I’ve been thinking a lot about the future of news lately.  In particular, I’ve been considering the argument that Internet users can replace the current functions of traditional media—both news and entertainment programming. (more…)

Advertising, Media, News Organizations

The geometry of the net allows every person to be connected to and communicate with everyone else. This public discourse, however, has been polluted by the inevitable participation of commercial organizations, which conduct stealth marketing campaigns to misinform and deceive the public. While one might turn to Congress to solve this ongoing problem, in the digital medium it is the users themselves that will provide the most viable solution.

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Advertising, Internet

NebuAd and companies like it have two purposes: (1) spying on the customers of ISPs, and (2) using that information to add behavioral advertising to the packets coming through the ISPs’ servers. These companies pick up search terms, page views, page and ad clicks, time spent on specific sites, zip codes, browser information and connection speeds; and using this information, they choose an “optimal ad” to display. While commentators and congressmen have struggled to find a means of stopping these companies based on the privacy concerns involved, no arguments have addressed the ruinous liability that ISPs would expose themselves to if they permitted these companies to change the packets coming through their servers.

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Advertising, Copyright, Intellectual Property, Internet