Running and Passing.

The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is a proposed International agreement that could radically shift the policing of Internet based data communication. It would establish a new governing body that would forces ISPs to monitor and report on the activity of any user.

Why You Should Care About It

ACTA has several features that raise significant potential concerns for consumers’ privacy and civil liberties, for innovation and the free flow of information on the Internet, legitimate commerce, and for developing countries’ ability to choose policy options that best suit their domestic priorities and level of economic development.

ACTA is being negotiated by a select group of industrialized countries, outside of existing international multilateral venues for creating new IP norms such as the World Intellectual Property Organization and (since TRIPs) the World Trade Organization. Both civil society and developing countries are intentionally being excluded from these negotiations. While the existing international fora provide (at least to some extent) room for a range of views to be heard and addressed, no such checks and balances will influence the outcome of the ACTA negotiations. (via EFF)

Thus far, negations have been held behind closed doors, but details of the plan have been leaked and some countries have already vowed to sabotage or derail a unilateral agreement.

I suggest you visit the sites listed below for more details.

• Electronic Frontier Foundation [ISSUES] ACTA
• Techdirt – This link searches Techdirt for the term ACTA
• Free Software Foundation [CAMPAIGNS] ACTA

In parts of the Pacific Northwest, blackberries are seen as a nuisance. Despite an exceptional antioxidant rating and a high nutritional value, their thorny vines and persistent growth seem to rub some landowners/city dwellers the wrong way. In 2008,  The NY Times published a piece entitled Deliciously Invasive: Himalayan Blackberries in the Pacific Northwest, in which contributor Deborah Gardner extols this berry plague. Although the article focuses on the Seattle area, much it also holds true for the Willamette Valley.

Last summer, I was looking for new digs around Portland and an apartment located near the Springwater Corridor (pdf map) was high on my list. My search was intense, but the market was willing and I have been living it up in the greater Sellwood/Brooklyn area since September ’09.

Apart from easy access to the river and downtown, the corridor is simply is dotted with blackberries. There are a host of berries along the river, but the further West one follows the Springwater’s path, the more the frequent the brambles. This past Sunday, I threw a couple 32oz  containers in my pack and biked out for a recon run of the current berry situation. I picked a couple lbs of berries and succeeded mapping out some excellent picking locations.  Berry season peaks in early August, so I have a solid 30 day window in which to glean.

Last year, I hauled in roughly 14lbs of wild blackberries and 25lbs of asian pears. I’m upping the ante this year and hope to pull in about 25lbs 20lbs of berries. With all the fresh produce available at my local farmers markets it would be a pity to only consume local foods during harvest time. So instead of spending August days noshing on berries, the whole of my efforts are going directly into the freezer. Come Winter, I will still be able to eat local (and free to boot). I’m talking oatmeal and blackberries every morning.

I am currently intrigued by resource distribution/optimization, barter economies, gross national happiness, transparency, and meta data.

What is Net Neutrality? Net Neutrality is the guiding principle that preserves the free and open Internet. Net Neutrality simply means no discrimination. Net Neutrality prevents Internet providers from blocking, speeding up or slowing down Web content based on its source, ownership or destination.

Corporate interests aim to gain lawful control over the Internet access and bandwidth they provide to customers. Cable and phone company lobbyists are pushing to block legislation that would reinstate Net Neutrality. AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and Time Warner Cable actively oppose the tenets of Net Neutrality. While content and service providers such as Google, Amazon, Yahoo, eBay, and Skype are all in favor of a neutral playing field for their services. The debate is controversial and complex.

Some analysts proclaim that non-interference (no neutrality) can be the best form of regulation. Arguing that ISP’s will have to be more upfront in informing customers about traffic management, data limits, etc. The argument is that competition, rather than technical regulation,  is the consumer’s best guardian against “bottlenecks and monopolistic gatekeepers” . However, broadband competition among ISPs is solely lacking in many major US markets and can be virtually non-existent in suburban or rural areas. I’ve also heard arguments that Net Neutrality will stifle job creation and hamper the efficiency of the market, but would a corporate net not present the possibility of closed networks with limited access and the potential for censorship?

This leads me to questions where the FCC’s recently announced National Broadband Plan will fit into the mix. If the government is coordinating and funding the expansion/upgrade of the national broadband infrastructure, how can we allow corporate interests to have control over that network?

On the flip side, is giving the FCC power to impose neutrality and thus micromanage the Internet a viable alternative? The private sector has built an expansive network and in the past decade per megabit broadband prices have fallen significantly. Broadband adoption rates continue to rise. Would a government takeover/control dissuade private investment? Do we risk entangling the Internet, technology, and communication companies in red tape and litigation?

What is the true spawn of a non-neutral net? Do the potential pitfalls of regulation warrant Government intervention? Corporate control or government control? Wag the dog?

For more information, I recommend checking out the EFF’s Net Neutrality page.

You have until Thursday, July 15th to file a comment with the FCC. Visit their Electronic Comment Filing System and leave a comment on Docket 09-191 (In the Matter of Preserving the Open Internet Broadband Industry Practices).

Stay vigilant.

Much has been made of the effects of Internet use and how our brains are seemingly being reprogrammed to deal with this new wave of information. Nicholas Carr’s July/August 2008 Atlantic Magazine article, Is Google Making Us Stupid?, advanced a growing dialogue about our current to cognitive state and his new book, The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains, expands his criticism of our Internet overlord. While studies have yet to acquiesce the true effects of Internet usage on mental prowess,  but it’s important to recognize that new methods of mental processing have been introduced and we are indeed changing. Are we exercising the mental muscles that will make us smarter or rendering ourselves mere signal processing units?

Throughout history, detractors have lamented the advancement of everything from books and the telegraph, to  television and smart phones.  While we can underestimate the power of tools to reshape our minds, the fact that we possess re-mappable circuity is a feature that we should hold most dear.

I have noticed changes in my own thinking, but find simple procedures like consistent off-line reading, list making, pacing, and the achievement of pre-conceived goals to be as important as anything in maintaining awareness and focus. Oddly enough, this now brings us to running.

I recently read Haruki Murakami‘s memoir What I Talk About When I Talk About Running and found his journeying approach to running similar to the brain stretching exercises of long form reading/study. In the past few years have become a runner of sorts. I maintain a weekly schedule that has steadily increased as my stamina has grown. I continue to find new appreciation for the physical process and expanded mental state I receive from physical activity.

There is something about the mix of physical stimulation and mental solitude that allows for a quite concentration.  As I run (bike, kenpo-x) the way in which I remember, reason or even empathize seems to be drawn out into longer strings of thought. It is as if the run provides the ability for a deeper processing of information but the in-ability to immediately act on that processing. My whims are quelled as the physical process forces me to focus on the task at hand. I am free to think about everything or nothing allowing time and and pace to guide my journey. I’m not always pondering deep thoughts while I run, but I do believe the unwinding of my mental state, regardless of intentional direct processing, allows for a different form of thought.

Maybe this is a side effect of stress release? Could me imagination be playing a greater role? How are abstract thoughts related to physical sensation and exertion?

The Internet allows us to access information with hummingbird-like quickness, but our methods for processing that information are still tied to human memory and brain power.  Our mental facilities, regardless of Internet usage,  are constantly being reprogrammed. We must acknowledge that changes are taking place and maintain a purposeful (and personal) method of processing information and making thoughtful decisions.