8. March, 2002 - Standing athwart history, wondering what happened

• I've been googled again, and I'm talking about it. I also finally built an index of one set of Miscellany
• Save Internet Radio! Royalty fees to kill Shoutcast and other independent webcasting. [Reed]

  For example, for a mid-sized independent webcaster (e.g., two or three people working out of a home office or dorm room) that has had, say, an average audience of 1,000 listeners for the past three years, the bill for retroactive royalties -- which will come due sometime early this summer if the CARP rate recommendation is approved -- would be $525,600!

• In addition to the link Reed suggested about saving Internet Radio, he apparently got Doc Searls worked up enough about it to write It's time to show these fuckers what Democracy is all about. Nice work. [Reed]
• Mourning After - the Democratic Party realizes that campaign finance reform may not be a good thing for the minority party.

  No constituency to speak of actually likes this bill or pressed any Democrats to support it. It was passed on the strength of Democratic anxiety over being called to hypocrisy by the elite media.

  I got one of Martin Sabo's regular updates in the mail yesterday. He was pretty proud of voting for the bill. [fark!]
• The Shifted Librarian talks about a Salon article I can't read because I don't subscribe. But the gist is that libraries are getting requests under the USA PATRIOT Act for lists of what people have been reading. I guess buying books from bookstores using cash, and no frequent buyer's card isn't a bad idea. Failing that, sit in the library, and don't check out that book. Or just spend your life surfing the web. The article is a followup to the Big Brother is Watching you Read article I pointed to on President's Day.
• If you're looking to Dump MSN, this website has a list of alternative ISPs as well as a list of who to complain to about Qwest's lack of disclosure.

Copyright 2008, Dave Polaschek. Last updated on Thu, 07 Mar 2002 23:57:30.