Cory Doctorow: We must ensure ISPs don't stop the next Google getting out of the garage | Technology | guardian.co.uk
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/may/19/we-must-ensure-google-garage

Technology | guardian.co.uk

If politicians want to effect economic recovery, national competitiveness, good public health and high civic engagement, they have a duty to keep the internet free and open. But politicians around the world seem willing to sacrifice their national interest to keep a few powerful phone and telcoms companies happy. this is like the phone company putting you on hold when your ring your local pizzeria, with a message inviting you to press one to be immediately connected to Domino's, its "preferred pizza partner".

Metering usage discourages experimentation. If you don't know whether your next click will cost you 10p or £2, you will become very conservative about your clicks. Just look at the old AOL, which charged by the minute for access...... Digital rights, digital wrongs index

Doctorow says the EU Telecoms reform package paves the way for ISPs and quangoes to block or slow access to websites and services on an arbitrary basis. Here's me thinking that one of the new rules is for authorities to set quality levels as as to promote net neutrality

Cory Doctorow: Allowing ISPs to have too much would drastically hinder the chances of fresh new startups developing into major businesses – as happened with Google

There's something you won't see mentioned by too many advocates of cloud computing – the main attraction is making money from you

_"...the main attraction of the cloud to investors and entrepreneurs is the idea of making money from you, on a recurring, perpetual basis, for something you currently get for a flat rate or for free without having to give up the money or privacy..."_ - no kidding, "Sherlock":people/Cory_Doctorow? Took you long enough to figure out...

"There's something you won't see mentioned by too many advocates of cloud computing – the main attraction is making money from you"

Cory Doctorow: There's something you won't see mentioned by too many advocates of cloud computing – the main attraction is making money from you

Cory Doctorow answers some standard objections against social media

Cory Doctorow erklärt uns im britischen Guardian, wieso Kritik an Social Media nicht immer den Kern der Sache trifft.

There are plenty of things to worry about when it comes to social media. They are Skinner boxes designed to condition us to undervalue our privacy and to disclose personal information. They have opaque governance structures. They are walled gardens that violate the innovative spirit of the internet. But to deride them for being social, experimental and personal is to sound like a total fool.

Go Cory! Go Cory! How to say stupid things about social media | Technology | guardian.co.uk

I don't call my parents in Canada and recount the latest additions to my daughter's vocabulary because they need to know that the kid can say "elephant" and "potty" now; I call them up to say, "all is well with your son and his family", and "you are in my heart", and "I love you". Criticizing the "banality" of Facebook conversation is as trite and ignorant as criticising people who talk about the weather. There's a reason we say "Did you sleep well?" at breakfast and "How was your weekend?" when we turn up to the office on Monday (and it's not that we care about the weekend or the rest).

Search technologies are too important for a single company to dominate

"Search is volatile and we'd be nuts to think that Google owned the last word in organising all human knowledge."

Enter search. Who needs categories, if you can just pile up all the world's knowledge every which way and use software to find the right document at just the right time?

good quotes about dewey and the internet

It may seem as unlikely as a publicly edited encyclopedia, but the internet needs publicly controlled search