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A Short History of the Computer, the FCC and Net Neutrality |
| Too busy getting slizzard to keep up with the last hundred years of computer history? Here's what you missed. 2400 BC: The Chinese invent the abacus and... well, that's a little far back. 1870: The US Census takes 7 years to tabulate. A census employee invents a way to store information on a punch card so that it could be read back later. He founds a company to make the product. He called it I-B-M. 1892: William S. Burroughs invents a fancy printable desk calculator. If that name sounds familiar... It's because he's the grandfather of this guy. 1943: The geniuses at Bletchely Park in London are charged with breaking the German Enigma cipher so the Allies can intercept Nazi messages during the war. The build the Colussus...A machine so big, even this guy's impressed. 1958: The integrated circuit is invented. So now we can use these...Instead of these. 1965: Moore's Law says we gotta go really fast now 1969: ARPANET - The Internet's Grandad. 1981: This guy invents TCP/IP. It... moves bits around. What are bits? No time! 1983: DNS is invented. 1989: The World Wide Web is invented. 1997: IBM's Deep Blue Supercomputer beats Gary Kasparov at chess. 2000: Napster is invented and Lars Ulrich gets really pissed off. 2005: Youtube lets anyone be a distributor...Seriously, anyone. 2006: Netflix reaches five-point-one million U-S subscribers. 2007: Hulu opens the doors to digital delivery of TV...Which makes Comcast really mad. And that's what you missed on...Geek ----- It's easy to take for granted the technology we have today. We don't question how our e-mail or text messages travel to one another. We accept them, like radio waves and the tax code. But the freedom of our data is in jeopardy, and it's time to start paying attention. 2009: Obama elects Julius Genachowski as Chairman of the FCC. He's got to get through the digital TV switch and bring the internets to rural America. 4/7/2010: The US Court of Appeals overturns tells the FCC it has no right to interfere with how companies like Comcast manage their data services. 8/9/2010: Google and Verizon release their own version of a broadband plan and urge the FCC to implement it. It doesn't cover wireless, leaves lots of loopholes for prioritization, and leaves it open for data companies to privatize parts of the Internet. And they want to regulate themselves. 11/17/2010: Republican Representative Marsha Blackburn vows to do whatever is necessary to stop any regulation of broadband traffic by the FCC. That same day: Verizon and Comcast call broadband regulation an engineering, not a political issue. Level 3 angrily informs us that Comcast is charging them to send data to Comcast customers. It's basically because Level 3 made an agreement to handle data for Netflix, which can sometimes be as much as twenty per-cent of U-S Internet traffic, and Comcast doesn't want to foot the bill for Level 3. 11/30/2010: AT&T meets with the FCC no less than six times this month to discuss broadband. 12/1/2010: Chairman Genachowski releases more information about the FCC's broadband plan. 1) It excludes wireless, just like Verizon wanted. 2) It leaves open the possibility for premium internet access. 3) It probably doesn't matter anyway. The April decision by the Court of Appeals pretty much removed the FCC's jurisdiction of data communications under Title 1. They'll have to fight long and hard (That's what she said, Marsha Blackburn) to prove authority of the telecoms. The FCC's open meeting for December is Tuesday, the 21st at 9:30AM CST You can watch it live at http://reboot.fcc.gov/live |
| Date: 23 December 2010 - Added by: KMC |
| Views: 764 - Votes: 2 - Rating: 5 |
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The 12 Days of Wikileaks: On the first day of Xmas, WikiLeaks gave to me: A [redacted] in a [redacted] tree... |
| zinasaundersdotcom | 23 December 2010 | A very Wiki Christmas from the editors at Mother Jones and political cartoonist Zina Saunders www.zinasaunders.com On the first day of Xmas, WikiLeaks gave to me: A [redacted] in a [redacted] tree... http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/... Two maids a-suing... http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/201... Three Gitmo manuals http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/... Four sheikhs a-fuming... http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/201... Five Palin emails... http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/... Six shady Afghans... http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/... Seven spooks a-sighing... http://motherjones.com/mojo/2010/08/w... Eight Iranian ninjas... http://motherjones.com/mojo/2010/12/w... Nine drunken Kazakhs... http://motherjones.com/mojo/2010/11/w... Ten climate changers... http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/20... 11 Assanges rappin'... http://motherjones.com/riffv2010/12/w... Twelve treason charges... http://motherjones.com/mojo/2010/12/u... |
| Date: 23 December 2010 - Added by: KMC |
| Views: 801 - Votes: 1 - Rating: 5 |
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Making Your Progressive Wish List and Checking it Twice |
| bravenewfoundation | 20 December 2010 |
| Date: 23 December 2010 - Added by: KMC |
| Views: 751 - Votes: 0 - Rating: 0 |
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START passes but at what cost?: Huge New Weapons Deals Part of Package |
| RTAmerica | 23 December 2010 The US Senate voted Wednesday to approve the new nuclear arms control treaty with Russia -- a major foreign policy victory for the Obama administration near the end of the lame-duck session of Congress. Although there was much Republican concern, should we be surprised the START treaty passed? Alice Slater New York Director of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation says she is not surprised by the passage because of the military spending package that Obama agreed too, which includes $83 billion to the nuclear weapons labs and $100 billion for new nuclear delivery systems plus three new bomb factories. |
| Date: 23 December 2010 - Added by: KMC |
| Views: 760 - Votes: 0 - Rating: 0 |
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FBI Expands Dragnet of Antiwar Activists: Electonic Intifada editor targeted -featuring Whistleblower Coleen Rowley |
