The ‘war blogs’ controversy
“NYT” story.

Hacked 802.11b dodges the coming bandwidth congestion on 2.4GHz?

“CUPERTINO, Calif., June 7 — Anyone looking for the next big thing in Silicon Valley should stop here at Layne Holt’s garage.

Mr. Holt and his business partner, John Furrier, both software engineers, have started a company with a shoestring budget and an ambitious target: the cable and phone companies that currently hold a near-monopoly on high-speed access for the “last mile” between the Internet and the home.

At the core of their plan is the inexpensive wireless data standard known as Wi-Fi or 802.11b, which is already shaking up the communications industry, threatening to undermine the business plans of cellular phone companies by offering a much cheaper method for mobile access to the Internet.

The pair’s company, known as Etherlinx, has taken the 802.11b standard and used it to build a system that can transmit Internet data up to 20 miles at high speeds — enough to blanket entire urban regions and make cable or D.S.L. connections obsolete.” [more…]

Library Filter Law Illegal

A controversial library filtering law is unconstitutional, a special three-judge court ruled on Friday. The Philadelphia court unanimously said that a federal law designed to encourage the use of filtering software violated library patrons’ rights to access legitimate, non-pornographic websites. [more…]

Good example of environmental-style rebuttal

I’ve been arguing that the Internet community has much to learn from the environmental movement in the way it goes about winning hearts and minds and countering industrial land-grabs. Here’s a very good example of how to do it right — a one-page critique of the Hollings Bill which uses down to earth examples of how the Bill would bit on ordinary folks.

Internet Blamed for World Cup Tickets Fiasco – well, whaddya know

“Three internet sites on Wednesday appeared to be at fault over the swathes of empty seats at the soccer World Cup, which has spoiled the backdrop of the sport’s most important stage.

The Japanese site, www.jawoc.or.jp, Korean site, www.2002worldcupkorea.org and the international site www.fifatickets.com appeared to be overwhelmed by the number of people trying to buy last-minute tickets.

Yahoo, the US portal that is providing the technology and support for the official site of the 2002 Fifa World Cup, said that it was not responsible for the three sites selling tickets.” [ more…]

Ahem. I hate to spoil a good story, but surely it was the clowns who set up these sites who are responsible for the fiasco — not the Net.