Comment Re:jack (Score 1) 84
India also blocks various websites, just a much smaller number. e.g., savitabhabhi.com was blocked not too long back.
Comment Re:Let's go ahead and quote from the report: (Score 1) 764
Science isn't mathematics. In the most fundamental case, I would argue that any imprecision implies some degree of subjectivity, and no measurement made by a human has infinite precision.
Objectivity doesn't imply infinite precision. In fact, infinite precision is impossible, and we can still have extremely objective theories and measurements in quantum mechanics.
Comment Re:Asking for it (Score 1) 938
I think this is a wrong way of looking at it. Think of it like defensive driving. Regardless of who is at fault in a car accident, defensive driving reduces the chance of you getting into a collision. Learning behaviors that reduce the likelihood of you getting bullied is similar. Moreover, unlike car accidents where you do have some recourse after the accident in bullying you are usually out on your own. Teachers don't believe you, at worst they often take the sides of the bullies and a lot of teachers are former bullies themselves. Also, changing the behavior of one kid who has a good incentive to change behavior (not get bullied) is much easier than changing the behavior of everyone else who have little to gain from not bullying and something to lose (dominance).
Comment Re:She's not stupid (Score 1) 198
As the character in American Beauty said, "Never underestimate the power of denial".
Comment Sounds like a solution... (Score 1) 203
...looking for a problem.
Comment Re:IT IS THE CREDIT CARDS STUPID!!!! (Score 1) 203
You can get one hour on the net for about 25 cents in India.
Submission + - First Armed Robots on Patrol in Iraq
An anonymous reader writes: Robots have been roaming Iraq, since shortly after the war began. Now, for the first time — the first time in any warzone — the 'bots are carrying guns. The SWORDS robots, armed with M249 machine guns, "haven't fired their weapons yet," an Army official says. "But that'll be happening soon." The machines have actually been ready to a while, but safety concerns kept 'em off the battlefield. Now, the robots have kill switches, so "now we can kill the unit if it goes crazy," according to the Army. I feel safer already.
Submission + - Muslims and the digital divide (washington.edu)
catherine odonnell writes: "Aug. 1, 2007 | Politics and Government
Muslim political parties grow online but digital divide continues to widen
Catherine O'Donnell cath2@u.washington.edu
World Information Access Report 2007
The WIA Project investigates causes and consequences of the global digital divide.
Political life in Muslim countries is surprisingly wired, according to researchers at the University of Washington.
In 2000, fewer than 50 political parties from Muslim countries had Web sites. By 2007, there were more than 200 parties represented online, the majority of them secular. The expansion of online politics in the Muslim world outpaces that of the rest of the developing world.
Also in 2000, 40 percent of the world's political parties were online, and 28 percent of parties in developing countries were online, but only 16 percent of parties in Muslim countries were online. Political parties in the Muslim world have quickly caught up, and today 38 percent of the political parties in Muslim and other developing countries are online. These figures likely reflect overall growth of political content in blogs, chat groups and listservs, said Philip Howard, an assistant professor of communication at the University of Washington who with his students prepared the World Information Access Report.
"We only looked for Web sites produced by an official party organization," said Howard.
"It is probably now safe to say that there is a political blogging community in every country, and that in some countries the Internet is the only infrastructure for political debate.
"No dictator has been toppled because of the Internet," Howard added, "but today, no democratic movement can topple a dictator without the Internet."
World Information Access researchers, who review trends in the global digital divide, studied data on political party Web sites from 2000, 2005 and 2007. They covered 212 countries and thousands of political parties — 3,217 parties in 2007 alone.
This boom in online political life in Muslim countries is surprising given the digital divide between rich and poor countries. Wealthier ones have more high-speed broadband service, which means citizens get more information more quickly. In contrast, many citizens in poorer countries continue using dial-up services, which are slower but less expensive.
Other findings from the report:
Many poor governments depend on Web site hosting services in wealthy countries such as Canada and the United States. One-third of all nations maintain some of their government Web sites on servers in the U.S., and one-fourth maintain all of their government Web sites on servers in the U.S.
Three-fourths of national libraries have Web sites but only 54 percent load in the country's national language. For example, Tajikistan's national library offers online access in Russian, but not Tajik. Sixty-nine percent of national libraries load in English but only 20 to 25 percent of the world's people speak English.
Almost every city in the world offers cybercafes or other commercial Internet access, but they cost average people in a developing city twice as much of their daily income as people in a developed city. In wealthiest cities between 2000 and 2005, cost of an hour of Internet access for average people dropped significantly, from 26 percent of daily income to 7 percent. The cost of going online fell as average income rose. In many developing cities, however, cost of going online didn't fall as dramatically, nor did incomes rise as fast. People in those cities spent 40 percent of their daily income to use the Internet in 2000 compared with 14 percent in 2005.
African nations are reforming their telecommunications policies, but surprisingly, the number of Internet hosts in Africa has declined. For several decades, African governments have been encouraged to reform their telecommunications by de-regulating the industry, privatizing telecommunications companies and introducing competition. The number of Internet hosts around the world has grown significantly since 1990, but the portion in Africa has declined because the governments have difficulty creating national infrastructure. In 1990, only 1.6 percent of the world's Internet hosts resided in Africa; by 2005, that number declined to 0.7 percent.
