BLOG ENTRIES MAY/JUNE 2003
TUESDAY 27 MAY 2003 01.35 (GMT)
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KILLER ON THE LOOSE...
"My top priority for the year ahead is to kill the myth that Ireland can't support profitable broadband - because it can."
-- Dermot Ahern TD, Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources [25 May 2003]
SOURCE: Fianna Fail web site
DATA DING-DONG..
Journalist Karlin Lillington has written another timely expose on the background to the forthcoming data retention law. She revealed in yesterday's Irish Times that the Irish Data Protection Commissioner, Joe Meade, twice threatened to begin High Court proceedings against the government for using an "invalid" Ministerial Direction to unconstitutionally store citizens' phone, fax and mobile call data.
In a letter to Department of Justice Secretary on 19 December 2002, Meade said: "Unless I receive a satisfactory response by January 13th, 2003, it is my intention to instruct my solicitors to commence proceedings in the High Court seeking judicial review of the Directions issued to the telecommunications companies by the Minister for Public Enterprise."
SOURCE: Full story at Karlin Lillington's web log
SATURDAY 24 MAY 2003 23.45 GMT+1
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THESE ARE FAR AWAY..
Nasa has released the first ever images of the Earth taken from Mars. They were captured with a camera on board the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) on 8 May 2003.
The image above has been specially processed to allow both Earth and the much darker Moon to be visible together.
More images, including Jupiter and some of its moons, can be viewed at Malin Space Science Systems, the company which built the camera.
Mars is roughly 50m kilometres (approx. 31m miles) from Earth, the closest since observations began. The Global Explorer was launched to take advantage of this. Evaluation of landing sites for NASA's two Mars Exploration Rover missions and the British Beagle 2 lander mission has relied heavily on the Global Explorer.
These missions are due to launch this summer and arrive at Mars starting late December 2003 through January 2004
SOURCE: Nasa press release [22 May 03]
TUESDAY 20 MAY 2003 11.30 GMT+1
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CITIZENS WITH NOTEBOOKS..
South Korean has deployed broadband more successfully than anywhere else in the world - 70% of homes are connected - and this kind of connectivity is believed to be challenging the newspaper industry.
"The mainstream press still has the ear of the majority of the public. But things are changing," said Paik Hak-soon, a political observer at the Sejong Institute research centre. "Twenty- and 30-year-olds are getting their news from the internet."
A senior editor at South Korea's largest printed newspaper, Chosun Ilbo, said internet news services were a threat to the future of the mainstream press.
The most popular online news site is Ohmynews.com, which is reported to get 16m visits on an average day.
Ohmynews.com is very different from traditional newspaper sites in that it has over 26,000 readers registered as 'citizen reporters'. The editor receives about 200 stories a day from them. Nearly 80% of the site content comes from these stories.
Editor and founder Oh Yeon-ho said: "With Ohmynews, we wanted to say goodbye to 20th century journalism where people only saw things through the eyes of the mainstream, conservative media.
"Our main concept is every citizen can be a reporter. We put everything out there and people judge the truth for themselves."
But the service has been criticised by sections of the South Korean print media for lacking professionalism and having lower standards.
SOURCE: The Associated Press (AP) via the Globe and Mail of Canada
SUNDAY 18 MAY 2003 01.30 GMT+1
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HISTORY..
Wolfgang Truetzschler, writes "that more than 25 members of ISOC have voted to form the Ireland chapter of ISOC. The meeting on Thursday went very well and we now have an Ireland chapter!"
On a personal note, it was great to see (and talk to!) people with such broad and diverse experience. From ecommerce, web masters, system administration, DNS, consultants, education. It was particularly encouraging to meet people involved with Boards.ie, DublinWAN, and IrelandOffline.
I joined ISOC three years ago and when I went to the 2001 annual conference in Stockholm, I discovered that I was the only Irish member there! From that moment, I realised that Ireland badly needed to form a chapter and do our bit to help make 'the internet for everyone'.