| [SEE Pt 2 by clicking on arrow slider in best if the Web] Democracy Now! Thursday, December 23, 2010 democracynow.org The FBI's probe into antiwar activists is growing. In September, FBI agents raided the homes and offices of activists in Chicago and Minneapolis. Subpoenas that were withdrawn have been re-activated and a new subpoena was served to a Palestinian solidarity activist in Chicago. We speak with two of the people targeted and two former FBI agents. |
| Date: 23 December 2010 - Added by: KMC |
| Views: 836 - Votes: 4 - Rating: 5 |
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Why Does U.S. Need So Many Intelligence Agencies? -Featuring Former CIA Director, R. James Woolsey |
| December 22, 2010 CNN |
| Date: 23 December 2010 - Added by: KMC |
| Views: 762 - Votes: 3 - Rating: 4.34 |
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Exclusive Julian Assange Interview With Cenk Uygur |
| TYTInterviews | 22 December 2010 Transcript: http://tinyurl.com/24nwcxu Cenk Uygur (host of The Young Turks) interviewed WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan show. They discussed critics of Assange, the treatment of Private Bradley Manning and more. Portion of Transcript: CENK: Well Julian I want to get to as much as possible here so I want to give you a chance to respond one by one to your critics, first to Mitch McConnell who is of course the leader of the Republicans in the Senate and to Joe Biden who both said that called you a high tech terrorist how do you respond to Joe Biden the Vice President of the United States saying that to you? JULIAN: Well let's look at the definition of terrorism, the definition of terrorism is a group that uses violence or the threat of violence for political ends now no one in our four year publishing covering over 120 countries has ever been physically harmed as a result of what we've done. Now that's not just us saying that, that's the Pentagon saying that, that's NATO and Kabal saying that. No one, not a shred of evidence. Now believe me if they could find or even easily manufacture a shred of evidence they would be doing that immediately so it's clear that whoever the terrorists are here it's not us. But we see constant threats from people, Republicans in the Senate trying to make a name for themselves, to people like Sarah Palin to Shock Jocks on Fox and unfortunately some members also of the Democratic party calling for my assassination calling for the illegal kidnapping of my staff and just a few days ago on Fox that was the phrase that was used "illegal, he should be illegally murdered if necessary, assassinated by the law if possible if not illegally" what start of message does that send about the rule of law in the United States? That is conducting violence in order to achieve a political end the elimination of this organization or the threat of violence to achieve a political end the elimination of a publisher and that is the definition of terrorism. CENK: Now I want to give you a chance to respond personally though because here Mike Huckabee is making it very personal you saw that quote we had up, he says "I think anything less than execution is too kind a penalty for you" Sarah Palin saying that you are like Al-Qaeda and the Taliban and that you should be pursued with the same urgency so how would you respond to Mike Huckabee who is a top Republican leader, likely to run for President again. How would you respond to Sarah Palin, top Republican leader who might run for President again? JULIAN: Oh it's just another idiot trying to make a name for himself, but it's a serious business I mean if we are to have a civil society we cannot have senior people making calls on national TV to go around the Judiciary and illegally murder people that is incitement to commit murder that is an offense you cannot have senior people on national TV asking people to commit an offense. That is not a country that obeys the rule of law. Does the United States obey the rule of law, because Europeans are starting to wonder whether it is still obeying the rule of law and it needs to be very careful is it going to descend into an anarchy where we don't have due process where those great Bill of Rights traditions about due processes thrown to the wind whenever some shock jock politician just thinks that they can use it to make a name for themselves? Or do we take things according to laws expressly made by the people and their representatives that is the way things should be done and when people call for illegal deliberate assassination and kidnapping of others they should be held to account they should be charged for incitement to commit murder. |
| Date: 23 December 2010 - Added by: KMC |
| Views: 829 - Votes: 6 - Rating: 5 |
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FCC Net Neutrality not really neutral but discriminatory -could lead to censorship and kill start-ups |
| RTAmerica 21 December 2010 21 December 2010 The FCC is voting on Net Neutrality this afternoon (effort to ensure everyone... more info The FCC is voting on Net Neutrality this afternoon (effort to ensure everyone has equal access to the Web & preventing Internet providers from interfering with web traffic). On the surface - FCC is doing a good thing. However Jason Rosenbaum, the Senior Online Campaign Director at the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, says what will actually happen is big companies will be able to pay for better coverage of their products and start ups will die before they have a chance to grow. |
| Date: 22 December 2010 - Added by: KMC |
| Views: 783 - Votes: 3 - Rating: 5 |
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FBI Expands Probe Into Antiwar Activists [Pt 2 of 2] |
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| Date: 22 December 2010 - Added by: KMC |
| Views: 740 - Votes: 0 - Rating: 0 |
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Environmentalism on the Half Shell |
| NationalGeographic 22 December 2010 22 December 2010 Once plentiful, can Chesapeake Bay oysters make a comeback? Chef and National... more info Once plentiful, can Chesapeake Bay oysters make a comeback? Chef and National Geographic Fellow Barton Seaver visits the owners of hundred-year-old oyster company who are working to keep the famous oysters on the map?and on our plates. Learn how farming helps restore oyster populations, then follow Seaver's easy recipe for grilled oysters. |
| Date: 22 December 2010 - Added by: KMC |
| Views: 803 - Votes: 1 - Rating: 5 |
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