The debate over how to deal with Spam ignores the most important issue: censorship on the Internet is already an accepted and publicly acknowledged policy and most people don't realize that.

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Recently America On Line announced its intention to start charging people a "license fee" to send bulk email to AOL subscribers.

The resulting shiver traveling up the spines of mailing list managers and Internet providers all over the world quickly morphed into an all too rare quasi-collective outcry that actually forced AOL into a half-step backwards. Upon reconsideration, the Internet giant announced, it would continue to offer the license but, for those who don't want the license, it would also continue to treat bulk email as it has up to now.

There's lots of talk about free and low-cost wireless internet access. A city in Florida made it happen for its 30,000 people, Philadelphia is working on it and San Francisco is accepting proposals for the creation of a wireless network. Of course partnering with commercial entities comes with a price. Jeff Chester explores the potential "cost" of Google's "free" wireless netowrk proposal in this article from the nation.

Google's Wi-Fi Privacy Ploy

by JEFF CHESTER

[posted online on March 24, 2006]

The digital gold rush is on across America, as cities scramble to develop free or low-cost Wi-Fi zones. These public on-ramps to the Internet are designed to provide every citizen with a form of always-on, high-speed Internet access--at the playground, in the office or at home--at low or no cost.

Privatizing water as an issue is easier to see when Bechtel purchases the water supply of Bolivia. Okay, maybe a little dramatic, but that story is a fascinating read. But what do we think about bottled water? What are the implications of the tremendous profits from the sale of bottled water? That water is more expensive in the US than gasoline? There's a good article in Alternet about this, by Kathryn Mulvey. It really should make you think...

Are we aware of some of the ridiculous things going on in the immigration detention system? A lot of advocates see the situation getting worse...

The CAIR Coalition has a new video that everyone should see: http://www.ailfvideo1.org/2006video/cair2006.ram

Folks need RealPlayer to view (www.real.com if they need a free download of the player).

You are encouraged to use the video in your local advocacy but please check in first with Debi Sanders (debi@caircoalition.org)

Check out former May First Technology Collective member Laimah Osman's latest project: Azad Design.

From the site:

Art is social expression. Azad Design is an attempt to showcase, share and archive independent political art works.

There's a call for submissions as well as a growing image library and other great links and resources.

This is another article that covers a familiar theme these days: real social change needs independent funding sources.

Check out Adbusters- The Magazine.

I saw this link on the Nonprofit Open Source Initiative listserv. I guess technology providers can't be "neutral," huh?

From the Reporters without Borders web site: Another cyberdissident imprisoned because of data provided by Yahoo

The firm says it simply responds to requests from the authorities for data without ever knowing what it will be used for. But this argument no longer holds water. Yahoo certainly knew it was helping to arrest political dissidents and journalists, not just ordinary criminals. The company must answer for what it is doing at the US congressional hearing set for February 15.

Good article for learning more about corporate ISPs.

As a digression ... I have to ask: what about "ordinary criminals"? Given the political nature of justice systems in China, the United States, and else where - not sure if distinguishing between political and "ordinary" criminals is useful for us.

Although I don't believe that the current Labor shake-ups will amount to more than a rearranging of the chairs on the Titanic, I do believe that the conflicts are something different - and ANYTHING different with Labor is a good thing! Read about the latest happening...

Rumbling and Grumbling in Unions Is a Very Good Sign

from the ENGINEERING NEWS-RECORD: EDITORIALS - 2/20/2006

There is no doubt about it. The leaders of six large construction unions won’t be sending any Valentine’s Day cards to the top brass at the AFL-CIO or its Building and Construction Trades Dept. On Feb. 14, the laborers’ and operating engineers’ unions and their 1.1 million members kissed BCTD good-bye and announced a new relationship with four other unhappy unions. On March 1, they will form the National Construction Alliance, a labor love fest that they hope will revitalize, reinvigorate and restore the union sector.

The Peak Oil NYC folks are planning a conference in late April that looks like it's off to a great start. Now that Chevron and folks are jumping on the Peak Oil bandwagon, one of the greatest challenges will be preventing the issue from getting co-opted. Check out the conference - or the next Peak Oil NYC Meeting.

AOL seems to be back tracking a bit on their original proposal. ClickZ reports that the unpaid White List will be kept after all. ClickZ attributes this change to the uproar not from independent Internet folks but instead from a competitor to the company that was going to provide the technology for the paid bulk sender program.

Although the biggest danger has passed for now, the fact that huge corporations like AOL, Yahoo and Gmail control such a huge number of email users combined with the way we talk about spam raises serious questions about how we use the Internet for political work.