The truth at any cost lowers all other costs — curated by former US spy Robert David Steele.
Message from Craig Newmark:
This is the biggest thing in my life, and I’d like a little help from you.
Together, we can work from the grassroots up to make things better for everyone. I want us to use the Internet to connect and protect organizations that are making an impact.
Listening to the Foes of Globalization
Laurence Brahm
South China Morning Post, 11/22/2005
EXTRACT: Ironically, those in the so –called anti- globalization movement are all for the globalization of information. Mobile phone and the Internet are most critical tools, forming an underground media that people globally must now turn to in order to understand what is really happening.
In the mainstream, multinational corporate media realm, actual events are edited, watered down a misconstrued. Newsreaders and commentators who sing the praises of globalization dismiss what is becoming a global, people’s free democratic movement with the crude label “anti-globalization”.
Continue reading “Globalization & Anti-Globalization: Information War”
OCHA, UNOSAT and NetHope have been collaborating with the Volunteer Technical Community (VTC) specifically CrisisMappers, Crisis Commons, Open Street Map, and the Google Crisis Response Team over the past week.
The CrisisMappers Standby Task Force has been undertaking a mapping of social media, news reports and official situation reports from within Libya and along the borders at the request of OCHA. The Task Force is also aiding in the collection and mapping of 3W information for the response. UNOSAT is kindly hosting the Common Operational Datasets to be used during the emergency. Interaction with these groups is being coordinated by OCHA’s Information Services Section.
The public version of this map does not include personal identifiers and does not include descriptions for the reports mapped. This restriction is for security reasons. All information included on this map is derived from information that is already publicly available online (see Sources tab).
In the midst of this transition in Libya, one of the most devastating earthquakes in centuries hit northern Japan, causing one of the most destructive tsunamis in recent memory. Just hours after the earthquake, a member of Japan's OpenStreetMap community launched a dedicated Crisis Map for the mega-disaster. A few hours later, Japanese students at The Fletcher School (which is where the Ushahidi-Haiti Crisis Map was launched) got in touch with the Tokyo-based OpenStreetMap team to provide round-the-clock crisis mapping support.
Over 4,000 reports have been mapped in just 6 days. That's an astounding figure. Put differently, that's over 600 reports per day, or one report almost every two minutes for 24 hours straight over 6 days. What's important about the Japan Crisis Map is that the core operations are being run directly from Tokyo and the team there is continuing to scale it's operations. It's very telling that the Tokyo team did not require any support from the Standby Volunteer Task Force. They're doing an excellent job in the midst of the biggest disaster they've ever faced. I'm just amazed.
Tip of the Hat to Patrick Meier and Team at iRevolution.
The South by Southwest® (SXSW®) Conferences & Festivals offer the unique convergence of original music, independent films, and emerging technologies. Fostering creative and professional growth alike, SXSW is the premier destination for discovery.
Phi Beta Iota: Jon Lebkowsky, himself a hero of the Hacker Revolution, has done something cool here.
Continue reading “Bruce Sterling at SXSW 2011–Brilliance on Twitter”
65% of Americans Believe Afghan War Not Worth Fighting
Tuesday, 15 Mar 2011 01:41 PM
By Henry J. Reske
Almost 65 percent of Americans now believe that the war in Afghanistan is not worth fighting. The number is up 20 points from results in 2009 when 44 percent did not think the war worth fighting, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
Phi Beta Iota: Afghanistan, like Iraq, is an elective war founded on hundreds of lies to the public by a pair of Administrations who have substituted ideology for intelligence and profiteering for public service. The seismic change occurring today is centered on what can the public know, when. Public intelligence in the public interest is destined to kick in sooner with each passing year. One day, elective wars will be impossible.
Poverty to Dictate Future Power Play
Geoffrey T. Smith, Wall Street Journal
March 17, 2011
Those who believe that economics, rather than individuals or events, is the driving force behind history are going to have their faith sorely tested in the coming weeks.
Emotion and experience say the revival of nuclear power can not and should not continue after the events at Fukushima. Economics, and the political imperatives that it creates, say it is inevitable.
On the evening on March 24, 2011, EFF staff activists will discuss the state of government surveillance and privacy in the United States at “Government Surveillance in a Digital World,” an event hosted by San Francisco Intersection for the Arts, with a live video stream by BAMM.tv.
One of the many topics to be discussed is the PATRIOT Act. For nearly ten years, EFF has fought to reform or repeal the overbroad authority granted to law enforcement through the PATRIOT Act, and this year, we have a chance to introduce significant reforms. Thanks to bipartisan opposition and the efforts of grassroots activists, Congress rejected a rubber-stamp reauthorization of the PATRIOT Act and instead vowed to spend three months debating reforms to this law. This gives us an incredible opportunity to speak out against the PATRIOT Act and tell Congress that we don’t want any laws that trample on our civil liberties.
Join the EFF activism team in person or online for a a wide-ranging discussion on privacy in the digital world, online free expression, and how we can work together to stop Congress from reauthorizing a PATRIOT Act that enables excessive government surveillance.
