CircleCount helps you better understand Google+

2013-05-03 21:43:17 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Hackerspaces all over the Americas are meeting online to work on strategy to defeat the Intellectual Property provisions of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPP). See: https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Hack%2BRemix_Party_against_TPP

2013-03-12 08:43:43 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 1 +1s)

Alright clever, clever people who are up in the middle of the night. Who would like to join me, and LEE FREAKING FELSENSTEIN for a night of wonder and excitement at the next #5mof Five Minutes of Fame?

8PM, TUESDAY 21ST, email me at danny@spesh.com or here in the comments if you would like to show off a new project, handwave your new idea, explain the unexplicable, or just lose yourself in a 300 second rant.

2013-03-04 00:42:07 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

2013-02-26 08:30:17 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Here's a link to the "Five Minutes of Fame" preso I did on QuickMuni last week at Noisebridge. Yeah it's actually more like ten to fifteen minutes long, but you get the idea. Thanks, +Danny O'Brien!  Enjoy. :-)

2013-01-29 14:33:37 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

2013-01-26 07:19:16 (2 comments, 3 reshares, 10 +1s)

Walkthrough of Noisebridge at 10.30pm in the middle of the #aaronsw memorial hackathon. Dozens of people working on open data projects. I gave a lecture on the history of free culture, the semantic Web, and Aaron's politics. Hackathon continues until late Sunday. You should come by.

2013-01-17 18:44:13 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 7 +1s)

I haven't bothered to mention the whole sad Aaron Swartz saga, because it's been covered elsewhere. 

But having the involved US attorney then basically lie about it all in a very public statement is something that I find particularly offensive. Compare these two statements - one from July 2011, one from yesterday, and tell me Carmen Ortiz isn't lying..

Yesterday (as reported by the Wall Street Journal and elsewhere):

 "At no time did this office ever seek – or ever tell Mr. Swartz’s attorneys that it intended to seek – maximum penalties under the law."

And July 2011 (as posted by justice.gov itself):

 "SWARTZ faces up to 35 years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, restitution, forfeiture and a fine of up to $1 million"

Maybe that official and very public PR thing wasn't"te... more »

2012-12-20 05:25:28 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Noisebridge's fondant selection of geeks and their projects, plans, rants and recursive recursions are back! Every speaker gets five minutes, every speaker has plans for world domination. This month: a special seasonal look at apocalypses, galactic empires, DIY X-ray photography, and wool. Free! Even freer if you bring a friend!

2012-09-27 22:30:09 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 5 +1s)

Assuming this would happen in my lifetime figured a lot in adolescent calculations of how much time I should devote to dental care.

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-05/new-technique-uses-bodys-stem-cells-regenerate-teeth

2012-08-21 21:41:44 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 8 +1s)

I don't really use Quora, but it occasionally sends me emails with the subject line of some question or another that it thinks I might be interested in. Usually it's something about Apple, or RIM's survival chances.

Today it was "When living out of your car, where are the best places to park to avoid being noticed...?"

Is Quora trying to tell me something about me, or it?

2012-08-06 01:12:26 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 4 +1s)

I may have got a little too deep into Mars lander personality trivia when I'm seriously considering writing Jon "Beans" Proton IV Esq / Adam Seltzner slash.

http://pancam.astro.cornell.edu/pancam_instrument/team.html

http://www.npr.org/2012/08/03/157597270/crazy-smart-when-a-rocker-designs-a-mars-lander

2012-03-06 10:33:32 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

ORGCon 2012 - http://bit.ly/w2l485 coming soon; lots of fine speakers

2012-02-01 08:24:04 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Not sure how readable these are, but this was a set of whiteboard notes from News Foo about reporting on distributed organizations, and the pitfalls of doing so. We talked about everything from Occupy to Wikipedia. I remember +Scott Rosenberg asking for these, no matter how incoherent they were. So here they are!

2012-01-20 18:49:57 (4 comments, 3 reshares, 7 +1s)

Wat?

2012-01-19 21:25:49 (2 comments, 2 reshares, 0 +1s)

Just to place the #megaupload arrests in some context.

