New Domain Suffixes: "Dot-Whatever" Coming (Fairly) Soon

"Web 2.0: New Internet domains may include '.lol,' '.bank"
Associated Press, via FoxNews.com (June 13, 2012)

"If Google has its way, you won't need 'Google.com' to do your searches. You can simply go to '.Google.'"

"New York City wants Internet addresses ending in '.nyc,' while several companies and groups are looking to create '.doctor,' '.music' and '.bank.' Google Inc. is also seeking '.YouTube' and '.lol' -- the digital shorthand for 'laugh out loud.' Others are looking to attract non-English speakers with suffixes in a variety of languages....

So far, this looks pretty good. With so many 'dot com' addresses, the Internet - well, the Web, anyway - is probably due for some new ways to say 'this is where I am' in cyberspace. Look at the names we've got for "street," besides "street," of course. Like:

• Avenue
• Boulevard
• Court
• Drive
• Lane
• Place
• Road
• Terrace
• Trail

Of course, there's the problem that some cities have, where newcomers get lost trying to find 123 Mockingbird Lane; or was that Mockingbird Drive; Mockingbird Place? - all of which are in about the same part of town.

What, No .BYOB?!

"...Some 2,000 proposals have been submitted as part of the largest expansion of the Internet address system since its creation in the 1980s. These suffixes would rival '.com' and about 300 others now in use. Companies would be able to create separate websites and separate addresses for each of their products and brands, for instance, even as they keep their existing '.com' name. One day, you might go to 'comedy.YouTube' rather than 'YouTube.com/comedy.'

"The organization behind the expansion, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, will announce a full list and other details in London on Wednesday....

For all the Lemming knows, .byob actually is in the list of new "...It'll take at least a year or two, however, for the first of these new suffixes to win approval and appear in use.

"Some of them never will if they are found to violate trademarks or are deemed offensive. Others will be delayed as competing bidders..."

For all that the Lemming knows, .byob (Bring Your Own Bottle) may be one of the new domain name suffixes. If it is, the Lemming suspects that some of America's more tightly-wound citizens will raise a fuss. You'd think we'd have learned from Prohibition, and that's another topic.

'Offensive' is in the Eye of the Beholder

The Lemming hopes that the folks at ICAN use common sense when handling complaints about 'offensive' suffixes. With so many of the world's 7,000,000,000 or so citizens having Internet access, the odds are pretty good that someone's already offended by ".com" and ".org."

Since those are still with us, the Lemming figures the folks at ICAN have at least a little sense.

Serenity and a Dreaming Lemming

Surely by now some frightfully earnest fellow has complained about the crass commercialism of ".com," or the oppressive overtones of ".gov" - and yet, ICAN retained those suffixes. Perhaps that sort of restraint and inner serenity will flow into other channels.

The Lemming has a dream that one day online communities will shine with friendship, compassion, and rational exchange of ideas.

The Lemming has a dream that one day reporters and columnists will no longer write angst-laden articles about the dreadful consequences of something new.

The Lemming has a dream that - oh, never mind. The Lemming's just dreaming.

Related(?) posts:

• "Microsoft, Windows, Internet Explorer, 'Mere Anarchy is Loosed Upon the World,' and All That"
  (May 11, 2012)
• "Twitter Censorship: Choosing Half a Loaf?"
  (January 30, 2012)
• "Lemming Tracks: SOPA, PIPA, and 'Rules are for the Little People?' "
  (January 17, 2012)
• "The Internet 'Shattering:' Oh, the Horror! Or, Not"
  (January 9, 2012)
• "Olympic Committee Rules for Social Media: Common Sense; or Signs of a Vast Conspiracy of Space Aliens?"
  (June 27, 2011)

Microsoft, Windows, Internet Explorer, "Mere Anarchy is Loosed Upon the World," and All That

"Microsoft returning Windows to 'the digital dark ages'?"
FoxNews.com (May 10, 2012)

"The biggest lawsuit in Microsoft's history dominated the 90s, when the company battled accusations that it was stifling browser competition. Rival Netscape couldn't survive, but the Windows giant was ultimately forced to strip Internet Explorer from its operating system in a landmark ruling.

"That conflict may be brewing up again.

"Mozilla, the developer group behind the popular Firefox browser, argued Wednesday night that Firefox is being banned from certain versions of Windows 8, the forthcoming tablet-centric OS from Microsoft -- returning Windows users to the dark ages before competition.

" 'The upcoming release of Windows … and Microsoft's browser practices regarding Windows 8 Metro signal an unwelcome return to the digital dark ages where users and developers didn't have browser choices,” wrote Harvey Anderson, Mozilla general counsel, in a Wednesday night blog post...."

Hyperbole about "digital dark ages" aside, it looks like Microsoft's upcoming version of Windows will allow Microsoft's Internet Explorer to work on computers using Windows, along with most other browsers. Or, Microsoft's new version of Windows will let only Internet Explorer to work.

Either way, it'll be the fault of Big Bad Microsoft: for some folks.

Concerned, Yes: Worried, No

The Lemming is concerned about the latest claim that Microsoft is doing something stupid and self-destructive. The Lemming's computer uses Windows, and the Lemming uses Firefox for most Web browsing: and Chrome, mostly to let the Lemming's webcam talk to a free-with-ads display service.

If the next version of Windows, and subsequent versions, won't let anything but Internet Explorer function as a browser, the Lemming may decide that the next computer on the Lemming's desk will have another operating system.

It's the Lemming's considered opinion that quite a few folks may make that decision: which is why the Lemming is concerned, but not worried. Even if Microsoft decides to be daft: there are other options.

The Town of Hypothetical, West Dakota

Competition doesn't always feel good. Consider this hypothetical situation: Let's say you live somewhere that isn't like Los Angeles or New York City. A remarkable number of folks do, and that's another topic.

You run the only grocery in town: if folks want to buy at another grocer's, they'll have to drive 50 miles. You have to put fresh produce out occasionally, and be careful enough to keep the health inspector from closing you down: but apart from that, you don't have to worry about whether folks will buy your fuzzy fruit and glow-in-the-dark cold cuts.

Then: SOMEONE ELSE OPENS A GROCERY at the other end of town. With (really) fresh fruit, and meat that's not quite so thoroughly aged.

You've got a choice: improve your grocery, or go out of business.

Harsh as this may sound: everybody else in town might benefit from grocers competing with each other. And maybe the hypothetical 'you' with the fuzzy fruit might find indirect benefits in competition-induced improvements.

Who knows: your neighbors might even stop throwing rocks through your windows.

"Things Fall Apart:" A More Sophisticated, Literary, Approach to Unpleasantness

Maybe the Lemming is being unfair about this: but after a while these perennial complaints about big, bad, whatever gets tiresome.

It's like that fellow whose sole talent seems to be finding a dark lining in every sliver cloud; and whose greatest satisfaction is pulling defeat from the jaws of victory. For some reason, a sort of loquacious pessimism has been highly thought of in at least part of the literary world:

"...Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
"Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
"The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
"The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
"The best lack all conviction, while the worst
"Are full of passionate intensity...." (Yeats (1920))

That's not bad, actually. Gloomy, And not the sort of thing to take in large doses on an overcast day: but not bad.

Vaguely-related posts:

• "Google, Bing, Microsoft, 'Original' Work, and Getting a Grip" (February 2, 2011)
• "Microsoft; XP; Support; Marketing, Smart and Otherwise" (August 5, 2010)
• "Microsoft, Domains, Zombie Computers, and Spam" (February 26, 2010)
• "First Google Gmail Hack, now Windows Hole Announced" (January 21, 2010)
• "Lemming Tracks: The Zlob Worm and Related Malware Issues" (April 19, 2009)

Twitter Censorship: Choosing Half a Loaf?

"Twitter Switches on the Censors"
Alyssa Danigelis, Tech News, Discovery News (January 28, 2011)

"The social networking site Twitter finds itself between a rock and a hard place in foreign countries where speech isn't always free. On the one hand, Twitter's leadership doesn't want the whole site banned in those countries. On the other, what's a dictatorial government going to do with a social networking site that helps stir up civil dissent? The answer: Ban it. But that's not good for business.

"So the site that helped fuel the Arab Spring last year and briefly brought Iranian protests to the fore in 2009 just announced that it's going to start dancing with the censorship devil. In the past, if a tweet had to be removed from the site for legal reasons -- usually copyright infringement -- it was taken down universally. Now, the tweet can be taken down from one country and still seen by tweeters in other countries...."

'It can't happen here?' America has a pretty good track record for allowing citizens to voice opinions. McCarthyism and the heyday of political correctness are, in the Lemming's opinion, not examples of 'business as usual' in this country.

