Let me first note an economics blog from a
Stonybrook economics professor , Noah Smith.
The blog is called “Noah Opinion” and offers the caption, “Those who can
write have a lot to learn from those bright enough not to”, link here. I think you could make up another aphorism, “Those
who write a lot can learn from those who choose not to.” That evokes the mid 2000’s idea, “The
privilege of being listened to”, or maybe even, “Free speech is a right, being
listened to is a privilege.” And the
free speech itself might be a fundamental right, but the cost-free or
barrier-free distribution should not be taken for granted forever. People will probably challenge Section 230
and downstream liability immunity again. Is it back to volunteering in someone else's bureaucracy?
Here’s something else interesting on Ars Technica ("Law and Disroder; Civilization and Discontents") by
Timothy B. Lee (that is, “Timocracy II”). It’s “New music survey: P2P users buy the
most: No one wants disconnection penalties”, link here.
Tim notes a new survey from the American Assembly at
Columbia, funded in part by Google, link here with a wonderful alert feline picture. It’s called “Copy culture in the U.S. in
Germany”. The survey notes that P2P
users buy about 30% more music than those who don’t use it. I don’t use P2P, but I do almost all my
online buying from Amazon.
Younger Americans feel it is OK to share copyrighted
content with family members and closely held friends, because this was common
with books in past generations. A few
feel it is OK to sell pirated content. I’m
surprised that there would be any resistance to linking to copyrighted content.
No one approves of the “six strikes” or Internet
connection blacklist systems. One
surprising find is that a small majority of Americans feel that search engines
should block pirated content – but that brings back the world of the SOPA
legislation.
Another interesting feature is that in Germany more
cable TV is free (and on the public dime) and people don’t have to pay to get
music as often.
Note: "Timocracy III" would refer to (former) Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. But we dodged the bullet on the debt ceiling this time, I think.
One other thing -- not enough for a separate post: I wanted to follow up on the most recent post about Sandy, with this NBC report (previous coverage was on Dec. 26, 2012). I'm surprised that these buildings aren't torn down and replaced by manufactured housing, but maybe that lets a lot of "us" off the hook eventually:
Note: In posting title, the word is "more", not the typo "moire" (no old English, please). 
One other thing -- not enough for a separate post: I wanted to follow up on the most recent post about Sandy, with this NBC report (previous coverage was on Dec. 26, 2012). I'm surprised that these buildings aren't torn down and replaced by manufactured housing, but maybe that lets a lot of "us" off the hook eventually:
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