August 31, 2003
Lenz blog explaining new Japanese copyright law reform
15:58 UTC » Intellectual Property - Japanese Policy
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Referral logs and google rankings
10:20 UTC » Blogging about Blogging - Search
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Baghdad Burning
09:51 UTC » Blogging about Blogging - Global Politics - US Policy and Politics - Warblogging
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Washlets hit 50% penetration
Washlets are the Japanese version of the bidet. They spray a jet of water that can be adjusted in pressure, angle, temperature. The fancy ones have motion sensors to open the seat and flush automatically. Some create a smell curtain with air jets and filters, others have remote controls, seat heaters, etc. They range in price from a few hundred dollars to thousands of dollars. You really have to try one to understand the appeal, but having a focused warm jet of water is much different than a bidet.
During a panel discussion the other day, professor Takeuchi explained that washlets have now reached a 50% market penetration in Japanese households. This is amazing really. So the question was, with all of the talk about culture being Japan's next big export, will washlets be the next big Japanese export?
Toto, the Japanese toilet company has an English language page for their very simple washlet. Watch the video, it's great. Thanks for the link Boris!
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August 30, 2003
AOL blocking Live Journal referrals?
13:11 UTC » Blogging about Blogging
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August 29, 2003
Can someone install jIRC for #joiito?
There is some software called jIRC that appears to allow you to set up a java web applet that is serves as an IRC client. I'm behind a firewall and can't get to IRC. Any chance someone would install jIRC somewhere and point it at #joiito on freenode so I can get to the channel? I n.n.n.need my IRC fix.
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The whole "there is only one God and my God is the best" thing...
NOW THAT'S, ER, CHUTZPAH: Christopher Hitchens is Fisking the Ten Commandments.Frank Boosman also comments on the problem with the "Thou Shalt Have No Other Gods Before Me" commandment.
Like I keep saying, all of you "I only have one God, and my God is the best" people seem to be a bit insecure about your God. As Christopher Hitchens says, "The first four of the commandments have little to do with either law or morality, and the first three suggest a terrific insecurity on the part of the person supposedly issuing them."
As we Shintos like to say, you can put your god over there next to our other gods. While you're at it, why don't you get off your high horse and quit defining Good and Evil as Us and Them. ;-p
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Off to Beppu for the HyperNetwork Conference 2003
I'm off to Beppu for the HyperNetwork conference. Had dinner with Howard who's also going to be speaking. I will be co-moderating a panel on Blogging. I'll try to be on IRC during the conference. See you there.
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August 28, 2003
Infrastructure melting down in US today?
Just a few minutes ago, I was on my vonage IP phone in my house in Tokyo sipping coffee in my air-conditioned living room listening to the birds outside. I called a friend in Virginia on his cell phone. It rang and dropped. He called me back on a land line. The Verison cell tower just went out in his area. As we were talking, his power went out. He had to switch to a phone that didn't use power. While we were talking, he did a clean shut-down of his computer and his UPS and went outside to see why his diesel backup generator didn't kick in. Then he went and started pulling out all of the oil lamps that he had just put away.
What's going on over there guys? Maybe the power companies and carriers should just step aside and let some new people run the critical infrastructure...
Although I can't say Japan is necessarily better, my phone still works and my air-conditioning is still working. ;-)
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August 27, 2003
#joiito stats
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May you rest in peace mazeone
07:03 UTC » IRC - Joi's Diary
Mike Lea aka mazeone on #joiito took his own life on Friday. He worked at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. He recently started hanging out on #joiito and was a pretty active participant in our community. I think he spent more time on #unixpunx. The #unixpunx site says that Vixnix talked to his sister who said to pass this on:
mazeone, may you rest in peace...Mike's sisterI wish I could tell you differently, but it is true. He has been very depressed for such a long time. I went down there and stayed with him last weekend and he was just miserable. He did it this past Friday night. He was ready to go. And he's at peace now. I wish I knew what to say. I know you all will miss him, and I know that his irc friends meant a lot to him and he enjoyed talking with you all. He kept trying to get me to go on and meet all the people he enjoyed so much. I'm so glad you all were there for him. I wish it wasn't true either. Feel free to forward this to his irc friends and know that my heart is with you all in missing his wit and him.
