Slashdot Mirror

You can publish your picutures and captions at www.indymedia.org as well. It's also a good way to educate people who are not educated about technical matters and the DMCA and of the danger this law poses to ALL of our civil liberties.

The mp3 engineers hire a bean counter who tells them how much money they are losing annually because of the popularity of their format. They begin to enforce royalty and licensing issues with an iron fist.

As providers of mp3s encoders and content providers begin to get hit financially by the Germans they set out for a new alternative to mp3. Something similar, if not better in quality than mp3 which would contain no financial implications. Ogg is discovered in 2002! Marketing and PR dollars by many organizations are spent on promoting Ogg as the next evolution in digital music.

Other forward thinking production companies, music labels begin to release music using EFF's new open audio license therefore by passing all the BS of copyrights for music that will be exchanged by the masses anyway.

Additional companies begin to insert FreeDB tags into their ogg files so that players released in 2003 can pull info off their now completely free and open music system. Early adopters include NPR, IndyMedia and other production companies. By 2004 WMP and QuickTime have codecs for playing ogg files.

The only twist here is if Franhofer never attempts to forcefully collect on the mp3 codec formula. If it doesn't cost anything for developers to use, there will never be reason enough to switch at this point of acceptance.

Would I rather be shot by a beanbag or a bullet? Not a tough choice, that one. But the rules of engagement change with non-lethal weapons and the threshold for their use is lowered by virtue of the fact that they generally don't kill -- not intentionally, anyway. It becomes much easier to pull that trigger.

I could write a dissertation here, score a five, get some cool responses and maybe some E-Mail, but I don't have the time or resources. There's a lot of information about this; check out some of it. Google, teoma, even Yahoo.

Let me note that the military's use of non-lethal weapons has historically been to disarm/disable an enemy so that lethal force could then be used, from the days of catapulting rotting carcasses into the keep to the gas attacks of WWI.

woof

try Indy Media

A crisis such as this one is an important test case for Slashdot as an organizing medium for the tech community. In this instance, Slashdot has completely failed. Even just reporting about the protests would not have been enough, you need to motivate people to take part in such a protest shortly before it. Show images, link to videos, post a permanent story on the front page -- that singals importance. You have to reach people's emotions to get them off their asses (and for that, you have to get off your own ass, Hemos). Do you think CmdrTaco and Hemos will understand that? Or will anyone who points out their failure simply be moderated down? Slashdot is a site with great political potential -- but in spite of years in the making, it has failed to realize its potential so far.

Visitors only have a limited viewtime per day. Do you really want to give that all to Slashdot, if it degenerates into a fake community site primarily giving you a highly filtered digest of CNN, ZDNet, Wired News and press releases? If this is not a test case -- an unjust arrest, an unconstitutional law, rallies all over the nation --, then what is?

You may want to check out some alternatives:

• Kuro5hin is a user-moderated community with a wide scope of topics (specific issue-related stories are usually voted up by the users if well-presented, stories are not typically one-liners like on Slashdot. I've never seen a really good story voted down on K5)
• Advogato is a very open community with trust-based moderation that has often discussed issues related to information freedom
• Indymedia is a leftist general community news outlet that sometimes has tech stories as well
• infoAnarchy is a Scoop-based weblog discussing issues of copyright and information freedom which I edit (here's my summary of Dmitry's case)
• Wes Felter's weblog is a pretty good digest of current tech-related events
• Radio Userland allows you to automatically compile a personal digest from many web news-sources using RSS (Windows and MacOS) -- if Slashdot is only mainstream news, you might as well use a tool like this one

Others?

--

Here's a write-up and pix, courtesy DC Indymedia.

A relevant email list for subsequent Washington, DC activities concerning Dmitry and the DMCA can be found here (might be temp. offline).

Sincerely,
Vergil
Vergil Bushnell

Here's a write-up and pix, courtesy DC Indymedia.

A relevant email list for subsequent Washington, DC activities concerning Dmitry and the DMCA can be found here (might be temp. offline).

Sincerely,
Vergil
Vergil Bushnell

The country has the government it deserves.

The problem with that statement is that it takes the premise that this country's citizens elect the government officials and adds several untrue assumptions:

1. The officials elected are freely chosen by the citizens.
2. The officials enact policy based on the wishes of the citizens that elected them.
3. The entire country participates in the election process.

