You are here October 2007
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Mon, 2007-10-29 18:20
The British paper, The Guardian, reported recently that: "Google Earth used to target Israel."
- "Palestinian militants are using Google Earth to help plan their attacks on the Israeli military and other targets, the Guardian has learned. Members of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a group aligned with the Fatah political party, say they use the popular internet mapping tool to help determine their targets for rocket strikes."
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"It is not the first time that Google has been accused of unwittingly abetting the activities of militant groups or terrorist organisations. In January, British officials claimed that insurgents sympathetic to al-Qaida were using aerial photography in Google Earth to locate potential targets inside British bases around the southern Iraqi city of Basra."
What is really scary about this coverage is the chillingly "open" video by the Guardian next to the written story that shows (about two-thirds of the way through the 4 minute video) how the "Palestinian militant" actually targets rocket attacks on Israel using Google Earth -- ostensibly to try and terrorize, kill and maim Israelis within Israel.
In another similar high profile problem, Google Earth was also careless in releasing restricted photos of the White House roof on Google Earth.
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Wed, 2007-10-31 10:56
The unanimous passage of a new seven-year Internet Tax Moratorium, is powerful evidence of how far out of the political mainstream the net neutrality movement is.
- The fact that everyone in Congress, from the right and the left, came together and supported extending the Internet tax ban for twice as long as Congress did in the past, proves unequivocally that political consensus is possible in Congress on mainstream Internet issues.
- Moreover, the near unanimous passage of the 1996 Telecom Act by Congress was another powerful example of how the left and right could come together and agree overwhelmingly on sound Internet/communications policies like:
- "...preserve the vibrant and competitive free market that presently exists for the Internet... unfettered by Federal or state regulation;" and
- "To promote competition and reduce regulation in order to secure lower prices and higher quality services for America telecommunications consumers and encourage the rapid deployment of new telecommunications technologies."
Sound mainstream policies can attract near unanimity in Congress -- despite rampant partisanship.
If net neutrality was truly a long-standing "principle" of the Internet, like its proponents have claimed, it would attract strong political consensus.
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Wed, 2007-10-31 13:48
I guess the World Economic Forum folks did not "get the memo" from net neutality proponents that the U.S. is supposed to be falling behind competitively because of broadband.
The Wall Street Journal reported today that: "U.S. tops Report on Competitiveness By World Economic Forum."
The OECD's questionable methodology ranks the U.S. 15th in the world on broadband; however, FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell gave a great speech that systematically debunked the OECD's agenda-driven methodology and rankings.
- Neutrality proponents often cite the OECD rankings as "proof" that net neutrality regulation is needed in order to improve American competitiveness in the world.
However, both the World Economic Forum and the Economist Intelligence Unit rank the US at or near the top of the world in competitiveness.
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