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August 26, 2003
IBM's History Flow
17:17 UTC » Cool Web Sites - Social Software - Wiki
IBM has a very cool project called "History Flow" that visualizes the evolution of documents and the interactions of multiple collaborating authors. There are many interesting views. They are using wikis for this.
Thanks for the link Clay!
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"authenticated" my ID with Google
15:04 UTC » Computer and Network Risks
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August 24, 2003
LOAF
There's a lot of talk about LOAF these days on #joiito. It's getting pretty hard to keep track of all of these new acronyms. It seems to be an emerging standard, and there isn't much about it on the web yet. jibot on #joiito seems to know the most about it. The only reference I've seen on the web is on britta's blog.
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Is it FUD or is it ignorance?
16:29 UTC » Intellectual Property
People think that creative commons and free software are "anti-copyright". It's amazingly stupid. You can't have free software or "some rights reserved" without copyright. I wonder if people are truly stupid or whether there is some FUD (Fear Uncertainty and Doubt) machine running a "stupidity about copyright" process in the background...Lawrence lessigthe extremists in powerAccording to the Post, Lois Boland, director of international relations for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, said "that open-source software runs counter to the mission of WIPO, which is to promote intellectual-property rights." As she is quoted as saying, "To hold a meeting which has as its purpose to disclaim or waive such rights seems to us to be contrary to the goals of WIPO."
If Lois Boland said this, then she should be asked to resign. The level of ignorance built into that statement is astonishing, and the idea that a government official of her level would be so ignorant is an embarrassment. First, and most obviously, open-source software is based in intellectual-property rights. It can't exist (and free software can't have its effect) without it.
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August 22, 2003
Meeting with Yoshiko Sakurai and others about Japanese National ID - Jyukinet
12:14 UTC » Japanese National ID
Had a meeting today with Yoshiko Sakurai and and other members of the anti-Jyukinet (National ID) "movement" this morning. I have been working with Sakurai-san and this group since September 2001. A lot has happened since then. We first tried very hard get a moratorium on the deployment before operation began. We got a great deal of support, but in the end operation began. Several local governments and prefectures resisted on the basis that there was a clause that privacy must be assured and the privacy bill had not been passed. A very watered down and poorly written privacy bill was passed and several anti-Jyukinet local governments lead by Yokoyama decided to participate in Jyukinet with a opt-out clause. There are still some local governments which are resisting, but such resistance is getting more and more difficult. Although we were able to raise privacy concerns when we were at the peak of our rallying efforts, people clearly do not feel too strongly about privacy issues generally.
Today we discussed a new angle that appears to be more convincing to many local governments. The cost of deploying the system is very high considering limited benefits. Although the central government says that they only spent $400M or so, it appears that it really cost more like $700M. In addition, there is a fairly substantial burden on the local governments. Although we would like people to think of things in terms of social cost and privacy risk, the more simple message is whether it is worth spending all of this money on a system which is supposed to be used only for receiving local government services. This message may be easier to spread.
I am in a somewhat awkward position right now. After the deployment began, I realized that it would be difficult to stop the system. While Sakurai-san continues to protest Jyukinet quite vocally and support the few local governments who are opposed to Jyukinet, I have started working within the system trying to educate the bureaucrats and trying to head of any new projects that might increase the risk. I am meeting regularly with "both sides" trying to figure out the most effective way to reduce risk. It is important that Sakurai-san continue to be vocal so that people continue to pay attention to the issues, but God is in the details. I am becoming immersed and inundated with the details. For example, early on in the process, I told the central government that they needed to educate the vendors and the local governments about privacy. I was soon presented with an "opportunity" to lecture local governments and vendors about privacy. Thanks... It's becoming physically and mentally quite difficult to continue this effort since it has very little to do with my "day job", but it's also very difficult to disengage since there are so few of "us".
