Internet

URL shortening services have been around for a number of years. Their original purpose was to prevent cumbersome URLs from getting fragmented by broken email clients that felt the need to wrap everything to an 80 column screen. But it's 2009 now, and this problem no longer exists. Instead it's been replaced by the SMS-oriented 140 character constraints of sites like Twitter. (Let's leave aside the fact that any phone that can run a web browser and thus follow links can also run a proper client, and doesn't have to hew to the SMS character limit.) Since TinyURL, there has been a rapid proliferation of shortening services.

Aside from the raw utility of allowing URLs to fit within a Twitter message, newer services add several interesting bits of functionality. The most important of these is that let the linker turn any link into THEIR link, and view metrics on how far it's spread and how many clicks it's gotten. Showing a user how popular his actions are is inevitably addictive. Shorteners are relatively easy and lightweight to set up. Adding a simple interstitial before the redirect provides an obvious way to monetize. And maybe someday all the link data will be worth something.

So there are clear benefits for both the service (low cost of entry, potentially easy profit) and the linker (the quick rush of popularity). But URL shorteners are bad for the rest of us.

Ugh, most annoying thing ever. I can't stand clicking some URI only to find out I saw this already. And would have known since the site was probably using some URI scheme where I could tell the content without having to click.

People used to trick others into clicking links to goatse.cx and other shock sites. Now it's Rick Astley. Even 4chan which not that long ago was full of gore and borderline kiddie porn is fascinated by a cute hyperactive girl from Gaia Online. Torrent sites are no longer about kinky porn - they're mostly about downloading TV series so you can watch them without following TV schedules, just a more convenient version of TiVo.

That part about wget is so right.

This incredible video called "Web 2.0... the Machine is Us/ing Us," is deeply moving and incredibly smart. The creator is Michael Wesch, an assistant Cultural Anthropology Prof at Kansas State U, and he has strung together a bunch of animations, text, and screenshots in order to tell the story of "Web 2.0" -- and why it matters, and how it's changing the world. Link

Local high-quality mirror of Web 2.0 ... the Machine is Us/ing Us

Multiple sites reported a while ago that Comcast was using Sandvine to do tcp packet resets to throttle BitTorrent connections of their users. This practice may be a thing of the past as it’s been found a simple rule in the Linux firewall, iptables, can simply just block their reset packets, returning your BitTorrent back to normal speeds and allowing you to once again connect to all your seeds and peer. So, if you are tired of Sandvine (the application used by Comcast to throttle Bit Torrent with fake TCP packet resets) screwing with your BitTorrent and a user of GNU/Linux, then this is for you. I will tell you how to take your bandwidth back.

The Supreme Court of New Jersey became the first court in the nation yesterday to rule that people have an expectation of privacy when they are online, and law enforcement officials need a grand jury warrant to have access to their private information.

In state proceedings, the ruling will take precedence over what attorneys describe as weaker U.S. Supreme Court decisions that hold there is no right to privacy on the internet.

Bell Canada has formally announced that its commercial customers -- other ISPs -- will henceforth have all their traffic throttled and filtered by Bell, who will be degrading some connections based on the protocol they use.

Bell's bizarre argument for this? We're screwing our retail customers with throttling. If we let our wholesale customers offer a better connection to their retail customers, our customers will be upset that they're not getting as good a deal.

However, one finding I did want to point out that was somewhat surprising is that DDoS (i.e., brute-force flood-based attacks) have over the past 18 months consistently accounted for ~1-3% of all all inter-domain Internet traffic. Again, this is raw attack traffic, simply meant to exhaust connection state or fill links, nowhere in this mix is spam, phishing, scans, or other malicious or similarly annoying traffic. We have seen peaks well above 5% of aggregate reported traffic, although not consistently.

A growing underground network of young people armed with computer memory sticks, digital cameras and clandestine Internet hookups has been mounting some challenges to the Cuban government in recent months, spreading news that the official state media try to suppress.

Last month, students at a prestigious computer science university videotaped an ugly confrontation they had with Ricardo Alarcón, the president of the National Assembly.

Mr. Alarcón seemed flummoxed when students grilled him on why they could not travel abroad, stay at hotels, earn better wages or use search engines like Google. The video spread like wildfire through Havana, passed from person to person, and seriously damaged Mr. Alarcón's reputation in some circles.

Something similar happened in late January when officials tried to impose a tax on the tips and wages of employees of foreign companies. Workers erupted in jeers and shouts when told about the new tax, a moment caught on a cellphone camera and passed along by memory sticks.

There was huge turnout at today's public hearing in Boston on the future of the Internet. Hundreds of concerned citizens arrived to speak out on the importance of an open Internet. Many took the day off from work -- standing outside in the Boston cold -- to see the FCC Commissioners. But when they reach the door, they're told they couldn't come in.

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Comcast -- or someone who really, really likes Comcast -- evidently bused in its own crowd. These seat-warmers, were paid to fill the room, a move that kept others from taking part.

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More than 100 people who arrived at the appointed time for the hearing were turned away by campus police because the room was already full.

Local mirror of man explaining that he was told to hold a seat.

HB407, sponsored by Rep. Michael Morley, R-Spanish Fork, would require the Utah Division of Consumer Protection to create a designation for providers who prevent access to "prohibited" material. After attaining the "seal of approval," providers would be subject for fines up to $10,000 for violating requirements.

"It's very difficult to figure out a way to monitor the internet," Morley said. "I think it's a positive thing for those who are looking for a site that is dedicated to fighting pornography."