September 23, 2010 the FCC released a Memorandum Opinion and Order that determined the final rules for the use of white space for unlicensed wireless devices.[17] The new rules removed mandatory sensing requirements which greatly facilitates the use of the spectrum with geolocation based channel allocation. The final rules adopt a proposal from the White Spaces Coalition[18] for very strict emission rules that prevent the direct use of IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi) in a single channel effectively making the new spectrum unusable for Wi-Fi technologies.

Unlicensed Spectrum

Unlicensed spectrum is not sold to the highest bidder and used for the services chosen by the license-holder but is instead accessible to anyone using wireless equipment certified by the FCC for those frequencies. Among the advantages of unlicensed spectrum is the opportunity to test new technology directly with consumers instead of going through spectrum license-holders. One of the disadvantages of unlicensed spectrum is the possibility of interference among the transmissions of the various users, both within the assigned bandwidth and with other bandwidths. Currently, there are no commercial applications for WiMAX using unlicensed spectrum. The cost of developing WiMAX applications for unlicensed use could impact its adaptation by municipalities seeking to provide wireless broadband services.

Tue, Jan 20, 2009 at 10:19 AM Richard Stallman Response

No.  Send me a writeup if yo wish.

  

Quote:

I write this  now for consideration and then ask, you if there is such
   a thing as to design the hardware under "this idea of yours" to
   advance the internet as a free access, instead of the piggy back that
   we can do from libraries and such.

The main useful step here, I think, is to set up free municipal
wireless networks.  This has no real overlap with what I do, and I
don't have time to get involved in it myself, but I am willing to say
publicly that it is a good thing.

The United States, creator of the Internet, increasingly lags in access to it. In the absence of a national broadband strategy, many communities have invested in broadband infrastructure, especially wireless broadband, to offer broadband choices to their residents.

Newspaper headlines trumpeting the death of municipal wireless networks ignore the increasing investments by cities in Wi-Fi systems. At the same time, the wireless focus by others diverts resources and action away from building the necessary long term foundation for high speed information: fiber optic networks.

DSL and cable networks cannot offer the speeds required by a city wishing to compete in the digital economy. Business, government, and citizens all need affordable and fast access to information networks.

Today's decisions will lay the foundation of telecommunications infrastructure for decades. Fortunately, we already know the solution: wireless solves the mobility problem; fiber solves the speed and capacity problems; and public ownership offers a network built to benefit the community.Published January 2008 Author: Christopher Mitchell

Communities that have invested in these networks have seen tremendous benefits. Even small communities have generated millions of dollars in cumulative savings from reduced rates – caused by competition. Major employers have cited broadband networks as a deciding factor in choosing a new site and existing businesses have prospered in a more competitive environment.

Residents who subscribe to the network see the benefits of a network that puts service first; they talk to a neighbor when something goes wrong, not an offshore call center. At the municipal fiber network in Wilson, North Carolina, they talk of the “strangle effect.” If you have problems with their network, you can find someone locally to strangle. Because public entities are directly accountable to citizens, they have a stronger interest in providing good services, upgrading infrastructure, etc., than private companies who are structured to maximize profits, not community benefits. Residents who remain with private providers still get the benefits of competition, including reduced rates and increased incumbent investment.

Some publicly owned networks have decided to greatly increase competition by adopting an “open access” approach where independent service providers can use the network on equal terms. Public ownership and open access give residents and businesses the option of choosing among many providers, forcing providers to compete on the basis of service quality and price rather than simply on a historic monopoly boundary.Published May 2010 Author: Christopher Mitchell

Google Fiber for Communities: Get Involved

Thank you to all of the communities and individuals that expressed their interest in Google Fiber for Communities. The quality and scope of the responses exceeded our expectations, and we were honored by the thought and effort that went into every submission. One message came through loud and clear: people across the country are hungry for better and faster broadband access.

It seems as Canadians become more connected and better informed, the more we vote NDP.

McLuhan understood "medium" in a broad sense. He identified the light bulb as a clear demonstration of the concept of “the medium is the message”. A light bulb does not have content in the way that a newspaper has articles or a television has programs, yet it is a medium that has a social effect; that is, a light bulb enables people to create spaces during nighttime that would otherwise be enveloped by darkness. He describes the light bulb as a medium without any content. McLuhan states that "a light bulb creates an environment by its mere presence."[2]

It is better we have some differentiating, methodicalness to developing points of view other then what we are being told.

While I push forward here on the internet I am wondering how people feel about all this wireless being sent "through our heads?"

The Internet’s open architecture has become central to the success of our economy, our culture, and our society. Casting An Open Net is the first comprehensive report that establishes the need for the principle of openness to guide digital policy in Canada. The report lays out a well-researched plan for an open and affordable Internet—an action plan for a connected Canada. Casting An Open Net

People are hungry for more information always. I think someone told me that most people are visual and then auditory learners.

Google

Finally, I want to applaud and thank FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, the other commissioners, and the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology for their leadership in advancing this important issue. And, thanks to the more than 20,000 of you who took a stand on this issue through our Free the Airwaves campaign, the FCC heard a clear message from consumers: these airwaves can bring wireless Internet to everyone everywhere.A vote for broadband in the "white spaces"Posted by Larry Page, Co-Founder and President of Products Wednesday, November 5, 2008

BC Books Online

BC Books Online is collaboration between publishers and libraries to purchase electronic rights to a collection of non-fiction books by BC publishers and to make them accessible through public, school, and post-secondary libraries. It is the first time ever that publishers and libraries have come together with the objective to deliver digital content to an entire province.

 

***

See:Your Book's Never out at This Library

Wireless infrastructure is cheaper than doing it properly.

