Tag: internet

The resentment machine: The immiseration of the digital creative class [Essay]

Freddie deBoer’s calls the Internet the resentment machine in his scathing essay.

The role of the resentment machine: to amplify meaningless differences and assign to them vast importance for the quality of individuals. For those who are writing the most prominent parts of the internet—the bloggers, the trendsetters, the über-Tweeters, the tastemakers, the linkers, the creators of memes and online norms—online life is taking the place of the creation of the self, and doing so poorly.

Not entirely untrue, although blaming the tool for lack of discipline seems to be the choice of every generation.

Spain’s new website ownership rules [Article]

A reminder to be thankful that you can view this link, because in  Spain, website owners can now get six years in prison for linking to copyrighted material.

The country enacted the law as a response to pressure from the US, where ironically the law is not as strict. Spain is in danger of being added to a list of countries that Washington considers to be the most egregious violators of copyright law, meaning it could be subject to trade sanctions from the US. 

The Internet of Things vs Access Framing – Bob Frankston [Article]

Bob advocates ambient connectivity:

If we want to see the weather on our wrist device we can’t just have it connect. Instead it must relay through another connected device and the providers are trying to set rules for how you can share a connection.

Sicksad was sick of the UK govt’s porn filter, so he built one himself! [Article]

So i hear the UK government wants to make a porn filter. About bloody time i reckon. I’m fed up of happily browsing the Internet for boobs, only to have non-porn related subject matter thrust down my face hole.
So taking inspiration from other great Internet filtering nations such as North Korea, China, Syria, Iran, Cuba, Bahrain, Belarus, Burma, Uzbekistan, Saudia Arabia and Vietnam I decided to help out the UK government and build an Internet filter that only allows pornographic material through.

Read on:

Our connected brains, memory & recall [article]

Dr Ben Martynoga writes about the connected brain in the School of Life:

 The information, entertainment and connectedness that the internet provides is highly compelling and often hugely useful. However ultimately we have to decide which devices to use, when to use them, and when to simply turn them off. 

Trusting Microsoft? How can anyone? [Article]

If you or your company uses Microsoft products, have a read through Glyn Moody’s article, in the wake of allegations that several companies in the US are complicit in helping the US government spy on the communications of people around the world.

Companies buy Microsoft products for many reasons, but they all assume that the company is doing its best to protect them. The latest revelations shows that is a false assumption: Microsoft consciously and regularly passes on information about how to break into its products to US agencies. What happens to that information thereafter is, of course, a secret. Not because of “terrorism”, but because almost certainly illegal attacks are being made against countries outside the US, and their companies.

Which is one of the other reasons why Bruce Schneir asks the question whether the US has started an Internet war.

To the internet giants, you’re not a customer. You’re just another user [Article]

John Naughton explains why to a reader who wrote in with this problem:

“As you write about the internet, I wondered if you knew how long it takes Yahoo to get back to people. I have an iPad, but went to the library to print a document (attached to an email). Yahoo knew I wasn’t on my iPad and asked me to name my favourite uncle. I replied, but Yahoo didn’t like my answer, so locked me out for 12 hours. I can’t get into my email account. Getting to the Help page is really difficult. Do you ever speak to anybody at Yahoo? I had to open another non-Yahoo email account, so I opened a Gmail account and it looks to have the same problem. Not easy to get in touch with anybody when things go wrong. I am sure I am not the only one who wants to discuss my problem with a human being. Yours sincerely…”

Mobile water companies and irrelevance [Article]

Ben Evans is an internet analyst, & writes that mobile operators innovations are irrelevant.

..the key point is that something can look like it’s an adjacent area when actually all of your skills and leverage points are irrelevant. Mobile operators have almost none of the skills and leverage points needed to be relevant for anything other than connectivity.

He echoes others that have argued essentially the same. He publishes an excellent free weekly newsletter that covers the tech/ telco industry, if you are interested in this industry.