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Tom giustamente si pone il problema dell’ID digitale applicato alle situazioni esistenti, e come esempio propone questa notizia di oggi, che ti riporto per intero:

BEIJING – (AP) – China has imposed strict new limits on Internet cafes, banning minors and demanding that operators keep records of customers and the information they access.

The regulations, which take effect Nov. 15, also impose tougher safety standards for the popular cafes that provide Internet access to users who pay by the session. Smoking is banned, no cafe can operated within 124 feet of a school, and the businesses must close by midnight, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

Customers are also prohibited from viewing Internet sites offering gambling, pornography or prostitution.

The new rules reflect the fear of China’s communist leaders that the Internet could nurture subversion.

The regulations ban Internet cafe patrons from accessing a broad array of politically sensitive Internet sites, including ones that discuss independence movements in Tibet and the western region of Xinjiang or the sovereignty of Taiwan, which China claims as its territory.

The rules also forbid information that “threatens national security or harms national dignity and national interests.”

Operators must keep records of users and the sites they access for two months and provide the information on request to police and regulators. Violators face fines equal to $1,800.

Xinhua said the rules aim to bring order to an industry that has expanded rapidly with little regulation.

China has more than 45 million Internet users, most of whom gain access from connections at home or in the office.

Already, China operates a special force to police the Internet for content deemed subversive. Scores of Web sites are blocked due to their content and the search engines Google and AltaVista have been blocked because they permit access to information on the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement and other sensitive topics.

Interessante e rivelatore che l’Internet Cafe debba stare lontano dalle scuole e sia vietato ai minori…

Il giornalista canadese Jack Kapica ha pubblicato su Globe Technology uno spassoso articolo su come l’industria discografica si stia sparando sul piede ripetutamente. Trovi anche i dieci suggerimenti per fallire nel modo più spettacolare possibile. Te ne cito due:

2. Ignore the Internet: If you can’t imagine any way of making money on-line, then no one else can, either. Act surprised when the Internet starts to carry multimedia. Cry, “Who knew?” and insist the whole multimedia thing was invented only to ruin your business.

4. Misunderstand your market: When you count the songs being swapped on peer-to-peer networks, do not notice that most are mouldy oldies. It’s still theft, you argue, even if you stopped paying royalties for those songs in 1961. Blame piracy, not taste, for your inability to sell new songs that no radio station will play.

Insomma, la situazione è chiara per tutti, tranne che per i discografici. Come andrà a finire? Così come spera Antonio, oppure così come teme Doc Searls?

La conferenza viene bloggata in diretta dai cervelli più svegli e reattivi della blogosfera, e la qualità è altissima. Ad esempio il Reverendo AKMA ti riassume tutto il dibattito in una sola frase:

“the notion of copyright depends for its cogency on an obsolescent industrial model. We need the next idea, not complicated ways of perpetuating the old idea—especially when the ways of perpetuating the old idea end up forcing constraints onto the tremendous capacities of emerging technologies

Peter Merholz commenta Shirky e approva, ma non su tutto: l’ossigeno sarà gratis, ma l’aria pulita ha pure un costo. E inoltre, “Weblogs, and The Web in general, are clumsy and undesirable media for providing readers with any kind of lengthy thesis.” Insomma, la parola scritta in forma di libro ha ancora un futuro.

Per finire, quando Shirky scrive che la maggior parte del testo scritto che legge oggi è gratis, dimentica il costo dell’harware e della connessione, che non è irrilevante per tutti.

Ieri per la prima volta tenevo un corso di Excel avanzato su Apple Macintosh, e per un attimo mi sono sentito totalmente perso senza il tasto destro del mouse. Poi ho trovato il CTRL+CLIC, e la vita mi ha sorriso di nuovo.