Opinion
Privacy in Net Neutrality?
Aug 31st
Net neutrality seems to be one of the most widely discussed topics right now; with the main issues and arguments surrounding it changing daily. The reasoning – how do you start to put restrictions on something that has never had restrictions? Who do you delegate power to? Who do you hold responsible to enforce these? Who do you put in power to create/make these rules?
Two points surrounding this discussion, ACTA and ISPs monitoring customers, concern me greatly.
Currently the government wants to pass an international agreement that goes by the name of Anti-Counterfeit Trade Agreement, or the ACTA. What does this name mean? In short, anything and everything you want it to. It is kind of like one of those pop drinks “swamp water” that you used to (or still do) make from fountain soda… the one where all the pop from every spout gets mixed together to make a super pop. No, seriously… the main goal of the ACTA is to combat international counterfeiting and piracy. As anyone who has visited street markets around the world knows, international piracy and counterfeiting is a huge problem. It hurts legitimate businesses and can contribute to organized crime and unsafe products. The problem is that the ACTA is vague which leaves a lot of opportunities to work in special components. For instance – the ACTA is trying to make ISPs responsible for what their home and business users are downloading. This is where problems start to form. The way things have worked in the past is that if illegal activity is suspected, then an official court-ordered subpoena, limited to the specific user and activity at issue, is provided to the user’s ISP. The ISP can then help the enforcement agency “get the bad guys” without compromising the integrity of their network or the security and privacy of the accounts for their other users. The legal subpoena process protects everyone’s privacy while allowing the enforcement agency access to the possible illegal files.
If ISPs become responsible for what their users are transmitting we can say goodbye to any and all user privacy including the very legitimate privacy needs of companies who now depend on the Internet for their day-to-day business activities.
The amount of information transmitted over the Internet daily is mind boggling. To do the types of things suggested as part of the ACTA will require substantial amounts of new gear, space, power, bandwidth and engineering time to monitor users.
Having ISPs monitor their users would be like cell phone companies actively monitoring all their customers calls for any hint of illegal activity. The moment the phone company detected anything remotely illegal, it would have to take action against the user just to avoid any possibility of being held legally responsible for what their customer said or did or planned.
It seems like as we try and make forward progress towards regulations like ACTA we are actually moving away from the potential the Internet has to connect us and be the invisible catalyst for bringing people together. We are also handicapping its use as an effective tool for businesses. Unless we stand up for our own freedoms online, we can rest assured that they will slowly become more restricted. We all in some way, shape or form interact with the Internet. We all in some way, shape or form should care about our privacy…
For further information on this topic check out these links:
She’s Geeky unConference
Aug 9th
Last weekend, I was fortunate enough to attend She’s Geeky, an unConference targeting women in the fields of Science, Math and Technology. ipHouse was one of the corporate sponsors for She’s Geeky and I was very curious about what these tech women would have to say. I had been to Minnebar a couple months ago and found it very interesting. At Minnebar, a lot of the sessions were set up online before the unConference started and people were able to choose if they would want to present or just be an observer (observers do participate heavily though). We were then able to see what our options for sessions were, before even attending.
She’s Geeky was set up similar to Minnebar’s unConference except that sessions and presentations were created at the conference instead of in advance. I was very impressed by the subject matter and thought that there were some very intriguing topics to be discussed. The way Heidi Nobantu Saul organized the unConference made the day very relaxed and open to learning in an intimate format.
The first session that I attended was about the book and way of life called, “Getting things Done” by David Allen. I had never heard of this process and I was quite intrigued. Basically, what I learned from the discussion (which Meghan Wilker hosted) was that in our daily lives there are tons of missed opportunities to get things done because of procrastination and poor time management. I have always felt like the lists are swirling around in my brain and they do not ever get to where they are supposed to go, completely. This is why, as I was listening to Meghan explain the system of getting things done and what she has learned from David Allen, my eyes widened and I was saying to myself (maybe out loud) “there is a way to get things done?”. I actually went out and purchased the audio book today because I was just so taken with the method of time management. Meghan went through and showed us how she goes about organizing and using custom lists/folders to prioritize. I can not help but think this is a little intense, never the less, I want to try it for myself.
