Just got a cool bit of news from my hometown of Pleasanton, California, a southeastern suburb of San Francisco. Insidebayarea.com is reporting that Pleasanton is setting up free public wifi nodes in the downtown area of the city. Initially the idea was explored to provide police officers internet access while patrolling downtown public areas. But…
Category: Information Society
UN Launches online consultation on “System Coherence”
I just got a notice from the UN Non-governmental Liaison Service that the United Nations has launched an online consultation with civil society organizations as part of a larger effort to increase “system-wide coherence” of the UN’s activities in the areas of development, humanitarian assistance and the environment. The Secretary General earlier this year established…
“God Save the Internet” rock anthem!
Here’s some great monday morning music provided by the Save the Internet coalition, entitled “God Save the Internet.” The folk-rocky song, available as a free download, is performed by “The Broadband” (get it!), which is Kay Hanley, Jill Sobule, and Michelle Lewis with a “special guest appearance” by Michelle’s mom, Annette, who “possesses a freakishly…
SMS from starving Somali
Lots of UN techie news in the past days, I am just starting to catch up now. The UN World Food Programme issued a press release about a Somali refugee in Kenya who sent a text message to the London office of the WFP. The message was: My name is Mohammed Sokor, writing to you…
UNHCR launches online campaign for nine million refugee kids
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, in partnership with Nike and Microsoft, has launched a new website ninemillion.org as an appeal to help the estimated nine million refugee children around the world. The objectives of the campaign are to: raise awareness about refugee children and youth raise funds for education and sport programs for refugee…
New book on human rights in the Information Society
I just found out about a new book on Human Rights in the Global Information Society edited by my friend Rikke Frank Jørgensen. Published by MIT Press, the contributors to this volume examine the links between information technology and human rights from a range of disciplinary perspectives. Scholars, human rights activists, and practitioners discuss such…
New Net Neutrality Video: This Land is Your Land
I just a tip from the Media Policy Blog about a new video on Net Neutrality called "This Land is Your Land" created by Robert Oschler. It’s based on the Woody Guthrie song of the same name, and uses video from a CC-licenced CGI animated short called "Elephant Dreams". Robert’s revised lyrics are hysterical: They’ll…
GAM3R 7H30RY and the future of the book
Just got sent a link to a new book called GAM3R 7H30RY by Mackenzie Wark, the author of the "Hacker Manifesto." The book is exciting for a number of reasons. First, it’s a fanciful and erudite set of musings on two basic questions about computer and online gaming: can we explore games as allegories for…
1 Million Americans urge Congress to save the Internet
The Save the Internet coalition has collected more than 1 million American signatures to their petition urging Congress to "preserve a free and open internet." Mmmmm, freedom. The coalition held an event in DC to officially deliver the petition to the Senate. According to Free Press campaign director Timothy Karr: Our real grassroots Coalition called…
Virtual Net Neutrality Tees available
As my extremely modest contribution to the Save the Internet cause, I just created a “Support Net Neutrality!” tee-shirt in Second Life, which I am giving away to all who desire them. So whether you are a cyborg, flying monkey or fairy princess, you can now proudly show your support for a free and open…