The copyright industries have been concerned for some time about the idea of "cyberlockers" -- in other words places in the cloud where you can store your own content. There was language stuck in a side-letter to the South Korean Free Trade Agreement see http://www.ustr.gov/sites/default/files/uploads/agreements/fta/korus/asset_upload_file939_12739.pdf that targetted such sites, which is a strong indicator that getting such sites shut down has been lobbying aim -- free trade agreements are often full of industry lobbied items.

The term also popped up in a letter by Peter Mandelson during the Digital Economy Bill in the UK ( see http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/nov/20/copyright-digital-economy-cyberlockers-rights ) in 2009.

I know that EFF was trying to warn companies like Dropbox that this was a... more »

2012-01-18 09:36:48 (0 comments, 9 reshares, 15 +1s)

Remembering the first day the Internet went dark -- in 1996, when Jerry Yang's Yahoo! led the protests against the United States' Communications Decency Act. The law was signed into law by President Clinton, and struck down four months later by the courts as unconstitutional. I still love the conclusion of the three judges in Philadelphia:

Cutting through the acronyms and argot that littered the hearing testimony, the Internet may fairly be regarded as a never-ending worldwide conversation. The Government may not, through the CDA, interrupt that conversation. As the most
participatory form of mass speech yet developed, the Internet deserves the highest protection from governmental intrusion.

True it is that many find some of the speech on the Internet to be offensive, and amid the din of cyberspace many hear discordant voices that they regard as indecent. The absence of... more »

2012-01-17 05:27:18 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 5 +1s)

You think you're special with your chic computer? I'm EVEN MORE SPECIAL.

2012-01-04 22:07:42 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 5 +1s)

A fascinating story about Henry Nxumalo, a black reporter who covered South African corruption during apartheid, and was murdered for it on New Year's Eve, 1957.

http://www.cpj.org/blog/2012/01/remembering-henry-nxumalo-pioneer-under-apartheid.php

2011-12-24 04:59:00 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

What +Erick Erickson Would Say if He Were a Lefty*
or, Why +Fred von Lohmann Was Always Right

The first decade of digital music could have been so different -- and much better -- for everyone. If the music industry had followed a very simple approach that embraced the Internet, they would have had in pure profit far more than what the global music sales revenue is today.

Note that nothing in this plan would have required regulation, though smart regulation might have helped.

Imagine if, in July 2001, the music industry had made this offer to P2P users:
Pay $10 bucks a month
Share and download the repertoire represented by us, where “us” means the major record labels, major indie labels, publishers, and whoever else is willing and interested to be part of this organization.
At first, it wouldn’t represent everyone (and thus maybe thefee t... more »

2011-12-23 00:26:30 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 2 +1s)

+Ethan Zuckerman, John Palfrey, Hal Roberts, Rob Faris and I object to the use of our research to defend the odious Stop Online Piracy Act.

2011-12-16 09:24:37 (0 comments, 14 reshares, 13 +1s)

This footnote to a one page memo on SOPA I was writing grew into an entire page of its own. It seemed a waste to discard it completely.

The widespread discontent over SOPA, particularly when couched in terms of freedom of expression, can be hard to understand by those most directly affected by it. Among the explanations that I have heard is that this reaction is led by and stoked by companies like Google who “profit from piracy”; that it is primarily only felt by those who use piracy websites; and that it is a childish attempt to evade any regulation whatsoever online, and preserve the Internet as a “Wild West” with no rules whatsoever.

I think these characterizations reflect a misunderstanding of the motives of those opposing the bill.

This whole debate is sticky with earthy metaphors to describe complex technical points, but let me try with just one more analogy:this ti... more »

2011-12-15 09:34:30 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

I just went to an event which had David Chaum, creator of chaumian ecash, and Admiral Adama. Still discombobulated.

2011-12-07 01:07:36 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Stuff an issue tracker might help (or should do) at Noisebridge, a whiteboard blather. #noisebridge

2011-12-06 21:46:43 (2 comments, 2 reshares, 2 +1s)

The awesome Open Show ( http://openshow.org/bayarea/ ) are presenting a benefit screening of Restrepo, in memory of renowned conflict photographer and director Tim Hetherington, who was killed in Libya in April 2011. Proceeds go to CPJ. Restrepo is an amazing film, I'm really looking forward to seeing it on the big screen.

