News.com reports that President Bush just signed into law an act that makes it a federal crime to “annoy” someone on the internet if you do not divulge your identity. Where are we, China? Tunisia? Saudi Arabia? Cuba? No, this is the flipping United States of America. We as Americans have a God-given right to…
Will the Internet Governance Forum use the Internet?
Just got word that the Internet Governance Forum, the multi-stakeholder policy deliberation body that came out of the WSIS Tunis conference, will be having its first meeting from February 16 to 17 in Geneva. This is pretty short notice for lots of groups around the world to try and book flights and find hotels to…
“100 SUNS” depicts catastrophic beauty of nuclear explosions
I had a quick look at some photos from Michael Light’s exhibit called “100 SUNS” which presents 100 horrifying and beautiful photos of nuclear testing by the United States in the desert and the Pacific. The enormous impact of these nuclear weapons can scarcely be imagined, even from these pristine photos of mushroom clouds blooming…
How come nobody told me about jazz ringtones?
I will take back every bad thing I’ve ever said about ringtones. Yes, they are a waste of money. Yes, they are silly status symbols. Yes, they serve no useful function other than to annoy your neighbor. But I have to say it makes my day to hear Sarah Vaughn and realize that my phone…
Windows on a Mac: Get Ready for More Switchers
I just finished watching the webcast of Steve Jobs at the Macworld expo in San Francisco, where he unveiled today the newest innovations coming out of Apple. I’m a huge Mac addict — I’m typing now on my third iBook. And Job’s announcement that the newest “Macbooks” and iMacs will come with Intel dual core…
The Times UK quoted me!
I was googling around the net and found out that the October 20 post (“Senator Coleman draws a line in the sand on internet governance”) from this blog was quoted in the Times UK newspaper. The November 12, 2005 story was on “Censorship is at the heart of debate on internet control” where I am…
Dear UN: Please get an RSS feed
The United Nations website is filled with a wealth of useful information and news about the world we live in, from on-the-ground updates on conflicts and security crises to statistical data on every country on the planet. And yet it tends to hoard that information to be mostly consumed by a small population of diplomats…
I am the ruler of Panganibania
I recently surfed across NationStates.net, a huge online community of people role-playing as nation-states. The site was created by author Max Berry to complement his novel Jennifer Government. The idea of thousands of people engaging in virtual statecraft in real-time online is so strange and cool. To play the international politics simulation, you first have…
UN fan proposes to girlfriend on General Assembly podium
In contrast to the typical litany of wars, famines and human rights violations, the UN News service sent out a bit of soft news at the end of the year, reporting that a UN fan proposed to girlfriend in General Assembly. It’s a very cute story about Alan Daly, an American, proposing to his German…
Happy new year! Happy old archives!
I finished the laborious task of porting over my old blog from last year, which are now safely ensconced in the archives of this site. Unfortunately, I can’t figure out how to enable or create a search function, so you’ll have to go by date or category to find something you’re interested in. Bummer.