The problem with (1) is that citizens don't get to pick whomever they want. Instead, someone else chooses the set of candidates from which citizens must pick. In every presidential election I've been old enough to follow, I would never have chosen any of the candidates to begin with, let alone pick one for president.

One has to look no further than the list of compaign contributors for the candidates to see how laughable (2) is. In the 1999/2000 California election cycle, energy companies alone made over $17 million in campaign contributions. Translation: they purchased the support of every candidate except ONE. Thus whomever wins, the energy corporations know that their wishes will be followed out of debt.

The U.S. has such a dismal voting turnout, so (3) is out. You may want to blame the voters, which is partially reasonable, but realize that many don't participate because they know that (1) and (2) mean they will have little impact.

There is hope, however. Right now, nearly 100,000 protesters are demonstrating at the G8 Summit in Genoa, Italy. People are starting to realize that they don't have to vote to make their opinions heard. In fact, it is often more effective to take to the streets.

It's really quite basic. Corporations' number one rule is to maximize profit for the shareholders. If they can "invest" a couple hundred thousand greasing the palms of congressman to ensure those "public servants" will enact laws beneficial to the corporations, that's what they *must* do. Sure, it's effectively bribery, and thus illegal, but they're following the rules of capitalism, not ethics or democracy.

It's going to take a lot of work to change the way our system works. And just because it isn't changing fast enough, it doesn't mean the people in the country somehow deserve the shit. Just as East Timorese hardly deserve the twenty-five years of genocide they've suffered at the hands of the Indonesian military with U.S. support (money, weapons and training), against congress's ruling.

Peace PatientZero

smell the JAVA and act

Yes, support your local Anti-Capitalist Demonstrators, because after all people, this is all that is about (once again...).

Free Market Capitalism cannot co-exist with Democratic and Free people.

Protest.net && IndyMedia.org

If somebody found a magically convenient, fraud-resistent method of managing micropayments, they'd succeed only on making users tentative to look in new places for content, thus making it even harder to run an independant website. After all, why check out www.indymedia.org if you know that www.cnn.com seems to provide reasonable news coverage?

--

Some of the comments on this board boil down to "i'm a smart masters-degree educated geneticist, and *i* know that GMO's are okay, and eco-terrorists are stupid." it is exactly this kind of attitude that people are protesting against.

the fact is scientists don't KNOW much. many think they know and many know enough to make some useful applications. but do they know enough to be given billions and billions of dollars, free reign to do whatever they want, and a massive police force available to beat the hell out of anyone who disagrees? no.

Do you know your history? For instance, in San Diego at the biotech industry conference last week, your tax dollars paid for a huge police presence so that cops could dress up as black bloc and march next to peaceful protesters. Your tax dollars paid for hundreds to be ticketed for holding signs and walking down the sidewalk.

At UC Berekely, Novartis is paying millions and millions to convert their "academic" research lab in to a corporate research lab.

In Oakland, two popular redwood forest activists were bombed in their car. The FBI's involvement in the case is highly suspect, and the FBI blamed the activists themselves for planting the bomb! The trial against the FBI finally begins this fall, and I highly doubt any "concerned" geneticists will be coming out to support this or even know what it is.

In the Pacific Northwest, police repression against environmental groups is huge, and is backed by right-wing industry front groups. Police in Humboldt County watch as industry thugs come down and physically attack protesters. Police themselves are trained to hold a protesters eye open to apply pepper spray with a cotton swab.

Who are the terrorists again?

Meanwhile, the timber industry is buying off congresspeople left and right. The oil/energy industry just purchased a whole damn presidential election.

Hundreds of thousands of people worldwide have realized that people have the power to overthrow the corporate institutions that are ruling our life. And they are doing something about it. Are you still just sitting on your ass reading some website?? For more news see SF Indymedia

If you think that violent repression, misinformation, and terrorism does not occur by the U.S. Government on U.S. soil against U.S. citizens, then you do not understand why eco-terrorism is happening. In fact, you probably don't understand much. Please try to find out what is happening, and don't just rely on CNN and Slashdot as your news source.

Scientists still do not know the outcome of all this testing, and like all things corporate, the goal is profits over everything else.

The Biotech industry already has an economic strangehold on countries like Argentina who now completely depend on genetically modified crops.