I am genuinely excited at the potential of ISOC Ireland and I feel honoured to serve on the initial executive committee.
The minutes of the meeting are here.
TUESDAY 13 MAY 2003 23.30 GMT+1
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ISOC MEETING..
Wolfgang Truetzschler, the ISOC Ireland Charter Group chairman, has provided directions to the meeting on Thursday at 6pm.
Go in by the main entrance of the Dublin Institute of Technology in Aungier Street and then to the 2nd floor. There will be notices directing to the Board Room. You can park on the street or go to the underground staff car park which you can enter via Bishop Street.
He also points out, that if you can't make it to the meeting but you would like to support the chapter formation, please send him an email (wolfgang at dit.ie) indicating that you are an ISOC member.
WEDNESDAY 7 MAY 2003 19.50 GMT+1
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PERSEVERANCE..
Antoin O Lachtnain has been on the hunt for information relating to the registrar of Ireland's domain name - .ie - for months now. He has finally received a ruling from the Information Commissioner. Antoin says that:
"University College, Dublin is the body responsible for operating the IE Domain Registry. However, the registry is run in a very untransparent fashion.
I wanted to break the veil of secrecy, so I put in a request under Ireland's Freedom of Information Act to see files relating to the IE Domain Registry. Despite a lot of objections from UCD and the Registry, I've just received a ruling from the Information Commissioner confirming that I am entitled to see these files."
More details, including the ruling, are at Antoin's blog.
MONDAY 5 MAY 2003 22.30 GMT+1
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ISOC IN IRELAND..
The Internet Society (ISOC) was formed in 1992. Its main aim was to provide support for the internet standards process. ISOC contains the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and this group is responsible for most of the protocols currently in use on the net and without which the whole thing would fall apart.
Because of this, ISOC remains one of the most important groups for all users of the net. Current debate, for example, on the issue of spam won't really get anywhere without looking at the standards process. There are also other policy issues that have to be looked at against the standards backdrop.
I've attended a couple of ISOC conferences which I've found to be very informative and professional. Of course it's not without its faults, but from my experience ISOC plays a crucial role in making sure that 'The Internet is for Everyone' - its mission statement.
ISOC has organisational, chapter and individual members throughout the world. Individual membership is free. Most European countries have a chapter and some have more than one. The lack of a chapter in Ireland reflects the slow growth of the net here. While lobby groups such as IrelandOffline have done tremendous and successful work, there is still the need for an organisation which looks at the bigger picture.
Because Ireland is struggling to catch up, we need a representative organisation to promote the net here and keep a vigilant eye that the 'Internet is for Everyone'. I think an Ireland Chapter of ISOC is the vehicle to do that.
A set of bye-laws has already been worked out and 25 members are required to form the Chapter. To that end there's a meeting being held on Thursday 15 May at 6pm in the Board Room of the DIT in Aungier Street in Dublin 2.
Judging by the dire state of internet penetration in Ireland, it's up to those of us who see the value and importance of the net to do something about it. Help is not going to come from any other quarter. If you can't make it to the meeting, you can still join ISOC. Then contact Wolfgang Truetzschler, the Charter Committee chairman, (Wolfgang@dit.ie) with your membership number.
MY COLUMN..
I didn't write a column for yesterday as I was trying to take an extended screen break :-)
THURSDAY 1 MAY 2003 01.30 GMT+1
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ONE SMALL PIC FOR MAN...
This amazing photograph of the moon sinking behind the Earth was taken on 16 April last by science officer Don Pettit from a window in the International Space Station using a handheld digital camera.
According to Nasa, as the moon sinks, moonlight enters the Earth's atmosphere and exits again on its way to the ISS. The atmosphere acts like a giant lens. Refraction pushes the moon's lower limb upwards to create the squashed shape.
SOURCE: Nasa
SARS SEARCH...
