New: Building Wireless Community Networks. Reilly & Associates released Building Wireless Community Networks, Second Edition by Rob Flickenger, which provides a blueprint for setting up wireless community networks, including selecting appropriate equipment, finding antenna sites, and protecting the network from inappropriate access. [MacInTouch]

Haven't we heard this before?. The regional Bell companies say this time they're serious about broadband. I think they missed their opportunity. When cable operators were fighting mandatory open access in 1999-2000, the Bells could have positioned DSL as the open alternative for broadband. They could have leveraged independent ISPs and content providers as an… Continue reading they're serious

Keystroking at Kinko's. Keystroking at Kinko's: If you regularly use machines you can't control, such as machines at libraries or cafes, it's likely strongest to assume that everything you do is monitored. This MSNBC article describes how someone installed keystroke-capturing software on public machines, then sat back and collected passwords and personal data for identity theft.… Continue reading Keystroking at Kinko's

Ray Ozzie's Weblog. WiFi sniffing is EASY to do, it is commonly done, and the real question is at what point will someone do real damage by using what they sniff, and when will this be brought to the public's eye by the courts or by congress?  Think about it.  How long will it take… Continue reading

Ray Ozzie's Weblog

Encouraging Accountability through Personal Publishing. There's an increasing sense today that many of our most powerful institutions have become disconnected from the ordinary citizens they are supposed to represent. From questions about the accuracy and bias of the media to concerns over accountability of elected officials and government policy, there is a lack of communication and… Continue reading Encouraging Accountability through Personal Publishing

step away from the podium. Ross blogged the NY Times article on backchannels first, it seems. But I'm not interested in quoting it…I'm more interested in talking about its implications, and the responses it seems to generate from speakers. Two of my friends in the social software world, Stewart Butterfield and Anil Dash, are speakers… Continue reading step away from the podium

Attention-shifting. Article in the NY Times on back-channels of IM and Chat in universities, meetings and conferences.  Misses recent events.  Attention-shifting for early social software experiences will be meme for a while because its also a frame of reference shift. Cory Doctorow, a science fiction writer and blogger who has experienced this back-channeling at several… Continue reading Attention-shifting

Computer Voting Is Open to Easy Fraud, Experts Say. The software that runs many high-tech voting machines contains serious flaws that would allow voters to cast extra votes and permit poll workers to alter ballots undetected. By John Schwartz. [New York Times: Technology]

Power to John Robb John Robb is back!  His historic weblog has been restored to his new weblog site at http://jrobb.mindplex.org/.  Unfortunately, permalinks can't so easily make the journey so our links to John's former site are gone. And Power to the People When we heard from the FCC at SuperNova (see the article from… Continue reading

Power to John Robb

John Robb is back!  His historic weblog has been restored to his new weblog site at http://jrobb.mindplex.org/

House votes to block media ownership plan. The House of Representatives votes to tighten regulations limiting TV stations, radio stations and newspapers, setting the stage for a possible showdown with the White House. [Meerkat: An Open Wire Service]