(CBC) --- About a fifth of Canadian households, many among the poorest in the country, still had no internet access in 2010, a survey suggests.

Forty-six per cent of households falling in the lowest income quarter -- those earning $30,000 or less -- had no internet access, according to Statistics Canada's 2010 Internet Use Survey, released Wednesday.

But in the highest income quarter -- made up of households earning $87,000 or more -- only three per cent lacked internet access, the survey indicates.Canadians Online: No Internet In 1/5th Of Canadian Homes

The History Conclusion and
Future Forecast...

The Net is a unique creation of human intelligence.

...  the first intelligent artificial organism.

...  represents the growth of a new society within the old.

...  represents a new model of governance.

...  represents a threat to civil liberties.

...  the greatest free marketplace of ideas that has ever existed.

The Net is in imminent danger of extinction.

The Net is immortal.

•  
  •  
    •  

      By Henry Edward Hardy The History of the Net,
      Master's Thesis, September 28, 1993

McLuhan explains technological determinism as it relates to media.

"the printing press, the computer, and television are not therefore simply machines which convey information. They are metaphors through which we conceptualize reality in one way or another. They will classify the world for us, sequence it, frame it, enlarge it, reduce it, argue a case for what it is like. Through these media metaphors, we do not see the world as it is. We see it as our coding systems are. Such is the power of the form of information." [70]

Partial map of the Internet based on the January 15, 2005 data found on opte.org. Each line is drawn between two nodes, representing two IP addresses. The length of the lines are indicative of the delay between those two nodes. This graph represents less than 30% of the Class C networks reachable by the data collection program in early 2005. Lines are color-coded according to their corresponding RFC 1918 allocation as follows:

• Dark blue: net, ca, us
• Green: com, org
• Red: mil, gov, edu
• Yellow: jp, cn, tw, au, de
• Magenta: uk, it, pl, fr
• Gold: br, kr, nl
• White: unknown

See:Creating a Science of the Web

The Web is the largest human information construct in history. The Web is transforming society. In order to...understand what the Web is engineer its future ensure its social benefit

...we need a new interdisciplinary field that we call Web Science.

The Web Science Research Initiative brings together academics, scientists, sociologists, entrepreneurs and decision makers from around the world. These people will create the first multidisciplinary research body to examine the World Wide Web and offer the practical solutions needed to help guide its future use and design.

Web Science - helping ensure the healthy development of the future Web

Web Science is one of the main opportunities for ensuring the healthy development of the future Web, according to Sir Tim Berners-Lee, keynote speaker at the conference ‘Profiting from the New Web’, held in London this week.

An audience drawn largely from the technology sector heard Sir Tim outline his hopes for the Web’s future, along with some warnings about potential limitations to the development of the Web.

His keynote set the scene for a full day of discussion about new ways of doing business that have been enabled by the Web and will make a significant difference to business practice in the future.

Sir Tim, creator of the World Wide Web, pointed to open data and linked data as exciting examples of the way that the Web is promoting transparency of information and looked forward to the time when the current 20 per cent of the world’s population who can access the Web grows to 80 per cent, with all the changes this will bring in terms of technological and social developments, and new possibilities of communication and cultural change.

“Maybe our ideas of democracies will be different,” he said. “Maybe people will build systems that we can use to communicate across boundaries … or maybe we won’t …. Whatever happens at this stage we have to think about it - and what we think about it we call Web Science.”

http://webscience.org/article/163.html

The Web has transformed the way you do business. It has transformed your relationships with stakeholders, their interactions with each other and their regard for your brands. This change was difficult to foresee just a decade or so ago. Imagine now what the New Web promises.

The New Web is here now, and the early adopters have begun to put it to work. The earlier your organisation understands what it is, what’s possible and what’s happening today, the sooner you can pursue the opportunities and secure competitive advantage.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, and a host of experts bring you up to speed. See: Profiting from the Web

Thanks Spectrum. I have studied computer engineering technology for some time and can appreciate your interest and extraordinary knowledge of the subject. IT is huge and expanding into many other areas of science and humanities for sure. Marketing of widgets over the web is certainly one aspect of the trade and commerce end of it. Information will be the most valuable commodity of the future as our oil-based widget economies give way to economies based on ideas and human creativity. And I think democracy could be strengthened by internet technologies. Some day.

Santiago Dreaming: History of the first socialist internet

Stafford Beer, who died last year, was a restless and idealistic British adventurer who had long been drawn to Chile. Part scientist, part management guru, part social and political theorist, he had grown rich but increasingly frustrated in Britain during the 50s and 60s. His ideas about the similarities between biological and man-made systems, most famously expressed in his later book, The Brain of the Firm, made him an in-demand consultant with British businesses and politicians. Yet these clients did not adopt the solutions he recommended as often as he would have liked, so Beer began taking more contracts abroad.Santiago dreaming

Marketing of widgets over the web is certainly one aspect of the trade and commerce end of it.

Do we selectively ignore other models from artificial intelligence such as Zadeh’s Fuzzy Logic? This is a logic used to model perception and used in newly designed “smart” cameras. Where standard logic must give a true or false value to every proposition, fuzzy logic assigns a certainty value between zero and one to each of the propositions, so that we say a statement is .7 true and .3 false. Is this theory selectively ignored to support our theories?

Using Quantum interrogation it seemed relevant when held in context of Quanglement?

Engineers have long dreamed of using DNA as the backbone for the next generation of computer circuits. New research shows just how it might be done.

Instead of conventional circuits built of silicon that use electrical current, computer engineers could take advantage of the unique properties of DNA, the double-helix molecule that carries life’s information.

“Conventional technology has reached its physical limits," said Chris Dwyer, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering.