Day: 14 May 2007

I was reminded of the existence of this during a completely different conversation over at Gordon Cook’s discussion group. Fascinating talk, provides an unusual and lively view of aspects of computing history. I think it’s important for all of us to revisit such conversations and discussions, it will help us do the right thing when it comes to the internet, intellectual property rights and identity.

For people who have the time and the inclination, there’s a hefty slide presentation available via the same link, you may find it worth while to listen to the audio while working the presentation yourself. Don’t be put off by the double misspelling of Von Neumann on the site; the talk is of high quality, as are a number of the other sessions organised by the IT Conversations guys.

Three headlines I saw today, suggesting the shape of arguments to come:

1. Bandwidth leap for British forces

2.  US Military takes Iraq war to YouTube

3.  US blocks soldiers from websites

I find the trend interesting and just slightly worrying. Let me explain why. Of course the military have the right to make judgment calls on the economics and security of technology investments. It’s not just the military, every commercial enterprise has that right.

The trouble is, I fear the reasons for the pushback are different. My suspicion is the following:

Enlightened people in the US military encouraged adoption of toolsets like YouTube. This was a hard and sustained argument, and the outcome was reason for optimism. The same thing seemed to be happening in the UK as well, by the way, I remember a story about a satirical version of the Amarillo video making its way on to YouTube; the video was made by a UK soldier.

Then something changed, and the usual suspects were wheeled out:

• They’re using too much bandwidth, this has got to stop.
• They are meant to be working, this has got to stop.
• What they’re doing is a threat to security, this has got to stop.

The question is, why? What event made the enlightened group lose momentum and give up the high ground? How come the usual suspects were allowed to surface again? This argument is going to surface and resurface at pretty much every major enterprise, so we all need to learn. Any comments or views?