openpolitics.com

Hobbes in the 21st Century

The Bush Doctrine reminds me of the political philosophy class I took a few years ago: Wolfowitz (liberally paraphrased):

The challenge of the 21st century is the proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction, which make it possible for small groups of people to threaten countries. To prevent this, one nation is needed, whose power is beyond contest. The United States of America must be this Leviathan. #

"Nature has made men so equal in the faculties of body, and mind; as that though there be found one man sometimes manifestly stronger in body, or of quicker mind that another; yet when all is reckoned together, the difference between man, and man, is not so considerable, as that one man can thereupon claim to himself any benefit, to which another may not pretend, as well as he. For as to the strength of body, the weakest hath strength enough to kill the strongest, either by secret machination, or by confederacy with others, that are in the same danger with himself." #

- Leviathan Chapter 13

The US's former allies do not support the "US as Leviathan" System and accuse it of violating Law 9:

"If nature therefore have made men equal, that equality is to be acknowledged: or if nature have made men unequal, yet because men that think themselves equal will not enter into conditions of peace, but upon equal terms, such equality must be admitted. And therefore for the ninth law of nature, I put this: that every man acknowledge another for his equal by nature. The breach of this precept is pride." #

-Leviathan Chapter 15

"Unilateral" Journalism

London Times war correspondent Christina Lamb is called a 'unilateral' journalist because she she is not "embedded". Her interview on Irish Radio starts at 1 hr 16 min and runs until 1:29
(Link broken)

Say no to "freedom phones"

A California Congressman has drafted a law that would require postwar Iraq use the CDMA cell phone standard. The bill would benefit Qualcomm corporation, whose headquarters are in his district and set the tone for Iraq's post war reconstruction.

Darrell Issa demagogues for his cause by calling the competion (GSM) an "outdated French standard". The important question to ask is not what an American Congressman wants, but what is in the best interests of Iraq.

GSM already has 60 million customers in the region and coverage in:

• Kuwait
• Jordan
• Israel
• Turkey
• Saudi Arabia
• Egypt
• Syria
• Iran

America is not likely to gain new friends in the region if exhiles and visitors to Iraq need to purchase new dual chip cell phones.

Related

• Darell Issa's Letter: Parlez-vous fran?ais?
• Congressional Lawmakers Balk At Plan To Deploy French/German Cell Phone Technology In Post-War Iraq
GSM's response
• The Guardian: Battle over Iraqi mobile network begins Internet
• News: CDMA Pushed on Postwar Iraq News.com: Legislator makes call for Qualcomm
• Salon: To the victor go the spoils
• Wall Street Journal: Lawmaker Wants Postwar Iraq To Use Qualcomm Technology, by Jesse Drucker
• Reuters: Lawmaker Urges U.S. Wireless Standard for Iraq Slashdot: CDMA vs. GSM in Post-war Iraq
• Computer World: Citing antiwar views in Europe, U.S. lawmaker pushes CDMA technology

Update

U.S. push for CDMA standard rebuffed

Mr. Rogers Testified for the VCR

I never knew that Fred Roger's testimony was quoted in the Supreme Court Case which legalized the VCR:

.. Very frankly, I am opposed to people being programmed by others. My whole approach in broadcasting has always been "You are an important person just the way you are. You can make healthy decisions." Maybe I'm going on too long but I just feel that anything that allows a person to be more active in the control of his or her life, in a healthy way, is important.

Full Story: We'll Miss You Mr. Rogers in New York Lawyer via Martin Schwimmer and Ernie the Attorney

Google Quotes

You may have noticed my use of "google quotes" in "Reframing the Intellectual Property Debate".

I'm coining the term to describe a quoting implementation that uses google to capture a document snapshot and highlight key phrases:

Googlequote Syntax #

<a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:www.siteIwantToQuote.com/quotedPage.html

	+Phrase1+Phrase2+Phrase3&hl=en&ie=UTF-8"

>Link Text<a>

Googlequote Examples #

"The difference between digital and analog is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug."

"The difference between the right word and almost the right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug.

This implementation of Google Quotes assumes: #

1. Google has a cache of the page you wish to quote.
2. The cache won't change.
3. Google's API won't change.
4. You won't discover a better way of quoting later.

It also takes advantage of google's reputation for integrity to play the role of a neutral third-party.

A quote function #

The static implementation of google quotes can be improved by writing a special quote function:

<?php

  print quote("quotations.about.com/library/db/blauth_twain_vir.htm", 

        "difference between the right word and almost the right word", 

        "difference+lightning+bug", 

        "Mark Twain Quote" ); 

?>

<?php

 function quote($url, $linkText, $keywords, $title) {

   $quoteService = "http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:";



   return "<a href=\"".$quoteService.$url."+".$keywords.

   		"&hl=en&ie=UTF-8"."\" ".

   		"title=\"$title\" >".$linkText."</a>";

 }

?>

The advantages of the function are: #

• It can be changed if Google's API changes
• It can be improved as the blogosphere develops new ideas or if you someday decide you don't like google.

The big disadvantage is that it is language-specific.

an XML variation #

XML options are also possible. Here's my take on some possible attribute extensions to the anchor tag:

<a href="www.siteIwantToQuote.com/quotedPage.html" 

	title="Movie Industry Association President, Jack Valenti's testimony before Congress, 

	       framing the issue of IP in a networked word"

	startPhrase="difference between digital and analog"

	endPhrase="lightning bug"

	DateQuoted="2003/03/08"

>Link Text<a>

There are many possible link types. I'd like to see bloggers experiment with this and incorporate their ideas into software.