On the other hand, Congress almost took control of the comics industry. That was the early 1950s:

• "The Horror! Monster Comics that Scared Congress"
  (October 31, 2010)

'Public morals' might still work as an excuse to muzzle dissent: although the Lemming thinks that sort of censorship would now be packaged as 'saving the children.' We had a close call about a year ago, when controlling search engine results was marketed as "search neutrality."

This year, the line was "piracy." So far, Congress seems to have decided to wait until folks forget about SOPA and PIPA. Maybe the Lemming's being unfair.

"Different Ideas About ... Freedom"

"...'As we continue to grow internationally, we will enter countries that have different ideas about the contours of freedom of expression. Some differ so much from our ideas that we will not be able to exist there,' the announcement from Twitter says.

"Any time a tweet is censored, the company says it will notify the person who tweeted it and describe the removal on a Twitter-specific section of ChillingEffects.org...."

There's a joke that was old when the Soviet Union turned into Russia, and a lot of smaller countries. Several, actually, but this one almost applies to Twitter and censorship:

An American and a Russian were comparing their countries. The American said his was better, because Americans have freedom of speech. "I could stand in front of the White House and say, 'the president is stupid!' "

"Ha," replied the Russian. "We also have freedom of speech! I could stand in front of the Kremlin and say, 'the American president is stupid!' "

Like Twitter said, some countries "have different ideas about ... freedom of expression."

Half a Loaf?

Ideally, no country's government would try to keep its citizens from voicing their opinions. But we don't live in an ideal world.

The Lemming thinks that the "half a loaf is better than none" principle applies here. Twitter is probably taking a sensible approach: allowing people in tightly-managed countries access to some service.

In the Lemming's opinion, folks are pretty good at communicating: even when their 'betters' don't want them to. 'Songs of the underground railroad' and spirituals may or may not have been a case in point. The lack of written evidence may be connected to the reason that "composer of jazz" is pretty close to being an oxymoron. And that's another topic.

Songs

Somewhere, some time since folks started working the bugs out using fire without killing themselves, there may have been a culture without music. If so, the Lemming suspects that they didn't last long: and left precious few traces. But that's just an opinion.

A fair number of folks have valued songs for over two dozen centuries:

"Among all men on the earth bards have a share of honor and reverence, because the muse has taught them songs and loves the race of bards."
Homer, The Odyssey (Greek epic poet (800 BC - 700 BC))

"Of all noises, I think music is the least disagreeable."
Samuel Johnson (English author, critic, & lexicographer (1709 - 1784))

Not everybody sees music quite the same way:

"The whole problem can be stated quite simply by asking, 'Is there a meaning to music?' My answer would be, 'Yes.' And 'Can you state in so many words what the meaning is?' My answer to that would be, 'No.' "
Aaron Copland (US composer (1900 - 1990))

"A musicologist is a man who can read music but can't hear it."
Sir Thomas Beecham (English conductor (1879 - 1961))

Wrenching himself back on-topic, the Lemming offers:

Freedom and Other Inconveniences

"The basis of a democratic state is liberty."
Aristotle, Politics (Greek critic, philosopher, physicist, & zoologist (384 BC - 322 BC))

"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759 (US author, diplomat, inventor, physicist, politician, & printer (1706 - 1790))

"I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it."
Thomas Jefferson, to Archibald Stuart, 1791 (3rd president of US (1743 - 1826))

"If you want to be free, there is but one way; it is to guarantee an equally full measure of liberty to all your neighbors. There is no other."
Carl Schurz (US (German-born) general & politician (1829 - 1906))

"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered."
G. K. Chesterton (English author & mystery novelist (1874 - 1936))

"The First Amendment is often inconvenient. But that is besides the point. Inconvenience does not absolve the government of its obligation to tolerate speech."
Justice Anthony Kennedy, in 91-155 (US jurist (1936 - ))

And that's yet another topic.

Related posts:

• "SOPA, PIPA, and a Disapproving Rabbit"
  (January 18, 2012)
• "Lemming Tracks: Internet Freedom; or 'Be Careful What You Wish For' "
  (April 19, 2011)
  Particularly
  • Freedom: Precious, and Easily Lost
• "Lemming Tracks: Egypt, Google Exec Wael Ghonim, and Freedom of Speech"
  (February 6, 2011)
• " 'Search Neutrality:' Deciding What We're Allowed to Find?"
  (January 22, 2011)
• "COICA: A Federal Official Deciding Who Gets to Stay Online"
  (November 19, 2010)

Lemming Tracks: SOPA, PIPA, and 'Rules are for the Little People?'

SOPA is still working its way through Congress, sort of like a badly-cooked triple-cheese pizza.

If SOPA had been written by someone who understood information technology, and gave a rip about freedom of speech, the Lemming wouldn't be all that upset about one more piece of legislation. As it is, it looks like SOPA is - at best - a well-intentioned disaster waiting to happen.

That's the bad news.

The good news is that we do have pesky things like the First Amendment and blogs, and folks who aren't sufficiently submissive to what our betters in Washington think is good for us.

We've also got tech giants like Google, whose leadership is savvy enough to realize that giving some government official the power to shut down bothersome domains is a bad idea.

There's "Smart, Targeted;" And there's Congress

"Google will protest SOPA using popular home page"
Declan McCullagh and Greg Sandoval, CNET News (January 17, 2012)

"The tech sector is pulling out the big guns.

"Google, the Web's top search company and one of technology's most influential powers in Washington, will post a link on its home page tomorrow to notify users of Google's opposition to controversial antipiracy bills being debated in Congress.

"The company confirmed in a statement that it will join Wikipedia, Reddit, and other influential tech firms in staging protests of varying kinds against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA), which are backed by big entertainment and media interests. (Read a roundup of our SOPA and PIPA coverage here.)

" 'Like many businesses, entrepreneurs, and Web users, we oppose these bills because there are smart, targeted ways to shut down foreign rogue Web sites without asking American companies to censor the Internet,' a Google representative said. 'So tomorrow we will be joining many other tech companies to highlight this issue on our U.S. home page.'..."

Let's cut the folks in Congress some slack here: many of them have devoted decades of their lives to spending our money and getting entertained by Hollywood. Unlike many of the rest of us, they may not have had time to learn about stuff like "computers" and "Internet." Besides, mere drudgery like typing and reading are what secretaries and interns are for, right?

Wikipedia Goes Away: For a Day

"Wikipedia joins web blackout in Sopa protest"
BBC News (January 17, 2012)

"Wikipedia plans to take its English-language site offline on Wednesday as part of protests against proposed anti-piracy laws in the US.

"The user-generated news site Reddit and the blog Boing Boing have also said they will take part in the 'blackout'.

"The sites' webmasters are opposed to the Stop Online Piracy Act (Sopa) and Protect Intellectual Property Act (Pipa) being debated by Congress.

"However, Twitter has declined to take part in the shutdown.

"Wikipedia's founder, Jimmy Wales, told the BBC: 'Proponents of Sopa have characterised the opposition as being people who want to enable piracy or defend piracy.

" 'But that's not really the point. The point is the bill is so over broad and so badly written that it's going to impact all kinds of things that, you know, don't have anything to do with stopping piracy.'..."

In the Lemming's opinion

• Freedom of speech is not piracy
• Protest is not terrorism
• Disagreement is not treason

The Lemming's been over this sort of thing in another blog:

• "Bahrain, Foreign Troops, and - Maybe - the Last Stand of Kings"
  (March 18, 2011)

'Rules are for the Little People?'

"More on SOPA/PIPA"
Caitlin Williams, WTOL.com News (January 15, 2012; updated January 17, 2012)

"SOPA creator caught in own web

"The author of the controversial SOPA bill which seeks to introduce stricter penalties for companies and individuals caught violating copyright laws online, has been caught in his own web.

"An archived screen shot of House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith's, R-TX, website depicts a beautiful lush forest used as a background.

"According to an article by Vice.com, this stock image traced back to photographer DJ Schulte.

"The photographer protects his image under the Creative Commons license, which allows anyone to use an image so long as they attribute the image to the photographer and do not use it for commercial purposes.

"The only problem is that attribution for the image does not appear on the site. If Smith's proposed bill were to pass, action could be taken against his own website.

"Lamar's website no longer utilizes stock images, save for one banner strip across the top, but this incident exposes the faults and vagueness that critics point out in the bill...."

In fairness, anybody can make a mistake. Maybe whatever underling Lamar Smith told to do the website simply forgot to include the Creative Commons license attribution.

On the other hand, that's embarrassing. And an example of what could get someone's website kicked off the Internet, under SOPA provisions.

Not that Smith would be affected. He's important. As long as he was part of the Washington set, it's unlikely that some trifling little peccadillo like using DJ Schulte's picture without attribution would result in SOPA enforcement.

