You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours
Many of you will remember a little over a year ago when it was disclosed that certain phone companies -- specifically ATT, Verizon, and BellSouth -- were providing assistance to the National Security Agency in their illegal domestic spying. In a bizarre example of scratching each others' backs, today the Department of Justice came out against Net neutrality. That's right, since the telcos helped the federal government with their illegal wiretapping, the federal government felt it needed to make a statement again net neutrality. We've been tracking the net neutrality issue for a while, and find this blatent example of political favors very unseemly.
The Justice Department on Thursday said Internet service providers should be allowed to charge a fee for priority Web traffic. The agency told the Federal Communications Commission, which is reviewing high-speed Internet practices, that it is opposed to "Net neutrality," the principle that all Internet sites should be equally accessible to any Web user. Several phone and cable companies, such as AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and Comcast Corp., have previously said they want the option to charge some users more money for loading certain content or Web sites faster than others. The Justice Department said imposing a Net neutrality regulation could hamper development of the Internet and prevent service providers from upgrading or expanding their networks. It could also shift the "entire burden of implementing costly network expansions and improvements onto consumers," the agency said in its filing.
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Bookmobile Day 3: Bookmobilista lesson 101
Day 3: If you're ever thinking of being a bookmobilista, I advise you to learn how to endure over 90 degree summer heat in Northern California. James and I were sitting outside of the Madelyn Helling County Library in Nevada City for 5 hours with very little shade. It was obviously too hot to be out because there were very few visitors to the library.
There were a couple of tricks that I used to alleviate heat. First, I tried to trick myself saying it's not that hot -- even though I wasn't able to think much because of the heat. Second, I tried to be tough and stay focused. Neither of them worked. Eventually James got sunburn on his ankles and I stopped thinking. A librarian came out later and was surprised by our endurance.
Despite of unbearable heat, good bookmobilistas cann't ignore their duties - talking to library users about the importance of the public domain, questioning copyright, access to knowledge and supporting public libraries.
Many library staff came out throughout the day and asked about the bookmobile, but overall it was a slow day. While we were talking up the public domain, a couple of librarians asked about how to verify whether or not a book was in the public domain. We were so proud that we bookmobilistas made library staff think about public domain issues and why librarians have to advocate for the public domain.
Later on, a few elderly people asked if we had large format books to print out and also asked how they could get acces to the digital books if they have little or no access to the internet. For people who live "out in the boondocks" (as a couple of people put it!) the public library IS the place to connect to the net and the library is the closest thing to ubiquity for many of us. The digital divide is still alive and well even in the United States.
We are in Orland, CA tonight and will visit Orland Free Library tomorrow. As of the 2000 census, Orland had a total population of 6,281. Interestingly, while we are coming into the town from the south, we noticed a big sign saying "Want a laugh? See the Orland City Council on YouTube!" and shortly afterwards a sign for "Orland City Council recall petitions available here." While we haven't been able to verify what's happening on the City Council, we DID find their videos on youtube. This is a great example of how a small town city council can use internet technologies to get the word out and inform their community.
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National Security Archive sues White House over missing e-mails
Archive Sues to Recover 5 Million Missing White House E-mails, The National Security Archive, September 5, 2007.
The National Security Archive today sued the White House seeking the recovery and preservation of more than 5 million White House e-mail messages that were apparently deleted from White House computers between March 2003 and October 2005....
"The Bush White House broke the law and erased our history by deleting those e-mail messages," said National Security Archive director Tom Blanton. "The period of the missing email starts with the invasion of Iraq and runs through the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina."
White House Sued Again Over E - Mail, by The Associated Press, September 5, 2007
The White House abandoned an automatic archiving system for its e-mail in 2002 and did not replace it, says a lawsuit filed Wednesday against the Executive Office of the President.Continue reading
Bookmobile Day 2: Oohs & Ahs
Day 2: We got welcomed by Bob, the tipsy owner of the Featherbed B&B in Quincy. He proundly told us they have great healthy and tasty breakfasts prepared by the same cook who cooks for the hospital and hospice. Hmmmm hospital food has never been known as tasty, but we'll see. James pointed out this morning that all the food was very soft. I will leave you to your imagination.
After the "heathy" breakfast we drove to the Plumas County Library and set up the bookmobile. It happened to be the day that all of the branch librarians were meeting, so we were able to meet up with all librarians from Plumas county. They all came out to see the bookmobile and our demo -- and were pretty impressed.
After demonstrating the bookmaking process we definitely got oohs and ahs all around when we brought out the $100 laptop. IMHO I think we are getting better every day as bookmobilistas! Rightly, librarians asked us how our demo is relevant to their libraries since they don't have funds to purchase binder, printer, etc. We suggested they look through IA and other digitization projects and think of ways to incorporate digital books into their collections. For example, we suggested adding links in catalog records of any books that they own so that their users would be able to access the digital versions even if their physical copy was checked out. One librarian said this would be especially useful for helping out local high school students -- who have reading lists but the library is not able to keep enough copies for all of them. This day was a bit slower than yesterday, but Quincy is much smaller than Auburn. One memorable teen (who was being home-schooled) was really keen on the technology, and in helping us make a book, described the cutter (aka Bessie :-) ) as "smooth like butter!" It was great to see such an inquisitive young person.
Of course we can't pass a day without technical problems. After a lengthy interview with the head librarian, I found that my videotape was damaged and couldn't save any of the footage. Tonight we're in Nevada City and we'll be at the Madelyn Helling County Library doing our demo again. It's been really interesting to talk with people about the public domain, hearing their perspective on copyright etc. Check out more new photos here.
Continue readingTotal Recall: The Podcast
Weekly Recall Review is a 3-5 minute summary of product recalls and other consumer safety news from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. According to the podcast website, the 8/31/2007 show included "highlights back-to-school safety, including clothing with drawstrings, art supplies, playground equipment, portable soocer goals, and helmets"
This podcast joins its siblings on our government podcasts page. Have a listen and if you're a podcaster, consider dropping in part or all of one of these public domain podcasts into your own podcasts.