Internet Special #1 - Piracy (yarrrr), copyright, and political involvement

The trial of infamous BitTorrent tracker indexing site, The Pirate Bay, began two week ago. Rolling into court in their interesting choice of locomotion, half of their charges were dropped immediately due to a misunderstanding of how BitTorrent trackers work.

Image courtesy of TorrentFreak

On the fifth day of the trial, another misunderstanding came up regarding the structure of The Pirate Bay, which is unlike traditional top-down corporations. As The Pirate Bay's Fredrik Neij responded. "The one who wants to do something just does it." This trial shows the core of the problem. Copyright holders, moving too slow to adapt with the changing market, have turned to blanket lawsuits and pressuring for legislation to protect their industry. Politicians pressured to create legislation to regulate the wild west of the Internet do not fully understand the issues of the Internet. They face intense pressure from lobby groups to stop online theft. They live in fear of words like "child pornography" and "child predators". These are serious problems, but legislators cannot be led by unfounded fears. CBC Search Engine, Episode 19 (Go to 7:19) New Zealand legislators, under pressure from lobby groups, nearly implemented a law that, after three accusations of copyright infringement, would disconnect New Zealanders from the Internet by their providers. There was no recourse to debate an accusation, and industry groups have a history of false accusations. This was the first such law in the world, but luckily, the law was repealed at the beginning of this week after a large protest ensued on the Internet. A similar copyright situation unraveled in Canada when legislators, like then Minister of Industry Jim Prentice, attempted to introduce Bill C-61 without consulting citizens. Once again, a protest, spearheaded by Michael Geist, rapidly assembled online. In conclusion, piracy cannot be stopped through legislation. Media companies will have to adapt, and adapt as quickly as the Internet evolves. Politicians need to get a better understanding of technology, or consult with people who do understand it. P.S. Watch this TED video of Larry Lessig discussing "How creativity is being strangled by the law."

Internet: Three-part special

I've noticed a lot of important issues surrounding the Internet in the past week. These issues encompass the three topics of my blog: media, technology, and politics, so I've decided to do a three-part series on the Internet. The three-part series will cover these topics:

1. Piracy (yarrrr), copyright, and political involvement
2. Bandwidth usage and network management (aka throttling)
3. The unseen future, and why limiting it would be bad

It looks like a lot, but I think these topics are important for the future of the Internet, which continues to play a larger role in our lives. P.S. Apple released a beta of Safari 4 for Windows and Mac today. It's apparently a really fast browser. Fast is good.

Food Fridays: A Grand Adventure in Growing

I've decided to grow a few of my own veggies this summer after reading this blog post by Eat Local London. I don't have a green thumb, but I don't have a history of killing plants, so that's a good start. Eat Local London recommended Terra Edibles, so I placed an order with them tonight. It's more insane than going to a grocery store without a list. There are so many choices, and most seed packets are only $2.50 (plus a $5.95 flat rate for shipping). I was able to narrow my choices down to seven items, which is still two more than I had intended. I ended up getting:

• tomatoes: gourmet mix (small)
• tomatoes: black plum
• golden zucchini
• straight eight cucumbers
• sweet basil
• thyme
• coriander/cilantro

Images courtesy of Terra Edibles.

I will be growing these in pots, unless my landlord gives me permission to dig up the backyard, which I doubt will happen. I don't know how this will turn out, but I guess it will be an adventure. My predictions are:

1. I'll end up with a bunch of dying, bug-eaten plants with sad-looking vegetables. I'll even draw sad faces on them.
2. I'll plant way more than I need, and I'll be giving everybody zucchinis.
3. It'll work out fine, and I'll have the freshest tomatoes ever.

Which prediction do you think will come true? Place your bets! (Kidding.) P.S. How do you stimulate the economy? If you're President Obama, buy a cookie at ByWard Market.

Politics: Omar Khadr, Canadian Government (Follow Up)

With President Obama in Canada today, I thought it would be appropriate to do a follow up to my Omar Khadr video (even though, I doubt Khadr will be discussed). I have three things I'd like to point out.

1. Khadr's status as a child soldier? While there is still some who debate his status as a child soldier, UNICEF defines a child soldier as "any person under 18 years of age who is part of any kind of regular or irregular armed force or armed group in any capacity". I have not heard any substantial reason why he should not be considered a child soldier.
2. Should he still be tried in the States? I think an important issue is whether he should still stand trial in the United States, or whether he should be brought back to Canada. Some believe that he should remain in the United States for trial. This is a valid argument because he was captured by Americans, and is accused of killing an American soldier. However, I disagree because the United States had their chance to provide a fair trial, and they messed it up with the questionable methods used at the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center.
3. Where is the presumption of innocence? On the Internet, I find people calling him names like terrorist, traitor and murderer. Under our legal system, people have the presumption of innocence. I think we should keep it that way.