The story might be different, if whoever committed such an act of 'piracy' was one of those 'troublemakers' who don't agree with our great leaders in Washington. And that's almost another topic.

Related posts:

• "Lemming Tracks: SOPA, Censorship, and 'Protection' "
  (January 13, 2012)
• "Lemming Tracks: SOPA, Tech-Savvy Folks, Hollywood, and Congress"
  (January 9, 2012)
• "SOPA: 20 Reasons Why It's a Really Bad Idea"
  (December 30, 2011)
• "SOPA, Censorship, the Twits in Washington, and a Ranting Lemming"
  (December 28, 2011)
• "Lemming Tracks: Internet Freedom; or 'Be Careful What You Wish For' "
  (April 19, 2011)

Lemming Tracks: SOPA, Censorship, and 'Protection'

SOPA is - we're told - supposed to protect Hollywood and the American record industry from pirates.

That's not the problem. Copyright and other intellectual property rights are important, and should have legal protection.

But SOPA, as originally set up, would allow some Federal official to blacklist websites. But that's okay? After all, only 'pirate' websites will be affected. And, presumably, since they're 'pirates,' there's no need for a trial: according to SOPA.

Let's imagine a hypothetical situation.

'It Can't Happen Here?'

Let's say there's this website, run by someone who isn't sufficiently grateful about being protected from pirates. One of the pages on this website includes that quote from "Star Wars," "I've got a bad feeling about this." Complete with a sound clip from the 1977 movie.

That, according to some Washington bureaucrat, is 'piracy.'

And so the troublesome website disappears.

Without a trial.

After all, SOPA protects Hollywood against 'pirates,' and their kind doesn't deserve a trial, right?

Or, maybe not-so-right.

Quite a few folks have been raising a fuss about SOPA: including a sort of protest shutdown on Wednesday of next week, January 18.

• "Notch Joins January 18 Anti-SOPA Protest"
  Ian Miles Cheong, gameranx.com (January 13, 2012)
• "Reddit to protest SOPA with Jan. 18 Blackout"
  PC World India News (January 13, 2012)
• "Sen. Leahy bows to pressure, pledges to amend Protect IP bill"
  Declan McCullagh, CNet (January 12, 2012)

Now we're told that SOPA is going to be cleaned up a little before getting imposed on us. That's nice to hear. Maybe it's even true.

Protected from 'Pirates' - And Disturbing Ideas?

Maybe the most disturbing part of SOPA is that a member of Congress apparently decided that websites should be suppressed - without a trial - based on whether or not some government official thought they had the 'wrong' sort of content.

Protecting folks who produce content is a good idea. That was the idea behind "residuals:" allowing someone besides studio heads from profiting from a movie that continues to make money. And yes: there's more to residuals than that:

• "Residuals FAQ"
  Screen Actors Guild

But 'protecting' the world, by taking 'bad' websites off the Internet? Based on what some government official wants? With no trial?

Even if whoever is pushing SOPA 'means well,' this is a very bad idea.

On the other hand, it could be worse. The Egyptian government shut down the Internet in their country a year ago. Egypt has a new government now, by the way.

'It can't happen here?' Well, maybe. But folks with power have been known to react badly when they think they're not being properly appreciated:

• "Lemming Tracks: Egypt Government Shuts Down Internet: It Can't Happen Here?"
  (January 29, 2011)
• "China Protects Online Gamers: Another Dubious Idea"
  (January 18, 2009)
• "The Internet: USA Rules, UAE Rules"
  (August 14, 2007)

Just a reminder: America has a national election coming up this November. Maybe it's time to swap out the current lot with politicos who understand today's technology: and who value freedom of expression.

Other related posts:

• "Lemming Tracks: SOPA, Tech-Savvy Folks, Hollywood, and Congress"
  (January 9, 2012)
• "SOPA: 20 Reasons Why It's a Really Bad Idea"
  (December 30, 2011)
• "SOPA, Censorship, the Twits in Washington, and a Ranting Lemming"
  (December 28, 2011)
• "Lemming Tracks: Internet Freedom; or 'Be Careful What You Wish For' "
  (April 19, 2011)
• " 'Search Neutrality:' Deciding What We're Allowed to Find?"
  (January 22, 2011)

Lemming Tracks: SOPA, Tech-Savvy Folks, Hollywood, and Congress

This isn't a 'political' blog. Not in the sense that the Lemming says every [insert political position] idea is brilliant, while everyone associated with [insert political party] are satanic traitors with body odor issues.

On the other hand, the Lemming likes freedom of expression, and an Internet where folks can voice opinions: even if some federal official doesn't agree. Maybe SOPA is a wonderful idea, that just happened to get introduced toward the start of an election cycle.

Here's what got the Lemming started this evening:

Blacklisting Pirates and Other Subversive Elements?

"Geeks to Testify (Finally!) About SOPA Blacklisting Implications"
David Kravets, Threat Level, Wired (January 9, 2012)

"Rep. Darrell Issa (R-California), a major opponent of the Stop Online Piracy Act, announced Monday he is bringing in the techies to hold a public hearing highlighting the online security implications of a proposed bill that would force changes to internet infrastructure to fight online copyright infringement.

"The announcement came three weeks after a markup of SOPA in the House Judiciary Committee was abruptly postponed amid concerns over its blacklisting element, which lets the attorney general order changes to core internet infrastructure in order to stop copyright infringement.

"The fight pits the big donors of Hollywood against Silicon Valley, relative newcomers to the world of influence peddling. Hollywood argues that millions of jobs are lost a year due to pirate websites, while the tech world argues that the open nature of the internet has created millions of jobs and that copyright holders already have tools to fight illegal downloaders...."

The Lemming is a content provider, and concerned about intellectual property rights. Data, including software, music, and written material, can be copied and distributed online: without the permission of whoever owns the information; and without giving the owner any credit - or profit - which might result.

SOPA is being sold as a solution to online piracy. Maybe it is. But the Lemming is very dubious. Particularly since the folks who seem to be pushing SOPA, like American movie and music studios, do not have a good record where it comes to allowing creative folks to share credit or profit for the content they produce.

Content providers need some sort of legal protection for their intellectual property rights. But the Lemming remembers the 'good old days,' when America was repairing damage done by McCarthy-era blacklists. Today's wannabe blacklisters are a different bunch, and this time it's Hollywood types who would benefit. Blacklists, particularly when created by a government agency with inadequate safeguards for citizens' rights, sound like a very, very bad idea.

Related posts:

• "SOPA: 20 Reasons Why It's a Really Bad Idea"
  (December 30, 2011)
• "SOPA, Censorship, the Twits in Washington, and a Ranting Lemming"
  (December 28, 2011)
• "Lemming Tracks: Internet Freedom; or 'Be Careful What You Wish For' "
  (April 19, 2011)
• " 'Search Neutrality:' Deciding What We're Allowed to Find?"
  (January 22, 2011)
• "The Horror! Monster Comics that Scared Congress"
  (October 31, 2010)

The Internet "Shattering:" Oh, the Horror! Or, Not

"The Year the Internet Split in Half"
Blake Snow, FoxNews.com (January 7, 2012)

"One Internet, under no one -- but divisible after all.

"If there's one thing 2011 will be remembered for, it'll be the year the Internet split in half.

"In one corner, we have the traditional web, the one you've known and loved since the 90s. In the other corner, there's the 'app' or mobile Internet. It's the one ushered in by the iPhone, and it grew to record levels last year with help from Android, iPads, and tablets.

"And increasingly, there's different stuff on them...."

There's more, about "traditional" Internet content that's viewed with a browser, mobile applications on smartphones and tablets: and what a huge difference there is between the data that's accessed, depending on what system gets used.

Engadget editor-in-chief Tim Stevens gets quoted, saying that five or 10 years ago, folks were excited about new websites: and now the excitement is over new apps. As far as the Lemming can tell, the data folks see isn't all that different: the difference is in the software that they use.

And that apparently means that developers need to decide whether to concentrate on 'Web' content, or 'app' content.

Up to that point, the article's tone is fairly calm.

"Shattering?"

"...But the web isn't just dividing in two, Stevens said. It's shattering.

" 'I wish it were just splitting,' he told FoxNews.com. 'But the reality is the Internet is actually fragmenting into many small pieces. Apple's iOS and Google's Android are the most popular mobile operating systems, but there's also Microsoft's Windows Phone, Blackberry, HP's webOS and even specific apps for Google's Chrome browser.'

"A clear example is Shazam, one of the first must-have smartphone apps for its ability to quickly identify unknown songs. Four years ago, it was only available on iPhone, though coveted by users on the traditional desktop Internet.

