Tag Archives: net neutrality

History Most Don’t Know, Instances of Future History in the Making, Talented Kids, and other Interesting News

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This entry is part 20 of 100 in the series Today's Tidbits

Today’s been another mixed-bag, newsfeed-wise. There’s a lot going on in the world right now and it seems most people don’t even come close to grasping just how much things will change, depending on which way some of it goes.

The big one, of course, is the ongoing Net Neutrality fight. But that’s running parallel to the continued fallout from all the revelations about how the NSA (and other agencies) have been spying on pretty much all of us. Both of those current events have some of the biggest players in the information game at one another’s throats. In the first case, it’s the content providers against the infrastructure owners. The the second, it’s companies like Google against the U.S. government.

Both of these fights are going to get a lot more messy before they get better. There are indications that there’s some heavy corporate influence shifting the sands of the Net Neutrality battle in ways that I (and many others) think will be very bad for the public in general. In the domestic surveillance case, a number of companies are trying desperately to regain the trust of their users (and their foreign business partners) by pushing back against gag orders and, apparently, gearing up for a drawn out fight with intelligence agencies and law enforcement.

There’s more than a little overlap in the “good guys” and the “bad guys” in these two arenas. I find myself rooting both for and against some companies (like Verizon, who stands a lot to gain if there’s no mandate for Net Neutrality, but is also in a position to fight against the government overstepping it’s bounds in the surveillance arena). It’s… problematic, to say the least.

All I know for sure is that the world has been changing really quickly over the past 30 years or so. For decades, we’ve been in a period of transition where out reach has extended beyond our grasp. Waters have been further muddied and vision blurred by high emotions and secret dealings. Even now I doubt we have anything near the full picture of everything going on in these two major battles.

This could go on for years. But I worry that the bulk of the public is either ignorant of the importance of these fights or already growing bored with the legal wranglings and semi-obscure technical specifications. Without the support of an knowledgeable public, the big players are free to do whatever they want, regardless of whether it’s good or bad for the rest of us.

Can’t say I care much for that.

But I don’t have any good solutions, either.

Cancellations, Supreme Court Gaffe, Interesting Food, Net Neutrality, and Rain

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This entry is part 18 of 100 in the series Today's Tidbits

So, Fox has apparently neglected to renew one of my favorite shows from the past season, the scifi cop show Almost Human. As I’ve said a lot in comments today, I think that’s a horrible idea on their part.

The show had a lot of potential–a rich world that they were just beginning to explore, characters that worked really well together (played by actors who worked really well together), interesting plots, and plenty of room for expansion, spin-offs, and other things that would quickly grow an already steady fan base.

But, network economics being what they are, the show has been dropped in favor of new shows on the schedule that tie into existing franchises (like DC’s Batman) and other things that are expected to be trending next fall. Sadly, I don’t hold out a lot of hope that the new shows are going to be as good as Almost Human was… and I really doubt they’ll be as good as it was well on its way to being.

Guess only time will tell… but I promise you, I’ll be super annoyed if all the new shows get cancelled quickly and/or otherwise don’t make it into a second season.

More Than a Little Art, A Call to Action for Net Neutrality, Some New Entertainment, and Awesome Science

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This entry is part 17 of 100 in the series Today's Tidbits

I often say that I’m not a music person–mainly because I’m not… at least not like a lot of other people I know how eat, breath, sleep, and generally live music. I enjoy music, but I don’t particularly seek it out or obsess over it.

What I do like, though, is a solid performance. Of anything. Regardless of whether I like the song or not, if the performer gives it their all and really puts themselves out there… well, the audience gets something special. Whether that “something” is what the performer intended is another story altogether (see: William Hung or, for that matter, Ed Wood when it comes to film making). In the feed today, right near the end, were three impressive musical bits. Two of them involved real singing, the third was pure performance (lip synching). All of them have impact and meaning beyond just the words or humor.

I dig that.

Same is true of anything where someone is putting themselves out there. It’s most obvious in performing or visual arts, but it’s also true of writing–both fiction and non-fiction. There’s another story in the feed that illustrates how you can’t just shut down people’s love for a story they relate to… and, more importantly, how absolutely backward the attempt to do so can go.

And wish science… well, science is an adventure all its own. You want risks and rewards, science has those in spades. Pursuing a line of questioning that no one else has–maybe that no one else even thinks has any value–that’s a committed act of will equal to anything else out there. Actually succeeding and seeing what you thought could be done become reality? Elation better than anything else.

I envy that kind of drive. I really can’t find it in myself. This is a problem. I’m working on it. Until I succeed, I just take solace and inspiration in those who do have it.

Political Drift, Questionable Communications Decisions, A Classic Clip, History Online, Seal Snuggles, and Some SciFi Short Goodness

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This entry is part 14 of 100 in the series Today's Tidbits

The situation with Cliven Bundy (the man who’s been grazing his cattle illegally for years on federal land) continues to get more surreal. Now that he’s got a speaking stump, all sorts of things are coming out of his mouth that are being made a big deal of. In some cases, like his recent musings on whether blacks were better off as actual slaves than as a bunch of people on public assistance now, possibly more of a big deal than they should be.

The problematic thing is, there seem to be some questions at the root of this story that are very worthy of discussion. Like bringing into question how much “public” land the federal government owns and what can (or should) be allowed to go on with it. Or how we should all feel about federal officials, working well within existing law, can be dissuaded from carrying out their duties by a group of ornery and armed citizens. Or how the media is actually covering this story–what gets hyped where, what details get lost, what words quoted out of context.

All fascinating and important things that will likely be swept away under the torrent of “Crazy Racist Guy Pulls a Gun on the Government” spin. (Well… it’s not completely spin, which is part of the problem with Bundy being at the center of this.)

The other big news is the FCC’s decision to more or less throw the concept of Net Neutrality under the bus. With the potential merger of Comcast and Time-Warner cable providers on the horizon, there’s no more important time to ensure that the Internet stay as low a barrier to entry as possible. With what the FCC just did, though, carriers like Comcast can (and will–it’s already started with Netflix) give preferential treatment to some businesses, putting them in a beneficial spot for getting their content to customers. The new ruling does include provisions that theoretically prevent an actual “fast lane” where data transfer rates could be modified based on business agreements… but those safeguards only work if the FCC enforces them in a meaningful way… and I haven’t seen a lot to indicate the FCC will do anything in a meaningful way when it comes to this issue. This is the second time they’ve dropped the ball–the first being when the poorly worded, but generally accepted, net neutrality ruling failed to be defensible in court because of that poor wording.

Nail in the Net Neutrality Coffin, We Can Be Martians, Inside Mummies, American Dream Evaporated, and Pop Nightmares

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This entry is part 13 of 100 in the series Today's Tidbits

The big discussion thread today was all about Avril Lavigne’s new video, which was pretty universally panned by my friends (and me). The meat of the discussion, though centered around a minor dust up over what “art” is for and how dedicated one should be to avoiding “fluff” in life. Really fascinating stuff… and a clear example of how most people I know can be completely passionate about their points of view, yet still clearly communicate their positions.

The other two important things, neither of which FB seems to have decided to really push in front of people all that much just yet, were the FCC decision about Net Neutrality and an hour-long podcast about the 60-word sentence that opened up the can of worms we’ve been dealing with when it comes to our response to the 9-11 attacks way back when. It’s that whole “by any means necessary” and “affiliated entities” bit that’s really the problem. I highly recommend everyone take the time to listen to it (links in the stream below).