One of my main topics of interest with regard to the Internet is the notion of what my friend, the writer Jeff Turrentine, calls “epistemic closure.” Let’s face it:  when it comes to information, it’s all too easy to find evidence out there for just about any bias or belief we can name; and I am far from the only ...

One thesis I have continually proposed since the death of SOPA is that thinking citizens are going to have to stop giving Internet companies a blank check on policy positions, or we’re going to regret it.  So far, it looks a lot like there isn’t a piece of legislation, a trade agreement, a civil action, or any other policy initiative ...

One of the things I truly love about the Internet’s influence on human psychology is that there seems to be something about the act of typing publicly in real-time that makes so many of us into armchair experts on just about any subject we choose.  This is particularly striking when it comes to complex legal matters, and if you are ...

This week, Newsweek announced that the final print edition of the 80 year-old magazine would appear this coming December 31.  This site launched with an interview with Newsweek veteran Christopher Dickey, who writes this morning, “Digital does not mean dead.  Far from it.” Read his post on Shadowland Journal. I remember the proclamation “paper is dead” being echoed almost immediately ...

Musician David Lowery, founder of Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven, has become one of the most vocal defendants of artists’ rights in the digital age. A co-founder of The Trichordist, Lowery and his colleagues write some very detailed, professional assessments of the state of the music industry since digital file sharing, streaming, and purchasing have become a reality. Presently under ...