What you will not see in the news media (especially the U.S. corporate machine media) is that Thailand is considering bans on it. GMO seed has to be delivered in Singapore under armed guard. Thousands of farmers in 3rd world countries and in Europe are protesting, some even on the doorstep of Monsanto.

All of this is glossed over by the media or not mentioned at all, yet it's very real. Keep your eyes open. Check out alternative news media sites such as:

Independent Media Center
Organic Consumers Association

My wife and I buy organic whenever we can. The problem is, just because food is certified organic, doesn't mean it may have been contaminated by GMO crops nearby (pollen, etc..)

I find it horrifying that a bill requiring proper labelling of foods as genetically modified hasn't happened here in the U.S. yet. Companies like Monsanto don't want that to happen because of what happened in the UK. Foods were labelled as genetically modified and nobody bought them. Supermarkets like Tesco and Sainsbury's had to clear their shelves. This is where we can make a difference. Show Monsanto you do not support their shoddy research on GMO crops. Hit them in the wallet.

Fialar

... during the aforementioned FTAA protests

By far, the most under-reported or distorted story of the year is: "anti-globalization and anti-capitalist protests suppressed by draconian police response around the world"

as reported on a daily basis by the independent media center.

this is the independent category, general excellence in journalism (first category).

in addition, the independent media centers have extended the community of the web by creating collaborative, non-commercial, consensus-based collectives in cities around the world for web, print, video, and audio media distribution. i'd say IMC is making history.

There are any number of independent Web magazines still producing valuable daily content. Pigdog Journal is one. Others can be found at, say, the Webzine 2001 site. Indymedia is another great resource.

Zines, of course, don't have the reach or breadth of a well-funded media company. This is a feature, not a bug. By focusing on particular issues, and by giving a particular point of view, zines as a whole are able to give a more truthful and deep view of the world than the watered-down mutterings of any given mass media publication.

Not to be too harsh, but suck and feed were fairly light and fluffy as far as magazines go. Suck published a single article each day. Feed maybe got one out a day, maybe. This is not the foundation of a healthy independent media, folks. Really, in the big picture, they won't be missed.

Finding, using, and reading zines is harder for the average person than getting spoon-fed conglomerate media baloney. But those who think that media diversity is important should take the time to focus on, and support, independent publishers, rather than decrying their insignificance.

In a way, I'm not really all that sad about the demise of Suck. I was a regular reader of the site from its inception, and one of the key points of the Suck philosophy back then was this: know when to cash in. Nothing on the internet lasts forever, so make the best of it when you can. The fact that they were saying this in 1995-1996 is proof of their insight and wisdom. The guys who started Suck made quite a name for themselves, and I'm sure they'll have little problem keeping gainfully employed for the rest of their careers. More power to them.

On the other hand, I do want to see high quality independent journalism and commentary survive on the net - I think that independent/grassroots journalism is one of the greatest things to come out of the internet, and I want to see it survive and propogate. But I don't have any answers as to how to pay for all the bandwidth that a popular site involves -- with any luck, bandwidth will become less of an issue in time, and this will make it easier for people to self-publish in any kind of significant way.

I think what is funny is that corporate-sponsored or dot-com sites are dropping off like flies, and the counter-corporate internet's infrastructure is being strengthened again. maybe capitalism doesnt have the stuff to make it online? or maybe the internet really *is* anarchy, and so their stupid models of doing things (profit) just aren't going to work.

either way, i would like to report that TAO is still functioning, indymedia continues to grow as an example of how open collaborative publishing can form real-life networks, and those who *really* need information and communication structures are using them. corporations don't need them. smarmy suck.com writers don't need them.

anyway, good riddance. for me, there isn't much option when it comes to getting local reporting.

I think what is funny is that corporate-sponsored or dot-com sites are dropping off like flies, and the counter-corporate internet's infrastructure is being strengthened again. maybe capitalism doesnt have the stuff to make it online? or maybe the internet really *is* anarchy, and so their stupid models of doing things (profit) just aren't going to work.

either way, i would like to report that TAO is still functioning, indymedia continues to grow as an example of how open collaborative publishing can form real-life networks, and those who *really* need information and communication structures are using them. corporations don't need them. smarmy suck.com writers don't need them.

anyway, good riddance. for me, there isn't much option when it comes to getting local reporting.

Sigh.