Additional xml suggestions requested.

Wish List #

• The ability for clients to automatically focus on/scroll to the highlighted phrase
• a Link Database with Automated Maintenance (of dead links)

Terminology #

The term "Google Quotes" is fine for now, when applied specifically to google, but when hypertext quotation matures, we'll need a phrase that's:

• Shorter
• Implementation-neutral

When "click here" disappears, the term can be shortened to "quote" because the hypertext context will be understood.

Notes #

With the current Google API, it is important to use "high selectivity" terms, otherwise many unwanted words will be highlighted.

Homeland Security as Consumer Alert

A lot of media is packaged into a fear-response format. The "consumer alert" is one instance of this theme that the government seems to have followed with their ready.gov web site.

Maciej Ceglowski has the remix.

Reframing the Intellectual Property Debate

Doc is right about the need to reframe the copyright debate. We're can't go forward with arguments that:

• Information is Nonrivalrous
• Thomas Jefferson said so
• Record Companies rip people off

What we need is an answer to Jack Valenti's Property vs. Theft Paradigm.

The Right Word.  #

We should start with Jack's bread and butter:

"The difference between digital and analog is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug."

Jack argues that this difference necessitates stronger walls.

We need to demonstrate that the system that Jack advocates removes two of the traditional virtues of private property.

• the ability to transfer and modify
• the incentives of individuals to act on localized knowledge   #

Without these features, IP is not quite "property"; and as Mark Twain once said:

"The difference between the right word and almost the right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug.

An Efficient Mass-Market for Intellectual Property?  #

The ironic thing about Jack's "Intellectual Property" vendors is that they don't actually want to sell a product. They rail against Napster and P2P because they make great villains, but what would they think of an efficient market where individuals could trade and sell the IP they purchase?

3-State Bit welcomes Digital Rights Management because he thinks it will allow him to prove that he owns the products he purchased. He imagines selling his under-utilized music online at marginal cost, assuming that first sale doctrine will protect his right to participate in an efficient "virtual property" market. #

Under this theory, I could purchase a movie online, watch it in Pennsylvania on Saturday morning, electronically rent or lend it to my brother in Ontario for the afternoon, and get it back by Saturday night. Hollywood would make the first sale (IPO), but you and I would be able to make the second and third sale. #

Is this what Jack means when he talks about "Intellectual Property rights"? I don't think so. Jack is terrified of the prospect of a market in which individuals can send movies "hurtling" across the internet with the click of a mouse," illegally or otherwise.

The IP that Jack envisions is licensed, not sold and I have my doubts about the ability of licensing to emulate property.   #

The Prestige of Centralized Databases.   #

As I read the news and listen to people in my local community, I see an increasing number of institutions trying to solve their organizational problems through the application of relational database technology:

• Governments trying to unmask terrorists
• Corporations and Non-profits trying to "manage" relationships with customers and donors
• Churches trying to catalogue the talents of their members

I work as a database programmer, so I'm not trying to say that the technology can't be beneficial. Companies like google and amazon are a daily reminder of it's power, but businesses trying to duplicate their success must realize its limitations. Databases assume a fundamental structure. They can not the solve social, linguistic, or business-model problems inherent in an organization.

Who are our Customers? Ask the Database.  #

"Applying technology to the wrong strategy or process only results in automating and further entrenching it, making the organization ever better at doing the wrong things."

Microsoft has an advertisement for their .Net strategy suggests a strategy in which centralized databases transform large conglomerates into efficient "customer-centric" businesses: (paraphrased)

Music Executive: How can I sell a music product when I know so little about my market?
Techie: We'll get the names of concert fans from a centralized database.
Yes Man: Sweet.
Techie: And Send them an email with our mail server.
Yes Man: Sweet.
Techie: For an offer at our online Store.
Yes Man: Sweet!

If only it were that easy.

Part of the problem is that the offer the music industry is making at their online store is for a subscription that will expire should the fan one day cease to continue paying a monthly fee. The fan is limited to pre-approved playback devices and can not lend or transfer ownership of the music to anyone else.  #

Utilities: the Anti Dot-com  #

This subscription model is part of Hollywood's (and Microsoft's) efforts to become this business cycles' ideal -- a utility, the Anti Dot-Com. They call it "music on demand" or "software as service", but as they move closer to the utility model, they lose some aspects of the free market implied by their rhetoric of "property".

A Market that uses Local Information  #

Michael Powell likes to watch television with his TiVo and he doesn't need a centralized database to tell him that his sister might have a common interest in one of the shows he just watched.

That's because he knows things about his sister that:

• are not,
• should not, and
• can not be codified in a database. #

TiVo's database may be useful, but it is not perfect and we should not underestimate the value of a network connecting six degrees of friends, family, acquaintances.

Hayek's Calculation Debate  #

Friedrich Hayek recognized the "fragmentation of knowledge" as a insurmountable obstacle to centralized planning and an argument for the necessity of private property.

Private property gives individuals an incentive to act on localized knowledge. It's the reason why the tips of the tongs at my local grocery's bagel section are bent.

The original tongs manufacture did not know that its product could meet the demand for "bagel tongs" when modified, but someone in the store did. Will the original manufacturer ever discover this? Probably not. It doesn't matter; the market worked anyway because there were no legal or technical walls erected to stop it.

We need a "Calculation Debate for the Information Age"; and a market with not just incentives to create, but better incentives to distribute, modify, and improve the products of intellect.   #