P.S. Here's the official agenda for President Obama's visit today.

Media: Why I respect Facebook

Let me make one thing clear, I'm pretty anti-privacy when it comes to Internet. I see the Internet the same as going outside, and I have no expectation of privacy. That being said, even I became a little concerned when Facebook changed their Terms of Use. It became too broad over what they did and didn't have license to, and meant that they could essentially own your information forever. Luckily, on February 17, 2008, this image popped up at the top of Facebook: One of the reasons why I respect Facebook as a company is how in touch they are with their users. Facebook is able to discern between actual concerns and protests. For example, take the ridiculous amount of groups that popped up when Facebook made a major update. (I thought the update was great, and thought people had just became happy with the familiar, even if it was mediocre. But that's a blog post for another time.) But, Facebook knew that the protests would die down. But when they encounter actual concerns, they are quick to turn around. They did this with Facebook Beacon, and they did this with their Terms of Use. I respect this ability to respond to their users, especially because they deal with such personal information. Or maybe they are just an evil corporation slowly duping us into complacency with our deepest, sensitive secrets. Take your pick. P.S. I don't like how MySpace has become the default space for bands and artists. If they were going to pick one, at least bands and artists could have picked a nicer social network. Yes, bands and artists all work in consensus.

Media/Politics: The Internet fails (and everybody who disagrees is an idiot)

Warning: This blog post is borderline rant. The Internet was supposed to improve our democracy and give everybody a voice. We were supposed to be able to express our opinions and discuss social problems to affect political action. But I've realized the Internet does not improve democracy. In fact, I think the Internet is becoming a detriment to democracy. Why? Because one thing that a democracy is supposed to have is a thriving public sphere, where people are able to reason with each other. (Habermas, anyone?) The Internet does not provide this. Instead, the Internet has become, not a place of discourse, but a place to reaffirm one's opinion. With the benefit of hyperlinking, I can quickly find people who agree with me. Plus, with the benefit of customization, I can easily shut out or shut down differing opinions. The Internet has become just another place to have a shouting match. Take Digg as an example. I used to be a member of Digg and enjoyed the democratizing effect that it had on selecting what news is important. But, I eventually couldn't stand the Digg community because no matter how rational your opinion was, if the majority of people disagreed with your comment, it would be dugg down and hidden away. I also believe that this sentiment is spilling back into our real lives. Check out this story about a girl who decided to wear a t-shirt saying "McCain Girl" to her school doing the American presidential campaigns. The responses she got ranged from calling her "stupid" to "very stupid" to telling her to go die. It's pretty clear that the Internet played a large part of the Obama campaign. I believe the sentiment expressed at this girl's school can be linked to similar sentiments expressed (by both political sides) on the Internet. It's not an issue of which side of a debate you fall on. It's an issue that the Internet has polarised our opinions and allows us to disregard differing points of view. In conclusion, if anybody disagrees with me, I'm clearly right, and you're clearly wrong. P.S. That title of this post, and the last sentence were ironic. P.P.S. How can we make the Internet a better place for respectful social discourse? Leave a comment.

One month and still going strong.

It's one month into my blogging course, and I've been blogging five times (sometimes more) per week. So far, so good. Here are my thoughts so far:

• It started a lot tougher than it is now. I literally spent the entire first week worrying about my blog. I find that I'm more relaxed about posts now.
• I feel that my blog is contributing to social discourse, but I don't feel like the blog itself generates discourse. I wish more people would add comments or criticisms if you agree or disagree with me.
• Blogging has affected my writing style. I find the need to write everything in short paragraphs with embedded links.

Now, I want to know what you think:

• What do you think about my blog so far, and the more serious topics of my articles?
• What are things that I'm doing well? Things that I can improve on?

Leave feedback for me in the comments. P.S. I've changed the way my feed works. So if you're viewing this in an RSS reader, you'll now be able to read the entire post. I figure that I'll let you read my blog on whatever medium that you want to.

Food Fridays: First memory of food

Food is both a personal, and a communal matter. Everyone can attribute different memories, and feelings to different food. Food also plays an important role in bringing people together. Especially for Valentine's Day (ugh... hehe), a lot of people's plans will be around food. As I've mentioned in an earlier post, the reason I enjoy cooking is because I spend so much time around technology. It gives a sense of balance to my increasingly digital life. Plus, I like eating, so cooking means I have food to eat. Looking at food as a personal matter, I'm drawn to think about my memories of food. My earliest memory of food was was at my babysitter’s house where I spent several summers when I was young. She made amazing food. And I can remember how amazed I was at seeing her make bread from scratch. For me, bread had always come in bags from the supermarket, so seeing the dough rise on the counter was a new experience. I think that was the moment where I realized the care that goes into making food from scratch. What is your earliest memory of food? Leave a comment. P.S. I had my first foray into making dough this week. I tried making steamed Chinese buns. Here's a photo:

Media: 5 ways to to overload on info, then sort it out.

