December 2007
66 posts
Canada tech law 2007: A to Z →
p2pnet news | Freedom:- The past 12 months marked another remarkable year in law and technology featuring business developments, policy decisions, lawsuits, court rulings and new legislation that will have a profound long-term impact on the Internet in Canada. From A to Z, there was rarely a dull moment in 2007. A is for Access Copyright, the copyright collective that launched a $10 million...
The Letters of The Law: The Year in Law and... →
The Letters of The Law: The Year in Law and Technology from A to Z While I was away last week, the Toronto Star published my annual A to Z review of the year in law and technology (Toronto Star version, Tyee version, homepage version). From Access Copyright to Zeke’s Gallery, there was rarely a dull moment in 2007. A is for Access Copyright, the copyright collective that launched a $10...
Thought Nuggets from Twitter - Part 2 →
I don’t twit in the traditional sense of the term (internet tradition is measured in months not years). I don’t generally tell people what I am doing. Instead I twit what I am thinking about. For year end I will post what Evan Williams, founder of Twitter, appropriately called thought nuggets. Ireland shows that to thrive you don’t need to have leading global companies. U just need for them to...
Net Neutrality Links 12-23-2007 →
Good grief! A new ridiculous demeaning term is coined, Telecom Trotskyite… Striking writers in talks to launch Web start-ups By The Home Office That’s why we’re so strongly in favor of Net Neutrality — because without NN, these efforts will run into the same Big Media distribution roadblocks as television. The Writers strike has hastened that evolution, as this LA Times story … T-Mobile Attacks...
My Top Ten Predictions for 2008 →
Here are the predictions I released on December 12th at our SNS New York Dinner. You will notice that, at least in a few cases, moves have already been made that seem to be underlining these trends, including a reversal in oil pricing back to the high side, a new ruling by the FTC that will require permission-based marketing for certain online customers, and an internal memo by IBM CEO Sam...
Attention Telecom Trotskyites! →
p2pnet news | Politics:- “Might be just a coincidence, although it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that the Telecom Trotskyites have scored another victory for the left over a Conservative government that is too scared and nervous to do the right thing.” Nicely turned It’s from Terence Corcoran in the Financial Post yesterday, and a few pars back: Who are the Telecom Trotskyites? Regarding all...
Bones to Pick on Ron Paul by Guinea: The 1930’s... →
Guinea: The 1930’s Smut Peddler by Guinea: The 1930’s Smut Peddler featured writer Dandelion Salad Guinea: The 1930’s Smut Peddler’s Blog Blog post Dec. 20, 2007 I’m going to first start off by saying this is not an attack, just my thoughts and opinions. I’m not sure if Ron Paul is a racist like many people claim he is, maybe I’m not seeing it, if he has supporters being racist doesn’t...
National Post position on copyright is opposed to... →
National Post position on copyright is opposed to free markets and for more government control December 20, 2007 A friend of mine sent me a note on Terry Corcoran’s latest editorial supporting Jim Prentice’s copyright legislation. In it he labeled everyone opposed to the legislation - Telecom Trotskyites. I am still shaking my head that this story came from the National Post. I...
The Telecom Trotskyites. →
I usually agree with Terence Corcoran of the National Post, but today’s column “The Telecom Trotskyites” couldn’t be further off the mark. Unhappy over the fact that new draconion copyright legislation was not introduced, he has this to say:If the iTune you download can only be used on your iPod, that’s an assault on your rights. If you can’t resend that movie...
Joseph Smith’s Views →
When Joseph Smith ran for president in 1844, a pamphlet expressing his views (”General Smith’s Views”) was distributed across the nation. Probably penned by Phelps, the New York Herald described the document as “a very remarkable and original document…a more curious and unique thing has probably not been published since the time of Mohamet…” The following are some of Joseph’s positions*; they are...
Mark Anderson’s top ten predictions for 2008 →
Mark Anderson’s top ten predictions for 2008 By Dean Takahashi Wednesday, December 19th, 2007 in General, predictions No Comments Mark Anderson of Strategic News Service is one of those big thinkers. Here is his list of top ten predictions for next year. Streaming video of this talk is available at: mms://www.tapsns.com/NY_Dinner_2007_512K_Stream.wmv The MP3 version is at:...
Rogers Shows Why We Need Net Neutrality By... →
A couple days ago Lauren Weinstein showed all us, not just in Canada, why we need net neutrality. In the post, there is an image of the basic Google page with information injected by Rogers at the top (click for full sized version). This is scary stuff. Wired picked up the story and got some comments from Rogers: Update: Rogers vice president of communications Taanta Gupta confirmed that...
