Open, Closed, 1984 and the Evil Empire
On my recent Gillmor gang slot I spent time talking with Steve Gillmor and John Taschek about open data, the risks of a few all-powerful social networks and how open data can drive potential benefits for all. In what was I suspect an effort to create a provocateur outside of
‘Open’ good, but there’s plenty of room for ‘almost open’ and ‘not open’ too
Image by Ben Templesmith via Flickr Towards the end of George Orwell’s allegorical take on the Stalinist Revolution, the pigs of Animal Farm take on the trappings of the humans they supplanted, shifting ideologically from ‘Four Legs Good, Two Legs Bad’ to declare ‘Four Legs Good, Two Legs Better!’ as they rise to stand on [...]
1984
Keeping Americans safe in an increasingly digital world depends on our ability to lawfully screen materials entering the United States. – says Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano justifying why the Obama administration largely upheld the Bush-era regulations about intrusive border searches of travelers’ laptops, cellphones and other electronic devices. I’ve heard that reasoning before. No, [...]
