jaromil: The Return of DRM: hi Morlock,
just a late and short reply
On Tue, May 18, 2010 at 05:12:09PM -0700, Morlock Elloi wrote:
[...]
in our exchange 2 months ago you drawn some fascinating as well realistic scenarios, i especially appreciated your consideration the strained role of custody (hegemony? [...]

Niesyto, Johanna: Wikipedia Research Conference: CPOV in Leipzig: [[Wikipedia:Ein kritischer Standpunkt]] September 25-26, 2010 University Library Leipzig, Germany
On 25th and 26th of September 2010 the German speaking conference [[Wikipedia:Ein kritischer Standpunkt]] ([[Wikipedia:Critical Point of View]]) will take place at the University Library in Leipzig, Germany. The conference will gather Wikipedia researchers, critics as well as community-members from the German-speaking world for an interdisciplinary debate. In particular the significance of Wikipedia for education, politics, culture and society will be discussed.
Wikipedia is one of the largest, if not the largest, self-contained general knowledge reference of our time. It offers critical insights into the contemporary status of knowledge, its organizing principles, function, impact, production styles, mechanisms for conflict resolution, and relation to power (re-)constitution. New strategic and tactical operations of knowledge and power are clearly at work through Wikipedia. Of specific interest is the concept of 'the open', which is ambiguous within the social formation(s) constituted by Wikipedia, serving as both a rallying concept of digital democracy enthusiasts and as an ideoglical nodal point masking new agonistic encounters.
In both material and perceptional ways, every new technology modifies the conditions of possibility for knowledge. The logic of technologies bleeds into the very structures and organizing principles of knowledge, and today both medium and message may reflect the ideas of the (organized) network, multitude, or the Deleuzian machine. It is through a selected mix of technological and normative conditions – the distributed architecture of the net, the Wiki software platform, commons-based property licenses and the FLOSS zeitgeist – that Wikipedia as the encyclopedia of the information age emerges, both continuing and transforming the Enlightenment encyclopedic impulse or will to know.
The main topics of the conference are Wikipedia & The Politics of Open Knowledge, Digital Governance, and Wikipedia & Education. These topics derive from the significance of the online encyclopedia in the reconfiguration of knowledge (re-)production and its consequences for the public, architectures of participation, and political education in a media democracy. Alongside presentations of established scholars like Christian Stegbauer, Peter Haber, Rainer Hammwöhner, Ramón Reichert, and Ulrich Johannes Schneider, the programme of the conference will consist of a panel discussion of Wikipedia community-members and critics, as well as Wikipedia-workshops and a research network meeting.
The research network meeting addresses Wikipedia researchers to discuss their current research and draft new research projects. Especially aimed for young academics, the research network meeting is planned as open space, allowing its participants to actively engage in the event as questions and topics are shaped and discussed among the group. To participate, we ask for a registration by email not later than August 31, 2010 to info at cpov.de. Please include a description of your research interest or abstract of your research on one page and tell us, if you are interested to make a short presentation.
The Leipzig conference continues the series of international conferences of the Wikipedia Research Initiative Critical Point of View from January and March 2010 in Bangalore (India) and Amsterdam (Netherlands). It is hosted by cultiv – Gesellschaft für internationale Kulturprojekte e.V. in cooperation with the Research Initiative Critical Point of View and funded by the Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung.
The conference will be open to the public. There will be no participation fee. Conference language is German.
For further information please visit the conference website: www.cpov.de
Deadline for the Registration for the network meeting: August 31, 2010
Concept and Editorial board: Geert Lovink, Johanna Niesyto and Andreas Möllenkamp
Contact cultiv Gesellschaft für internationale Kulturprojekte e.V. Bernhard-Göring-Str. 65 D-04107 Leipzig Tel. +49-341-2228893 Email: info at cpov.de www.cpov.de

John Young: Blocking a website: Worse than torture?:
[...]
Indeed. Assange wrote in 2006 that for an unnamed initiative an off-shore, secure reservoir was needed for a large amount of funds. He pointed to the website named thing2thing.com.
Thing2thing.com is currently a Chinese website, or appears to be, since it is easy to configure a spoof. [...]

John Hopkins: Blocking a website: Worse than torture?:
[...]
well, for that matter, why no wikileaks from the Taliban and the Pakistani ISI, aren't they worthy of having brutal local (or even global) aspirations to control, kill, or maim other human beings?
why none from China?
The fact that wikileaks can't find any from those places simply [...]

