Some prophecies come true. For example, Shoshana Zuboff’s third law: In the absence of countervailing restrictions and sanctions, every digital application that can be used for surveillance and control will be used for surveillance and control, irrespective of its originating intention. She forecast that in 1989, with In the Age…

What does it mean when hundreds of thousands of one’s photos appear in articles, essays and posts all over the Web—and one hasn’t been paid for them? In my case, it means they’ve all proven useful. That’s why I posted the originals in the first place, licensing them to require…

By Doc Searls October 10, 1997

Earth is 4.54 billion years old. It was born 9.247 years after the Big Bang, which happened 13.787 billion years ago. Meaning that our planet is a third the age of the Universe. Earth’s own role as a life-supporting planet began maybe 3 billion years ago. Nobody knows exactly, but…

“We shape our tools and then our tools shape us,” wrote Father John Culkin, SJ, a Professor of Communication at Fordham and a colleague of Marshall McLuhan, whose magnum opus was Understanding Media: the Extensions of Man. So: who — or what — are we, now that we are extended…

Privacy regulations are good, but without a clear understanding of them, plus enforcement, they can actually make things worse—especially if they start with the assumption that your privacy exists only as a grace only of other parties, and most of those parties are incentivized to violate it. Exhibit A for…

We who care about journalism are asked to join the Save Journalism Project, and its fight against Big Tech. Their pitch begins,

The following lives in continuous draft form at the ProjectVRM wiki. Improvements are welcome. (Details in the Call to Action at the bottom.) Preamble The purpose of this manifesto is to encourage and guide development of tools that enhance and extend people’s ability to protect and project their privacy in the…

Don’t think about what’s wrong on the Web. Think about what pays for it. Better yet, look at it. Start by installing Privacy Badger in your browser. Then look at what it tells you about every site you visit. With very few exceptions† (e.g. Internet Archive and Wikipedia), all are…