While some people think the Internet is an overload of information, I revel in it. The benefit is you get a wider base of information and opinions. Instead of letting an editor decide what is important, I'm allowed to make that decision. I currently subscribe to 141 RSS feeds and 48 podcasts, ranging from mainstream news sources to niche design blogs. Insane, I know. Here are my suggestions for staying on top of that much information:

1. Be niche. This might seem like an obvious one, but subscribe to things that interest you. I subscribe to many feeds and podcasts, but they cover Canadian news, media, politics, technology, and design. These are all things that I am really interested in.
2. Skim headlines and summaries. I know this was considered bad practice in the day of newspapers, but I think it's completely acceptable these days. For the majority of news stories, headlines give me enough information about them. If I really care about a topic, I'll read the entire story. And chances are, if a news item is that important, you'll see a lot of headlines about it.
3. Don't check all the time. Close your RSS reader, and check only a few times per day. I may have 800 unread articles when I get back, but it takes less time to sit down a few times per day and go through them at once.
4. Use smart filtering. If you use an RSS reader, create smart lists that group articles based on a criteria. For example, if you like cupcakes, create a smart list that will group articles that have the word "cupcake" in them. (And, if you like cupcakes, these cupcakes take the cake. Get it? I made a pun.) The best smart list that I have is one that keeps track of the articles that I have read.
5. Don't be afraid to "Mark as Read". At first, I actually tried to read everything that fell into my RSS reader. This is definitely not possible. If you find that you've fallen too far behind, just highlight them all, click "Mark as Read", and give yourself a fresh start.

Hope that helps everyone. P.S. If I could add a sixth suggestion, it'd be to ask me what is happening in Canadian news, media, politics, media, or technology. Because I subscribe to so much, I can do the filtering for you.

Politics: Omar Khadr and the Canadian Government

Here's my first attempt at a vlog post. Video and audio quality aren't the best, but I'll work on that. Thanks for watching. P.S. Here's some more food for thought: Should teachers be paid based on student performance? And should corporations pay for recycling?

Weekend Wrap-up - February 8

Here's your weekend wrap-up. A list of important events that happened in the past week, and things to look forward to this coming week.

• "Buy American" frustration Obama took a lot of heat from the international community for a "Buy American" protectionist provision in the American bailout. The provision stated that only U.S-made goods could be used in public works funded by the bailout. On the topic of Obama, it was also revealed that Obama's February 19 visit to Canada may only last a few hours, and he might not even leave the airport.

• Federal budget passed (Tues, Feb 3) Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff decided to not vote down the budget, but was able to get the amendments he asked for. This decision has split the coalition. Michael Ignatieff also allowed Newfoundland MP's to vote against the budget in an act of protest

• Amazon expected to announce new Kindle (Mon, Feb 9) As mentioned in a previous blog post, Amazon is expected to announce the second generation of their popular e-book readers on Monday.

And that's your weekly wrap-up. PS. Two potential Internet memes popped up this week: Christian Bale's freakout (NSFW), and David After Dentist. Here's a mashup of them. Warning: Video contains swearing.

Food Fridays: Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

Nothing is better than a good bowl of soup. They're delicious, easy to make, and you can make a lot. I started buying squash at the end of last fall, mostly because they were in season, and are inexpensive. Since then, I've been tweaking a roasted butternut squash soup recipe, and I think that it's finally good enough to share. I've even made it for my family, and they said it was pretty good. The best thing about this soup is that it can be eaten both hot, and cold. Roasted Butternut Squash Soup Ingredients ❑ 1 medium to large butternut squash ❑ olive oil ❑ 2 cloves garlic, peeled and diced ❑ ginger, peeled and diced ❑ 1 onion, chopped ❑ 2 stalks celery, chopped ❑ 2 carrots, chopped ❑ 1 large potato, cubed ❑ spices (paprika, chili powder, cumin) ❑ chicken or vegetable stock ❑ salt and pepper, to taste Directions Roasting butternut squash:

1. Preheat oven to 350°C.
2. Cut squash in half length wise, and remove seeds.
3. Brush inside and outside of squash with oil. Sprinkle salt on inside.
4. Roast squash in oven for 45-60 minutes, or until squash is tender.
5. When squash is finished roasting, remove skin from skin, and cut into cubes.

Making soup:

1. Heat oil in stock pot. Add onion, and sauté until onion begins to brown.
2. Add garlic, and ginger. Sauté until garlic softens but does not brown.
3. Add celery, carrots, potato, spices. Cook until vegetables soften.
4. Add squash, and pour in enough stock to cover vegetables. Bring to a boil.
5. Reduce heat to low, cover pot, and simmer for 40 minutes, or until vegetables are tender.
6. Add salt and pepper to taste. Salt may not be necessary if stock is salty enough.
7. Blend mixture. Water or stock may be added to achieve desired consistency.