"The app's relevance has since faded. But platform exclusive apps are alive and well today. For example, Adobe Flash software, Google Navigation, and third-party app stores are exclusive to Android...."
(Blake Snow, FoxNews.com)

"Shattering" is a dramatic, emotional, word. Someone whose business depends on developing apps, or websites, or browsers, may feel like their world is "shattering," now that some folks use Blackberry, some an iPhone, and others an Android.

Folks like the Lemming, who create content? Maybe not so much.

A few years ago, the Lemming decided to concentrate on content instead of chasing the latest tech fashions. Which isn't the same as ignoring changes in information technology.

Mobile devices are definitely out there, but the Lemming's stuff is mostly viewed with folks using browsers and some sort of computer. For example, so far this month a little over two thirds of all viewers used Windows, about an eighth had Macintosh systems, a tenth had Linux, and a bit over one percent each used iPhone, Ipad, or Android technology.

Change Happens - - -

"...Not everyone that the Internet is 'dividing,' however.

" 'We're arguing about different front-ends here,' says popular TechCrunch columnist MG Siegler. 'While apps and the web sometimes seem at odds with one another, it's important to remember that all are being powered by the same thing: the Internet.'

"Indeed, mobile apps and traditional websites often access the same servers, databases, and file protocols. But even Siegler admits to diverging uses for the modern Internet....

"...Semantics aside, resources being allocated to the Internet - whether web, mobile, or otherwise - are undeniably being split to follow the money...."
(Blake Snow, FoxNews.com)

There's more about the economic angle. Also a few anecdotes: which may have some truth behind them.

- - - Deal With It

Remember the 'good old days' of the Web, when earnest folks called themselves webmasters and told viewers which browser they should use?

"Best if viewed by [browser] at [resolution]" announcements aren't all that common today. Partly, the Lemming suspects, because too many viewers wouldn't change browsers to accommodate some developer's tastes. Worse, from the control-freak point of view, some folks actually preferred websites that didn't look good in [browser], at [resolution], and were hard to view in anything else.

'It's different' with today's apps: many of which apparently won't even work if someone has the 'wrong' sort of mobile device. Still, the Lemming thinks this could be the start of another 'war of the operating systems,' like the situation we had around 1995:


(Scott Adams' Dilbert (June 22, 1996), used w/o permission)

Around that time the Lemming was doing tech support work, and talked with someone who said - quite seriously - 'nobody uses Windows.'

Maybe this time around, folks in the tech end of information technology will decide on an 'industry standard' for mobile device interfaces. On the other hand, maybe someone will decide to woo the 'snob' market and peddle overpriced 'iSnubs' with solid gold cases and a keypad of matched diamonds.

If that happens, the Lemming thinks most of the rest of us will get by with something a tad more practical. And affordable.

More likely, we'll see more mobile devices that load relatively small amounts of content very quickly: and 'traditional' browsers that load large amounts of content fairly quickly. And, unless human nature changes, some folks will praise their browsers and sneer at apps; while others do the opposite.

Sensible folks will decide what technology best suits their needs, and use that.

Dead Web?

Finally, some good sense from Black Snow. Ryan and Derik are two teenagers mentioned in another part of Snow's piece:

"...When doing research and content creation, the traditional web environment is still ideal, most agree. Which explains why Ryan still reaches for the traditional web first when searching for cars to buy, multitasking, or writing.

"Conversely, it also explains why people like Derick, more interested in consuming information on a casual basis, reach for their iPhone first....

"...Translation: Apps will enjoy more and more features at the expense of websites overall. No, the web isn't dead, despite a loud proclamation from Wired Magazine. It's actually growing in places. Just not as quickly overall as the app and mobile Internet...."
(Blake Snow, FoxNews.com)

That makes sense, to the Lemming. Maybe the Lemming will start focusing more on content that's best viewed by some app. But not today. Or, most likely, this year.

Tech, Content, and Congress

What concerns the Lemming isn't so much the technology folks use, or the sort of content they produce and view: it's the way Congress keeps trying to 'protect' us from the Internet.

The Lemming likes freedom of expression: and that's another topic.

Somewhat-related posts:

• "SOPA: 20 Reasons Why It's a Really Bad Idea"
  (December 30, 2011)
• "Lemming Tracks: The Continuing 'Death' of Blogging, Hula Hoops, and Getting a Grip"
  (August 28, 2011)
• "FCC, the Internet, Regulations, Freedom of Speech, and a Ranting Lemming"
  (December 23, 2010)
• "Blogging is Dead! Long Live Blogging!"
  (December 16, 2010)
• "The Death of Communication Media!!!"
  (August 24, 2007)

SOPA: 20 Reasons Why It's a Really Bad Idea

"20 Ways SOPA Can Affect The Internet"
Info Carnivore (December 30, 2011)

"The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is now before the American Congress, waiting to be passed or not. With online piracy at an all time high, the US feels that it’s become almost impossible to manage traffic across borders. While the Congress ponders over this, the internet population is concerned as to how SOPA will affect the internet...."

The Lemming ranted about SOPA on Wednesday. Normally, there wouldn't be another post about the same topic for - maybe a week or more. In this case, the Lemming thinks a little repetition won't hurt.

SOPA may be well-intentioned, but the Lemming thinks that Congress should stop, take a deep breath, tear the thing up, and start over.

The Info Carnivore post is mostly a 20-point list about SOPA. It's not good news. Here's a sample:

Forget About Online Business, Freedom of Speech

"...1. Death Penalty For Online Businesses: SOPA authorizes sites that are reported for copyright infringement to be cut off from their domain name. ISPs can force advertisers and payment processors to suspend their services to the site...."

That "death penalty" phrase is a bit over-stated. The Lemming has heard or read nothing to indicate that business owners would actually be executed under SOPA provisions. Still, as a metaphor for driving a company out of business, it's appropriate.

"...6. Free Speech Rights Will Be Censored: Online businesses, user-generated content sites and social media sites will try to play it safe and start heavily censoring user content. This can stifle users’ free speech rights, making the internet a risky place to say anything at all...."

"It can't happen here?" The Lemming remembers McCarthyism and political correctness. Moving on.

'Who Needs a Trial?'

"...2. Sites Blocked And Sued For User Content: Sites which host copyright content uploaded by users can be blacklisted and blocked via ISPs, search engines and payment processors. This can be done without the benefit of a court hearing...."

Let's look at #2 again. Sites that host content uploaded by users can be driven offline. Maybe that doesn't sound so bad: SOPA is against pirates, right? Here's the problem: "...This can be done without the benefit of a court hearing...."

Let's look at a hypothetical situation. You wake up some morning, go online, and try to find something on CNET's Download.com. It's not there any more. Google reports that there's no such site. A few weeks, maybe months or years, later, you find out why. Somebody told the SOPA enforcers that something on Download.com was illegal. So the site was taken off the Internet.

Why bother with a trial?

Is that being alarmist? Maybe. But governments, governmental agencies, and officials have been known to do odd things.

The Info Carnivore post discusses what we can expect from SOPA:

1. Death Penalty For Online Businesses
2. Sites Blocked And Sued For User Content
3. Copyright Holders Can Sue Sites
4. Social Media Held Accountable
5. Small Tech Companies To Suffer
6. Free Speech Rights Will Be Censored
7. Downloading Free Content Will Become Risky
8. Legitimate Business Will Be Held Liable
9. Open Source Sites May Shut Down
10. DNS System Will Be Undermined
11. Internet Speeds May Slow Down
12. Downgrade Attacks Will Increase
13. Use Of Illegal Web Proxies Will Increase
14. Emergency Proxy Servers May Be Made Illegal
15. Streaming Sites Will Be Penalized
16. Online Album Sites Will Shut Down
17. Browsers Will Be Penalized
18. ISPs Will Infringe On Privacy
19. Legitimate Links Can Be Deleted
20. Browser Ability To Generate Fair Links Will Be Impacted

Pirated intellectual property is a real issue, one that should be addressed. But SOPA doesn't look like a solution.

Whether SOPA is an ill-considered effort to show how busy Congressional incumbents are, or an effort to grab control of what commoners may say or see on the Internet: SOPA looks like a really bad idea. For everybody except whoever winds up running it.

A tip of the Lemming's hat to danielsnyder1, on Twitter, for the heads-up on this post.