For those that can't/don't want to play .ogg files, the New York IndyMedia Center (whose webserver is actually called stallman) has an MP3 available at http://clients.loudeye.com/imc/nyc/stallman.mp3. File size is "only" ~34MB, instead of 49MB or 113MB for the .ogg
--
// mlc, user 16290

And many people also don't know that the cops were firing tear gas in response to Molotov cocktails and golf balls being thrown at them. The protestors only stopped throwing them when they RAN OUT of molotov cocktails and golf balls.

Hell, even the ironically named "Indymedia" admitted this.

Situationist
Adbusters
CorpWatch
AllYourBrand

etc.:
Independent Media Center
Metropolitic.net
You May Be An Anarchist And Not Even Know It (I too thought the "anarchy movement" was a load of crap from bored aggressive adolescents (they really spoil it for everybody don't they?) until reading this and realizing there really is a legitimate coherent philosophy behind it)
Mother Jones
In These Times
Poliglut
Protest.net (yes, sometimes there are actually legitimate reasons to protest)
PigDog journal
Unabomer Manifesto (he may have been labeled a wacko, but read it - he's not stupid and he does sorta have a point.)

While I am pleased that there is a scientific mapping of DoS attacks I would like to take the opportunity to point out certain dynamics in DoS attacking, particularly if used as a disinformation and political tool by government.

1) Right now, any insecure computer can be cracked for use in a DoS attack, thereby indirectly implicating an innocent person. Anyone can get hijacked in this way and framed for another attack, particularly if the investigators choose not to trace back to the original source.

2) DoS and other infowar techniques have been used by the political opponents of Indymedia and other "subversive" websites. I am not referring to the Indymedia subpoena related to the Quebec protests, which was referred to earlier on this site, but to the simple denial of service that crashes these things when they are needed most.

3) Lets say that there is, hypothetically, some politically motivated DoS going on. If so, it;s quite silly and wasteful. The sites that are being DoS'ed are usually those prominent targets, big corporations and government sites which are sometimes capable of holding off attack but are always capable of sending many goons after you. Might I suggest that there are more effective ways of using technology as a political tool.

"There really ought to be a section of politically aware sites like /. devoted to upcoming events where people can participate. I know I'd be there sometimes.

So, how about it? How many people would like to see a calendar page about upcoming political events that have significance to us? What do you think? There's a large readership here, and if only a small percentage turn out...it could be noticed. But that's just my opinion. "

Here's one: the Independent Media Center. It's a global network of independent media groups, offering news and opinion on issues like this that the MegaMedia won't cover, including upcoming protest dates and eyewitness coverage of same. I give occasional tech assistance to the group that runs the London site.
(NB: our Philadelphia site uses Slash! I wouldn't mind if the London site used it too!)
</feeble-karma-hoovering-attempt>

We need more info on actions defending Free Speech, IMHO, and we'd be delighted to receive articles, essays, and dates on actions against Copyright Barons like the ones described in this article.
--
JDF

"There really ought to be a section of politically aware sites like /. devoted to upcoming events where people can participate. I know I'd be there sometimes.

So, how about it? How many people would like to see a calendar page about upcoming political events that have significance to us? What do you think? There's a large readership here, and if only a small percentage turn out...it could be noticed. But that's just my opinion. "

Here's one: the Independent Media Center. It's a global network of independent media groups, offering news and opinion on issues like this that the MegaMedia won't cover, including upcoming protest dates and eyewitness coverage of same. I give occasional tech assistance to the group that runs the London site.
(NB: our Philadelphia site uses Slash! I wouldn't mind if the London site used it too!)
</feeble-karma-hoovering-attempt>

We need more info on actions defending Free Speech, IMHO, and we'd be delighted to receive articles, essays, and dates on actions against Copyright Barons like the ones described in this article.
--
JDF

There are two schools of Anti-Globalization. The 50-60,000 in the streets of quebec, for the most part, favor the promotion of jobs around the world, and the ending of xenophobia. There is a great feeling of solidarity between the kids and union members in the streets and the repressed in the third world. The IMF/WTO/WB/FTAA school of "globalization" favors the lowering of labor standards, enviormental regulations, and is frighteningly anti-democratic. Globalization is a term synonomous with exploitation among the contemporary left.

