Journalists who write about the internet should use Google more

Jackson Diehl at the Washington Post seems convinced that a new technology can take down the Iranian regime. He knows this because the the makers of the new technology have told him so in what I think is very humble language:

The companies’ volunteer founders and operators say that if they could get $30 million in funding they could ramp up their server networks to accommodate millions more users — and effectively destroy the Internet controls of Iran and most other dictatorships.

Got it? Give us 30 million and we will end monitoring of the internet over the world!  The technology in question is UltraReach, a type of circumvention software that allows users to evade internet firewalls.  The software works well enough, but the company’s servers keep crashing when too many people use it.  This causes them to limit the amount of people who can use it, and limit the amount of sites users can visit through it.   Diehl seems to agree with the makers of the software that they need more money, and he takes the State Department to task for not spending the money quicker to beef up the servers. Continue reading »

The ‘Africa Porn’ Problem

Aid Watchers reports an unintended consequence of political satire, although I believe Wronging Rights figured this out first.  I think all conclusions draw by both blogs are fair, and yes, I do stay out of Fairfax.

The internet makes us stupid

The internet, the world’s greatest distraction:

The Internet is an interruption system. It seizes our attention only to scramble it…we start to read faster and less thoroughly as soon as we go online. Plus, the Internet has a hundred ways of distracting us from our onscreen reading.

This sounds right to me!

Again, Twitter never caused a revolution

OK. We’ve been through this before. Many, many times before, in fact. Technology is a medium, not a force for that favors good or evil. What matters is the intent of the user.

Somebody’s mad at somebody on the internets

This rant is both funny and informative.