Related posts:

• "SOPA, Censorship, the Twits in Washington, and a Ranting Lemming"
  (December 28, 2011)
• "Lemming Tracks: Internet Freedom; or 'Be Careful What You Wish For' "
  (April 19, 2011)
• " 'Search Neutrality:' Deciding What We're Allowed to Find?"
  (January 22, 2011)
• "The Horror! Monster Comics that Scared Congress"
  (October 31, 2010)
• "Yogi Yorgesson's 'I Yust Go Nuts At Christmas' and the Hamms Bear"
  (December 15, 2009)

News and views:

• "20 Ways SOPA Can Affect The Internet"
  Info Carnivore (December 30, 2011)
• "Reddit Users to Target Supporters of SOPA in Congress After Successful Boycott of GoDaddy"
  Tech, Forbes, (December 28, 2011)
• "Online piracy a hot issue for Congress in January"
  Mike Snider, USA TODAY (December 28, 2011)
• "On Eve of Net Boycott, Dump GoDaddy Exodus Begins"
  Perry Chiaramonte, FoxNews.com (December 28, 2011)
• "What You Need to Know About SOPA in 2012"
  Dan Rowinski ReadWriteWeb (December 23, 2011)

Lemming Tracks: "password" As a Password?!

"25 Worst Internet Passwords"
Technology, FoxNews.com (November 20, 2011)

"If 'password' is your password, chances are you've been the victim of a hack attack.

" 'Password' is the least successful, according to SplashData's annual list of worst Internet passwords.

"The list, notes Mashable.com, is somewhat predictable. Sequences of adjacent numbers or letters on the keyboard, such as 'qwerty' and '123456,' and popular names...."

Here's Mashable.com's complete list:

1. password
2. 123456
3. 12345678
4. qwerty
5. abc123
6. monkey
7. 1234567
8. letmein
9. trustno1
10. dragon
11. baseball
12. 111111
13. iloveyou
14. master
15. sunshine
16. ashley
17. bailey
18. passw0rd
19. shadow
20. 123123
21. 654321
22. superman
23. qazwsx
24. michael
25. football

A Mild Rant By the Lemming

No pressure, but the Lemming strongly suggests that, if anybody out there is still using "password" as a password: CHANGE IT! Unless, of course, whoever uses "password" or "123456" as a password wants to get hacked. Why anyone would want that is a mystery to the Lemming. Normal human psychology is convoluted enough: never mind the non-Euclidean terrain of a mind seeking unwanted intrusions.

Mind you, SplashData / Mashable.com has compiled a list of abysmally bad passwords: not, the Lemming sincerely hopes, common passwords. After the high-profile hacks and access hassles of the last year: surely there aren't all that many folks out there who still use "password" as their password.

Still, you never know.

Strong Passwords

Absolute security may be impossible, but using pretty good passwords isn't. Lemming put a short list of resources at the end of this post, but as far as online security goes: You're on your own. This is the usual disclaimer: the Lemming assumes no responsibility for loss of data resulting from reading this post; unexpected weight loss may occur; not for internal use.

Okay, that's out of the way.

The University of Texas, Austin, had what seems to be a fairly common (and common-sense, in the Lemming's opinion) approach to making a password: use UPPER CASE and lower case letters; add numbers and punctuation marks in no particular sequence; more of the usual stuff. Some of which may not be allowed by the system you're using - again, in the Lemming's opinion.

A surprising number of companies are catching up to the Information Age: and that's another topic.

Finally, the U. of Texas, Austin, page has a piece of excellent advice that the Lemming can't recall reading elsewhere:

"...Make your password easy to type quickly. This will make it harder for someone looking over your shoulder to steal it...."
(Information Technology Services, University of Texas, Austin)

Related posts:

• "Move Over, Sony: Sega Joins 'We Were Hacked' Club"
  (June 19, 2011)
• "Cloud Computing, Dropbox, and the Postcard Principle"
  (May 13, 2011)
• "Strong Passwords: It Can be Done"
  (January 1, 2011)
• "If Your Password is "Password1" - CHANGE IT"
  (November 24, 2009)
• ""Security Paranoia Scale:" Digital Security Quantified"
  (January 22, 2008)
  • "Common sense, digital security, and humor."

More:

• "Create strong passwords"
  Microsoft
• "Password strength"
  Wikipedia
• "Keep Safe with Strong Passwords"
  Information Technology Services, University of Texas at Austin
• U.S. government
  • "Deter. Detect. Defend. Avoid ID Theft"
    Federal Trade Commission
    Particularly
    • About Identity Theft
  • "Choosing and Protecting Passwords"
    United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team

Clark Veterans Cemetery, Angeles City, Philippines: Reality Check

The Clark Veteran's Cemetery, along with quite a bit more acreage around Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines, got covered by volcanic ash in 1991, during a series of eruptions.

The Lemming is pretty sure that facts in the following Associated Press story are accurate - as far as they go. There's more going on than what AP apparently decided we should know, though.

'The Government Oughtta Do Something?

"U.S. Reportedly Ignoring Veterans' Graves in Philippines"
Associated Press, via FoxNews.com (July 3, 2011)

"Walking along the rows of tombstones here offers a glimpse of the wars America has fought and the men and women who waged them. But most of the grave markers have been half-buried for 20 years, and there is little hope that the volcanic ash obscuring names, dates and epitaphs will be cleared any time soon.

"Clark Veterans Cemetery was consigned to oblivion in 1991, when Mount Pinatubo's gigantic eruption forced the U.S. to abandon the sprawling air base surrounding it. Retired U.S. soldiers, Marines and sailors volunteer to keep watch, relying on donations to try to maintain the grounds, but they lament that they're helplessly short on funds to fix things, and that Washington is unwilling to help....

"... 'People celebrate on the Fourth of July but they forgot the 8,600 who helped make that freedom happen,' said former Navy Capt. Dennis Wright, who saw action in Vietnam and is now a business executive.

" 'We're trying to get the U.S. government to assume responsibility for maintaining the cemetery so we can get it up to standards ... not on nickels and dimes and donations and gifts,' said retired Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Larry Heilhecker, who served as cemetery caretaker for five years until last month...."

Should the United States government "assume responsibility for maintaining the cemetery?"

Ideally, in the Lemming's opinion, yes. The Lemming also thinks that the United States Congress, and every administration during the last half-century and more, has done a miserable job of mismanaging the government's finances.

With any luck, we won't have to auction off parts of the country to cover expenses. And that's almost another topic.

'It's the Fault of [insert villain]?'

The Lemming's been over this before: this isn't a political blog. The Lemming doesn't think that one party's always right, and that everybody who won't say so is stupid.

In this case, there's quite enough blame to go around.

The fact is that right now America's national government is in debt up to it's virtual eyeballs: and Congress is actually talking about discussing means of deliberating on a solution.

It's a start.

The financial situation being what it is, a smallish (17 acres) cemetery in the Philippines may not be really high on the list of priorities: for the American Congress, or for folks in the Philippines. Some of whom are buried in Clark Veterans Cemetery.

Besides dumping ash on Clark Veterans Cemetery, Mount Pinatubo's 1991 eruptions did more than a little damage to homes and businesses. The AP article quotes someone who recognizes the potential for tourism in connection with a revitalized (if that's the right word) Clark Veterans Cemetery.

But - right now, with Congress finally going to the trouble of appearing to be interested in fixing part of the federal government's financial mess? The Lemming doesn't think that the folks inside the beltway will be all that inclined to throw cash at Clark Veterans Cemetery.

Besides, there are other solutions.

And Now, a Little Sentiment

Since this sort of account customarily includes a certain amount of pathos, here's more from that article:

"...Workers at the cemetery north of Manila recently dug to fully expose a gravestone for an Army sergeant who died in World War II in the Philippines. They discovered his wife's name engraved under his and a long-hidden tribute: 'Daughter, sister, wife and mother of veterans.'

"It's impossible to say what else remains hidden at the 17-acre (seven-hectare) cemetery. It holds the remains of 8,600 people, including 2,200 American veterans and nearly 700 allied Philippine Scouts who saw battle in conflicts from the early 1900s to the resistance against brutal Japanese occupation troops in WWII...."
(Associated Press, via FoxNews.com)

Hey, there's nothing wrong with sentiment - particularly if it motivates a person to do something sensible.

like not giving money to some scam artist.

Charitable Contributions: Useful and Otherwise

Let's say there's this fellow in America: he reads about the plight of the cross-eyed mud hens of Piskalooska Point - both of which are, the Lemming assures you, quite fictional.

This fellow is, quite sensibly, concerned about environmental stuff. And, not quite so sensibly: Googles "Piskalooska Point cross eyed mud hens," clicks on the first link he sees, and uses his credit card to donate $10.00 USD.

Nothing wrong with Google, the Internet, credit cards, or charitable donations. And the Lemming's posted about being careful before:

• "Citibank Card Data Hacked!! (but keep reading)"
  (June 9, 2011)
• "Giving: From the Heart, and Other Vital Organs"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (March 17, 2011)
• "Counterfeit Postage Stamps: No Kidding"
  (December 6, 2010)
• "Credit Card Fraud: A Few Cents Here, a Few Dollars There"
  (June 28, 2010)

Bottom line? Giving to a bogus charity may make a person feel good - for a while - but that's about it.