Rogers Shows Why We Need Net Neutrality By... →
A couple days ago Lauren Weinstein showed all us, not just in Canada, why we need net neutrality. In the post, there is an image of the basic Google page with information injected by Rogers at the top (click for full sized version). This is scary stuff. Wired picked up the story and got some comments from Rogers: Update: Rogers vice president of communications Taanta Gupta confirmed that...
The Net’s Runaway Infrastructure →
The web has certainly been a nice treat. It’s too bad to see it go. The threat of history repeating itself with large multi-billion dollar corporations consuming a new and powerful medium is at our doorstep. This time at the expense of net neutrality. Such a trend’s not an evil conspiracy (not always, anyway), nor is it destined to suffer death-by-monetization. But it’s a threat that’s well worth...
We win, for now... →
We win, for now… Posted by Dana on December 17, 2007 So I don’t know if you’ve heard yet, but the Canadian DMCA bill has been delayed, session is closed and Michael Geist and 25,000 concerned Canadians (myself included), have received a great Christmakuh gift - free speech. The Montreal Gazette just released a bluffers guide to Canadian Copyright. Familiarize yourself and talk...
Rogers hits “new low” →
Rogers hits “new low” December 17th, 2007 Net Neutrality in Canada is dying. Look at what Rogers did to Google’s homepage. Not only do they meter your bandwidth (for a HIGHSPEED connection not just a wireless device) they have started to spam other company’s web pages! It’s not the first time Rogers has been accused of messing with Internet traffic. Some users have complained that Rogers and rival...
Net Neutrality Links 12-16-2007 →
I see my friend Mr. Cleland is up to his “normal” trick of attempting to diminish others to his benefit… Wireless open access: happening or not? Computerworld Australia - Australia “Seems like carriers and content providers alike have been bitten by the open access bug. Big news recently was Verizon’s announcement that it plans to open up its wireless network to any device or application. And...
Its started, an ISP is deliberatly changing page... →
So where is the “net neutrality legislation” we have been needing for it seems years now? An ISP decides it “needs” to insert information on the page being served by a company like Google. ISP’s to Intercept and Modify Web Pages Please note the image mentioned is still on his page. Quote: Greetings. Please observe closely the image to your left, showing the home page...
Voice Data and IP > Carriers and Service... →
The web gets the music [to] me - fast. →
On Facebook, Kate Dugas posted a video link from StopBigMedia Interesting and disturbing at the same time for the U.S. - sadly, nothing new for Vancouver - but I wanted to know about the music playing in the video, that I really liked. I googled “oh lord there is no heaven techno” which led to this site: The song is “no heaven” from DJ Champion. Over to Wikipedia for verification [hey, he’s from...
Back from Stockholm!! →
Just came back from another long business trip. Since my travelling is usually hectic, its important for me to feel pampered during air travel. If I get disappointed, I tend to blast the airline. I can happily say that I had a very pleasant experience this time from one of our local airlines. Indeed Aegean offered (aside from being punctual, as usual) simply the best service I/ve ever experienced...
Yoo Hoo's Earliest Ancestor: Cacao drink traces... →
4 Wireless Energy: Tesla’s Dream Comes TrueSeeded on Wed Dec 12, 2007 8:13 AM EST (The New York Times) The M.I.T. physicist Marin Soljacic found inspiration for his latest invention in the dying batteries of his wife’s cellphone. Every morning around 2 her phone would beep loudly.science, nytimes, magazine, wireless-communications, electric-light-and-power, witricity,...
IT World Canada: Rogers ISP antics rattle net... →
IT World Canada: Rogers ISP antics rattle net neutrality supporters An article by Rafael Ruffolo for ComputerWorld Canada includes the following: “When Rogers modifies the html file in their cache and sends it to its subscribers, it means the Web page has become a derivative work of the original page under copyright,” McOrmond said. “So if the licence for the particular Web site being modified...
Catspaw's Guide to the Inevitably Insane →
Canadian Net Neutrality at Risk →
Canadian Net Neutrality at Risk News: Rogers website messages irk Google - “Search engine giant Google Inc. says it’s ‘concerned’ about efforts by Rogers Communications Inc. to insert branded corporate messages into third-party websites, a move critics say is a case of a Internet service provider overstepping its boundaries. “Toronto-based Rogers confirmed yesterday that it has spent the...
