Via TorrentFreak, news of an important political development: “The Pirate Bay verdict is being criticized by the Swedish public and protests are being planned. Opposition to the decision is widespread, indicated partly by the surge in new memberships to Sweden’s Pirate Party. It has seen its ranks grow by 20% in the handful of hours… Continue reading
Date archives "April 2009"
The emergence of the post-piratical era and the future of P2P
Since some ten years now, a strong mentality has been established among the world’s Internet users which expects unregulated duplication to be the natural mode of the network. And human mentality is something which tends to be hard to change. Probably the best analysis of the consequences of the Pirate Bay trial, which appeared in… Continue reading
Ryan Lanham: dissolving universities?
Excerpt from a debate on our p2p-research list, about the future of universities in a p2p world. In this excerpt, Ryan Lanham responded to Nottingham Trent University network theory sociologist Andreas Wittel. Ryan Lanham: “I think your answer was right on the money with regard to what I was getting at…universities are unlikely to succeed… Continue reading
The emergence of a fashion ‘maker’ industry in Argentina
From a report by Ethan Zuckerman, which appeared in Worldchanging: ” it’s extremely cool to be dressed in locally made clothing. Hand-printed t-shirts are ubiquious on men, often featuring the logos of bands who would happily sue the designers into penury, if they could only find them. (The Ramones logo, refigured with Hunter S. Thompson… Continue reading
Louis Wolcher and Massimo de Angelis on the Meaning of the Commons
Video presentation, recommended by the Commoner blog: “Great opening talk by Law Prof. Louis Wolcher on a one day conference »The Law of the Commons« organized by the Seattle Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild Friday, March 13, 2009. He is speaking about the forgotten tradition of commoning as a social practice of people taking… Continue reading
Amazon not so kind with Kindle users
Bruce Sterling reminds us to be wary of proprietary devices: “Kindle users have been grumbling lately about Amazon locking them out of their accounts, reportedly due to an overly high volume of returns on their Kindle books. ChannelWeb draws attention to the plight of one user who admitted to three “high-priced returns,” though he denied… Continue reading
Is there a simpler way?
The (Australian) Simpler Way website seems a remarkable collection of material, I’ve asked for commentary which was provided by Kevin Carson. Commentary by Kevin Carson: As you say, it’s a remarkable collection of material. I’ve only had time to look through the titles that caught my eye as related to my own areas of interest:… Continue reading
Governmental transparency: from 1.0 to 2.0
Via. Nick Troiano: ““transparency 1.0” was government opening up its data for citizens to see. That age dawned in 1966 when Congress passed and President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Freedom of Information Act. Another transparency 1.0 manifestation was when government entities started setting up Web sites. But the communication was all one way,… Continue reading
Neighborhood-based solar energy purchasing
Via WorldChanging: “‘One Block Off The Grid’ (1BOG for short) groups local residents together to negotiate better deals on solar. The idea, born out of conversations between Dave Llorens, now General Manager, and Co-founders Sylvia Ventura and Dan Barahona, is designed to create a ‘tipping point’ in renewable energy adoption. By grouping people together, Llorens… Continue reading
Chris Cook on the necessity for a Peer to Peer Credit Architecture
Excerpt from a longer post here. Chris Cook: “There is no reason why credit creation should not be re-architected rapidly and virally into a new Peer to Peer credit architecture. In this model credit is created P2P between sellers and buyers within a networked framework of trust (ie Master Partnership agreements I call ”Guarantee Societies”)… Continue reading
Urban Commons (3): Community Land Trusts
In the UK, a CLT is defined as follows: “A Community Land Trust is a mechanism for the democratic ownership of land by the local community. Land is taken out of the market and separated from its productive use so that the impact of land appreciation is removed, therefore enabling long-term affordable and sustainable local… Continue reading
The role of internet and other media in Thailand’s strife
We’re drawing mainly from an article by Evgeny Morozov, probably the world’s best expert on political usage of the internet, now writing for Foreign Policy’s Net Effect. We’re quoting by media type. 1. YouTube videos Evgeny writes: “Ethan Zuckerman’s post about the infamous video in which Thaksin supposedly acknowledges that he’s been paying his supporters;… Continue reading
John Robb on the need for scale invariance in resilient communities
Useful lesson in network theory and p2p strategy from John Robb. John Robb: “Essentially, scale invariance means that across all scaling factors (large, medium, small, tiny, etc.), the properties that define the whole are conserved (intelligence, mobility, form, productivity, etc.). Scale invariance is a requirement for societal resilience.” Why is this important? “Our global system… Continue reading
The Urban Commons (2): Vida Urbana’s campaign against foreclosures
A case study by Philip Cryan: “City Life/Vida Urbana, a community organization in Boston that is a founding member of the Right to the City alliance, has taken a leading role in demonstrating how grassroots groups can transform the debate about foreclosures. Over the last couple years, City Life/Vida Urbana has led more than a… Continue reading
The morality of filesharing: why the Pirate Bay founders are p2p heroes
I have spent loads of money on records. No not cd’s or mp3’s but records. Most of these have been undegrround dance type records that support smalltime artists. If it wasn’t for the music discovery I get through mp3s I wouldnt go to the record shop to listen to them or to then buy them…. Continue reading
Peer governing social networks: Citizen of Facebook?
I’m heartened at the prospect that the amazing engine of private enterprise may find creative ways to tap into and reinforce our civic instincts Jonathan Zittrain reports on governance reform at Facebook. While freedom has never been granted from above, this move may be seen as a response to social pressure and a way to… Continue reading