SF Film Society Cinema
Wednesday, Dec 07, 2011 7:00 PM
1746 Post St

http://prod3.agileticketing.net/WebSales/pages/TicketSearchCriteria.aspx?epguid=589a614d-2877-433e-b83d-8a6ec07a5672&evtinfo=24843~ca003198-c117-4513-af24-4939c80f8413&

2011-12-01 23:21:37 (0 comments, 3 reshares, 3 +1s)

Syrian Customs ban the iPhone because it has what the document describes as: "banned features" I can't verify the authenticity of this document.

2011-11-17 07:37:15 (1 comments, 6 reshares, 5 +1s)

Great, now I'm in a Kevin Macleod book....

2011-11-13 07:00:13 (0 comments, 2 reshares, 5 +1s)

Solidarity for Alaa at OccupySF

2011-11-12 06:43:45 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Please add Prachatai Page to your circle and share it too.

2011-11-08 18:25:45 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 6 +1s)

There, I made Noisebridge G+ compatible. Let the poorly-considered consequences roll!

2011-10-21 21:08:50 (7 comments, 2 reshares, 3 +1s)

2011-10-06 03:37:34 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

This picture makes it look that Dyson has Liz on her lap

2011-10-01 22:56:05 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

Earlier this week I attended a remarkable meeting, convened by the Committee to Protect Journalists, to discuss Internet freedom issues from the perspective of the incredibly brave activist-journalists from repressive regimes. They face more than the copyright cartel when they do their jobs. They face torture and death. They humble the rest of us.

They were in California for a series of meetings with some of Silicon Valley's best technical people as well as lawyers who deal with Internet freedom issues. The half-day gathering I attended in San Francisco was off the record, but I learned about things I'll be discussing separately.

Meanwhile, CPJ's +Danny O'Brien, who put the activists' Silicon Valley tour together, has posted his own take on their visit. Take a look.

2011-09-29 20:32:55 (7 comments, 5 reshares, 12 +1s)

I'm just finishing off an amazing few days. The Thiel Foundation helped CPJ fly some of the most cutting-edge bloggers, activists and reporters working in dangerous countries or with vulnerable groups to Silicon Valley. I've been escorting them around the companies and organizations here, including large tech firms, EFF, and (naturally) Noisebridge.

Then, somewhat cruelly, I locked them and the most brilliant local techy people I could cajole into a tiny stuffy room with bad Wi-Fi, and had them tell their stories to each other.

I think everyone we spoke with knew, in theory, that we live in a world where state-level actors and organized criminals have an interest in breaking the Internet: but to speak with the dedicated people who deal with this on a day-to-day, life and death, basis, truly transforms the discussion.

There is much I'd do differently the next time... more »

2011-09-29 19:08:31 (2 comments, 1 reshares, 15 +1s)

For my birthday, I want my friends to remember this. Many of you on these social networks got to know me well after I was nineteen, which is when I started to turn my life around, so you may not know about my, honestly, somewhat thuggish past. But some of you were around then. Those of you I still talk to are, in part, responsible for the turn around in my life. You provided a ladder up out of the path that I had set myself upon (and I believed was my only choice).

During the London riots, I've seen lots of you ask for simple solutions to complex societal problems. "Get the army out and kill them all", "They should be locked up and have the key thrown away", "They're irredeemable scum" are the types of sentiment that I'm paraphrasing that I've seen from many of my friends.

Don't get me wrong here. There's plenty of punishment... more »

2011-09-23 03:35:36 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

Such a great picture of Mike as jedi master: http://blog.noisebridge.net/2011/09/22/let-there-be-light/

2011-09-19 22:44:23 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 2 +1s)

Pssst! Hacker Prom at Noisebridge Oct. 1. Bring a robot date!

https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Hacker_EPROM_2011

2011-09-13 21:13:37 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 4 +1s)

This is just a fantastic collection -- the choice and ordering of the pictures is so well done. I remember when Alan Taylor left the Boston Globe. He was the single person behind the creation and curation of the Globe's Big Picture feature. I understand why the Globe wanted to keep the Big Picture in-house, but I'm delighted Taylor was able to create his own audience at the Atlantic, in the face of having to effectively compete with the brand he built himself.