Canadian DMCA To Be Reintroduced - Act NOW! →
Canadian DMCA To Be Reintroduced - Act NOW! Cory Doctorow, over at BoingBoing, reports that Jim “Chickenshit” Prentice is going to drag the intensely and disasterously flawed new Canadian copyright bill back into parliament - today. Michael Geist is of course all over this: Given the short delay, it is unlikely that the bill has been altered in any fundamental way. Despite claims that Prentice was...
Rogers Butt Fucks Net Neutrality →
Rogers Butt Fucks Net Neutrality My headlines make me giggle. The Wired blog, Threat Level reports on how Rogers-Yahoo is using data substitution to add its own content to web pages their customers visit. This is, perhaps, the most blatant and obvious intrusion into Net Neutrality that has surfaced thus far from the Canadian cable turd - as if admitted P2P blocking and bandwidth throttling wasn’t...
Rogers Communications Accused of ‘Hijacking’ Web... →
Canada’s biggest cable company, Rogers Communications, is under fire this week for what critics call a violation of net neutrality principles. Los Angeles-based technology consultant, Lauren Weinstein wrote on his blog last weekend that Rogers had spliced into an “hijacked” customers’ web traffic, by inserting its own service messages into pages that customers are visiting. Weinstein received a...
links for 2007-12-13 →
DiSo: Distributed Social Networking applications ‘to build a social network with its skin inside out’ (tags: microformats openid wordpress social socialnetworking) Boys Noize - Feist Remix (tags: mp3 feist remix) Mahalo Daily » Creative Commons Licensing cc splained (tags: creativecommons mahalo) iTunes Best of 2007 Podcasts (link will open itunes) (tags: itunes podcast podcasting...
Rogers experiment is bad for business →
Companies should worry about the experiment Rogers is undertaking in Canada. Rogers—one of the largest Internet Service Providers in Canada—has begun inserting ads at the top of screens, above the website to which customers have navigated. (A screen shot of Google’s spartan home page defaced by a Rogers ad was oroginally posted to Lauren Weinstein’s blog. Google, of course, authorized nothing of...
Rogers Delivers a Lesson in Net Neutrality →
If you’re reading these words in Canada, I can only guarantee that they were true to my writing as I typed them. Chances are nothing has changed but for the record, if you are reading these words in my home and native land, I can no longer pass any assurance to you whatsoever that the site I write to is exactly the same as the site you are viewing. Huh? Earlier this week, Canada’s largest...
Canadian ISP shanghaies Google search bar →
p2pnet news | Product News:- A Google spokesperson says the company is “concerned” by the way Canada’s Rogers Communications has shanghaied the Google corporate name. Or as Lauren Weinstein put it with respect to a Google search bar with a bunch of Rogers advertising copy above it, “What the blazes is all that ISP-related verbiage taking up the top third of the page? Why would Google ever give an...
Google Frowns On Rogers Injection →
Rogers Internet in Canada provides its subscribers with an advisory when they are approaching their account’s bandwidth limits, by injecting that notice into a web page they are viewing. Google Frowns On Rogers Injection The example of Rogers dropping a notice onto Google’s homepage began making the rounds yesterday. Some people called it a threat to net neutrality, which seems a...
Google Frowns On Rogers Injection →
Rogers Internet in Canada provides its subscribers with an advisory when they are approaching their account’s bandwidth limits, by injecting that notice into a web page they are viewing. The example of Rogers dropping a notice onto Google’s homepage began making the rounds yesterday. Some people called it a threat to net neutrality, which seems a little too extreme an assessment. Matt...
Rogers: All Your Internet Are Belong To Us →
Search engine giant Google Inc. says it’s “concerned” about efforts by Rogers Communications Inc. to insert branded corporate messages into third-party websites, a move critics say is a case of a Internet service provider overstepping its boundaries. Toronto-based Rogers confirmed yesterday that it has spent the past few weeks testing a new technology that allows it to post...
Google Frowns On Rogers Injection →
Google Frowns On Rogers Injection December 12th, 2007 Rogers Internet in Canada provides its subscribers with an advisory when they are approaching their account’s bandwidth limits, by injecting that notice into a web page they are viewing. The example of Rogers dropping a notice onto Google’s homepage began making the rounds yesterday. Some people called it a threat to net neutrality,...
Canadian DMCA-Stye Copyright Law on Hold . . . for... →
Canadian Industry Minister Jim Prentice didn’t introduce a DMCA-style copyright bill yesterday, and there is speculation that this due to increasing protests against the bill. According to “Industry Canada Holds Off on Copyright Reform Bill,” Prentice said that the: “bill would not be tabled [introduced] in the House until such time as myself and the minister of Canadian...
