The Dark Side of the Internet

You’ll find lots of websites’ participated in the 18th January Blackout Day in protest of SOPA/PIPA. If you still do not know what they are, then I don’t know what to tell you.

Here is the link - What did the 18th January SOPA/PIPA Blackout protest look like on the sites that participated?

to how these websites looked like. Someone obviously asked this question,and someone put up loads of printscreens. Its nice to see the internet so united.

Also, MG Seigler wrote this article on PandoDaily about the Motion Pictures Association of America and the SOPA. IMHO,it was a good read. Here .

Update- There’s two wonderful articles by Marco Arment, and MG Seigler’s commentary on his article. Yes, I read parislemon.com frequently. He made a superb point.

“Dodd vacated his U.S. Senate seat on January 3, 2011. In a year, he’ll be able lobby all he wants. He’ll be able to directly buy the support of all his former colleagues. He spent 36 years in Washington as both a Senator and Congressman. You think that doesn’t matter? He’s going to be the best lobbyist ever. Which is exactly why the MPAA picked him. “

This is scary,and highly unsettling. Its an allout war,one which we never prepared for whilist our enemies(the studios) have been sharpening their swords for,since long.

Also, loved how Marco quantified every entertainment industry consumer - ” They see us as stupid eyeballs with wallets.” from their point of view.

The Social Problem

I was browsing through my archives , and I chanced upon parislemon ‘s post on Facebook, and their new feature, Timeline. This one particular passage just struck me. Brilliant insight, I think.

There’s one massive problem in the social space: everyone is competing for the same user time. But most services compete by piling on features that erode that time even quicker. They’re offering up services that if I use, it means I’ll have even less time to actually enjoy life. That’s not a sustainable model. Being “social” online has become far too much work.

Facebook has clearly been thinking about this problem. And now they have a way to tap the power of social without thinking about it. That’s the future of the space. It’s not about needing a share button. It’s about not needing a share button. “

Here’s the link to the complete article - http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/22/button-down/

P.S:Also, notice how he’s quoted Steve Jobs in between;his famous quote about “how I skate where the puck is going to be”. And I chanced upon it on the day of Steve Jobs’ death, today.

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