What have we done with the Internet?

Fierce Planet Posted on by

What it is, is up to us.
— Howard Rheingold, author of The Virtual Community

I think of myself as an OG Internet inhabitant, because I was one of the early commercial consumers who arrived online after NSFNet began to release control of the network to corporate actors.

For me, that began in 1993. I had been hanging around bulletin board systems (BBSs) for a year or two, after peace activists I worked with started to use computers for communication and organizing. I ended up on a system I’d heard of some years before, The Well, created in 1985 and still operating today.


My dial-up modem screen from around 1993.

 
The Well had access to a Bay Area internet gateway, and there it was I discovered the joys of Telnet, Gopher, Usenet, WAIS, Archie, and Veronica. Also TinyFugue, a gateway to text-based multiuser worlds, and my favorite bit of Old Internet software.

I met my husband through TinyFugue, on a MUSE. We used to build castles together—in text.

Because at that time everything was text. There were no graphical interfaces on the ‘net, no World Wide Web. TCP/IP, the Internet’s information transport protocol, existed but was not in wide use yet. HTML was just being invented. Basically the “Internet” was a prompt on a Unix server somewhere, and everything online was done in plain old ASCII.


⠀⠀⣠⣤⣄⡀⠀⠀⢀⣤⣦⣤⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⢸⡏⠀⠈⠻⣦⣴⠋⠀⠀⢸⡇⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠈⣿⡀⠀⣠⡟⠁⠀⠀⣠⡟⠁⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⢸⣇⣴⠏⠀⠀⠀⣰⠏⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⢠⡿⠁⠀⠀⠀⣼⠿⢦⣄⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⢠⡟⠁⠀⠀⠀⣼⠋⠀⠀⢹⣦⣤⣀⠀⠀⠀
⢠⡟⠀⠀⠀⢀⣾⠃⠀⠀⠀⣾⠁⠀⠙⣧⡀⠀
⣿⠁⠀⠀⠀⠚⠃⠀⠀⠀⣼⠇⠀⠀⢠⡟⠙⣷
⣿⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠐⠏⠀⠀⠀⣾⠁⠀⣿
⠹⣧⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠘⠇⠀⢠⡟
⠀⠈⠻⣦⣀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣾⠃
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠙⠻⢦⣤⣀⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⣴⠏⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠉⠙⠛⠛⠛⠛⠋⠁⠀⠀
We even did our art in ASCII.*

 
The first HTML-based web page I ever saw was around 1995, at an NIST lab over a T1 pipe (massive bandwidth back then), which at the time was displaying live video conversations with astronauts on the Space Shuttle. I’d never seen, never imagined, anything like it.

This was definitely a bright new world of wonders, or at least the early sketch of one. The friend who set up that very basic web page hid a link in a period at the end of the thing (the link led to a bare page with a sentence written in ASCII of course). When we found it we were thrilled as if it were actual treasure. I built the first page of my own in ’97.

What I didn’t realize at the time was how very much the Internet of the early ‘90s was already being inexorably changed as the forces of commercialization, of corporate interests, began to build out the Web that evolved into what we know today.

In his recent book, Internet for the People, Ben Tarnoff argues that commercialization of the Internet has poisoned its ability to serve people as it should. That when we allow our ability to talk with each other to be owned and influenced by a handful of rich guys or wealthy corporations we damage our communities and distort the outcomes of our discussions of public policy.

That’s never been clearer than today, when we are watching El*n M*sk’s attempt to destroy Twitter, thrashing around in apparent distress because people there don’t show him and his horrible right-wing ideas enough deference.

Tarnoff believes that the solution is to remove the profit motive from the provision of the Internet itself, and from at least some of the social media services which act as global communication channels and which are invaluable in that role. Returning physical Internet infrastructure to public control, and siloing off at least some global communication to be run and managed by our citizens could at the very least mitigate some of the damage.

Chuck Wendig wrote a post about the situation at Twitter, and I replied with this comment, later posted on my account on Mastodon.

Speaking of old BBS systems, The Well still exists, well.com believe it or not. I’ve been hanging out there for nearly 30 years now.

We watched this whole internet thing get built from scratch. When I first got onto NSFNet as it was just turning into the corporatized internet we know today, you just got dumped at Unix prompt. There literally was no graphical web at the time, just plain old ASCii.

