Anti Net Neutrality Commercial on TV

This commercial was on TBS. Its probably the most unbelievable thing I've ever seen from a commercial.

Feel free to contact the NCTA (the ad's sponsor):

National Cable & Telecommunications Association
25 Massachusetts Avenue, NW - Suite 100
Washington, DC 20001-1413
Phone: (202) 222-2300

http://www.ncta.com/ContentView.aspx?contentId=40

Brian Dietz is SVP of Communications
Phone: (202) 222-2358 Fax: (202) 222-2351
bdietz@ncta.com

Rob Stoddard is SVP of Communications & Public Affairs
Phone: (202) 222-2350 Fax: (202) 222-2351
rstoddard@ncta.com

Daniel Brenner is SVP of Law & Regulatory Policy
Phone: (202) 202-222-2445 Fax: (202) 222-2446
legaldepartment@ncta.com

http://www.ncta.com/Biographies.aspx

For more info on net neutrality check out http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2005/11/vint-cerf-speaks-out-on-net-neutrality.html

Psiphon Now Available For Download

"Project Psiphon has been released for public download under the GPL. CNN has coverage of the Canadian research project that 'works by first allowing a person in a country like Canada that does not censor Internet content to set up a user name and a password for a person in a country that does — China, for example.' While this idea is certainly nothing new to Slashdot, the fact that software like Psiphon is becoming publicly available is interesting. For a quick simplified 'How it works,' Psiphon has a Flash demonstration." Not a moment too soon, apparently. China is moving to assign IDs to bloggers, to register their real identities and track their statements online.

Source: http://politics.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/12/01/1446238&from=rss

Tutorial: http://psiphon.civisec.org/PsiphonAug232006.html

Damn Straight Go U of T

The Great Firewall of Canada

"Canadian carriers Bell Aliant, Bell Canada, MTS Allstream, Rogers, SaskTel, Shaw, TELUS, and Videotron have all opted in to a blacklist, dubbed Project Cleanfeed Canada, provided by Cybertip.ca, the Canadian tip-line against child exploitation. The idea of having a national blacklist sends shivers down my spine. I'm a pessimist, I believe that any form of censorship will eventually be abused despite it's good intentions." Besides engtech's post on the subject, Dr. Michael Geist has some considered comments about this issue. From that post: "Critics are quick to draw parallels to Internet censorship in countries such as China. However, those countries involve state-based content blocking, with no transparency or legal recourse. In fact, several democracies - most notably Australia - have established limited blocking rules, while British Telecom, the UK's largest ISP, voluntarily blocks child pornography as part of its CleanFeed program. Even with various legal safeguards, many Canadians would undoubtedly find the blocking of any content distasteful. Yet to do nothing is to leave in place an equally unpalatable outcome that silences those would speak out against unlawful hate speech for fear of personal harm."

Source: http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/11/24/054220&from=rss

Talking with Skype

Google Talk's got a new gig. Google and eBay have signed an agreement around text-based advertising and "click-to-call" advertising, in which Google Talk and Skype will power voice calls between customers and merchants. (Read the full press release here.)

Just as exciting are our plans to explore interoperability between Google Talk and Skype, making it easier for our users to chat with one another. This is just another step in our commitment to interoperability via open, industry standards.

Lewis Lin
Product Marketing Manager, Google Talk

From: http://googletalk.blogspot.com/2006/08/talking-with-skype.html

This is at least googles first step to teaming up with another IM / VOIP provider and bringing IMing closer to email so any one can IM anyone from any service. Way to go ebay and google, well I'm ditching my skype account.