Annoyances

Internet Warning Signs

Cracked has a series of humorous Internet warning signs – there is a touch of seriousness in each one. My favorite is this one.

net02.gif

There is more than a grain of truth in this warning. With the Internet no one needs to have an unsatisfied curiosity however with this ability comes the burden of choice. Most users can see ugly things on the Internet but must then actively choose not to do so. Understanding of this responsibility is only gained through painful experience and even then it is difficult for most of us not to click on a link that we know may affect us negatively.

This freedom and individual responsibility on such a broad spectrum will change us individually and collectively but in what ways.

What happens to a person who can explore every twisted desire or experience all manner of horror – but without ever leaving the comfort and security of home? A dulling of the senses or a deepening of understanding of the role of choice in the lives of individuals?

Whatever happens we are on our way and will not be deterred from this development. All we can do is hang on and enjoy the ride.

Posted on by mklang

ISP Liability in Sweden

Yesterday, the Cecilia Renfors presented the results of her investigation on copyright issues in relation to the Internet (press release in Swedish). The investigation entitled Music and Film on the Internet – threat or possibility? (Musik och film på Internet – hot eller möjlighet?). The purpose of this investigation was to understand and to create a way in which illegal file-sharing would decrease and users would be encouraged to pay for the downloading of video and audio.

The main suggestion in this investigation is to hold the ISP’s liable for users’ treatment of copyrighted material. In reality this would entail that the ISP would move from being an anonymous carrier of information to being actively involved in the content their customers desire. Cecilia Renfors suggests that the ISP’s should be forced to, for example, close accounts for users involved in illegal file sharing.

These suggestions have not been accepted quietly. Naturally the ISP’s are protesting – they don’t want to chase their own customers. But there is a wider issue at stake here.

Suppose that an Internet account is terminated because it has been used for illegal file sharing. This punishment does not fit the crime. Considering the drive towards e-government and the amount of services which are moving wholly online the loss of one’s Internet connection is too high a punishment. Another question is who actually carried out the downloading? Was it the underage child? Or is it a neighbor abusing an open network?

Most users do not know enough about their technology to control their own Internet accounts. In addition they do not know enough about the complexities of copyright law in relation to the Internet. A study (pdf here – in Swedish) user’s rights (paid for by an ISP), also presented yesterday, shows that most people do not know which actions in relation to the copying of copyrighted material are legal or not. This latter study shows that 83% of Swedish teenagers download music from the Internet. Half of them believe that when they make a copy of music for a friend or family member that this act is also illegal.

An example of scenarios presented in the examination:

My friend has bought a song on the internet. She plays it for me on her mp3 player and I would like to copy the song to my mp3 player. Is this act legal?

Teenagers answer
* No: 51%
* Yes: 29 %
* Don’t know: 21%

Teenagers parents answer:
* No: 55%
* Yes: 21 %
* Don’t know: 24%

The correct answer is that this act is legal. Sharing a legally purchased song with friends and family is permissible. It is not permissible to share it to the general public nor is it legal to circumvent technical protection measures to copy the song.

The lack of legal and technical information makes this a sensitive issue. Naturally everyone within a society is expected to know the laws which applies to them. Ignorance of the law can never be a defence. However, the fact is that few people really know whats what in copyright and online environments.

If we create an environment where we begin closing access to Internet we are taking a step back in the information society. Access to Internet today is arguably more important than being connected to a telephone system. Not that I would like to give up either.

Posted on by mklang

For the children…

A recent AP-Ipsos poll in August showed that Americans don’t read much. One in four Americans did not read books at all. The poll shows that they tend to be older, less educated, lower income, minorities, from rural areas and less religious. While polls such as these may be interesting or indicative they are hardly the stuff of serious science.

In 2004, a National Endowment for the Arts report titled “Reading at Risk” (pdf) found only 57 percent of American adults had read a book in 2002, a four percentage point drop in a decade.

So is reading important? Well you can find plenty of people who would argue that reading books is not an essential skill. But after looking at a video of Lauren Caitlin Upton, Miss Teen USA South Carolina I think that the most people would agree that reading is important.

She is attempting to address the issue of why most Americans cannot find their own country on a world map. I think her solution is to help the rest of the world to become just as dumb as Americans.

miss.jpg

Please avoid the temptation to make obvious blond jokes!

Update:

After her answer became an online & offline sensation Lauren Caitlin Upton was a guest on Tuesdays Today show and gave this answer:

Personally, my friends and I, we know exactly where the United States is on our map. I don’t know anyone else who doesn’t. And if the statistics are correct, I believe there should be more emphasis on geography in our education so people will learn how to read maps better.

You can watch that video here.

Posted on by mklang

It isn't a violation if you know…

Here is another nomination for the category of dumb people. The principal of the Kastanjeskolan (Chestnut School) in Tomelilla Sweden wants to install surveillance cameras. Now while I really believe surveillance cameras in schools is a really bad idea I would not nominate the principle for this alone.

On being asked about the implications on student privacy the principal allegedly answered that it was not a violation of privacy since there would be signs informing the students that there were surveillance cameras in action.

Whoa! Your privacy is not violated if you are informed? What a dope. The principal of the school apparently does not get the difference between privacy as a basic right and the purpose of informing people about potential violations of privacy.

First we must argue the question of whether minors are really capable of grasping the privacy implications of video surveillance (many adults are not). Secondly, the children attending the school have no real choice but to attend the school – therefore informing them of cameras is not the same as providing them with the opportunity to make informed choices since they lack the real freedom to choose.

