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The Internet has quickly evolved into one of our most important national resources. However, a recent court decision may change what you have access to through your online connection. UC Santa Barbara communication researcher and network neutrality expert KK Holland talked with Tim and I this morning about the pros and cons of the issue. Listen to the show.
I read the now (in)famous Steve Jobs “Open Letter to Adobe Flash” last week. Jobs did an excellent job explaining his position. I agree that the insecure and proprietary system that seemed poised to dominate the web 8 years ago was misguided. The best sites on the Web don’t rely heavily on Flash (except for maybe YouTube, which may soon adopt HTML 5 video tags) and most of us browsers are sent searching for the “skip intro” button as soon as we see some lengthy splash page animation. Madison Avenue has finally come to realize that Flash frustrates and have dialed it back. That and the push for compatibility with mobile devices has stemmed some of Flash’s growth.
However, I find it ironic for Steve Jobs to compare Flash’s proprietary model to that of the iPhone/iPad, yet go on to say that being proprietary is ok for us (Apple) but not for them (Adobe). His crusade against Flash, while it has some merit, seems more like corporate bullying. These are the same or similar tactics that Bill Gate’s tried early on in the browser wars of the last decade in a format held over from before the PC (see Gate’s Open Letter to Hobbyists which attacked open source before the term “open source” existed).
While I don’t agree with what I believe to be Job’s mostly self-serving motivations, I am happy to see the creative ways that hackers and coders have make other technologies work for them in place of Flash. On the Full Channel site that I maintain we have had a Flash slideshow on the main page for some time. It has been an easy way to keep the site fresh and visually interesting, something we would not have been able to easily do without Flash just a few years ago. However, our slideshow began showing up as a mystery box on more and more devices that did not support Flash.
With the release of the iPad and the ever-increasing sight of passersby engrossed in their iPhones it seemed that this Flash-disabled audience was reaching critical mass. So, today I retired the site’s increasing incompatible .swf slideshow in favor of Jon Raasch’s very simple and elegant jQuery Slideshow. I like that jQuery’s motto is “write less do more.” jQuery is a lighter duty alternative to memory-intensive Flash and it works on many mobile devices including Apple’s. That and I feel a special kinship with Raasch as he too must also be spending a lifetime explaining that in fact there are two “A’s” in his last name.
This dual may not be over between Apple and Adobe. The fervor over Job’s letter is just beginning.
For more on this: Ars Technica has a nice piece today arguing that “Apple is presenting users with a false choice between Adobe’s proprietary software and Apple’s walled garden.”
Dr. Giovanni Vigna, one of the UC Santa Barbara researchers who recently took down one of the largest online criminal networks talked with Tim and me on the radio this morning. He explained how he and the UCSB Computer Security Group foiled the Torpig Botnet which had nearly 200,000 zombie computers trolling for banks account numbers, passwords and personal data. Hear the conversation on this week’s podcast.
UC Santa Barbara Computer Science Professor Dr. Ben Zhao joined us on the radio this morning to talk about the privacy implications in the exploding social media scene in the wide world of Web 2.0. Listen to the podcast.
This one from the This-Guy-Could-Be-Him file:
The FBI recently used a photograph of Spanish politician Gaspar Llamazares as an example of what Osama Bin Laden might look like today.
According to Reuters, FBI special agent Jason Pack said a forensic artist had been unable to find suitable features from the FBI’s database of photographs and used a picture from the Internet instead. That photo turned out to be one of Llamazares who apparently looks strikingly similar to what the FBI thinks Bin Laden would look like with a few extra years on him.
“I am stupefied the FBI has used my photo — but it could have been anyone’s — to compose a picture of a terrorist. It affects my honor, my own image and also the security of all us,” LLamazares said in a statement.
This fall my colleague Timothy Grigsby and I started a new public affairs and eclectic music public radio show called Intents & Purposes on KCSB/KJUC Santa Barbara. Our latest episode features studio guests from City at Peace Santa Barbara, a non-profit organization helping teenagers to create safe, peaceful and productive lives through performing arts. Their group is hosting a climate awareness gathering tomorrow along with others around the world called Project 350. Also we featured music tracks from Systems Officer, David Bazan among others and a special international block.
UC Santa Barbara’s Center for Learning and Inquiry in Networking Communities (LINC) and the California Virtual Campus were the recipients of the 2009 WCET Outstanding Work (WOW) Award, a competition that recognizes innovative uses of educational technologies in higher education for their project: Stepping Into Your Future. LINC Director Beth Yeager and I produced this video to highlight the project which has improved student retention and pass rates for K-12 students preparing for California’s English and Math high school exit exams.
I spoke with Providence Business News reporter Ted Nesi last week about the FCC’s net neutrality announcement and the Commission’s lack of comment on “content neutrality.” Here is the article from today’s Weekly Technology Update in which I am quoted.
I am pleased to see that FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski supports network neutrality. Allowing unencumbered access to an “open Internet” is vital to its continuing value and to Americans’ right to free speech. However, the chairman has not properly addressed a key underlying issue: content neutrality. If Internet service providers (ISPs) are to discontinue discrimination based on the source of data traffic, then so too should content providers end such practices. Under content neutrality media giants such as Disney, Google, Yahoo, etc. would no longer be allowed to demand payment from ISPs for access to their content.
For example, Disney’s ESPN 360 is using an online video content delivery model of demanding payment from ISPs based on total number of subscribers in order to provide all of the ISPs subscribers access to video content. The sports-media giant’s fear is that they would not be as profitable if they offered ESPN 360 only to individuals who chose to pay for it. So instead the fee is levied on all users, regardless of their individual interest level. Without content neutrality as part of the deal we will see the a-la-carte merit-based model of the Internet disappear in favor of a model where content is forced as a package on consumers by media giants. This will result in skyrocketing costs for Internet access and a crippled and “closed Internet.”
For more on content neutrality please see the American Cable Association’s statement from earlier this week.
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is quoted at TheHill.com (link not available) saying that the commission will support “net neutrality” and go after anyone who violates its tenets.
“One thing I would say so that there is no confusion out there is that this FCC will support net neutrality and will enforce any violation of net neutrality principles,” Genachowski said.
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