Karin Spaink: Jay Rosen: Wikileaks, the World's First Stateless News Organization: [...]
There's something else at work, too. If you look at the dossier that The Washington Post compiled during their 2 year study of information services (the Top Secret America files), you'll find that there are 850.000 people cleared to access 'top secret' information. [...]

David Mandl: Blocking a website: Worse than torture?: Why do people continue to be shocked that the most repressive governments are not afraid of websites and their operators?
@wikileaks tweeted this earlier today: Iranians report that Iran has blocked WikiLeaks submissions again. This discredits Iran. *This* discredits Iran? [...]

James Wallbank: Jay Rosen: Wikileaks, the World's First Stateless News Organization: Hello Patrice,
I would suggest that the most significant issue around the Wikileaks situation is the question "How could Wikileaks get hold of so many classified documents?"
The answer is simple: the US military have begun to adopt a doctrine of [...]

Heiko Recktenwald: Jay Rosen: Wikileaks, the World's First Stateless News Organization: Patrice Riemens schrieb:
[...]
Here is another piece:
<< Daniel Ellsberg's WikiLeaks wish list
Sunday, August 1, 2010; B04
The disclosure of tens of thousands of classified reports on the Afghan war last week by WikiLeaks has been compared, rightly or wrongly, to the [...]

startx: A Zero for an O, Or: How Associated Newspapers tries to stop Gordon Brown's deportation ...: A Zero for an O.
Or: How Associated Newspapers Ltd tries to stop Gordon Brown's deportation by shutting down a website.
by startx, London *
Britain's tabloid press has not excatly the reputation of being quality press, some say it has also the reputation of being openly racist. [...]

Felix Stalder: Autonomy and Control in the Era of Post-Privacy: ...in the spirit of 'slow media', a delayed response....
Hi Nick,
thanks a lot for your thoughtful reading of the text.
On Friday July 2 2010, Nick wrote:
[...]
The differences between speaking in private and speaking in public are blurring. Not just because we are doing both over the same networks, but also because the modes of speaking are changing. Richard Sennett spoke once about the 'tyranny of intimacy' in relation to how the public appearance of politicians changed through television.
In a way, this is now a generalized norm within digital social networks. You have to present yourself in public as an individual in order to be able to join digital social networks, which, increasingly, becomes a precondition join other forms of social networking.
I assume that having no record on Google/Facebook/etc is about as problematic as having the wrong one, if you apply for a job, or meet up someone for a first date.
But even on a more mundane level. As more of your social life gets coordinated through these media, more of the norms dominant in these media permeate throughout your life. To retreat into privacy is a violation of these newly dominant norms -- which, of course, is possible on an individual scale, but not on a general one.
[...]
The ability to connected to like-minded people, to engage with them in sharing, cooperation and collective action, holds, in my view, a real potential for increasing autonomy. Thus, autonomy is best defined as the ability to pursue one's interest together with other people who share the same interests, rather than the ability to act alone.
I think structurally, this is very significant, but how much of this can be actually realized within a particular life, depends, of course, on a lot of things beyond the media.
But we should not only look at big events, but also at small things. To spend less time watching day-time TV and spend more sharing information about your cats with others in pet forums is a real gain in autonomy. Not earth shattering, but real, and affecting at least one slice of that person's life.
[...]
The ownership of wires is important and this is why there are new forms of autonomy AND of control. But the owners of the wires to not determine what takes place over time. They have the ability to set certain parameters (it would be great to have a serious critique of the type of individualism enforced through Facebook), and intervene if push come to shove, but even these forms of power are always active, a lot of things can take place that is not determined by them.
[...]
My hunch is that discourses are fragmenting and within these fragments, they are becoming more homogeneous (i.e. digital social networks are poorly capable of self-critique, 'if you don't like it, go somewhere else') but across these fragments, discourses are become more heterogeneous. Mass- media, rather than representing society as a whole, are simply becoming one of these internally homogenized fragments (and this is why they are increasingly distrusted by those who belong to other fragments, ie. the majority of people).
But this is really hard to substantiate. There is some academic research on "homophily in social networks" [1], and an interesting pop-sci book [2] on precisely this issue of information overload and cognitive closure, but it's remains a hard issue.
best. Felix
[1] Birds of a Feather: Homophily in Social Networks Author(s): Miller McPherson, Lynn Smith-Lovin, James M. Cook Source: Annual Review of Sociology, Vol. 27 (2001), pp. 415-444 Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2678628
[...]
Manjoo, Farhad (2008). True Enough: Learning to Live in a Post-Fact Society. Wiley

Junghua Liu: Forcefully destroy and confiscate farms for Foxconn in Taiwan- the violence of government and the ignorance of mass media: Taiwan's Miaoli County government destroy with power shovels and forcefully confiscate farms without landowners' permission. (part pictures are available in http://www.taiwangoodlife.org/story/20100702/2191)
Some farms stop shovels with their flesh and blood body. [...]

