Recently it has come to my attention that you are sponsoring S.968, titled “Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act of 2011 “. I wanted to reach out as a concerned Marylander and as a technologist who is an advocate of civil liberties online.
First and foremost, I respect the intent of the bill. The artists and innovators who have put their entire lives into creating intellectual property deserve protection from piracy and infringement.
As a technologist, my entire career has focused on building new capabilities that support our national security. I am by no means an aficionado of legalese or a policy nut. However, I can see when technology and policy are colliding in ways that will impact the overall good of a community. Looking through this bill, I see many areas where authors who are well intentioned but poorly informed, have created openings for exploitation and abuse by corporate interests. This undoubtedly will have incredible impact on the evolution of information sharing and collaboration online. In addition, enforcement and censorship tactics in the bill will have a ripple affect breaking basic foundational concepts of the internet.
Representing Maryland, I ask that you promote greater involvement by the technology and academic community in the authoring of the bill. I have attended many of the Governors Cyber Maryland events, either as a panelist or guest and the consistent theme is about establishing Maryland as the leader in Cyberspace. This is a perfect opportunity to show that leadership.
Thank you for your representation, commitment and I hope you consider my comments.
Pepsi seems to be dumping all this spare snow we have in the Falls Rd. water run off. Not sure if the EPA etc has deemed this ok but Pepsi seems to be cool with it. More pics from the Snowpocalypse 2010 here.
Stir crazy is a phrase that dates to 1908 according to the Oxford English Dictionary[1] and the online Etymology Dictionary. Used among inmates in prison, it referred to a prisoner who became mentally unbalanced because of prolonged incarceration. It is based upon the slang stir (1851) to mean prison.
It is now used to refer to anyone that becomes restless from being stuck in one place too long, with a similar meaning to cabin fever.
Things I did today during the storm:
- Scavenged all food items from our fridge/cabinets and put them into a crock pot. Created something similar to chili or soup or gumbo.
- Watched 6 hours of “Really Big Things” on Science Channel.
- Downloaded torrent for Bergensbanen in HD – 22Gig HD train ride video still transferring.
- Looked up some sites for our Trip to Europe next year: check out Euro-backpacker.
- Haggled with a contractor to paint a house I am rehabbing. Save $300.
- Drank some Dale’s Pale Ale (yum).
- Read everything man has ever written on the Internet.
- Learned what a Tetra Pak container was (Thank you “How It’s Made”).
- Cleaned the cat box… ugggh.
- This blog post.
FML – good thing is that Baltimore will be back to normal in a few days and I am pretty sure we will still have a Ravens game tomorrow.
I was amongst the privileged few see the behind the scenes of 34th St. in Hampden (Baltimore, MD) today. My buddy David is rehabbing a property on this fabled block and threw a party to fulfill his ‘Balmer’ duty. We pulled together a crack team of light specialists, pyromaniacs, and binge drinkers who strung together every loose strand of xmas decor that could be found. The folks all pitched in and built a tribute in the spirit of the beer we were drinking at the time.
Before: After:
More pics of the project and other houses on the block on Flickr.
If you are near the Clipper Mill area make sure to sign up for one of Corradetti’s Glass blowing lessons. It is about $45 and well worth the price for an hour of entertainment and your own hand made glass memory. The entire process is captured in my Flickr photo set.