Finding a charity that's not a scam? It's not all that hard, and the Lemming thinks it's worth the extra effort.

Now, about Clark Veteran's Cemetery, Philippines.

The Lemming found a very nice-looking website, right at the top of Google's list, written in coherent English. It looked like a nice place to suggest.

The Lemming did a little checking - pure routine, using a fairly high-profile WHOIS lookup service. That nice-looking website's URL was registered to a fellow with a very 'American' name, and a physical address - - - about halfway between the Philippines and the contiguous 48 states.

Names, Identities, and Getting a Grip

'American' name? Make that an 'Anglo' name. Not everybody whose name suggests ancestry in the United Kingdom is an American - quite a few live in the United Kingdom, for starters. And not all Americans are WASPs. Most of us aren't, by now, and that's another topic.

That website may be legitimate - and just happens to be run by someone with a name that's foreign to the continent where it's registered. Or, it may not be. The Lemming might be able to work out who and what's actually running that show - but that could take time.

Another quick search found that there's a VFW post (VFW Post 2485, Angeles City, Philippines www.vfwpost2485.com) They're actively maintaining the Clark Veterans Cemetery, and willing to accept donations to help them get the job done.

They're also not mentioned in the AP article. Understandably, since VFW Post 2485, Angeles City, Philippines is apparently

• Trying to restore and maintain the cemetery themselves
• Not waiting until a government agency spends money
• Quite willing to accept financial help
  • From folks who aren't from the government

The Lemming checked - the person who registered VFW Post 2485's URL is with Post 2485, and the registration contact information matches Post 2485's. Looks like VFW Post 2485 exists, runs the website in question, and is actually doing something about Clark Veterans Cemetery.

So, does the Lemming think you have to give them money? That's up to you. Before you do, check them out yourselves. Just a suggestion, of course.

Now, a few pages at VFW Post 2485's website:

• VFW Post 2485 - Clark Cemetery
  Cemetery Personnel
• VFW Post 2485 Clark Veterans Cemetery Burials and Other Memorials
• VFW Post 2458
  home page

Not-entirely-unrelated posts:

• "Lemming Tracks: Inflatable Sharks? Swell!"
  (June 28, 2011)
  • No, really
• "It's Mother's Day in the Philippines - 'Read All About It' "
  (May 9, 2009)
  • The link's outdated
  • The content isn't
• "Swine Flu 2009 on World Tour"
  (April 28, 2009)
• "Memorial Day 2008: This isn't 1965"
  (May 26, 2008)
• "The Life of an Oregano Addict: An Unexpected Blog"
  (April 22, 2008)

Olympic Committee Rules for Social Media: Common Sense; or Signs of a Vast Conspiracy of Space Aliens?

"Olympic Bosses Set Guidelines for Tweeting Athletes"
Erik Malinowski, Playbook, Wired (June 27, 2011)

"The International Olympic Committee has released guidelines on how athletes at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London may engage in social media, an effort clearly designed to avoid the sort of confusion that occurred nearly 18 months ago in Vancouver.

" 'The IOC actively encourages and supports athletes … to take part in "social media" and to post, blog and tweet their experiences,' the guidelines state (.pdf). 'Broadly speaking, the IOC wants people to share their experiences through social media. As a general rule, the IOC encourages all social media and blogging activity at the Olympic Games as long as it is not for commercial and/or advertising purposes.'..."

So far, so good. It's nice to think that the International Olympic Committee can learn. And apply what's been learned.

"...Well, if anything, it should certainly curtail the type of promo-only tweeting we often see from Olympic athletes. But beyond scaling back on this sort of commercialism that could distract from the competitions, IOC officials undoubtedly expect this move to cut down on some of the questions that arose during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia...."

The Lemming suspects that part of the trouble is that the big shots who get to be on international committees are around the Lemming's age. Nothing wrong with that, by itself. But the Lemming stayed in touch with what 'the help' were doing: quite often by being 'the help,' and that's another topic.

That meant that the Lemming knew how to use a typewriter - a vital skill for 'clerical' types, not so much for success-track executives. Manual typewriters: the Lemming's that old. Being able to type maybe 50 words a minute ('good enough,' barely) gave the Lemming a head start when the Disk Operating System, and computers with stunningly huge internal memory¹ came along.

The Lemming's rambled on about this before:

• "Why Your Boss Doesn't Understand the Information Age"
  Starting a Small Business Without Losing Your Mind (August 9, 2010)

"Olympism?!"

"...IOC honchos are expecting the athletes (as always) to best on their best Twitter behavior.

" 'Postings, blogs and tweets should at all times conform to the Olympic spirit and fundamental principles of Olympism as contained in the Olympic Charter, be dignified and in good taste, and not contain vulgar or obscene words or images,' the rules stipulate...."

The Lemming was not aware that "Olympism" was a word. In context, it's pretty clearly a noun, probably meaning something like 'of or pertaining to the Olympics.' And if it wasn't a word before, it is now. Languages - living ones - change, grow, develop. Someone really should let the folks running France know that. And that's definitely another topic. (Another War-on-Terror Blog (June 6, 2011))

The Olympics, Vast Secret Conspiracies, and the Lemming

Back to that article. Last time. Promise.

"...Additionally, no website URLs will be allowed to contain the words 'Olympic' or 'Olympics' in the primary domain, unless they have been pre-approved by the IOC. And, as before, fans and athletes will not be allowed to post audio or video of any events to Twitter, Facebook or personal blogs...."

The IOC controls what folks can name their domains?! Okay - maybe that's part of what's been getting sorted out, as intellectual property laws and customs are catching up with today's information technology. Well, moving in the right direction. Maybe.

It occurs to the Lemming that the 'no Olympic/Olympics' in domain names may be sort of rough on folks who want to start something online about ancient Greece, or Mount [redacted], or Greco-Roman mythology.

Well, as we say here in Minnesota - it could be worse.

Or - - - maybe Wired let a little-known aspect of the Vast Global Worldwide Conspiracy of International Oligarchic Control ("IOC" doesn't stand for International Olympic Committee, although dupes of the lizard-men think that's so - - -

IOC STANDS FOR INTERNATIONAL OLIGARCHIC CONTROL - WHO ARE

THE REAL RULERS OF EARTH!!!!!!!

They're the ones who killed John Lennon, and put the face on Mars, and faked the moon landing to cover up the real reason that Kennedy was killed: which was so Elvis could elope with Marilyn Monroe, who had been hiding in plain sight disguised as Jackie Kennedy - who couldn't have married Onassis, since he's one of the shape-shifting space-alien lizard-men who really run the world.

You See??!!! IT ALL FITS TOGETHER!!!!!!!!

Maybe the Lemming shouldn't joke about that - somebody might believe it.

Or the lizard-men might be upset.

Or something.

Related posts:

• "Lemming Tracks: 2010 Commonwealth Games and Bad Publicity"
  (September 26, 2010)
• "Chinese Olympics: A Bit on the Control Freak Side?"
  (August 4, 2008)
• "Watching the Olympics Online: Some Advice"
  (February 22, 2010)
• "Athletes, Social Media, Rules and the 2010 Olympics"
  (February 6, 2010
• "China Olympics and Algae: Bad News, Good News, Bad News"
  (July 3, 2008)

Not-so-related posts:

• "How to Not Sound Crazy - or - THE PARANOIDS ARE AFTER ME!!!"
  (June 12, 2011)
• "Nuclear Weapons, Space Aliens, Conspiracy Theories, and Getting a Grip"
  (September 24, 2010)
• "Why is it So Hard to Find a Comprehensive History of Blotting Paper?"
  (March 2, 2010)
• "Haiti's Earthquake Caused by - You Guessed it - Yankee Imperialists"
  (January 21, 2010)
• "Beware the Lizard People! (I'm Not Making This Up)"
  (January 21, 2009)

---

¹ The early hard drives paled in comparison to the later titans - which sometimes could store as much as 30 megabytes of data!

Move Over, Sony: Sega Joins 'We Were Hacked' Club

"Games Company Sega Becomes Latest Hacking Victim"
Associated Press, via FoxNews.com (June 18, 2011)

"Video game developer Sega said that its online database has been hacked, making it the latest in a string of games companies to be attacked....

That's the bad news. The good news is that Sega knows about the hack, took its Sega Pas system offline, reset passwords, and sent emails to customers whose accounts were compromised. Even better, the customers' personal payment data was safe. Sega uses "external payment providers."

Now, let's hope that the "external payment providers" don't get hacked.

"...The email stressed that no financial information was at risk and that it has launched a probe into the extent of the breach. It is not immediately clear how many users were affected....

"...The hackers' group that claimed credit for the Sony attack, Lulz Security, had also said it was responsible for the recent breaches of the U.S. Senate computer system and the CIA website...."