Alan Sondheim: IThe ICorporate ITakeover Iof IPhilosophy:
IThe ICorporate ITakeover Iof IPhilosophy
IThe IWake IPhilosophical IConsequences Iof Ithe IFetishization Iof Ithe IEgo IUnder ICapital
IThis Iis Ithe Ibeginning Iof Ithe IWake Iof Ithe IReal. IThere Iis Ia Icertain Istyle Ito Iour Iworld. IThe Iworld Ipresents Ia Icertain Istyle Ito Ius. [...]

Matze Schmidt: deBts:
deBts
8 Robots play the debt/GDP ratio
Monday, 5th of July 2010, 8:00 am on Alexanderplatz, Berlin directly in front of the Kaufhof.
8 Robots programmed by 38317 play the State Debts in decibel (dB). Each of them in different intensity, based on a 2009 IMF chart of the arrears of important developed leading countries in percent of the given GDP (Gross Domestic Product).
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
F G I E J G C U r e t u a r a S a r a r p e n A n m l o a a a c a y z n t d e n o a y n B e r i t a i n
Development of Public Debt in percent of GDP
France 82,6 Germany 84,5 Italy 120,1 Eurozone 86,3 Japan 227,0* Great Britain 81,7 Canada 79,3 USA 93,6
* 2 x 113,5 dB due to tech reasons
Hear, feel, sense and track the rise and fall of your favourite nation, the pressure on the working class and the future of a possible post-capitalistic world right now!
The machines produce a unpleasant sinusoidal tone each as loud as the position of the particular state. For example:
Germany 84,5 % = 84,5 dB
Check it out! This is not "Krach der Roboter" and not "Roboter spielen Haendels Wassermusik". Don't mishear it if you can't hear it.
dB's Little Lexicon
IMF, the International Monetary Fund. Its primary purpose is to ensure the stability of the international monetary system and economic growth = capitalism. The IMF is not the motor of capitalism, this the capital.
GDP, the Gross Domestic Product. It represents the dollar value of all goods and services produced over a year in one country.
post-capitalistic, [phrase]: means nothing without a plan.
www.38317.tk
(c) 2010 n0name

Nick: Autonomy and Control in the Era of Post-Privacy: Thanks alot for forwarding the essay Felix, it was good to think about & with.
There were a few bits I'm not sure I understood, which I wanted to ask you about if you have time.
When you write about new subjectivities, you point out that the meaning of privacy changes, due in part to the reduction in differentiation of inner and outer worlds. You then state that privacy becomes "more the danger of disconnection from a world in which sociability is tenuous and needs to be actively maintained all of the time." I don't really understand this. I see that disconnection from fragile social networks is an issue, but am having trouble connecting this up with privacy.
And second, you mention that new ways of constructing and taking part in voluntary networks can increase the "real autonomy of people, because it is focused on creating inter-personal worlds in which autonomy can be lived on a daily basis." This too I'm struggling to mentally connect. I see that a wider range of social interactions, and personally tailor one's communication web, is in some sense increasing one's autonomy, but to me it doesn't seem all that significant. Is there more to this that I'm missing?
In reply to Elloi's first problem with the paper, that it ignores ownership of the wire, I somewhat disagree. It is mentioned in the last paragraph, talking about the need to "modulat[e] what the providers of the infrastructure can see of the sociability they enable." For some infrastructures this is of course more technically feasible than others (e.g. P2P vs web-based).
The second issue, of homogeneity caused by over-availability, is really important, though I'm not sure it's essential to the argument in the paper. It's an issue I have a really hard time thinking about solutions to. More transparency of search engines (as alluded to at the end of the essay) helps a little, and an ability to personally tweak or reengineer algorithms would help more (ignoring the problems of how to implement such a system), but even these don't really go a long way in addressing it. Anyone else want to weigh in (or suggest places to read more) on the problem?
Thanks,
Nick
iEYEABECAAYFAkwt0bUACgkQH0hWdATkZT/lbwCgxS4jNHRndXrsLk9p9GjG9TUb NSEAnjPd8l2Q/FJXPwMoIVT6G00Y5sBt =OXIO

nettime's_spam_kr!k!t: open positions: [org From: "Bryant Eason" <Br__nt.__s_n at _____.com.cn>
Looking for a job? My name is Juliette Barnes, I am a recruiting manager of NetTemps Inc, a recruiting agency for direct-hire, contract, and freelance professionals within various professions. [...]