Canadian ISP tests injecting content into web... →
Rogers ISP and their lack of neutral net →
Net Neutrality is an important issue to the Internet. Google has put together a short guide that carries a simple message: Network neutrality is the principle that Internet users should be in control of what content they view and what applications they use on the Internet. Rogers, one of the main Internet Service Providers in Canada, has been pretty bad in this respect. They’ve already been...
Net Neutrality: Rogers Canada Shows Off Power →
Rogers Canada is showing that they ultimately have control of their users ‘pipe’ to the Internets and beyond. An image from a blogger (Laura Weinstein) website which reported Rogers is making alerts to their users - in another webpage (Google’s in this example). What would stop them there - instead of just adding advertisements to the pages. While Rogers’ current planned use for this Deep Packet...
This is just terrible of Rogers ISP →
This is just terrible of Rogers ISP Tuesday, December 11, 2007 From Dr. Frankenweb’s Monster: Google has always been known for its clean, lightweight, ad-free search page, but Canada’s largest provider of broadband internet is under fire today for messing with it. Toronto-based Rogers has begun testing a controversial technique that allows the media empire to insert its own content...
SearchCap: The Day In Search, December 11, 2007 →
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: First Networking/Extracurricular Activities Announced For SMX West A couple weeks back we announced the Search Marketing Expo – SMX West agenda. Today’s topic is the other really valuable and fun stuff — networking. The networking begins with SMX Bash...
In Test, Canadian ISP Splices Itself Into Google... →
In Test, Canadian ISP Splices Itself Into Google Homepage - Via Threat Level: A screen shot posted to the web over the weekend seems to show that Canada’s largest provider of high-speed internet access is exploring a controversial data substitution technique that lets it add its own content to the webpages customers visit. Expect this development to become Exhibit A in the case for net...
In Test, Canadian ISP Splices Itself Into Google... →
In Test, Canadian ISP Splices Itself Into Google Homepage - Via Threat Level: A screen shot posted to the web over the weekend seems to show that Canada’s largest provider of high-speed internet access is exploring a controversial data substitution technique that lets it add its own content to the webpages customers visit. Expect this development to become Exhibit A in the case for net...
Exhibit A in Net Neutrality →
Rogers Canada is modifying Web pages. Take a look at this Wired article. Is this a marketing dream? A marketing nightmare? Bit of both. If you searched for a student loan, I could buy a modification of the results you get from your ISP. Even if you wanted a loan from my competitor, if I paid enough, I could divert you instead. If you searched for my company’s products, a competitor could do the...
We'll do what we darn well please. →
Rogers Communications, a Canadian ISP (and mine as well unfortunately) has begun a test of inserting content into web pages in order to communicate with their customers:”Just brought to my attention today by a concerned reader who chose Google for his example, what you’re looking at is reportedly an ongoing test by Rogers in Canada, scheduled for deployment to Rogers Internet customers...
Rogers Splices Into Google...It Could Be Worse →
A little donnybrook is brewing over a test by Rogers Communication to insert its own messages on top of Google’s web page. Lauren Weinstein, a tech consultant and Internet activist, rang an alarm bell on his blog over this practice, worrying about whether this is a form of spying and web traffic modification on the part of Canada’s largest ISP. Later, in an interview, Weinstein argued...
Technology Blogs in the News and in the Blogroll →
Breaking news this morning on the issue of net neutrality comes from Canada. Wired reports on Rogers, a Canadian ISP, who succeeded in inserting a message of their own on a Google page. The message tells the user that they are approaching the limit of their available bandwidth for the month. The Wired article said, A screen shot posted to the web over the weekend seems to show that Canada’s...
In Test, Canadian ISP Splices Itself Into Google... →
In Test, Canadian ISP Splices Itself Into Google Homepage: Net Neutrality would nix modified contentSeeded on Tue Dec 11, 2007 7:11 AM EST (Wired News) A screen shot posted to the web over the weekend seems to show that Canada’s largest provider of high-speed internet access is exploring a controversial data substitution technique that lets it add its own content to the webpages...
In Test, Canadian ISP Splices Itself Into Google... →
In Test, Canadian ISP Splices Itself Into Google Homepage: Net Neutrality would nix modified contentSeeded on Tue Dec 11, 2007 7:11 AM EST (Wired News) A screen shot posted to the web over the weekend seems to show that Canada’s largest provider of high-speed internet access is exploring a controversial data substitution technique that lets it add its own content to the webpages...