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/09/vladimir-putin-action-man/100147/

2011-09-11 22:28:31 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Mike from Noisebridge's tribute to 9/11

2011-09-06 23:11:59 (2 comments, 1 reshares, 3 +1s)

Just when I think that the Diginotar trainwreck could not get more trainwrecky, it jumps another few rails. Reading the ComodoHacker's pastebins at http://pastebin.com/u/ComodoHacker with a sceptical eye...

2011-09-06 01:23:59 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 11 +1s)

Happiness is having a hard disk crash, finding your remote backup script still works, and then finding all the encryption keys still work too. Phew!

2011-08-31 04:40:26 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 6 +1s)

Diverse reading!

2011-08-30 06:49:07 (5 comments, 12 reshares, 19 +1s)

Woah, I just found out that +Anas Maarawi the Syrian tech blogger, has been released from jail after he +1'd a post I made about him and started following me. He was one of the first to join Google+, and I wondered at the time whether he was the first to be arrested for online freedom of speech.

Sad how this comes just after Eric Schmidt, in answering a question about G+'s real names policy, had apparently implied that Syrians and Iranians who are at risk simply shouldn't use Google+. Of course, Anas is one of the biggest names in the Arab Android community too, as the host of http://ardroid.com/ .

Also, today, I note that an (apparently) Iranian Google Chrome user warned Google that someone had obtained fake Google.com certificates, and was using them to break Google's secure connections in Iran. That's a major security issue for Google users worldwide -- and it... more »

2011-08-30 04:59:44 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

It's not quite up there with the live home birth being streamed from Tennessee right now: http://www.blogher.com/watch-home-birth-live , but I'm going to do another one of my publicly-streamed Irish Times column writing sessions at http://thepub.endofgreatness.com/ for the next hour or so. Watch a live human typing into terminal windows!

I'll also be hanging out at #endofgreatness on irc.freenode.net, though I really have no idea why.

2011-08-30 00:28:00 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

"Social media is no longer a Western phenomenon. It is rapidly spreading around the world, being deployed for a wide variety of purposes. Technology companies must come to terms with the power of the tools they have created, the many ways in which they are used, and the diversity of their markets. That means bringing “extreme users” into conversations about security and privacy and providing additional layers of protection for people sharing in difficult environments. It means recognizing that security is no longer just a first-world problem."

2011-08-26 20:29:47 (3 comments, 7 reshares, 11 +1s)

A (reported) self-portrait of beaten Syrian cartoonist, Ali Ferzat.

2011-08-26 15:47:07 (3 comments, 3 reshares, 3 +1s)

http://www.phoboslab.org/ztype/

7472, AND TOO MUCH TIME WASTED

2011-08-25 06:16:41 (1 comments, 4 reshares, 12 +1s)

"A lot of people in our industry haven’t had very diverse experiences. So they don’t have enough dots to connect, and they end up with very linear solutions without a broad perspective on the problem. The broader one’s understanding of the human experience, the better design we will have." - Steve Jobs, 1996

2011-08-24 16:15:56 (8 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Noticeable uptick in people using PGP for communications with me. I don't know whether to be pleased or worried...

2011-08-19 18:18:41 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

Wait, CEX is now in San Francisco!? Was there a state opening by Charlie Brooker?

2011-08-18 04:34:49 (18 comments, 0 reshares, 7 +1s)

I'm halfway through Neuromancer after a gap of maybe 15 years. I've forgotten more than I remember. I'm reading it on a Kindle, which is disturbing enough. Also that I'm tempting to read bits of it to Ada to hear her opinion.

But then I put it down and read William Gibson retweeting a joke I wrote earlier today.

I do sometimes miss the narrative stability the Soviets bought us for a few decades.