Month: December 2011
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Looking for last-minute tax donations? Why not support the open Internet?
Continue Reading: Looking for last-minute tax donations? Why not support the open Internet?As 2011 draws to a close, are you looking at what donations to make to charitable organizations for tax purposes?Here in the USA, this is something that many of us think about in these final days. It’s a last chance we have to make tax-deductible donations that can then be used to potentially lower the taxes you pay to the US government when we go through all that fun over the next few months.
Now, there are admittedly a zillion great causes and organizations out there to whom you can give donations. Local organizations, global organizations, relief organizations, churches and religious groups, arts organizations, environmental groups, sports groups, school groups, cancer and other research organizations… so, so many…
In the midst of all that, I’d also encourage you to think about possibly making donations to organizations helping in the fight to maintain an “open Internet”.
2012 promises to be a challenging year for the Internet… not just with the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and it’s PROTECT-IP cousin here in the US… but with similar legislation cropping up all around the world. With various governments seeking to put restrictions on the Internet in their country. With upcoming global telecommunications…
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3 Great Posts to Read About Why Windows Phone 7 Hasn’t Taken Off…
Continue Reading: 3 Great Posts to Read About Why Windows Phone 7 Hasn’t Taken Off…Jumping online this morning I noticed this trio of great posts yesterday about Windows Phone 7 and why it hasn’t taken off. The discussion was started off by Charlie Kindel, a former Microsoft general manager:
MG Siegler weighed in on his blog with:
And Robert Scoble posted a comment on Charlie’s post that led then to his own post:
The comments on both Charlie Kindel’s and Robert Scoble’s posts are also worth reading. There were other articles on this theme, but these were the three I found most useful.
As to my own opinion, I’m definitely in Scoble’s camp (to which Siegler also agrees):
It’s ALL about the apps!
The device formerly known as a “mobile phone” is now a device to access all sorts of services, information, games, Internet sites and to send messages to people… and, oh yeah, it can make phone calls sometimes if you really want it to.
It’s all about the apps… and until Microsoft is able to truly…
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Voxeo Imports Snow… Into Florida??? (Video)
Continue Reading: Voxeo Imports Snow… Into Florida??? (Video)Kudos to my former colleagues at Voxeo for a great Holiday Letter and a truly fun video showing the making of the holiday photo. A large part of why I enjoyed working at Voxeo so much was just the wackiness that leads to doing crazy things like having a snowball fight in Florida! Keep on doing crazy things, my friends… it’s awesome to see what you are doing!P.S. And I imagine that this little bit of snow may have been more snow than a few of those Floridians had ever seen! 🙂
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2 Insanely Simple Steps to Completely Bypass the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)
Continue Reading: 2 Insanely Simple Steps to Completely Bypass the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)How completely BROKEN is the proposed Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) be?Here are the two steps ANY consumer can take to COMPLETELY bypass the DNS filtering proposed in SOPA:
1. Find The Computer’s DNS Settings
On a Mac, go into System Preferences, then Network, select the network connection being used (typically “Wi-Fi” or “Ethernet”) and then click on the “Advanced…” button in the lower right corner. On the resulting screen, click on the “DNS” tab to see a screen like this one:
On a Windows computer, go into the Control Panel and look for “Network and Sharing Center”, find the adapter being used, right-click it and choose “Properties”. Next click on “Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)” (or IPv6 should you use that) and press the “Properties” button. Microsoft provides step-by-step instructions on their website for changing these properties.
On mobile devices, tablets, etc, the same kind of screen can generally be found in a “preferences” or “settings” area. Linux systems likewise may have a graphical control panel/settings area or may requiring editing of a file.
2. Enter In Addresses for Public DNS Servers OUTSIDE The USA
All someone has to do is search for “list of public DNS servers…
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2nd FCC Workshop on PSTN Transition Streaming Live at 9:30am – Taking Questions Via Email and Twitter
Continue Reading: 2nd FCC Workshop on PSTN Transition Streaming Live at 9:30am – Taking Questions Via Email and TwitterToday, December 14, 2011, the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is holding the second of two workshops on the transition of the PSTN to new technologies, as I described last week. The workshop will be streamed live today starting at 9:30am US Eastern at:http://www.fcc.gov/live
The FCC’s note about the workshops mentions that people watching live can send in questions to panelists using either of two methods:
- by e-mailing livequestions@fcc.gov
- tweeting on Twitter using the hashtag #FCCLIVE
9:30 a.m. – 9:40 a.m.
Welcome Remarks
by Zachary Katz, Chief Counsel and Senior Legal Advisor, Office of the Chairman, FCC9:40 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.
Impact of the Transition on the Technology and Economics of the PSTN
Participants include: University of Colorado, Carnegie Mellon, George Washington University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Gillan Associates, SIP Forum10:45 a.m. – 11:45 p.m.