The buchannan-ites' opposition to "globalization" has roots in racism and extreme nationalism, and buchannan gives us no reason to believe any of his positions have the welfare of the majority of the world's population in mind.

Contrary to how the pundits on tv would have us think, the overwhelming majority of anti-globaization activists are not just afraid of losing US jobs, but are fighting for jobs with justice and dignity for the third world. Maybe "anti-globalization" isn't the best word to use, but it's easier and farther reaching to use than "anti-neo-liberalism" and less alienating than "anti-total-corporate-destruction-of-the-world-ya- basta!-ism". I think that reactionaries are trying to lump the two together, which is visible in the mainstream media's failure to report upon 50,000 marching for fair jobs in Quebec City, and the bulk of their reporting being on the 1,000 black-clad anarchists (and disguised police adjitators) who were throwing stuff at the riot cops. Thus, the importance of independant media (like IMC) in the movement is paramount.

"When people fear the government, there is tyranny. When government fears the people, there is liberty."
-- Thomas Paine

"When people fear the government, there is tyranny. When government fears the people, there is liberty."
-- Thomas Paine

"When people fear the government, there is tyranny. When government fears the people, there is liberty."
-- Thomas Paine

"When people fear the government, there is tyranny. When government fears the people, there is liberty."
-- Thomas Paine

"When people fear the government, there is tyranny. When government fears the people, there is liberty."
-- Thomas Paine

"When people fear the government, there is tyranny. When government fears the people, there is liberty."
-- Thomas Paine

..something ought to happen.

every day, we hear stories about how all the venture capital has run out, and the free-services / free-software business model isn't working.

that's because you can't make money if your price tag is $0! but that's not the point. i can't help but think how long free software and free services have been available, but now that more people use them, everything fails?

if more people contribute their spare time and spare resources to a community of one sort or another, great things will continue to happen, just like they do today.

if you get over the idea that everyone needs to make lots of money to be happy, things are going to continue to change a lot.

---
if the rain comes, they run and hide their heads. they might as well be dead.

• Gag order on a First Amendment protected organization;
  
• Seeking information that is relevant to the warrant;
  
• Seeking information in such a way that it doesn't cripple the operations of the provider complying with the request.
  

The right to speak anonymously extends to speech via the Internet. Internet anonymity facilitates the rich, diverse, and far ranging exchange of ideas. The ability to speak one's mind on the Internet without the burden of the other party knowing all the facts about one's identity can foster open communication and robust debate. People who have committed no wrongdoing should be free to participate in online forums without fear that their identity will be exposed under the authority of the court.

If this were to be applied in the case of the IMC, the FBI court order captures, oh, about 1.25 million too many IP addresses. It seeks "user connection logs" for a 48 hour period, despite the fact that all they (supposedly) want is the IP addresses for two folks who posted some classifed documents (located here and here).

The IMC will be challenging the order even with regards to these two addresses. The posts themselves were not illegal under Candadian law. Furthermore, the US attorney has admitted that there are NO violations of US law, by either the people who posted the information, or by the IMC.

The right to speak anonymously extends to speech via the Internet. Internet anonymity facilitates the rich, diverse, and far ranging exchange of ideas. The ability to speak one's mind on the Internet without the burden of the other party knowing all the facts about one's identity can foster open communication and robust debate. People who have committed no wrongdoing should be free to participate in online forums without fear that their identity will be exposed under the authority of the court.

If this were to be applied in the case of the IMC, the FBI court order captures, oh, about 1.25 million too many IP addresses. It seeks "user connection logs" for a 48 hour period, despite the fact that all they (supposedly) want is the IP addresses for two folks who posted some classifed documents (located here and here).

The IMC will be challenging the order even with regards to these two addresses. The posts themselves were not illegal under Candadian law. Furthermore, the US attorney has admitted that there are NO violations of US law, by either the people who posted the information, or by the IMC.

I am one of a team of people coordinating the legal response to this. The Seattle IMC has not turned over any logs and plans to fight in court for our right not to turn over even 1 log entry. And while we haven't found any posts with the President's travel info, we did find two posts with classified info, see here and here. These were the posts the agents were referring to. Their reference to the president's travel information was just plain wrong -- we have looked carefully on all IMC sites and have failed to find any such post. The agents were either lying (likely) or very stupid (also a possibility).

