After yesterday’s rant against European democracy, I’ve had some of my confidence revived by a reply sent by Alyn Smith MEP (SNP), who has taken the time to answer to many of us who sent messages expressing our concern about the commission. Kudos to Mr Smith (is there an honorary Read more…
Given the fact that the amendments to Telecoms regulation have passed, I have been thinking about Europe. I am not a European citizen, I cannot even vote, but this year it will be 10 years since I have been living this side of the Atlantic, and paying taxes that go Read more…
A bit early on Sunday morning to try to organise an uprising, but this is what Lilian Edwards is doing this weekend. On Friday she wrote a long and detailed post about the way in which the 3-strike rule is going to be introduced by stealth this Monday July 7 Read more…
There has been considerable excitement in those interested in virtual world research about the results of the election of EVE Online’s Council of Stellar Management, which is as far as I know the first ever democratic experiment involving users of a virtual world. EVE Online is one of the most Read more…
(The next victim stands on top of a pile of dead spammers) A curious scene has been taking place in the streets of Stormwind. The square between the Auction House and the Bank is by far the busiest place in the game, with dozens of players moving to and from Read more…
The British press is going through a feeding frenzy, as tabloids and mainstream media outlets try to outdo each other in reporting the threats posed to children online. The Daily Mail warns us that “Millions of girls using Facebook, Bebo and Myspace ‘at risk’ from paedophiles and bullies“. Even by Read more…
The Internet is broken. You may have noticed some of the signs: slow connections, sluggish downloads, constant disconnections, lost emails, tons of spam. Who broke it, and how can we fix it? This was part of a very interesting talk by Chris Marsden at BILETA 2008, an earlier version of Read more…
Last month we talked about the much reported plan to force ISPs into enforcing file-sharing by imposing a “three strikes and you’re out” policy by which users who download infringing material online will be issued with two warnings and then their system will be disconnected from the network. I commented Read more…
It’s been a week since the largest ever fine by the European Commission was issued to Microsoft for failure to comply fully with the eponymous competition case. I must admit that even I, not a fan of Microsoft, flinched at what seems to be unusually steep punishment for failure to Read more…
The British technophobe media are having a field day. As a result of the tragic series of suicides in the Welsh town of Bridgend (17 since last year), some sectors of the mainstream media have been quick to allocate the blame on the internet in general, and social networking sites Read more…