A distributed-computing project to test the effectiveness of potential drugs to fight the SARS virus has had a big response so far according to Wired News.
In a similar project to Seti@home, computer users download software which then avails of the computer's idle time. The project is being run by the Rothberg Institute for Childhood Diseases In the US, a non-profit research organisation.
15,000 people have already downloaded the software which was released last month.
SOURCE: Wired.com
MONDAY 30 JUNE 2003 23.45 (GMT+1)
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::: GO WAN
I went to IrishWAN.org's national conference in Limerick on Saturday and although arriving late (mea culpa), it was obvious that the event was well-attended and very professionally run.
I also had the good fortune to run into Brendan Kehoe and his dad Peter. About 18 months ago I interviewed Brendan at his home in County Wexford. He had put a post on the IrelandOffline web site asking was anyone interested in wireless and IrishWAN was born. Brendan set up the initial site and provided invaluable technical knowledge. Glad to say, he continues to be involved.
The successful conference on Saturday was a great testament to the power of using the internet for building a community organisation from small beginnings. Wireless is a wonderful new and innovative area opening up in Ireland. I've no doubt that IrishWAN will keep it that way.
BETTER LATE...
As the clock strikes midnight soon, the 1 July will see the official arrival of flat-rate internet access in Ireland. It's not truly flat-rate, but compared to what was there it's a big step in the right direction.
Again like I mentioned with IrishWAN above, the ability to use the net to build a community like IrelandOffline shouldn't go unnoticed. It seems like an eon ago when a heavily pregnant Elana Kehoe stood at the top of Grafton Street in a protest attended by a handful.
That was less than two years ago and today is a milestone for IrelandOffline. Congrats and thanks.
TUESDAY 24 JUNE 2003 20.25 GMT+1
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VOTING SPOILED...
Margaret McGaley of Maynooth University computer science department published her report into the electronic voting system trialled in some constituencies in the last general election and concluded that: "The introduction of electronic voting in Ireland, in its current form, threatens the integrity of our democracy. As demonstrated in this report, this is an issue that has been incompetently addressed by the government". She has since launched a campaign on the issue.
In the Dail (parliament) last week the government was asked whether the selected electronic voting system was open to abuse; was it being extended to other constituencies and how much did it cost?
In reponse, government minister Pat Gallagher said: "My department does not accept the conclusions drawn in the report...". He confirmed that "the electronic voting and vote counting system will be used in all local and European elections in June 2004". The cost of the system was put at Euro36m (plus VAT).
Referring to McGaley's research report, the minister concluded: "...this report does not raise any new issues concerning the security of the electronic system to be used and its conclusions cannot be considered to have been substantiated".
If this issue isn't sorted, I won't be voting in those local or European elections and will be urging others to do the same.
SUNDAY TRIBUNE COLUMNS:
14 Dec 2003
22 Feb 2004
9 May 2004
MONDAY 23 JUNE 2003 23.25 GMT+1
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BOARDS FAILTE...
Boards.ie has recently launched a nifty Supporter's Pack, which includes: a web or POP email account (@boards.ie); a journal which can be used for a basic web log; photo management facility (5Mbs of storage) and other bits and pieces. It costs Euro50 a year or E5 a month.
MONDAY 16 JUNE 2003 23.25 GMT+1
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ELECTRIC DREAMS...
Lately I've been of the opinion that internet over electricity lines (PLT) has become the Cinderella of internet access. In the couple of years since interference seemed to rule out future use of PLT, there has been a lot of progress in solving many of the initial problems. Commercial trials are now up and running, with one that I know of in Scotland.
PLT does have great potential. But maybe not so much in developed and rich countries, where the big bucks are tied up in the telco tussles, but certainly in countries with a very low telephone per person ratio. Electricity lines can bring access. Maybe that explains why PLT doesn't get taken too seriously in the western world?