Another interesting session that I chose to attend was that of entrepreneurial women. The session leader was Jacque Urick. Jacque has just started a gaming company, designed for women. She herself is a gamer and thinks that companies are not targeting women like they should be. Jacque had some very useful stories, both horrific and encouraging. A lot of women in the session were freelancers, start ups or had an amazing idea and did not know where to start. Through out this session, I heard a lot of wisdom from women who have been trailblazers in fields that overall, are still male dominated. These women have hard shells and are ready to take on the world. (I did not realize coming in, just how many lawyers are involved in taking on the job of owning an idea, system or product, as well as funding it!) I felt extremely inspired and the recommendations that the different women gave will always be immensely appreciated. I think that those that shared their stories helped others seek an inner strength to do something they believe in.
The unConference was a true success and I met so many amazingly smart and talented women. I was pleased that ipHouse sponsored this event and that I was able to attend!
The Pressure of “New Media.”
Apr 29th
As someone who has been *ahem* ‘asked’ to write on various topics, I can appreciate the pressure that new media puts on companies. Traditional media is predictable; pay money, gain access. Release statements quarterly, crafted with your company’s message. Coordinate your ads with your message and the image you hope to portray. Push out positive messages and suppress negative ones. It certainly takes time and effort, but you can reasonably expect your efforts to pay off.
New media is much more unpredictable, it’s hard to maintain a consistent image without fading into the ether. It’s harder,still to control information, good or bad, that can effect your company. While there is a high amount of passion with the participants of new media, this can lead to a low signal-to-noise ratio. You’re competing with a lot of people out there and if your stuff isn’t interesting, it’ll just be a ripple in the ocean.
The Brave New World?
Apr 8th
This week has been busy when it comes to all things Internet…
First off I found out that the FCC can’t protect consumers from big bad corporations. It’s no fault of their own. Big bad corporations spend LOTS of money making sure that the law is in their favor. It was expected that the court would rule (a PDF of the ruling is here) to allow Internet providers to restrict access in order to “manage” their networks.
From the Internet provider side, this makes some technical sense. We need to be able to throttle traffic in order to meet Service Level Agreements and maintain quality service. How we manage our network is part of what sets us apart from our competition.
But content providers are worried that their content will play second fiddle to the content owned by the provider. This seems logical to me too. If we have content that competes with the content provider, why should we give the content provider a free ride to our consumers?
Because that’s what net neutrality is.
I think it’s reasonable to assume that a consumer does not really care who owns the content, as long as access to the content is not restricted in any fashion by their access provider. And that’s exactly how ipHouse operates.
Way back in 1997 I posed this exact conundrum and worried about what happens when one access company / distributor owns the content I want to view? Will I be required to have a Time Warner connection in order to view Bugs Bunny? Will I need a Comcast connection to see MTV online? Today, no. But what about tomorrow? Big corporations without watchdogs will do whatever they want, just watch.
I waited a few days after the ruling to see what the feedback was going to be. This is such a fascinating problem that people have a hard time taking sides. You tell me, should consumers be upset by this ruling? It seems some people just can’t tell if they should be upset or not.
In other fascinating news, a local jeweler gets lambasted by social media and wonders if the publicity generated by the “failed” advertisement offsets the publicity generated by the response to the ad…
Really, you may not have known who R. F. Moeller was a few days ago, but you might know now. This is exactly what social media is all about, responding socially to what companies do in the marketplace. Consumers have a voice, and social media lets those voices be heard, loud and clear. Some might think that this is a win for R. F. Moeller. The amount of publicity they’re receiving might outweigh the scar. Only time will tell…
Then along comes a reminder that some crazy new treaty will put ISPs on the hook for our customers bad deeds. What are people thinking?
All these things make me ogle at the wonder that is the Internet. But it leaves me wondering, is it time to take a break from the Internet?
Nah.
Peace.
Bil
data center renovation
Apr 1st
our data center renovation is complete.
recarpeting is a big deal.
a game changer.
with this, getting bought by some obscure second tier telco from
another state who can’t pronounce our name correctly is all but
guaranteed.
ON TO GLORY.
