I like the phrase “Net neutrality” because it has some resonance outside of the techie world. But It’s vague and it’s a bit of a compromise. The real way to get Net neutrality is to separate the companies that deliver bits from the companies selling content and services made out of bits. And that’s exactly what a bill passed unanimously (or maybe almost unanimously – reports are ambiguous) by the Dutch Parliament proposes, according to a post by David Isenberg. Writes La Isenberg:

…in my opinion, the only sustainable way to have enforceable network neutrality is to give force of law to the separation between operating the network and operating the services that the network carries. Otherwise, the temptation to gain advantage (.pdf) by tying certain services to the network is so great that US telcos and cablecos are spending an estimated $1.5 million per week to lobby for the privilege. And, unless there’s clear and forceful separation, as per the Dutch resolution above, US telcos and cablecos will spend more lobbying, litigating and legislating against any compromise language about treating different applications differently, or about “deliberate” or “anti-competitive” discrimination. The network carrier should be prohibited legally from knowing or caring what’s carried on network — the Dutch Parliament has proposed one way to do it.

[Tags: berkman net_neutrality]

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Steven Streight suggests three business models that “always work for everybody who uses them correctly and persistently, heck, even sporadically and lazily like me.” I wouldn’t go that far, but the fact that they ever work is proof that the world is better than we think it is. [Tags: business steven_streight]

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I am reminded of Larry Lessig’s post on the three economies. Hey, they’re both about economics and have three alternatives.

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Ken Schafer of OneDegree and Tucows asked me at the Canadian Marketing Association meeting in Toronto how people misinterpret Cluetrain. I answer in this brief video. [Tags: ken_schafer marketing cluetrain]

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From the Berkman Center:

Blogging the Vote in 2006: A Celebration of Political Bloggers

Monday, October 30, 5 pm
Berkman Center
23 Everett Street, Second Floor, Cambridge, MA

With each election cycle of the 21st century, more and more citizen journalists have been getting in on the act of covering campaigns and the stories that swirl around them. The race for governor of Massachusetts in 2006 has been covered by dozens of bloggers — as well as by journalists who are writing blogs in addition to their video, audio, and print stories in mainstream media outlets. The role that these citizen journalists are playing ha s been the topic of intense interest among pundits, academics, candidates, and their campaigns alike. One thing is for certain: these citizen journalists, and mainstream journalists experimenting with new media, should be celebrated for their role in making public the discussion about who should be the next Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Please join us at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society for an informal and social celebration to honor all those who have been blogging the vote here in Massachusetts in 2006. Whatever party, perspective, or new medium you call your own, or however you get your news about this election, we’d love to meet you and raise a glass to all those whose hard work has been making the 2006 campaign here in Massachusetts more vibrant and exciting than ever before.

Please let us know if you plan to attend, so we can be sure there’s plenty of snacks & drinks for all rsvp cyber.law.harvard.edu.

[Tags: berkman politics blogging]

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Oy™.

See also “Silence is golden.” [Thanks to Hanan Cohen for the link.] [Tags: marketing trademarks nestles ]

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Firefox 2.0 is running on my laptop invisibly. In the Windows Task Manager, there’s no entry in the Applications tab, but the Processes tab shows “firefox.exe” running.

Here’s how I fixed it, thanks to googling around for help.

First, end the firefox.exe process. Control-Alt-Delete and open the Processes tab. Select the “firefox.exe” process, and right click to get the menu for ending the process.

Now start Firefox in safe mode. To do this, create a shortcut to the firefox.exe program you just installed. Select the shortcut, choose Properties, and add “-safe-mode” to the command, so that it looks something like:

“C:/Program Files/Mozilla Firefox/firefox.exe” -safe-mode

Double click on the shortcut and you should see the Firefox “safe mode” dialog box. If you don’t, go find some other blogger to help you because I’m all out of tips.

Click on “Disable all add-ons” and press the “Make Changes and continue” button. Firefox should start. If it doesn’t, try relaunching it from the shortcut and click every box in the “safe mode” dialog.

In Firefox, go to Tools > Add-ons. All of them are disabled. Enable one. Close Firefox. Start it up, but not using the safe mode icon. You want to start it in full mode to see if it opens. If it does, you know that the add-on (nee extension) you just enabled is not the culprit. Repeat until you find the culprit.

Now do control-alt-delete and kill the Firefox process. Start it up in safe mode again. Turn off the add-ons. Enable them all except the culprit(s).

Good luck.

BTW, the culprit in my case was McAfee SiteAdvisor (disclosure). [Tags: firefox siteadvisor]

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From PRX, the public radio exchange:

[Tags: prx halloween]

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The current issue of Wired has a feature I like a lot: They got 33 sf writers to contribute six-word short stories. So, I’m shamelessly ripping off that idea, but with a twist. Here’s the six-word version of today’s DOEP:

Six-word story. Any genre. Surprise ending.

For example:

Duel to death at noon. Eclipse.

Brother impregnates sister. Disgusting. They’re bees.*

For extra points, make it Web-themed… [Tags: doep puzzle]

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*I know that bees don’t get pregnant, and I’m not sure that the concept of brother and sister really applies, but let’s just say that’s all part of the surprise ending.

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Yesterday I flew from Boston to Chicago in the window seat of a three-across row. The person next to me, who seemed to be a vigorous man of around seventy, talked non-stop the entire way. Non-stop. He’s done a lot of traveling, he has a lot of opinions.

I saw what was coming and ducked out quickly, donning a head set and pretending to work and listen to music. But I felt terrible for the woman in the aisle seat who absorbed the blunt force of the man’s self-absorbed river of spews. I wondered if I should make up an excuse for her or engage him in “conversation” so she could have a break. But I lacked the fortitude. Besides, she’s a grownup — maybe in her late forties — and should know how to break it off politely.

So, here’s the twist ending. It’s not exactly O. Henry, but…

About two hours in, the man went to the bathroom. I leaned over and asked the woman if she was ok.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“He hasn’t stopped talking. Omigod!”

“I’m enjoying it.”

Maybe I would have thought so if I had been willing to listen. Maybe I missed an opportunity.

On the other hand, as we were leaving the plane, the man skipped ahead. “You’re a nice person,” I said to the woman. And the woman directly behind her said, “And how!” [Tags: misc]

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Amnesty International is gathering signatures on a statement it’s going to present to the UN in November calling on “governments to stop the unwarranted restriction of freedom of expression on the Internet – and on companies to stop helping them do it.” You can sign it here. [Tags: digital_rights amnesty_international ]

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