Someone please help me... I wish we had EPIC in Japan. OK I'll stop wining...
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August 21, 2003
Kevin Marks leaves Apple
Kevin Marks blogs "How I emailed myself into a job and blogged my way out of it". I was trying to figure out whether I should write something objective and refer to my strength of weak ties post, but I'm not going to.
Kevin Marks, of MediAgora fame and a regular in #joiito is one of the most helpful and interesting people I've met recently. A lot of his job involved compiling huge pieces of code on slow machines so he would hang out and help people on #joiito. I feel a bit guilty because I think people on #joiito were a bit demanding of his time, myself included. I remember asking him to take care of my nephew and niece over iChat at 4 am in California while I did some cooking.
Anyway, I think this is a great loss to Apple, but may end up being a good thing for Kevin, MediAgora and the social software space. I am obviously talking to Kevin about "his next thing" but I encourage people who are looking for partners and are interested in someone who understands streaming media, alternative music distribution theories and social software to talk to Kevin. Now is your chance. (And if you come of with something cool to do, talk to me before you talk to any other venture capitalists. ;-) )
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Creative Commons presentation to Japanese copyright experts
08:14 UTC » Creative Commons - Intellectual Property
Yesterday, I gave a presentation about Creative Commons at a study group on copyright of which I am a member. The other members include the founding chairman, Hori-san of one of the largest talent management companies in Japan, Hori Productions, Professor Nakayama, the Tokyo University professor who invited Larry Lessig to Japan and one of the most influential copyright and constitutional law professors in Japan, Professor Iwamura, the former head of research and policy for the Bank of Japan and other professors and lawyers involved in copyright. I really like this study group because everyone is quite open-minded and frank and speaks from first-hand experience in court and law-writing.
Continue reading "Creative Commons presentation to Japanese copyright experts"
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August 20, 2003
Meeting with Kenji Yoshigo of Soka Gakkai
Today, I met with Kenji Yoshigo, the Vice President and Executive Director of Soka Gakkai Office of International Affairs. Soka Gakkai is a Buddhist sect which is one of the largest and most influential in Japan. One of the key things that sets it apart from other Buddhist sects is their active involvement in society including education, International relations and politics. They are the force behind the Komeito Party.
I had heard about Soka Gakkai from a variety of people, usually with negative connotations. Some people alluded to conspiracy, others refer to them like some sort of cult. The only real first hand negative interactions that I had heard of were interactions with overly enthusiastic members trying to recruit people. I had always been curious about the Soka Gakkai, but not curious enough to overcome the FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) and actually approach them.
Kana, a young woman who works for me is Soka Gakkai. I found out when I learned that she was marrying a staff member of the Komeito and I asked her whether she was Soka Gakkai. She is one of the hardest working people on our team and has a passion for justice that exceeds ones expectations. She invited me to give the toast at their wedding. At this wedding, they showed video messages from the young children she was mentoring, and I met many of the Soka Gakkai people she worked with. I was very impressed with how intelligent, aware of current issues, and friendly they were. The impression I got at the wedding changed my mental image of Soka Gakkai.
Early this year, Lou Marinoff, a well known philosopher who I had met several times in Davos visited Japan. He had been invited by Soka Gakkai. I had dinner with Lou and his Soka Gakkai host. Lou told me how impressed he was with their efforts and urged me to contact them and learn more about Soka Gokkai. I respect Lou's opinions greatly and he is quite knowledgeable and objective. His description of the variety of things Soka Gakkai was doing made me decide to try to contact Soka Gakkai to try to get a first hand impression.
After the dinner with Lou, I asked Kana if she would help me learn more about Soka Gakkai. It took a bit of scheduling, but she coordinated this meeting with Mr. Yoshigo.
