Once again, we have a message that could have been placed in more than one blog category, such as: Our Cyberplace, Bill’s Blog, or the newly created Our Information Highway. I decided on Hammerhead because it will include quotes from other bloggers, who IMHO (that’s techie talk for “in my humble opinion”), have “hit the nail on the head” with their throughts and opinions. I have also chosen to use this 100th post to illustrate another point related to our Cyberworld and how computer technology has influenced the way in which we communicate and share information. But first, the quotes from fellow boggers:
From Harold Feld’s blog at http://www.wetmachine.com/totsf/item/498
“The Stevens Bill contains a section called “Municipal Broadband” (Title V) and calls itself the “Community Broadband and Lautenberg introduced a pro-munibroadband bill in 2005 called “The Community Broadband Act of 2005,” and that the House overwhelmingly adopted language identical to the McCain-Lautenberg language in COPE, you might think that I would put Title V in the “Good Parts” section.
GOTCHA! That clever Senator Stevens, who apparently has confused the definition of “competition” and “cartel” (Hey, they both begin with “C”! He’s old! Give the man a break!), has tricked you! Like predators in nature that camouflage themselves to look like pretty flowers before they SPRING UPON THEIR HELPLESS PREY AND DEVOUR THEM, The Stevens “Community Broadband Act” will allow local governments to give gobs of money to private companies, but will not allow local governments to do something as outrageous as compete with private companies. Impressed? Amazed? Astounded? Well see below . . . .
As you may recall, COPE (the House Bill on franchising and Network Neutrality) contained one good provision – it prohibited states from banning municipal networks. At Committee mark up, the full Committee overwhelmingly defeated proposed amendments to kill this provision, or even to grandfather existing state muni-bans. Seems like consensus, right.”
Friday, June 23, 2006 … From digital divide to digital enlightenment by Paul Lamb
“I dreamed last night that a new era had arrived in the United States, a kind of digital enlightenment. We, as a nation, had developed a national technology plan — a plan that makes electronic eavesdropping illegal and supports a stable, neutral and secure technology backbone that we can all equally benefit from. In my dream, technology was an essential infrastructure for opportunity — as important as the roadways, public buildings and school systems. I dreamed that all people, regardless of age, ethnicity, education, physical or economic capability, could tap seamlessly into a stream of knowledge and creativity unlike any the world had ever seen. Not only did people access information in a dynamic virtual library, but they also became the authors of its volumes — individually or collectively. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/06/23/EDGN6JI8Q51.DTL
FYI, over the past few days, of the two newspapers (printed versions) that I read cover-to-cover, only one featured the current Congressional debate related to my personal interests as a Cybernaut. The SF Chronicle ran a headline on page one of their Business Section (6-29-06) … “Net neutrality amendment dies … Telecommunications bill goes to Senate without provision sought by web firms.” (For previous stories related to this topic; go to … http://www.sfgate.com)
On the other hand, the Press Democrat (as far as I could see) faiiled to mention this news item. They did, however, run an article titled, “Cable competition bill clears hurdle” which reports on what the State of California Legislature is doing. But, it was buried on page B4. (6-30-06)
Granted, these issues are complicated and yet to be decided at both the federal and state levels; but the impact and ramifications for the public are worthy of front page reporting. “We the people” need to be kept informed about any legislation that will affect Americans … from the largest corporations to the smallest neighborhoods in the country. Thank goodness for bloggers like Harold Feld and Paul Lamb.
One final thought before posting this 100th blog. The Argus-Courier should be congratulated for experimenting with this online form of journalism. Although these citizen bloggers are not staff, they are reporting, electronically, information that appeals to a large number of readers in the greater Petaluma region. eJournalism has become a trend that will not go away; no matter which way the final legislative decisions go.
“Our Information Highway” belongs to the people; it is a public right-of-way, and it will survive in one form or another, no matter how many “potholes” it might hit along the way. Stay tuned for for more thoughts related to this issue no matter which category Hammerhead chooses to place it in for communication purposes … electronically … of course.