internet - Tag Archive

How Much Freedom Does the Internet Bring You?

3 Replies Jonny Hankins

On the surface Internet living seems to bring a great deal of freedom to many different parties. Last month for example I posted from the USA, Italy and the UK, we can work from home, buy direct and have access to all kinds of information.

This might make us feel that the web itself creates freedom, or that it is free to operate as we wish. I am not so sure that this is the whole story however, and others agree.

How much freedom of speech really exists?

How much freedom of speech really exists?

Last week Security technologist Bruce Schneier gave a talk as part of the TEDx Cambridge series. Schneider is very interested in security and perceptions of security as this previous TED video shows, but last week’s talk was different.

He took the problem of Internet freedom as his topic, and raised some very interesting arguments. The following quotes are taken from his speech as reported on our local Boston.com website:

“Which type of power dominates the coming decades? Right now it looks like traditional power. It’s much easier for the NSA to spy on everyone than it is for anyone to maintain privacy. China has an easier time blocking content than its citizens have getting around those blocks.”

We can see that there is some evidence to support this case, if we look at this article that appeared in the Huffington Post a couple of years ago. It recounts the tale of Google pulling out of China because they no longer wanted to censor their searches. Google chose to redirect users to their non censored search engine based in Hong Kong. The Chinese government managed to block the results anyway, so users were left in the same position as before, no access to the information.

If we take a broader look though we find that it is not just China but other countries that are making repeated requests for Google to censor their content. CNN report the revelations of the recent Google Transparency report, where Canada, France, the UK and the USA feature strongly in the league of requested censorship. The report is here, easy to follow and a 5 minute thumb through might change your ideas regarding freedom and regulation on the web.

Just yesterday Linkedin announced that they challenging the US government over data requests. US organizations are allowed to publish the total number of data requests, but cannot break the figure down to reveal the number made by security services. Linkedin say this legal situation makes no sense, and many other companies agree. Read about it here.

“Cyber criminals can rob more people more quickly than real-world criminals, digital pirates can make more copies of more movies more quickly than their analog ancestors. And we’ll see it in the future. 3D printers mean control debates are soon going to involve guns and not movies.”

Just this week The Independent ran a story about Europe’s criminal intelligence agency that is fighting unprecedented levels of crime across several fronts as gangs capitalise on new technology. We are not talking about a few individuals hacking into the odd bank account here and there, we are looking at the new form of organized crime. A multi billion dollar industry in Europe alone.

The gun reference is of course to the distribution of plans for a 3D printer manufactured gun. Read about it here.

Caution in cases of political dissent

Caution in cases of political dissent

Much has been written about how Facebook and other interfaces have the power to democratize society, and their potential to promote revolution. The so-called Arab Spring is often given as an example, but as well as dissidents using Facebook to organize protests, the Syrian and other governments also used Facebook to identify and arrest dissidents.

There are plenty of examples. Here is an article about 3 Moroccan activists who were arrested for their comments criticizing governments at that time. One used a Wikileaks type platform, another Facebook and the third Youtube. They were all arrested and charged with various and sometimes unrelated crimes.

I wonder where they are now?

Could you be an entrepreneur?

2 Replies Henry Conrad

Building your own business is not as intimidating as it used to be.

This is partly down to all the different technologies that are available to us now, specifically, the Internet. So in this modern world of technology ANYONE can be an entrepreneur…

Well, not exactly. You may have the tools you need, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you have the temperament necessary to become a GREAT entrepreneur. Without that, it may be possible you’re not meant to be a successful businessman at this point. How do you know if you have what it takes to succeed this way?

You’re a charmer

While whilst being an extrovert isn’t a prerequisite for winning in business – you don’t really think that Bill Gates was an extrovert before he was successful, do you? – however knowing how to speak to people is. The fact of the matter is that most companies cannot succeed without the hard work of multiple individuals. It’s not just about getting investors to put money into a venture; it’s also about inspiring people to do what needs to be done for the sake of the organization. You need to be able to talk people into doing things that they never thought possible, if you want to win the game of business.

You’re a bit of a mad scientist

While you don’t need an actual science degree to become an entrepreneur who can compete with the best in today’s market, you still need some level of scientific curiosity to be able to offer customers something new.

Asking questions like “why is this not working?” and “what does THIS button do?” pave the way towards innovation – something that consumers today really, truly, value. You need to be brave enough to ask questions and explore some pretty crazy alternatives if you want to compete in and dominate the industry of your choice.

You’re pretty darn stubborn

You can’t expect yourself to succeed if you don’t know how to stand your ground. Sure, you also need to know when to stand down and admit that you got some things wrong. But, for the most part, you need to have the stomach for the trials and tribulations most entrepreneurs have to face. You can’t expect instant success for your business, and you need to be able to push through your company’s darkest moments if you want your enterprise to survive in its first year or so. If you want to take your business to the top, then you darn well better believe in what you’re doing.

You’re an optimist

A boy on a laptopYou can’t build a business if you always think of the worst-case scenario (and panic) every time the progress of your company hits a snag. Apart from stubbornly believing in what your enterprise has to offer to the world, you also need to believe in looking at the brighter side of life. That way, instead of focusing on the problem itself, you’ll just find other elements of the situation that you can use to your advantage. If you can look at a crisis and think that it gives you an opportunity to show off the company’s resilience, then you have a better chance of succeeding.

So, do you think you’re meant to be a successful entrepreneur?

Taxing the Smartphone

4 Replies Jonny Hankins

On Monday a report was released in France that contained the suggestion that a tax should be levied on Internet devices in order to raise money to promote and protect French cultural production.

A Tax Paid Phone

A Tax Paid Phone

For several years France has had a policy of taxing broadcasters and spending the money on supporting its own film and entertainment industries, but revenues are falling. The problem seems to be that many more people are accessing their entertainment via the Internet and therefore not contributing to its production cost.

The Lescure report as it is known suggests a tax of between 1 and 4% on any Internet capable devices (smartphones, eBook readers and games consoles included), but as we might imagine many of the producers of these devices are not happy about the proposal.

Money has to be raised to maintain the entertainment industries, but many of the companies that provide access to this entertainment are not based in France and do not contribute. They probably don’t want to either, and so we come across the same problem that I wrote about last week, collecting national taxes from international corporations based in another state is never easy, and borders are porous.

The proposed tax would replace one already in existence upon storage devices. Currently tax is levied on blank CD’s and memory sticks as well as computers with hard discs.

The manufacturers complain that the price of the devices would rise leading to fewer sales, although the author of the report argues that such a small percentage increase would make little difference, and would not even effect the home job market because most of these devices are assembled overseas. A 1% tax would raise something of the order of 90 million Euro a year.

The problem remains though. As our sources of entertainment move away from pay TV, publicity funded channels and national subscription systems such as the BBC, money is taken away from the producers and associations that represent and fund these industries. Some see the fact that Google and Apple amongst others are operating outside the tax system and are not contributing to the industries that they make their money from as unfair, and hope that this change in tax law will go some way to evening out the field.

The Wall Street Journal goes into a little more depth on the matter in its free online edition.

I wonder if France takes this step if others in the EU will follow. There are many different ways of making money through so called free downloads as we all know, but the money ends up in the pockets of the provider and not the producer and the industries involved are feeling the pinch. Maybe this needs to change.