beTech :: Evolve Already

One of the biggest beTech audiences to date showed up to hear ITC Unix Group’s Hamp Carruth and Steve Losen share their University Web server war stories. It was a fun session chock full of entertaining ‘misguided user stories’ and tips for making Web sites more secure. Now, thanks to Scott Crittenden’s deft audio engineering, you can relive this magical moment in glorious MP3 stereo (44MB).

And for those that want to follow along, here are some of the links mentioned:

• NetBadge
• MyGroups
• Proxy

A mighty big thanks goes out to Hamp and Steve for sharing their time with us. If there’s interest, perhaps we can have them come out to chat about their services on an annual or bi-annual basis. Whaddya think?

This Wednesday, June 20, Hamp Carruth and his posse will host a rather informal, open session on the wide-ranging topic of the University’s Web servers. Come on out and hear from the Sage of Servers (official title: Computer Systems Chief Engineer) how the UVa Web server service blossomed into what it is today and how that growth guided some of the idiosyncrasies we experience. Furthermore, find out what the future of ITC’s Web services hold for the average users and all you advanced developers out there.

Hamp and his colleagues will also impart their knowledge and experience on SUPHP (and share how it can make your PHP applications more secure), MyGroups, NetBadge, and much, much more. If you have questions about the nature of the University’s Web server environment, this is the session you need to attend!

Demonstrating, once again, a wreckless ignorance of the nature of the internet (see the Jon Stewart video on Net Neutrality), members of Congress passed a bill in July to save our children by locking up the playgrounds. The Deleting Online Predators Act (DOPA) intends to protect minors from the evils of “Commercial Social Networking Websites” and chat rooms by placing the onus of responsibility on schools and libraries. From the American Library Association’s press release following the news of DOPA’s passage:

…It is possible the Senate may address the issue of online social networking technologies in September with its own bill. DOPA requires schools and libraries that receive E-Rate funds, which help pay for Internet access, to block access to “social networking sites.” These sites are defined by DOPA as those that enable communication among users and that allow users to post information or create personal profiles. Among the many sites affected by DOPA are everything from Amazon.com to the federal government’s own www.firstgov.gov Web site….

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A belated happy 15th birthday to the World Wide Web. On August 6, 1991, Tim Berners-Lee posted the source code for his WorldWideWeb project on an alt.hypertext Usenet discussion group and changed the World forever.

In the historical blink of an eye, the web has transformed business, government, and everyday life far more than any other technology in human history. Beyond the obvious effects of the web revolution, we are now just beginning to experience the benefits of the once underappreciated ideals that drove Mr. Berners-Lee to share his creation with the rest of the World–simple information exchange and open collaboration (e.g., open-source software). Who would have thought in 1991 that Microsoft Windows could be bested by an operating system created by volunteers (Linux) or that individuals could actually have a voice in politics (via the blogs) or that encyclopedias would be threatened by amatuers (Wikipedia)? It’s a brave new World. Thank you, Sir Tim Berners-Lee.

So the Net Neutrality bill was squashed by Congress last week. No worries. According to Tristan Louis there’s Life After Net Neutrality.

Should the phone/cable interests continue to get their way, Tristan posits that the short-term prognosis is indeed a degradation of the web as we know it today. At least in the grand ole US of A. Companies outside the United States will leverage their homogenous, ever-growing broadband superiority to gain competitive advantage over US companies working within a multi-priced, multi-speed system.

Surprisingly, Tristan believes that the long-term outlook improves. He foresees mesh networks (think BitTorrent for the net) rising up to circumvent the best laid plans of phone and cable companies. Let’s hope we don’t have to go there. A level playing field (ala net neutrality) sounds a whole lot less complex.

As Nathan pointed out in an earlier post, the future of the Internet is at serious risk. Join Google, Lawrence Lessig, Robert W. McChesney, and others in supporting an initiative to defeat a bill in the House of Representatives that would give the big phone and cable companies the power to decide what you get to see and do on the Internet.

The neutral communications medium is essential to our society. It is the basis of a fair competitive market economy. It is the basis of democracy, by which a community should decide what to do. It is the basis of science, by which humankind should decide what is true. Let us protect the neutrality of the net.

—Tim Berners-Lee, Inventor of the World Wide Web

Let Congress know that freedom and democracy on the Internet is at stake and that you support net neutrality.

A coalition of activists as diverse as MoveOn.org and Gun Owners of America is trying to amend legislation to codify the concept of ‘net neutrality’, or the idea that telecoms should not be allowed to charge different rates to different classes of users based on bandwidth usage. AT&T and others have explicitly stated the intention and the right to charge anybody anything they want, and if they were to act on those intentions, it would radically change the internet as we know it today. Although the amendment failed in the House, the real fight will be in the Senate. You can find an easy path to write your congressman at savetheinternet.com. If you do, it’ll be the best thing you’ve done for the internet this year.