And let's not forget Nintendo and the United States Congress. The CIA website that got (sort of) hacked was their for-public-access website, the one that includes the CIA World Factbook. That attack seems to have been more of a denial-of-service hack, than an effort to get at data.

Google's Gmail's another matter - servers in China were used for that hack attack, which China's government insists they didn't do. Their military says the Gmail hack - and probably the others that originated in servers in China - are a Yankee plot to bring down Arab governments. The Lemming's not making that up, and discussed hacks in another blog:

• "What Sony, Nintendo, and Congress, have In Common"
  Another War-on-Terror Blog (June 14, 2011)
• "Gmail, China, Knee-Jerk Response, and the Information Age"
  Another War-on-Terror Blog (June 4, 2011)

Lulz Security doesn't seem to have been involved in the Sega hack - and they "...said on Twitter Friday that it wanted to help Sega 'destroy the hackers' that attacked it."
(Associated Press, via FoxNews.com)

"Destroy" is a pretty strong verb - but the Lemming thinks that folks who run places like Sony, Nintendo, the CIA, and the Senate office that let hackers into the Senate website, should be more careful.

A lot more careful.

Lulz Security hacked the CIA's public-access website because, they explained, they didn't like the American government. Which is pretty much why they hacked PBS. Why they went after Sony and Nintendo is another question.

Good news, bad news, and the Lemming, again: Lulz Security hacks, but doesn't seem interested in stealing data or doing serious damage. That probably isn't true of everybody who's able to break into other people's servers. Sooner or later, there's going to be a serious breach of online security - and a whole lot of folks are going to wish their credit card and bank accounts, financial records, and other personal data hadn't been stolen.

Or, maybe folks - from the International Monitory Fund, down to your local bank - will find ways of making their data as secure as it's supposed to be.

Related posts:

• "Citibank Card Data Hacked!! (but keep reading)"
  (June 9, 2011)
• "Cloud Computing, Dropbox, and the Postcard Principle"
  (May 13, 2011)
• "Lemming Tracks: Bad News From Sony; and Getting a Grip"
  (May 3, 2011)
• "Lemming Tracks: Epsilon Breach, Spam, and Getting a Grip"
  (April 6, 2011)
• "The Trusted Identities in Cyberspace National ID Card Won't be a National ID Card"
  (January 8, 2011)

Lemming Tracks: Iran, Internet, Freedom, and Getting a Grip

Wouldn't it be nice, if people could be protected from bad influences? If children could grow up without ever being exposed to corrupting ideas? If someone would just make sure that people could see or read anything they wanted - as long as it was proper?

The Lemming doesn't think so.

Folks have tried that in America: the 'good old days' before Woodstock, when television censors protected the nation's youth from women's navels; and later, when political correctness was in flower.

The Lemming didn't like it, either time.

Here's what got the Lemming started:

"Iran Vows to Unplug Internet"
Christopher Rhoads, Farnaz Fassihi, Top Stories in Technology, The Wall Street Journal (May 28, 2011)

"Iran is taking steps toward an aggressive new form of censorship: a so-called national Internet that could, in effect, disconnect Iranian cyberspace from the rest of the world.

"The leadership in Iran sees the project as a way to end the fight for control of the Internet, according to observers of Iranian policy inside and outside the country. Iran, already among the most sophisticated nations in online censoring, also promotes its national Internet as a cost-saving measure for consumers and as a way to uphold Islamic moral codes.

"In February, as pro-democracy protests spread rapidly across the Middle East and North Africa, Reza Bagheri Asl, director of the telecommunication ministry's research institute, told an Iranian news agency that soon 60% of the nation's homes and businesses would be on the new, internal network. Within two years it would extend to the entire country, he said...."

In a way, what happens in Iran, and whether or not Iranians are protected from ideas their leaders don't like, doesn't matter to the Lemming. Not immediately, anyway. In the long run, the Lemming thinks that Donne's "no man is an island" idea is still valid - and that consequences propagate a lot more quickly now, than they did in 1624.

'Be Careful What You Wish For'

Good intentions can be nice - but may have unintended consequences.

For example, in the Lemming's youth, homeowners were warned against putting pennies behind fuses. This was before circuit breakers: when homes had fuses that would blow before an overloaded electrical circuit set the house on fire. Those fuses cost money: which added up over the years. Saving money is, in the Lemming's opinion, a good idea. Accidentally setting your house on fire isn't.

You'll still hear about the occasional daft business owner who sealed a fire exit. Making sure that folks using a service actually paid for it makes sense, in the Lemming's opinion. So does keeping merchandise from going out the back door.¹ When people die because they can't get out - that's really bad for business. As well as raising serious moral and ethical issues.

Iran's leaders apparently want to protect their subjects from 'bad' influences.

Back to that Wall Street Journal article:

"...The unusual initiative appears part of a broader effort to confront what the regime now considers a major threat: an online invasion of Western ideas, culture and influence, primarily originating from the U.S. In recent speeches, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other top officials have called this emerging conflict the 'soft war.'

"On Friday, new reports emerged in the local press that Iran also intends to roll out its own computer operating system in coming months to replace Microsoft Corp.'s Windows. The development, which couldn't be independently confirmed, was attributed to Reza Taghipour, Iran's communication minister.

"Iran's national Internet will be 'a genuinely halal network, aimed at Muslims on an ethical and moral level,' Ali Aghamohammadi, Iran's head of economic affairs, said recently according to a state-run news service. Halal means compliant with Islamic law.

"Mr. Aghamohammadi said the new network would at first operate in parallel to the normal Internet—banks, government ministries and large companies would continue to have access to the regular Internet. Eventually, he said, the national network could replace the global Internet in Iran, as well as in other Muslim countries...."
(The Wall Street Journal)

If you're waiting for a rant about 'those people over there,' you'll have a long wait. The Lemming thinks that Iran closing its borders to foreign influences is a bad idea - but the Lemming is a little more worried, in the short term, with folks right here in America trying to do about the same thing.

Americans don't, in the Lemming's opinion, have to worry about a federal agency protecting them from western culture. This is where a fair fraction of the 'beer, bikinis, and designer jeans' stuff is coming from.

It's unlikely, again in the Lemming's opinion, that the powers that be in this country will decide to go with an 'American sites only' policy for Internet access.

On the other hand, there always seems to be someone who's convinced that 'the Masses' have to be protected from something. Generally, it seems, something the wannabe defender doesn't like or can't enjoy.

And that's another topic.

Somewhat-related posts:

• "Lemming Tracks: Internet Freedom; or 'Be Careful What You Wish For' "
  (April 19, 2011)
• "Lemming Tracks: Egypt Government Shuts Down Internet: It Can't Happen Here?"
  (January 29, 2011)
• " 'Search Neutrality:' Deciding What We're Allowed to Find?"
  (January 22, 2011)
• "COICA: A Federal Official Deciding Who Gets to Stay Online"
  (November 19, 2010)
• "The Horror! Monster Comics that Scared Congress"
  (October 31, 2010)

---

¹ This isn't a matter of siding with heartless plutocrats against the oppressed proletariat. It costs money to maintain a brick-and-mortar business - nightclub, hardware store, whatever. If some folks aren't paying for what they get - the ones who do pay will have to be charged more, to make up the difference. Which, in the Lemming's opinion, isn't good for the paying customers, isn't good for the business owner, and isn't - indirectly - good for the freeloaders.

And that's yet another topic.

Sony PlayStation: No Network, No Explanation; Big Trouble

"Sony mum on details about ongoing PlayStation Network outage"
Mark Milian, CNN Tech (April 25, 2011)

"PlayStation Network users are still waiting for an extra life.

"Five days after a hacker invaded Sony Computer Entertainment's PlayStation Network resulting in a lengthy outage, the video game giant has yet to offer a comprehensive explanation.

"PlayStation internet services went offline on Wednesday and have remained down....

"..Sony has said the persistent downtime was due to an 'external intrusion,' but has not provided a target date for when services will return. Sony previously said it was rebuilding its framework to ensure proper security measures are put in place....

The Lemming doesn't envy the folks at Sony who are trying to sort out what happened and fix the problem - and those whose job it is to figure out what to tell Sony's PlayStation customers.

That said, the Lemming also thinks it's not smart to describe the problem as an "external intrusion" and leave it at that: assuming that the CNN article gave the correct impression.

On the other hand, Sony's said that it will let its customers know if there's bad news:

Let's Hope Sony Follows Through

"...A Sony spokesman in Tokyo, where the company is headquartered, said investigations haven't uncovered whether the intruders gained access to personal information or credit card numbers, according to a report from technology news service IDG. The spokesman reportedly said Sony would contact those affected if investigators discover that info was leaked...."
(CNN Tech)

That was yesterday. Looks like Sony had some reason for not wanting to talk about the "external intrusion." What happened is - embarrassing.

