During the squabble over SOPA and PIPA, one of the underlying (and possibly just lying) PR bullets coming out of Silicon Valley was that the actions called for in the bills would “break the Internet.” And when that wasn’t the claim, the most consistent complaint was that the bills would chill free speech. But in the wake of violent protests ...
English lexicographer Jonathon Green offers this well-reasoned article criticizing crowd sourcing for dictionaries under the thesis “dictionaries are not democratic.” As a confirmed word snob and English language fetishist, I have to say that I generally agree. To study and love the English language is to accept and even celebrate that it is and always has been the most mutable ...
Changing the culture one fan at a time Matthew Ebel would seem to be the living definition of the DIY digital artist. With 10 albums full of satirical and thought-provoking songs, he writes, composes, and performs based out of his New Hampshire studio, where he also records a weekly live stream program attended by fans from around the U.S. and ...
Consider this: instead of an entrenched government fabricating an Orwellian state of fear in order to limit civil liberties, that it is in fact self-proclaimed rebels crying “freedom” who are using this very tactic to foster an agenda that is more destructive than the world they claim to oppose. It’s true that this website launched with an article praising a ...
For your consideration: In this article reposted from Jacobin on Salon.com, Gavin Mueller aims to place Internet piracy of intellectual property in context to 17th and 18th century piracy on the high seas. Aside from overly romanticizing classic pirates in my opinion, it’s a well-written piece, although I do find its thesis a bit unclear until the final paragraph. Bottom ...