Additionally the installation of camera surveillance in schools sends a very peculiar message to the students.

Considering the lack of insight and obvious lack of thought displayed by the principal parents should seriously consider whether this is the right school for the children…

(via Infontology)

Posted on by mklang

Spanner in the Works

Tomorrow is my first day at work in Lund so I am taking the early train down. Unfortunately a very aggravating incident occurred tonight. The person who was going to rent me a room had apparently decided not to rent out the room. Unfortunately she didn’t think it was important enough to contact me and tell me about her decision.

This means that I have a ticket to Lund and two full days of appointments but nowhere to live. I feel the urge to swear loudly but since it will not make any difference I have not bothered to do that.

I am really pissed off…

Posted on by mklang

Internet

Andres over at Technollama reports that John Howard, the Australian Prime Minister, has vowed to clean the Internet by “blocking pornography, upgrading the search for chatroom sex predators and cutting off terror sites.” The PM plans to achieve this by giving all Australians a free content filter.

Its amazing that the old tactics of creating paranoia and fear are still used so widely. Well why change something that works? Blocking pornography will not make it unavailable but it can be filtered out.  It’s still there but many people will not see it. Its like going into a porn theater and putting a paper bag over your head.

I am more amused by the fact that he intends to “upgrading the search for chatroom sex predators and cutting off terror sites” by using filters.

This is the stuff that sounds good to concerned parents but is technically useless. Its just words.

Posted on by mklang

Toothbrushes, Manuals and Design

Most people seem to dislike manuals. Some dislike them because they are too technical, some are just too lazy or eager to read, while others feel that technology should be intuitive enough to be understood without the need of a manual. I must admit that I lean towards the latter argument.

But sometimes I like to read manuals. In particular I enjoy reading the labels on simple things. It amuses me to think that some large company has actually employed someone to write a text for a simple everyday object. And also others to translate the text. It is, in my opinion, a good example of how we are over-stressing the importance of design. Design is important, but it should only be noticed when it is absent not spoken about constantly.

Back to the texts on the back of everyday objects. When I changed my toothbrush I could not stop myself from reading the text on the back:

Experience a whole new dimension of freshness with the cool textured tongue freshener on the back of the brush head that powers away odour-causing bacteria.

Multi-height, multi-angle bristles penetrate deeply between teeth to clean away bacteria and plaque.

What language! What heavy sentences – you can almost hear the music in the background. Heavy classical or maybe even rock and roll. The toothbrush itself is highly designed to fit ergonomically in the hand. It has bright (dare I say fresh?) colors. This object has been subject to a serious extreme makeover, product development and marketing hype. It just want’s o make me shout out loud:

Hey guys get over it – It’s just a toothbrush!

Posted on by mklang

The Problem with Tilde

A small annoying bug has crept into the system! When attempting to access my blog on

nothing happens. When using the address

http://www.ituniv.se/%7Eklang/wrote/

The blog works. Most annoying.

Did you spot the difference?

WordPress (my blog software) is having trouble when the browser uses the link with the symbol Tilde (thatâ??s the squiggle ~) in front of my user name. It works when Tilde is written in html encoding %7E.

Tilde is written as %7E in html. Unfortunately most links to my blog and even the links which show up when you google me are written with Tilde. So I seem to have disappeared from the blogosphere.

Bah!

I have handed this over to support so I hope that this will be fixed â?? soon!

Posted on by mklang

When I shut my eyes…

I can still feel the warm summer breeze while walking in the shade of the trees. Then I open them again and remember that I have marking to do before term begins in a couple of days…

Wish I was still here…

Posted on by mklang

Bottled Water

Ever held a plastic bottle of water in your hand and wonder why you are drinking imported water? Or why I just paid for a plastic bottle filled with tap water? I often do. I know that there is a guilty story waiting to be uncovered but I tend to try not to think about it. I look for arguments that the water I am drinking is healthier than the soft drinks I used to prefer.

Via Boing Boing comes some of the ugly secrets in an article on Fast Company called Message in a Bottle. Some of the ugly truths we are trying to avoid hearing are:

  • Last year, we spent more on Poland Spring, Fiji Water, Evian, Aquafina, and Dasani than we spent on iPods or movie tickets–$15 billion. It will be $16 billion this year.
  • In the United States alone we transport 1 billion bottles of water around a week…One out of six people in the world has no dependable, safe drinking water.
  • In Fiji, a state-of-the-art factory spins out more than a million bottles a day of the hippest bottled water on the U.S. market today, while more than half the people in Fiji do not have safe, reliable drinking water.
  • You can buy a half- liter Evian for $1.35–17 ounces of water imported from France for pocket change. That water seems cheap, but only because we aren’t paying attention…If you bought and drank a bottle of Evian, you could refill that bottle once a day for 10 years, 5 months, and 21 days with San Francisco tap water before that water would cost $1.35.
  • 24% of the bottled water we buy is tap water repackaged by Coke and Pepsi for our convenience.

Naturally there is a trend to counteract the bottled water industry and the water sellers are working hard to maintain that they are connected to health and purity rather than environmental decay.

It is hard to understand why people believe that water imported from another country is a healthy choice. It is strange to think that people are prepared to pay dearly for tap water in a plastic bottle.

There are other issues such as the waste left behind, the health effects of the plastic traces in the water, the transport costs on the environment and the privatization of water…

This is definitely another area where we should be more critical.

Posted on by mklang