Continue reading "Meeting with Kenji Yoshigo of Soka Gakkai"
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August 19, 2003
Governor Masuda of Iwate
01:10 UTC » Japanese Politics - Joi's Diary
Today I went to see Governor Masuda of Iwate. Iwate is physically the largest prefecture in Japan. Iwate is also my "home town" where my mother's side of the family is buried. Our family house is there, the schools that my great grandmother and grandmother built, and our grave. I *think* we've been at the same grave for 14 generations. (I have to fact check this. I know it is between 14-17 generations.) The last time I visited my grave was to pour my mother's ashes into the grave. We pour the ashes on top of the ashes of our ancestors. You can see the hundreds of years of ashes when you move the stone. The generations of people buried under the stone are etched in the stone side by side. Looking at all of the names on the stones sort of puts my life into perspective. A blip in a lineage of rather interesting people.
After our family property was parceled out to the locals during the Meiji Restoration, our money poured into the war effort in WWII and our heirlooms "confiscated" by the occupation, our family became a "normal" family and the city erected a little stone plaque in front of our house saying, "the former Ito residence." As an Ito who still owns the house, that's a bit disturbing. All that remains are the schools that my feminist great grandmother started building. She build one of the first trade schools for women during the war and my grandmother built a nurse school. My uncle reminded me that I must some day take over the school. I decided it was time to meet the Governor.
Luckily, we have many mutual friends and Professor Takemura made an introduction. I visited the Governor today. I talked about Creative Commons, the Internet Archives and the Bookmobile. I explained that Professor Takemura and I have been trying to get support from some local governments and libraries to try to sponsor an effort in Japan. We talked a lot about the future of local governments.
Governor Masuda was sharp, motivated and obviously on top of things. He is also a good friend of Governor Domoto of Chiba, who I know well. After meeting Governor Domoto of Chiba, Governor Tanaka of Nagano and Governor Masuda of Iwate, I think that the Governors of the strong provinces in Japan should start taking more control from the central government. I realize there is still a lot of reform required to allow the local governments to take more control. They need to become more financially self-sufficient. From a political perspective, the Governors are so much more accountable and representative of the people that it's a pity they don't have more resources...
PS 6 hours in the train to go to a 45 minute meeting scheduled 3 months ago is UBER M-Time... ;-)
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August 17, 2003
"Safe and sound, at last -- IRC and IM play a role"
08:17 UTC » IRC - Joi's Diary
David Beckemeyer aka twostop, creator of the first hecklebot and regular on #joiito blogs the story of how his 12 year old arrived in JFK during the blackout and how the Net helped him coordinate the night's events.
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August 16, 2003
#joiito RSS Roll with state info
17:02 UTC » Cool Web Sites - IRC - Social Software
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Jobs and the strength of weak ties
15:21 UTC » Blogging about Blogging - Economics - IRC - Introspective - Social Software
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Adjusting to P-time
Earlier I wrote about P-time. I'm now trying to see if I can create a work style around it. I am getting up at 5-6am, sitting in my living room with all of my IM buddy lists, IRC and mail tracking the presence of as many people as possible. I have iTunes and iChat Streaming Icon on and have applescripts letting people on iChat and IRC know what I'm listening to. I track UTC in my head and try to remember what time zone it is in the various countries and watch people wake up, go to eat, go to bed. I've started giving people my vonage phone number. I've started adding more people to LinkedIn and IM, trying to make contact with people I've lost touch with. Then, I sit around, chatting on IRC, reading email, blogging, until I see someone I need to talk to or a text conversation gets interesting enough to make a phone call, do a iChatAV video chat with or even rally a conference call around on the free conference call system, freeconference.com.
I am letting my thoughts wander, immersing myself in this spew of contextual information. It's a different mode, but it's very interestingly real time and multi-modal. I'm now trying to figure out whether I should have P-time days and M-time days, or split the day into different modes...
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iChat Streaming Icon
Got iChat Streaming Icon from Kuri yesterday. It is available on the Apple site. It streams live video of you as your iChat icon. Sooo cool. You can set refresh rates from .5 sec on up. I think it's basically just changing your icon image every frame. It slows the computer down a bit, but is really amazing. All of the images move in every window, even in the buddy list. Once all of your friends get it, you get the Brady Bunch thing happening in the buddy list.
I get to be Alice! ;-p
Seriously though... This suddenly adds a whole new dimensions to the presence discussion.