Policies of the PSTN (e.g., accessibility, reliability, affordability, and public safety) -
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Internet Society Joins Chorus of Those Opposing SOPA
Continue Reading: Internet Society Joins Chorus of Those Opposing SOPAYesterday the Internet Society formally joined the opposition to the Stop Online Piracy Act (a.k.a. “SOPA” – background info available) with a statement from the Internet Society Board of Trustees:
http://isoc.org/wp/newsletter/?p=4932
The statement says in part:
The Internet Society Board of Trustees has expressed concern with a number of U.S. legislative proposals that would mandate DNS blocking and filtering by ISPs to protect the interests of copyright holders. While the Internet Society agrees that combating illicit online activity is an important public policy objective, these critical issues must be addressed in ways that do not undermine the viability of the Internet as a platform for innovation across all industries by compromising its global architecture. The Internet Society Board of Trustees does not believe that the Protect-IP Act (PIPA) and Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) are consistent with these basic principles.
Specifically, the Internet Society is concerned with provisions in both bills regarding Domain Name System (DNS) filtering. DNS filtering is often proposed as a way to block illegal content consumption by end users. Yet policies to mandate DNS filtering will be ineffective for that purpose and will interfere with cross-border data flows and services undermining innovation and social development across…
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Dilbert On Using Skype Versus Flying To A Meeting…
Continue Reading: Dilbert On Using Skype Versus Flying To A Meeting…Brilliant Dilbert comic on December 8th:
Well said… in this era of so many different communications and collaboration tools, the need to fly somewhere for a “quick meeting” should hopefully be reduced. I fully understand the need for face-to-face meetings… and find them to be extremely effective when done well. But the kind of travel for a “quick meeting” that used to be routine really shouldn’t need to happen so much today.
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Heading to Boston for USENIX LISA 2011 Conference Dec 8 and 9
Continue Reading: Heading to Boston for USENIX LISA 2011 Conference Dec 8 and 9Today I’m driving about 2 hours southeast into downtown Boston to attend the USENIX Large Installation System Administration (LISA) conference. As I wrote about on an ISOC blog, the head of my team within the Internet Society, Richard Jimmerson, will be speaking today at 2pm Eastern on the topic of:IPv6, DNSSEC, RPKI, etc.: What’s the Holdup and How Can We Help?
You’re busy. We get it. This industry moves fast and you’ve got your hands full keeping your networks updated and secure from the threat of the day. But why is it taking so long to deploy IPv6, DNSSEC, and other standards coming out of the IETF? These standards are the future of the Internet, but deployment to date has been slow.
He’ll be outlining the new ISOC project of which I am a part that aims to help speed up the deployment of these standards – and asking for feedback and help. I will be there along with another team member, Megan Kruse, to talk with folks about the project and interact with people involved with IPv6, DNSSEC and other technologies.
It’s been a good number of years since I last attended a USENIX conference but I’m very…
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What Is The Future of the PSTN? FCC Holding Workshops Dec 6th and 14th
Continue Reading: What Is The Future of the PSTN? FCC Holding Workshops Dec 6th and 14thWhat is the future of the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN)? As we transition away from traditional telecom technologies to a world based on IP communications, what are the policy, technical and economic implications?As I recently wrote over on CircleID, the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is holding two workshops on this topic of what comes next for the PSTN.
The first workshop, tomorrow, December 6, 2012, will cover “what obstacles and opportunities the transition may create regarding public safety, accessibility, and ubiquitous service“.
The second workshop on December 14, 2012, will cover “a wide array of economic, technological, and policy issues that need to be addressed as consumers choose to subscribe to, and rely on, new technologies and services.”
The FCC’s Public Notice about these PSTN Transition Workshops contains information about how to attend, both in person and via the FCC’s live stream at http://www.fcc.gov/live.
The meeting tomorrow will begin at 9:00 am US Eastern time.
If you are in the Washington, DC, area and able to get to these workshops, it may be a great opportunity to join with others in expressing to the FCC a vision for what we want for the post-PSTN communications infrastructure.…
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Today’s VUC Call – Philippine Phone Phreaking Funding Terrorists
Continue Reading: Today’s VUC Call – Philippine Phone Phreaking Funding TerroristsFor those interested in telecommunications security, today’s (Dec 2, 2011) VoIP Users Conference (VUC) call at 12 noon US Eastern will cover the recent arrests of 4 Philippine men who defrauded AT&T of close to $2 million and were employed by an alleged terrorist organization who was using the proceeds of the scam to fund their activities.
Eric Klein of Humbug Labs will be the guest on the VUC call discussing this and other fraud issues. It should be an interesting discussion.
You can join the live call via SIP, Skype or the regular old PSTN. There is also an IRC backchannel that gets heavy usage during the call. It will be recorded so you can always listen later.
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