AFF's Doublethink

While no doubt some community affairs programs will have redeeming social value, it can’t be overlooked that public access often amounts to little more than a kind of old-school blogging. Sure, everyone is empowered to speak. But how many blogs are worth reading?

Banning technologies through legislation is not the answer to piracy. Copying is here to stay, so companies must change their business models if they hope to cope.

Old bits of culture are the building blocks of new culture, but they’re useless if they are locked up.

The Cuban American vote is not inevitably Republican.

The Cuban American vote is not inevitably Republican.

It might be time to make peace with the end of the republican ideal and rethink the Electoral College.

Although privacy activists have been up in arms about RFID technology in consumer products, the real threat lies in government snooping.

You Are The Quarry, pop icon Morrissey’s first new album in seven years, is a triumphant return for the singer–even if it is a bit lopsided.

To truly win the war in Iraq, winning “the hearts and minds” of the liberated is indispensable. We have just lost a lot of hearts and minds.

Lawrence Lessig is giving away his new book for free on the Web, and he might just show us how “free” could also mean “profitable.”

Does the electoral surprise in Spain prove that the terrorists won, or that the conservative government’s interventionist policies lost?

President Bush’s proposed immigration reform is a good start, but the best conservative answer to immigration is real free trade.

For those on the Right not too happy with President Bush, perhaps a Wesley Clark candidacy wouldn’t be such a bad idea.

On a lark last week, I attended a teach-in hosted by a coalition of Green Party, anti-war, anti-globalization, and labor activists. Among the many speakers were Ralph Nader and former congresswoman Cynthia McKinney. It was a lot like watching one’s team in the final minutes of a tied World Cup final–one moment you’re ready to [...]

It seems that every time there is a glimmer of a chance that there might be an American opening towards Cuba, or increased engagement with the island, Fidel Castro does something to scuttle it. A coalition of mostly conservative farm-state members of Congress had just begun to press for an end to the embargo. Several [...]

As U.S. troops get ready to “shock and awe” Iraq, it’s important to take one last look at the Bush Administration’s motivations for a preemptive war. Oil is still high on the list. In informed circles, saying that the coming war is about oil is taboo. That seems right because the confrontation with Iraq is [...]

Megan’s Law, adopted by all 50 states, requires convicted sex offenders to register their whereabouts with police once they get out of jail. Often neighbors are alerted by the state that they have a convict in their midst. At the very least offenders are listed in an easily-accessed registry, often online. The law is named [...]

This week’s elections will give citizens all over America the opportunity to choose the leaders that will manage our federal republic. All over the U.S., that is, except in its very own capital. Washington D.C.’s half million inhabitants pay federal income tax and are affected (sometimes arguably more) by the decisions Congress makes, but they [...]

This week, the Supreme Court will listen to oral arguments in Eldred v Ashcroft. I don’t blame you if you haven’t heard about it; the case has not been publicized much outside the tech press. Nonetheless it’s a landmark case that will decide the future of intellectual property. Most notably it will decide whether Mickey [...]