The Internet Society (ISOC) has posted a very interesting article called ' Addressing the Digital Divide with IPv6-enabled Broadband Power Line Communications', which is well worth a read. It's light enough on the jargon count.
SUNDAY 8 JUNE 2003 21.25 GMT+1
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IRELAND OFFLINE REPORT...
Ireland Offline's presentation [PDF 28k] to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Communications last week is a well put together submission and a great summary of where things currently stand with broadband access. The group has also opened up a discussion on new objectives it might now pursue.
IrishWAN, who are building community-run wireless networks, was also asked to speak to the Joint Committee and Robert Fitzsimons, the chairman of DublinWAN, gave this interesting presentation on behalf of IrishWAN.
THURSDAY 5 JUNE 2003 11.25 GMT+1
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ALL ABOARDS...
IT was only a matter of time. While the snail's pace at which the local loop is being unbundled in Ireland has slowed to a standstill courtesy of the High Court (again), the demand for affordable broadband can't be held back indefinitely.
There is now enough experience, energy, enthusiasm and - most of all - committment to believe that an alternative way can be found to bypass the last-mile tollbridge.
In the last couple of years, three organisations have stood out for me in terms of their significance but also their potential.
IrishWAN has gone from strength to strength and besides doing what it says on the tin, the group has established itself as one of the leading voices on all things wireless in Ireland.
IrelandOffline has been similarly pro-active on the issues of internet access, in the process achieving some victories, but also building a solid network of knowledge gathering and sharing.
The third group, Boards.ie, has provided a popular bulletin board service that has attracted thousands of members. But again, and significantly, the group has proved that a community-driven approach in relation to the internet can be successful in Ireland. There are no doubts now about that.
The relationship between IrelandOffline and Boards.ie was also a successful coming together of shared interests, with both retaining their own unique identities. And both groups were strengthened by the arrangement.
If community-based groups such as the above have found their legs, it was only a matter of time before they would want to stretch them. Maybe even run.
And that's what brought some much-needed cheer to this week. A message posted on Boards by DeVore earlier today announced that the group is seriously considering offering a wireless internet access service. DeVore wrote: "We want to offer a product like this:
Low (20: 1 max) contention ratio roughly
512K minimum, preferably more.
Uncapped.
Less then 50 Euro inc vat
No (or very low) interleaving.
Latency sensitive (ie: Latency/Routing would be one of key quality indicators.)
Community supported through no-frills support."
It's a fantastic project in many respects, but the community aspect means that the expertise and energy of a wide range of groups and people is available to help and progress the project. To succeed it needs community involvement and Ireland has shown that at least that aspect shouldn't be in short supply.
Bon Voyage.
SUNDAY 1 JUNE 2003 01.35 GMT+1
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CAMPAIGN OPPOSES E-VOTING SYSTEM...
A campaign has been launched to challenge the Irish government on the use of its electronic voting system, which was last used in certain constituencies in the general election of May 2002.
The campaign was announced last week by Margaret McGaley, the co-author of a five-month research project titled 'Electronic Voting: A Safety Critical System', published last March.
The report's conclusion states: "The introduction of electronic voting in Ireland, in its current form, threatens the integrity of our democracy. As demonstrated in this report, this is an issue that has been incompetently addressed by the government."
The campaign goals are:
-- to prevent the use of the Nedap/Powervote system in Irish elections,
-- to prevent the purchase of any more equipment or software from Nedap/Powervote by the Irish government, and
--to convince the government that any voting system used in Ireland should be developed here, using formal methods and the Mercuri method, and should be open source.
SOURCES: The campaign announcement, Wed May 28 2003
Margaret McGaley and Dr J. Paul Gibson, 'Electronic Voting: A Safety Critical System' published in March 2003 [PDF 48k].
SUNDAY TRIBUNE COLUMNS ON EVOTING IN IRELAND:
14 Dec 2003
22 Feb 2004
9 May 2004