If you have suggestions for making this recipe even better, or have a suggested soup recipe that you'd like to share, please leave a comment. P.S. I'm planning on trying a beef, lentil, and barley soup this weekend. Hopefully that goes well.

Quick Post: Missing Fanshawe student - UPDATE

I posted about the search for a missing Fanshawe student happening just outside my house earlier this afternoon. Unfortunately, the search was called off when the body of Jesse Hare was found, according to the London Free Press. My condolences go out to the family, and friends of Jesse Hare.

Quick Post: Missing Fanshawe student

I woke up this morning to a police car sitting outside my house. Later in the day, I saw several more police cars, a few emergency response teams, and a police mobile command centre. I knew something was up, but my roommate, Erika, just found out what it was. According to London Free Press, they are searching Gibbons Park for Jesse Hare, a Fanshawe multimedia student, who was last seen Thursday at midnight.

"Hare, 20, is 5'5 and about 130 lbs (58 kg). He has shoulder-length brown hair and is clean-shaven. He's believed to be wearing a dark brown leather jacket with a white or beige horizontal stripe across the chest and arms, a red t-shirt, black jeans and leather shoes" - London Free Press

If you have more information, please call London Police at 519-661-5670.

Media: Has the blogosphere hit critical mass?

While I recently started blogging, it is not a new phenomena. It's been a steadily growing media for several years. Since 2002, Technorati has been indexing the blogosphere. Starting in 2004, they have released an annual report entitled "State of the Blogosphere". In the 2007 State of the Blogosphere, they show a number of statistics on the continued growth, and development of blogs. To find out more, visit a blog post by David Sifry, Technorati's founder. While the focus of the report was on the growth of blogs, the role of blogs has become a more important discussion recently. As the blogosphere matures, I think the idea of blogging is becoming more muddled, instead of clearer. The line between professional journalists and bloggers is blurring. Even journalists are having to accept this. The 2007 report looked at the ranking of blogs compared to mainstream news sources. But, the 2008 State of the Blogosphere report looked less at the growth, and more at the development of blogs both as a medium, and in society. As the boundaries between what has typically been called journalism, and blogging slowly shrink, what will be left? My hope is that journalism, and blogging will combine their beneficial aspects. Some beneficial aspects of blogging are already being embraced by journalism. For example, the interactivity, and social media is being picked up by mainstream news sources. A recent study showed that the CBC is leading the way for Canadian media outlets in generating buzz on social media, including comments on their website. However, some negative aspects, come along with that. For example, there is a rise of inflammatory comments, and disrespect for people with other opinions due to the anonymity that online media can provide. My major concern is that mainstream media, which blogs draw a lot from, are in the throes of downsizing, but I don't think blogs are ready to replace them as the main source of information. P.S. I'm not sure if Technorati counts blogs that only have one post. I hope not. Blogs with one post frustrate me.

Technology: Print is dead. Maybe.

It was a busy weekend for me, so I unfortunately missed both the Food Friday, and my Weekend Wrap-Up. But, I promise those features will be back next weekend. Amazon has been making large splashes in the news with the announcement of a media event at New York City's Morgan Library & Museum on February 9. The obvious conclusion for this media event is the release of the second generation Kindle. The Amazon Kindle is an e-book reader, which is a device meant specifically for reading electronic books, including newspapers, books, and magazines in digital format. While there have been attempts in the past to create such technology, the Kindle moved beyond just a gadget for tech geeks, and reached mainstream popularity. Back in October, the device was featured on Oprah Winfrey's show, and being on her show provides an astronomical boost to interest in the Kindle. But does this next generation Kindle signal the end of print as we know it? Is print doomed as headlines might trumpet? As cool as the Kindle is, I don't believe that print is doomed. Not because most people still find reading on paper easier, but because it takes a lot more for one medium to replace another. Television, for example, was supposed to replace radio. That did not exactly happen. I, also, believe that the world moves between extremes. When it reaches too far to one side, things tend to balance out. In music, look at the slow rise in sales of vinyl records, as music becomes increasingly digitized. In society, a rise in surveillance will lead to an outcry for freedom. Even in my personal life, I think one of the reasons that I got into cooking was to balance becoming increasingly technologically immersed. My prediction is that people will become so heavily entrenched with digital technology that we will be driven back to things that are more "real". We're not at that point yet, but that day is coming. When it does, I'll be happily reaching for a good novel. What are your predictions for the future of digital versus analog? High-tech versus low-tech? P.S. Web designers take note. Here's a drawing pad with a web browser built in. (Hunting Lodge via Gizmodo)