###
For more information, contact Howard at (206) 612-9911 (cell) or (206) 221-6532 or pnhoward@u.washington.edu.
A briefing booklet is available at www.wiareport.org
—- —
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Muslim political parties grow online but digital divide continues to widen
Catherine O'Donnell cath2@u.washington.edu
World Information Access Report 2007
The WIA Project investigates causes and consequences of the global digital divide.
Political life in Muslim countries is surprisingly wired, according to researchers at the University of Washington.
In 2000, fewer than 50 political parties from Muslim countries had Web sites. By 2007, there were more than 200 parties represented online, the majority of them secular. The expansion of online politics in the Muslim world outpaces that of the rest of the developing world.
Also in 2000, 40 percent of the world's political parties were online, and 28 percent of parties in developing countries were online, but only 16 percent of parties in Muslim countries were online. Political parties in the Muslim world have quickly caught up, and today 38 percent of the political parties in Muslim and other developing countries are online. These figures likely reflect overall growth of political content in blogs, chat groups and listservs, said Philip Howard, an assistant professor of communication at the University of Washington who with his students prepared the World Information Access Report.
"We only looked for Web sites produced by an official party organization," said Howard.
"It is probably now safe to say that there is a political blogging community in every country, and that in some countries the Internet is the only infrastructure for political debate.
"No dictator has been toppled because of the Internet," Howard added, "but today, no democratic movement can topple a dictator without the Internet."
World Information Access researchers, who review trends in the global digital divide, studied data on political party Web sites from 2000, 2005 and 2007. They covered 212 countries and thousands of political parties — 3,217 parties in 2007 alone.
This boom in online political life in Muslim countries is surprising given the digital divide between rich and poor countries. Wealthier ones have more high-speed broadband service, which means citizens get more information more quickly. In contrast, many citizens in poorer countries continue using dial-up services, which are slower but less expensive.
Other findings from the report:
Many poor governments depend on Web site hosting services in wealthy countries such as Canada and the United States. One-third of all nations maintain some of their government Web sites on servers in the U.S., and one-fourth maintain all of their government Web sites on servers in the U.S.
Three-fourths of national libraries have Web sites but only 54 percent load in the country's national language. For example, Tajikistan's national library offers online access in Russian, but not Tajik. Sixty-nine percent of national libraries load in English but only 20 to 25 percent of the world's people speak English.
Almost every city in the world offers cybercafes or other commercial Internet access, but they cost average people in a developing city twice as much of their daily income as people in a developed city. In wealthiest cities between 2000 and 2005, cost of an hour of Internet access for average people dropped significantly, from 26 percent of daily income to 7 percent. The cost of going online fell as average income rose. In many developing cities, however, cost of going online didn't fall as dramatically, nor did incomes rise as fast. People in those cities spent 40 percent of their daily income to use the Internet in 2000 compared with 14 percent in 2005.
African nations are reforming their telecommunications policies, but surprisingly, the number of Internet hosts in Africa has declined. For several decades, African governments have been encouraged to reform their telecommunications by de-regulating the industry, privatizing telecommunications companies and introducing competition. The number of Internet hosts around the world has grown significantly since 1990, but the portion in Africa has declined because the governments have difficulty creating national infrastructure. In 1990, only 1.6 percent of the world's Internet hosts resided in Africa; by 2005, that number declined to 0.7 percent.
###
For more information, contact Howard at (206) 612-9911 (cell) or (206) 221-6532 or pnhoward@u.washington.edu.
A briefing booklet is available at www.wiareport.org
—
RELATED CONTENT FROM UWNEWS.ORG
Report finds growing inequality across global information society
March 20, 2006
—
MORE UWNEWS.ORG STORIES ABOUT PHILIP HOWARD (pnhoward@u.washington.edu )
RSS news feed: uwnews.org news releases about Philip Howard
Muslim political parties grow online but digital divide continues to widen
Aug. 1, 2007
Hackers get bum rap for corporate America's digital delinquency
March 12, 2007
Report finds growing inequality across global information society
March 20, 2006
Think money in politics got 'reformed?' Just try running for Senate in 2006
Dec. 5, 2005
State ballot measures draw record amounts of cash
Nov. 4, 2005
Who did voters pick on Nov. 2? In some cases, we'll never know
Dec. 9, 2004
Major-party candidates work the Web, while many challengers stay offline
Nov. 18, 2004
Democrats outgunning GOP in e-mail wars, researchers find
Oct. 29, 2004"
Submission + - Point and click Gmail hacking at Black Hat (tgdaily.com)
not5150 writes: "Using Gmail or most other webmail programs over an unsecured access points just got a bit more dangerous. At Black Hat, Robert Graham, CEO of errata security, showed how to capture and clone session cookies. He even hijacked a shocked attendee's Gmail account in the middle of his Black Hat speech."
Submission + - New antibiotics for pathogenic attacks of bacteria (heraldbiz.com)
allengineering writes: "A team of research directed by the pr.
KIM
Kyung-Gyu of the Faculty of Medicine of
the University of Sungkyunkwan discovered the structure of the protein Rse B
playing an essential part in the transmission of the signals of stresses
resulting from the pathogenic attacks of bacteria. The article is been published
in the edition of May of the Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences of the the USA (PNAS). This projection should
make it possible to develop new antibiotics."