I am one of a team of people coordinating the legal response to this. The Seattle IMC has not turned over any logs and plans to fight in court for our right not to turn over even 1 log entry. And while we haven't found any posts with the President's travel info, we did find two posts with classified info, see here and here. These were the posts the agents were referring to. Their reference to the president's travel information was just plain wrong -- we have looked carefully on all IMC sites and have failed to find any such post. The agents were either lying (likely) or very stupid (also a possibility).

Every day it gets worse. I mean scientists not being able to express their research. Independent sources of media facing intimidation. I know this is may not be completely relevant bto the story above but it relates to all of our rights concerning freedom of speech . Basically a gag order has been placed on Indymedia by some law enforcement agency. The EFF has taken an interest in the case. It's basically like the NYT getting investigated by the government and not being able to publish anything about about it. The story about it is at Wired. It looks like our right to publish and speak freely are getting more and more limited by the day. I am getting very tired of corporate consortiums and the government consistantly working to limit our ability to express ideas.

This point in history is very important if you believe in freedom. I encourage everyone to do whatever is in their power to fight censorship and the limitation of the expression of ideas no matter what form the ideas take.

The Indymedia center in Seattle was raided by the FBI. Not only that but the federal government has required that all phones have a tracking device by 2005 We should not support a government that hacks into the citizens of other countries computers. It is only matter of time before they do it to us. If they haven't already started. Welcome to the corporate police state.

It's really too bad that the EEF chose to stage a protest at the same time as the FTAA protests. They'll be greatly overshadowed, and they instantly depleted their source of politically-active geeks, like myself.

It's too late to change it now, but it really is bad timing.

-ben.c

...a 12-year-old New Jersey girl was threatened with three days of suspension...for using sign language on a bus?

The Associated Press story is reposted at Indymedia.

Also note the link to the school district's site in the comments...give 'em hell.

At this rate, blind people will be suspended for bringing white canes to school...

I have to wonder, in the midst of all this madness...what the flying fuck is going on around here? Who started handing out the stupid pills, and why are they so fucking popular with school administrators?

As one involved with a noncommercial streaming project motivated by the desire to disseminate points of view that don't make it in the commercial media I have to say this is good news. That capitalism's "warring brothers" shackle themselves in this new medium with licensing agreements and industry consortia that get a percentage demonstrates the value to society of information that is licensed for use by civil society (ie GPL, Open Content) or in the public domain.

So if the RIAA wants to get all its slaves ... umm artist's songs off of Napster, I say let them cut their own throat, the independent music industry will flourish. If Clearchannel (which controls 25% of the nation's radio advertising revenue thus can control the airwaves) can't webcast their thousands of carbon copy RIAA bitch radio stations, I say great, this is an opening for independents and noncommercials to take advantage of.

This is of course only a temporary window of opportunity. No one believes that Clearchannel will not be able to get on the web. Ultimately this will probably speed consolidation in the radio industry, as the big players like Clearchannel will be able to leverage deals that small independently owned stations can't.

Thats not a rebellion, its a slaughter.

But you are right, regulations do vary state to state and public sentiment supports tougher handgun regulation (even though most of the recent school shooting incidents cited in support of such regulations rarely involve handguns... but instead .22 type rifles).

People tired of the usual media tripe visit the Independent Media Center.

And most of these people are the sporting/hunting type, and not the type that say, "I want to guard my diminishing civil rights and protect loved ones and/or property from an oppressive government."

But this has almost become a moot point.

The age of colonialism is not over, the only difference is the type of weapons used. Instead of conventional wars, the western governments have shifted to an information war. And they are making the rules up as they go along.

People tired of the usual media tripe visit the Independent Media Center.

Bullshit. Communism is the collective ownership of ressources and means of production, which are availiable to all. Transforming something that is free doesn't make it proprietary. So yes, you have to share what you produce, but not with a gun to your head. It's simply that you can't take what belongs to all and claim it solely yours. So it will be taken back if you try. But this doesn't prevent possession in all of it's meanings. For exemple, your clothing is yours to keep, the clothing manifacture is everyone's.

A communism system has never existed, yet. Not in Rusia, not in Cuba or anywhere else. And a communist government is an oxymoron.

Yes, OSS is what resembles the most to communism in this world. And that is a GOOD THING! It's why I like so much!

My country is under siege! Help us stop them !! It will affect you, as well.