Morlock Elloi: Autonomy and Control in the Era of Post-Privacy: There are two premises which appear to be ignored:
1. ownership of the wire.
While most people do actually own their synapses, very few own the physical links that support assisted communication.
It's easy to forget this, but if you've ever sat at the other side of log [...]

Cecilia Dougherty: Autonomy and Control in the Era of Post-Privacy [Re: Contents of nettime-l digest - Felix Stalder]: Dear Felix,
I opened the net-time email this morning and found particular joy in reading your article 'Autonomy and Control in the Era of Post-Privacy.' The article reaches into a continual dialogue we have with ourselves every time we are required to send info before accessing an online app. [...]

Felix Stalder: Autonomy and Control in the Era of Post-Privacy:
[This is my contribution to the current issue (#19) of 'open. Cahier on Art and the Public Domain.' which focuses on 'Beyond Privacy. New Notions of the Private and Public Domains.' In this text, I try to analyze why the notion of privacy seems to be loosing its capacity to function as a [...]

Felix Stalder: Autonomy and Control in the Era of Post-Privacy: ...in the spirit of 'slow media', a delayed response....
Hi Nick,
thanks a lot for your thoughtful reading of the text.
On Friday July 2 2010, Nick wrote:
[...]
The differences between speaking in private and speaking in public are blurring. Not just because we are doing both over the same networks, but also because the modes of speaking are changing. Richard Sennett spoke once about the 'tyranny of intimacy' in relation to how the public appearance of politicians changed through television.
In a way, this is now a generalized norm within digital social networks. You have to present yourself in public as an individual in order to be able to join digital social networks, which, increasingly, becomes a precondition join other forms of social networking.
I assume that having no record on Google/Facebook/etc is about as problematic as having the wrong one, if you apply for a job, or meet up someone for a first date.
But even on a more mundane level. As more of your social life gets coordinated through these media, more of the norms dominant in these media permeate throughout your life. To retreat into privacy is a violation of these newly dominant norms -- which, of course, is possible on an individual scale, but not on a general one.
[...]
The ability to connected to like-minded people, to engage with them in sharing, cooperation and collective action, holds, in my view, a real potential for increasing autonomy. Thus, autonomy is best defined as the ability to pursue one's interest together with other people who share the same interests, rather than the ability to act alone.
I think structurally, this is very significant, but how much of this can be actually realized within a particular life, depends, of course, on a lot of things beyond the media.
But we should not only look at big events, but also at small things. To spend less time watching day-time TV and spend more sharing information about your cats with others in pet forums is a real gain in autonomy. Not earth shattering, but real, and affecting at least one slice of that person's life.
[...]
The ownership of wires is important and this is why there are new forms of autonomy AND of control. But the owners of the wires to not determine what takes place over time. They have the ability to set certain parameters (it would be great to have a serious critique of the type of individualism enforced through Facebook), and intervene if push come to shove, but even these forms of power are always active, a lot of things can take place that is not determined by them.
[...]
My hunch is that discourses are fragmenting and within these fragments, they are becoming more homogeneous (i.e. digital social networks are poorly capable of self-critique, 'if you don't like it, go somewhere else') but across these fragments, discourses are become more heterogeneous. Mass- media, rather than representing society as a whole, are simply becoming one of these internally homogenized fragments (and this is why they are increasingly distrusted by those who belong to other fragments, ie. the majority of people).
But this is really hard to substantiate. There is some academic research on "homophily in social networks" [1], and an interesting pop-sci book [2] on precisely this issue of information overload and cognitive closure, but it's remains a hard issue.
best. Felix
[1] Birds of a Feather: Homophily in Social Networks Author(s): Miller McPherson, Lynn Smith-Lovin, James M. Cook Source: Annual Review of Sociology, Vol. 27 (2001), pp. 415-444 Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2678628
[...]
Manjoo, Farhad (2008). True Enough: Learning to Live in a Post-Fact Society. Wiley

Gita Hashemi: from toronto, with a headache - again: events were still unfolding when i first sent the note below yesterday, sunday, 27 june 2010, 10:29 am, toronto time. apparently the note got lost in the shuffle and never posted to the list, so i'm resending at the request of a moderator. since its writing, we saw [...]