Global Internet Freedom Act

Recently I was keeping up on what my Congressman Adam Schiff was up to regarding legislation. I was intrigued to see a report that he had co-sponsored a bill ‘against internet jamming’.
I could find anything online, so I called his office and asked. They said the bill was new and unpublished, but as soon as it was printed, they’d send me a copy. I got an email today with a link to the text of the bill.
You can look at the summary of the Global Internet Freedom Act aka House Resolution 2216 in a pdf version or plaintext.
After reading the bill (it’s only 8 pages), I was blown away. Here was our stodgy Congress actually trying to look out for the free flow of information in the world. Here are a few quotes:

(2) All peoples have the right to communicate freely with others, and to have unrestricted access to news and information, including on the Internet.

(4) Unrestricted access to news and information on the Internet is a check on authoritarian rule by repressive foreign governments in countries around the world.

(10) The success of United States policy in support of freedom of speech, press, and association requires new initiatives to defeat totalitarian and authoritarian controls on news and information over the Internet.

Wowsa folks! I think that Thomas Jefferson might agree with this bill if he were around today.
The bill goes on to request FIFTY MILLION dollars in 2006 and 2007 to “deploy, at the earliest practicable date, technologies aimed at defeating state-sponsored and state-directed Internet jamming by repressive foreign governments and the intimidation and persecution by such governments of their citizens who use the Internet.”
People, it’s time to rally the blogosphere around this bill and convert it to law. Find your Representative and DEMAND they cosponsor the bill. How can they be against freedom?
Take five mintues to stop surfing the internet and call Congress to get them to support HR 2216 – Global Internet Freedom Act. Do it now, reading the next site can wait.

Yes

Yes, I know I haven’t updated much recently.
This passage best summarizes the situation…

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

England

I’m in London, England for business this week.
This is my first trip to Great Britain and here are my initial thoughts.

  • You don’t use Euros in England, you need pounds.
  • There aren’t many TV channels.
  • What is called a Milky Way here is really a Three Musketeers.

    • Star Wars

    It’s 3:30 in the morning and I just got home from seeing Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith.
    It’s good.
    Much light saber fighting and most story issues are neatly wrapped up. No big suprises, but it has everything that people will expect.

    Weblogs & America

    Before the blogosphere echo chamber shatters itself with hype, perhaps those frothing over the impact of blogs on society should take a deep breath and read about how most Americans have never heard of them.
    A tidbit to entice you -> “But as of late February, when this poll was conducted, only 3% of Americans said they read blogs every day. Fewer than one in six, 15%, read blogs at least a few times a month.”
    Let the flames begin!

    Remix Culture

    I love mashups and I love mixes. The only thing I could possibly love more is a mix of mashups!
    For those that don’t know, a mashup is the mixing to two songs to intertwine. Like the music from one song mixed with the lyrics from another song. A mix is the blending of two songs into each other.
    On the local radio station Indie 103.1 is a weekly show called The Smash Mix, which is a half hour long mix of mashups. DJ Paul Vhas been doing a great job for the last several weeks with the Smash Mix and keeping it entertaining. His mix on April 15th for Tax Day was brilliant.
    The mix airs on Fridays at 5:30-6:00pm and repeats at 9:30-10:00pm on Indie 103.1. They have a good streaming feed, so even non-Angelenos can listen in. Personally, I record it weekly with my Griffin Radioshark.
    The best place to find the mix is at CultureDeluxe under DJ Paul V. You can also find the mixes at FleetwoodMash, scroll down to DJ Paul V.
    There is even a Smash Mix podcast feed at Alohadude.net, for those podcastingly inclined.
    I wrote to DJ Paul and asked how he made the mixes, I assumed it was all produced in a digital audio workstation software package. It’s not, it’s mixed LIVE. Here’s DJ Paul’s reply:

    I guess I should let people know this more:
    All Smash Mixes are made & mixed live – CD deck to CD deck (usually 4 decks tho). I’m not mixing them live on the air, but I pre-make them during the week.

    But there’s no audio software involved at all. I might take a stab trying Cool Edit soon, but I haven’t even installed the program yet.

    I kinda like that there’s a live and real DJ element to the mixes, even if they could be perfected using software.

    Ciao for now….PV

    To me, this is the remix culture I love. Sure translating speeches into different languages via Creative Commons licenses is a cool idea, but it a bit dull compared to rocking out to tunes by a great DJ…
    There are those that don’t like Indie 103.1 because it’s owned by Entravision and has ties to Clear Channel, but I love it. This is some real creativity and great radio pumping out on Indie.
    If loving the Smash Mix on Indie 103.1 is wrong, I don’t want to be right.