Customer Relations 101: Tell - Them - the - Truth

"Sony PlayStation suffers massive data breach"
Liana B. Baker and Jim Finkle, Edition: U.S., Reuters (April 26, 2011)

"Sony suffered a massive breach in its video game online network that led to the theft of names, addresses and possibly credit card data belonging to 77 million user accounts in what is one of the largest-ever Internet security break-ins.

"Sony learned that user information had been stolen from its PlayStation Network seven days ago, prompting it to shut down the network immediately. But Sony did not tell the public until Tuesday....

If that "...did not tell the public until Tuesday..." thing sounds familiar, it should. Major Japanese companies are starting to earn a reputation for not letting their customers worry. Or not giving their customers important information fast enough.

It depends on how you look at it, the Lemming supposes.

Trick Brakes; Melting Reactors: and Now World-Class Data Theft

"...The electronics conglomerate is the latest Japanese company to come under fire for not disclosing bad news quickly. Tokyo Electric Power Co was criticized for how it handled the nuclear crisis after the March earthquake. Last year, Toyota Motor Corp was slammed for being less than forthright about problems surrounding its massive vehicle recall.

"The 'illegal and unauthorized person' obtained people's names, addresses, email address, birth dates, usernames, passwords, logins, security questions and more, Sony said on its U.S. PlayStation blog on Tuesday....

"...Alan Paller, research director of the SANS Institute, said the breach may be the largest theft of identity data information on record...."
(Reuters)

"There's no such thing as bad publicity" is an old saying - but the Lemming thinks this may be an exception. On the other hand, Sony could take some pride in having possibly set a world record.

No, on consideration, the Lemming thinks that there isn't all that much of an 'up' side to this SNAFU, from Sony's point of view.

As for the folks who may or may not be told by Sony that someone stole their "...names, addresses, email address, birth dates, usernames, passwords, logins, security questions and more...," the Lemming hopes that not too many of them learn about 'identify theft' up close and personal.

If someone had the Lemming's real name, mailing address, email address, and all the rest - plus, say, credit card information - well, the Lemming is glad that Sony PlayStation doesn't have that data.

This could be a really bad situation, even assuming that all companies, world-wide, are extra-special-super-careful about making sure that their new customers really are who they say they are.

The Lemming tries to stay 'upbeat.' But seriously? This is emphatically not good news.

Somewhat-related posts:

• "Cloud Computing: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?"
  (April 22, 2011)
• "GMail, Google, Backup, and the Lizard People"
  (March 1, 2011)
• ""Unscheduled Maintenance" Grounds United 757 Fleet"
  (February 15, 2011)
• "International Cyber Crime Ring Busted: 'By Jove, I Think They've GOT It!' "
  (October 3, 2010)
• "Kneber Botnet Infects Corporate Computer Networks: HAL was Right"
  (February 18, 2010)

Lemming Tracks: Internet Freedom; or 'Be Careful What You Wish For'

"Threat to Internet Freedom Growing, Report Claims"
FoxNews.com (April 19, 2011)

"Iran is the worst country in the world -- at least when it comes to web freedom, claims a new report.

"Among the reports eye-opening findings: The number of Internet users has doubled over the past five years, and governments worldwide are trying to find ways to control the heightened online activity -- sometimes relying on extreme measures to send a message.

" 'Freedom On the Net 2011: A Global Assessment of Internet and Digital Media' evaluates a country based on factors that potentially violate a users' rights, such as limitations on content and barriers to access. According to the report released Tuesday by watchdog group Freedom House, an alarming 11 out of 37 countries received a ranking of 'Not Free,' while only eight were granted 'Free.'...

'Be Careful What You Wish For'

The Lemming doesn't particularly like seeing hateful screed online - or otherwise. The Lemming thinks that some "adult" content isn't good for people.

And the Lemming is very, very concerned when public-spirited citizens start clamoring for more 'hate crime legislation,' or vow to rid the Internet of pictures they don't like.

Right now, at least in America, the Internet allows folks who are not part of the establishment to publish their ideas. The Lemming doesn't agree with quite a bit of what's online - but that's not the point. Right now, in some parts of the world, we've got a system where you don't have to get an editor's approval, or know the right people, to get published.

Old-school information gatekeepers are having conniptions about that - but the Lemming likes living in world where the marketplace of ideas isn't limited to what the 'good old boys' think should be discussed. (see "What is an Information Gatekeeper?," Another War-on-Terror Blog (August 14, 2009))

Internet Freedom in Iran: So What?

The Lemming doesn't live in Iran, and could take the 'my end of the boat isn't sinking' approach to this issue. Or even rant about the innate superiority of Yankees.

Not gonna happen. For one thing, the Lemming looks Anglo - but isn't "Yankee." Not in the 'New Englander' sense, anyway. And the Lemming's skittered off-topic again.

For another - goofy as some "global village" rhetoric is, in the Lemming's opinion, the 6,920,000,000 or so folks alive today are far more connected than we were a generation ago. Back in the 'good old days,' what happened in, say, Uzbekistan or Ghana, affected folks living in Indonesia or America - eventually. Today, it's harder to ignore the 'no man is an island' aspect of existence. In the Lemming's opinion.

Back to that article:

"...In 22 of the countries online users have been jailed for posting something online, and it's getting easier for some of these governments to make arrests thanks to developing programs that enable a government to track down users looking up specific keywords.

"Social networking websites like Facebook, YouTube and Flickr were among the top websites to be blocked by these governments, while some find ways to disrupt e-mail services provided by Google in an effort to frustrate users and push them towards more easily monitored programs.

"The bottom ten, in order from bad to worst, were: Bahrain, Belarus, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Tunisia, China, Cuba, Burma and Iran."

Freedom: Precious, and Easily Lost

'It can't happen here,' right?

Wrong, in the Lemming's opinion. Not all that long ago, by the Lemming's standards, frightfully virtuous folks were warning their flocks about the evils of the Internet. The Lemming got the impression that some of the radio personalities of the day might think that "WWW" stood for "Wicked, Wicked Web."

Oddly, they didn't rail against the evils of movable type - even though Playboy magazine was one of the results of Gutenberg's invention. And that's almost another topic.

I was particularly concerned when an odd couple of advocacy groups joined forces - the Christian Coalition and the Feminist Majority.¹ (Another War-on-Terror Blog (March 9, 2008))

The Christian Coalition and the Feminist Majority didn't describe their goal quite this way: but what they wanted was a Federal agency that would decide who was allowed to put what online.¹ They didn't get what they wanted, for which the Lemming is duly grateful.

That was then, this is now.

It's been a few months since the last time America's old guard tried to muzzle the Internet - in the Lemming's opinion. Folks in this country are still free to express their ideas, even if it annoys the powers that be.

The Lemming likes it that way. The Lemming also thinks it's just a matter of time, before some well-intentioned outfit decides to 'protect' us from stalkers, or [insert a political party you don't loathe], or people who say naughty things.

The proposal may sound very nice, and quite harmless. And the Lemming hopes it gets stopped, before we all lose the freedom to say what we think.

Related posts:

• In this blog
  • "Lemming Tracks: Egypt, Wael Ghonim, and the Information Age"
    (February 7, 2011)
  • "FCC, the Internet, Regulations, Freedom of Speech, and a Ranting Lemming"
    (December 23, 2010)
  • "Lemming Tracks: Erin Andrews, Policing the Internet, and Power to the People"
    (July 29, 2010)
  • "Lemming Tracks: The Only Maxim of a Free Government"
    (July 23, 2010)
  • "New FTC Regulations, Compliance, and Two Review Companies"
    (October 20, 2009)
• In other blogs:
  • "Iran, Dissent, and Threats to National Security"
    Another War-on-Terror Blog (February 10, 2011)
  • "Steve Jobs, Censorship, and Who Gets to Choose"
    A Catholic Citizen in America (January 7, 2011)
  • "Blogs, Freedom of Speech, and Threats to the Status Quo"
    Another War-on-Terror Blog (July 31, 2010)
  • "Cultural Chaos, Divisiveness, and CNN"
    A Catholic Citizen in America (April 1, 2010)
  • "Tolerance: Yes, it's a Good Idea"
    A Catholic Citizen in America (August 3, 2009)

In the news:

• "Threat to Internet Freedom Growing, Report Claims"
  FoxNews.com (April 19, 2011)

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¹ "Commentary / Net Neutrality: Telecom Policy and the Public Interest" Neil Barratt, Leslie Regan Shade, Concordia University. Canadian Journal of Communication, Vol 32 (2007) 295-305. Available through Canadian Research Alliance For Community Innovation And Networking.