The FCC, Net Neutrality, and Broadband Speed
Scientific American has an excellent editorial that ties together the strands of FCC regulation, the lousy broadband speed we get in the U.S., and Network Neutrality.
- Why Broadband Service in the U.S. Is So Awful And one step that could change it, The Editors, Scientific America (October 4, 2010) A decade ago the U.S. ranked at or near the top of most studies of broadband price and performance. But that was before the FCC made a terrible mistake. In 2002 it reclassified broadband Internet service as an "information service" rather than a "telecommunications service." In theory, this step implied that broadband was equivalent to a content provider (such as AOL or Yahoo!) and was not a means to communicate, such as a telephone line.
CIA secret experiments tonight on National Geographic channel
Close on the heals of this recent Radio Lab story about CIA experiments at Harvard in the 1950s that may have had a dire impact on the [w:Ted Kaczynski] aka the Unabomber, and the recent news report that the US govt conducted Syphilis tests in Guatemala in the 1940s (not to mention the long-known about [w:Tuskegee syphilis experiment]s), tonight on the National Geographic channel is an in-depth look at "CIA Secret Experiments" during the [w:Cold War]. And for all you govt docs library geeks out there, you can read the Report to the President by the Commission on CIA Activities within the United States, June 1975 (aka the "Rockefeller Commission Report") available in libraries throughout the country -- find a nearby library here and here. It's also available online. From National Geographic Channel:
- In the wake of World War II, the U.S. government was engaged in a large number of confidential medical experiments designed to help win the Cold War. During these elicit experiments they exposed unknowing members of the public to biological and chemical agents, developed techniques for mind control, and even planned assassinations on powerful leaders of developing nations.
- Some methods that were considered for the distribution of these chemicals were to poison cigars, toothpaste, and ink.
- The CIA embarked upon a multimillion dollar, highly classified research program into the covert use of biological and chemical materials such as bacteria to infect the enemy, poisons for assassinations, and truth drugs for interrogations.
- Included in the medicine chest used for these experiments would have been anthrax, the plague, and brucellosis.
- A U.S. army experiment on New York City in 1966 exposed over a million people to the bacterium bacillus subtilis variant niger. Scientists used light bulbs filled with a combination of bacteria and charcoal particles, which they then dropped through vents onto the subway tracks.
- During this experiment, trillions of germs were released into the transit system during peak travel hours. The trials were conducted without the knowledge or cooperation of the NYC Transit Authority or Police Department.
- During this period, the CIA was also looking into the use of chemical substances for ways to manipulate and control human behavior; one such chemical that caught their attention was lysergic acid diethylamide, or LSD.
- The CIA recruited prisoner volunteers to be administered LSD as part of their experimentation. The prisoners who cooperated were sometimes given heroin as a reward. In one experiment, prisoners were kept on increasing doses of LSD for 77 consecutive days.
LOCKSS-USDOCS at Best Practices Exchange
I just got back from Best Practices Exchange 2010 (check out the growing list of available presentations and the twitter back channel!). It was a really solid conference -- a healthy mix of archivists, documents and other librarians, and technologists having project-oriented presentations with a healthy dose of discussion. The cherry on top was the engaging keynote by the David Ferriero, the Archivist of the US (AOTUS) (here's a good summary of AOTUS' talk). I was on a panel with Arlene Weible from OR State Library (Arlene gave a great talk on RAT, OSL's tool for collecting state documents -- I hope she posts her slides soon!) and presented about LOCKSS-USDOCS, the distributed documents preservation project. Take a look at the slides. We're looking for other participant libraries so email me if your library is interested (jrjacobs AT stanford DOT edu).
Welcome Pratt library students to the FGI podium
We've got a special treat for you this month. Several Pratt Library School students have volunteered to be FGI guest bloggers for the month of October. So welcome Johanna Blakely-Bourgeois, Krissa Corbett Cavouras, and Sara Medlicott to the FGI podium. Johanna, Kriss and Sara have agreed to take turns and put their names at the end of their posts so readers will be able to tell the difference between them. Take it away! And thanks also to SILS faculty member Debbie Rabina for helping to put this opportunity together for her students. Many thanks also goes to Nathan Yang, our guest blogger for September! Continue reading
Pratt SILS students, bloggers of the month for October 2010
Pratt Institute School of Information and Library Science (SILS) October 2010 FGI Guest Blogging Biographies Johanna Blakely-Bourgeois started her career as an attorney, having worked in the real estate industry for 8 years in New York City and having litigated bankruptcy and foreclosure cases for 2 years in both Pennsylvania and New Jersey prior to that. She is currently a full-time graduate student at Pratt Institute School of Information and Library Science, navigating the world of librarianship technology and terminology. Currently studying French and a former student of German, she seeks one day to steer her librarianship career into international waters. Krissa Corbett Cavouras worked as a writer and editor before beginning her master's degree in Information and Library Science at Pratt SILS. Her focus is on issues of copyright and open access, and her concentration at Pratt has been in legal research and government documents. She has worked at the Bar Association of the City of New York in their Library, and for the Copyright Advisory Office at Columbia University Libraries. She currently serves as Dr. Pattuelli's Graduate Assistant at Pratt SILS. Sara Medlicott is a Masters Candidate at the Pratt School of Information and Library Science. She is currently working on a digitization project at the Pratt Center for Community Development and volunteering with Correctional Services at New York Public Library. This past summer, Sara served as visiting library faculty at Universidad Francisco Marroquín, Guatemala City, where she taught a course on digital research. Continue reading