Archive for November, 2003
Thursday, November 13th, 2003
This piece, about the conference on media reform, is by guest author Sabryna Cornish.
Is it possible to use something as vast and spatial as the internet to mobilize a group of people who have a common goal? It only makes sense that the Media Reform conference held Nov. 9 through ...
Posted in Alternative Media, Computing Technology, Corporate media, Media regulation, Political activism | Comments Off on The Internet as organizing tool
Tuesday, November 11th, 2003
The WSIS will see attempts to bring about new structures for governing the internet, under the control of a UN body such as the ITU. According to the FT, the attempt "is likely to be shelved at next month's world information summit in Geneva - but the issue is now ...
Posted in International Affairs | Comments Off on Bye bye ICANN?
Tuesday, November 11th, 2003
The alternative press is swimming in coverage of The National Conference on Media Reform, organised by Free Press, but there is little in the mainstream press - though I believe the Chicago Tribune did have an article. An overview of the rationale behind the conference is provided in an article ...
Posted in Media regulation | Comments Off on Reforming the Media in Madison
Tuesday, November 11th, 2003
There's more consolidation of the music industry on the horizon, with word that Universal is buying Dreamworks. With Sony Music planning on merging with Bertelsmann, and EMI and Warner eying each other up, the number of major companies looks set to decline even further.
Posted in Corporate media | Comments Off on Music consolidation
Tuesday, November 11th, 2003
BBC News reports a protest by temporary workers in the arts in France that involved them taking over a TV news room.
Posted in International Affairs | Comments Off on TV takeover
Tuesday, November 11th, 2003
The Free e-Democracy Project have launched a petition drive calling, amongst other things, for voter-verified audit trails in electronic voting systems in Europe. Given the cross-Europe enthusiasm of political elites we may need action at the European level to prevent the adoption of what are frankly dangerous systems.
Posted in Computing Technology, Electronic Voting, International Affairs | Comments Off on European petition on electronic voting
Wednesday, November 5th, 2003
The British Council is planning a weblog, DailySummit.org, covering the operation of the World Summit on the Information Society.
Posted in International Affairs, Online communication | Comments Off on Weblog to cover WSIS
Wednesday, November 5th, 2003
There's increasing coverage of the Diebold memos, which reveal just what a flawed concept electronic voting is. At this stage I think everyone with an interest has been able to get hold of a copy (no, I'm not going to link to my offshore copy:-), so there's no way to ...
Posted in Computing Technology, Electronic Voting | Comments Off on Diebold memos and the problems with electronic voting
Tuesday, November 4th, 2003
This quote has been going around - seemingly coming from the memoirs of George H. W. Bush (that is, the father of the current president of the US):Trying to eliminate Saddam... would have incurred incalculable human and political costs. Apprehending him was probably impossible... we would have been forced to ...
Posted in International Affairs | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, November 4th, 2003
According to the New York TimesNearly 3.8 million [American] families were hungry last year to the point that someone in the household skipped meals because the family could not afford them.34.6 million Americans 'were living in poverty last year.' And those figures are above the 2001 rates - sometimes substantially. ...
Posted in Income and poverty | 6 Comments »