Software was written by Andreas Pardeike. Nice job!
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August 15, 2003
Article in The Economist about commercialization of weblogs
08:18 UTC » Blogging about Blogging
The article is a bit simplistic, but does start the discussion about commercialization of weblogs. I personally think that Amazon.com and the referral thing is where the action is. Amazon will potentially benefit more than anyone from all of this since they are the closest to the point of sale and reviews are a great way to get people to buy. Reviews are much more integrated into blog content than adwords.The EconomistBlogging, to the horror of some, is trying to go commercialUr-bloggers, of course, are outraged by all this. “Tony doesn't understand what a blog is; he's the opposite of a blogger,” says David Winer, a fellow at Harvard Law School's Berkman Centre, founder of UserLand and one of the first and longest running bloggers around (his site is www.scripting.com ). The key attribute that makes a blog a blog and not some ordinary piece of web publishing is amateurism, says Mr Winer: if it is in any way edited, it is not a blog. From this, incidentally, Mr Winer extrapolates that blogging has “the potential for revolution,” democratising and liberating the world. Mr Perkins in turn feels, wearily, that he has heard such “religiously libertarian anarchists with ponytails screaming and yelling” before, in the early days of the internet. Like many in Silicon Valley nowadays, he is more interested in profits than revolutions—though that change, in its own way, is revolutionary.
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Power out, but the Net still works
06:35 UTC » IRC - Joi's Diary
I'm sure everyone's already seen this, but I just woke up (6am here) to call a journalist in New York for an interview. He told me that there had been a blackout and he was walking from Manhattan to Brooklyn in flip-flops. He asked me to look on the web and tell him if there was any more news about whether it was a terrorist attack. I told him that it appears, according to CNN.com, that the affected area is wider than just New York, but that it was not a terrorist attack. We agreed to try to talk tomorrow.
I was in Tokyo in my underwear on a Vonage IP phone, reading news from the web to a journalist in New York on a cell phone. Rah rah Internet!
UPDATE: Joshua on #joiito is logged in from his office in Times Square. His building has backup power. Amazingly, the Internet seems mostly unaffected. It looks like data centers are starting to go down...
UPDATE 2: Just talked to the reporter, Jeff, who said that he had this conversation numerous times yesterday: "It wasn't a terrorist attack." "Why do you know?" "I was talking to someone in Tokyo." ;-)
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August 14, 2003
See ya later John Poindexter, it's been real...
08:26 UTC » US Policy and Politics
This may be old news for many of you, but I just found out that John Poindexter, the mastermind behind the "Total Information Awareness" project in the US, tendered his resignation August 12.
John Poindexter’s whirlwind 20 months as head of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s newly created Office of Information Awareness will end on Aug. 29, the day he will officially step down.
A PDF of his resignation letter on the Washington Post site.
Thanks to twostop on #joiito
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Email is officially broken
07:34 UTC » Network Technology - Privacy
via Scott MaceInternet NewsReport: ISPs Block 17 Percent of Legit E-mail By Brian MorrisseyTop Internet service providers blocked 17 percent of legitimate permission-based e-mail in the first half of the year, according to a report issued by Return Path.
I pronounce email officially broken. If 17 percent of legit email is being blocked by spam filters, it's not officially working. No wonder I'm using blogs, IRC and IM for my primary modes of connecting with important people these days.
I don't care what excuses people give. The people who made smtp should have thought more about host authentication and the people who made IPv4 should have made longer IP addresses. My guess is that there were people who were voicing concerns who had more vision.
I have a feeling we are going to be kicking ourselves in the same way when we realize we "forgot" to put privacy into ID systems.
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Google Japan in new digs
07:16 UTC » Joi's Diary - Search
In other "search news"...
Heard a rumor that Google Japan has moved into new digs in the posh Cerulian Tower with a Segway, massage chair, pool table, a lava lamp and everything. Congrats to all of the Infoseek Japan alum working at Google Japan. You've reached, "search nirvana". I'm a bit envious. ;-)
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