Capitalism or distribution problem? It's on and the same. The power of capitalists is holding the distribution chain. It is how they keep millions (more billions nowadays) starving. And there is real starvation in the U.S. One of the richest countries has a huge poverty problem. That tells a lot about the success of capitalism.

About charity. If capitalism was successful, there wouldn't be any need for it. Charity goes against capitalism. It is a mean to compensate for its flaws. And for charity to poor counties, for each dollar given to them, many (2 to 4, I'm not sure of the numbers but sure of the fact) are taken through interest on the Debt. So we can't say America is being charitable to the poors. It's a lie.

And who intercepts food in Africa? That's right, capitalist whites that instated dictatorships, backed up by western countries.

My country is under siege! Help us stop them !! It will affect you, as well.

My country is under siege! Help us stop them !! It will affect you, as well.

On the net, everyone has the possibility to have an equal say. But, being used to the traditional system, many people still go get their news from CNN.com and don't comment much. Others are too excited about being heard that they don't stop to think about what they say. It's still too new to everyone. But life has an incredible capacity to adapt itself. Things will change, and are changing. And everyone sharing ideas, debating opinions are reaching compromises is what democracy is all about. This can only be achieved on a local scale through physical meetings. And it can't be achieved through traditional medias. The net can make this possible, but the net is only a tool. Everything will depend on how it is used. Tools to not make revolutions. Humans use tools to make revolutions possible.

To summarise, the net is not a revolution: it is merely an instrument of the revolution.

Will the computer revolution bring about the victory of one class over another?

Right now, the financial elite is winning over the people. Most of you don't want to see it, but your beloved capitalism is leading us to totalitarism and the plain destruction of our Mother Earth. The net is an awesome tool for the people to inform and organize themselves to counter this. Do not expect it to do it by itself. And the technology doesn't discriminate and make itself unavailable to the masses and make them poorer and poorer. The elitism of the distribution system makes it that way. The internet could be available to everyone without any problem. And internet doesn't deceive my expectations at all. It only deceives those who wanted it to make them rich.

A revolution only leads to the same starting point if the people then put someone else in power. A true revolution gives the power to the people. Participative democracy is not only possible: it's the way to go if we want to reclaim our earth, society, freedom and happiness.

Related Links : An Anarchist FAQ - Independent Media Center - Mobilisation for Global Justice - World Social Forum - Industrial Workers of the World

The "incredible" 90%+ figure is in fact incredible. I've seen this particular piece of misdirection ove and over, where "media" is redefined as "mass media", and then "mass media" is redefined as "national TV".

I'll have to dig out my copy of The Media Monopoly by Ben Bagdikian but I recall "the media" being defined rather broadly to include books, magazines, newspapers, a/v recordings as well as broadcast.

Note, by the way, that my argument is not that there is *not* corporate news. Note that my argument is not even that the Bix 6 are a result of contraction. My argument is simply that expansion of media is outstripping the contraction.

Interesting, thanks for clarifying that. Certainly it can be agreed that since the 70's technology has expanded the amount and range of media experiences available to the individual consumer. Your phrasing of this reminds me of a speech by Mark Cooper of the Consumer Federation of America at a conference (sorry doesn't have his speech), in which he talked about how at the same time that we are seeing technology expanding media potential (and thus the potential of civil society) we are seeing a retreat (or contraction) caused by coporatization of this media. This seems to be very similar to what you just stated, since you acknowledge that coporatization is a countervailing force. Dr. Cooper however saw a potential for the concentration of media in fewer and fewer hands to ultimately reverse the gains the technology has made.

McChesney in particular is pessimistic about the Web's potential to correct the media's current defects. He believes that we're in a brief window of openess that will close once the major media oligopies get their act together and team up with the communications infrastructure providers to turn the Web into a hypercommercialized interactive TV system. From this interview I gather that you don't think consumers will accept that. Consumer spending power works well in competitive markets not so well otherwise. Given the concerns about media concentration I've raised do you think consumer power will ultimately be sufficient? What are your views on the potential for antitrust action in the media industry?

Do you think that this is an accurate characterization of their arguements and your position? I would be very interested in hearing you respond at more length and detail to their arguements, as I found your interview to be quite insightful.

Oh, I posted part of the interview to www.indymedia.org there was some discussion, not too insightful but I thought you might be interested.