We built it all and we can do it again, if we want to. We can make it whatever we want it to be. Read Ben Tarnoff, He’s smart about this stuff.

What it is, is up to us. I agree with Ben that publicly-owned spaces have to be part of the solution, that we need to ensure that the Internet is freely available around the globe, to as many people as we can physically reach.

And then control of the conversation should be returned to the public, perhaps through decentralized services such as Mastodon (motto: Social networking that’s not for sale). Other services will no doubt arise as well. We the people are incredibly creative when we work together.

Please read Ben’s book if you have time, or at least his interview with Wired linked just above, and then think about how we might bring about these changes, together.

Footnote: *Sorry about the line-spacing, ASCII art connoisseurs! I couldn’t override the line height designation in my theme.

Edit to add: Please go at once and read this wonderful essay by Cat Valente. She was online even earlier than I was, and at a much younger age, and she sees clearly what is going on.

Stop Talking to Each Other and Start Buying Things: Three Decades of Survival in the Desert of Social Media

…And in many ways, that complaint has only gotten louder over the decades. Stop talking to each other and start buying things. Stop providing content for free and start paying us for the privilege. Stop shining sunlight on horrors and start advocating for more of them. Stop making communities and start weaponizing misinformation to benefit your betters.

It’s the same. It’s always been the same. Stop benefitting from the internet, it’s not for you to enjoy, it’s for us to use to extract money from you. Stop finding beauty and connection in the world, loneliness is more profitable and easier to control.…

12/28 ETA: Some additional reading for the strong-willed.

Thomas Zimmer in the Guardian:
Elon Musk was never a liberal, and his plans for Twitter were never benevolent

And some information about Eugen Rochko, founder of Mastodon:
Twitter rival Mastodon rejects funding to preserve nonprofit status

1/22/23 ETA: Useful report by an admin. On Running a Mastodon Instance

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Respect for Marriage

Fierce Planet Posted on by

To the ones who can imagine, respect oh yeah.

This bill is far from perfect, and I definitely wish for more. But it is an important step nonetheless, to kill the hated Defense of Marriage Act and establish in law the principle that all marriages are equal.

ETA: Let’s take a moment to note that Aaron Rupar’s tweet no longer loads because El*n M*sk banned him from Twitter. Let’s talk more soon about corporate control of the Internet. ETA2: Aaron’s back. M*sk is an idiot.

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Two podcasts ~ Choose a side

Fierce Planet Posted on by

This weekend I caught up with a couple of podcasts, and I’d like to highlight a few things.

First is a segment on Pod Save America. I’ve set this up so it goes directly to an interview with Strict Scrutiny‘s Kate Shaw, a lawyer talking here about the Supreme Court hearing Moore v. Harper last week. (Strict Scrutiny itself is another excellent podcast, if you’re looking for some top-notch legal minds discussing the issues of the day.)

This case presents the “Independent State Legislature Theory”, which you will no doubt hear about a lot in the near future. It is one way that the authoritarians in the Republican Party plan to overturn the will of the voters, now that the voters are making choices that Republicans don’t like.

I’ve pulled together a lot of material on this subject and will try to at least post a link list soon, for educational purposes. But Kate Shaw gives a good overview here about the ways in which this Supreme Court decision could have very dangerous impacts on democracy.

 
And of course we have an episode of Politics Girl, Leigh McGowan, and her guest, historian Thomas Zimmer.

I’ll sketch out the segments so you can skip to whatever interests you, but honestly the whole discussion between these two is worth the time if you’ve got it.

 
The first 18 minutes start with a discussion of the two major political forces in the world today, frozen in combat. Parsing the political situation post-election, they discuss the right-wing force which dearly wants the world to adopt a white Christian patriarchal order, and the opposing force (that includes me and I hope you as well) which works just as hard to bring about a truly pluralistic, multiracial, multicultural democracy.

In a country where politics revolves around these two irreconcilable visions, how can you possibly have democracy? How can those two Americas co-exist? The patriarchal forces are radicalizing now, giving themselves permission to resort to violence in order to prevail. How can resistance activists respond?

After the first break — around 22:10 — they discuss some of the politicians who back this patriarchal order, people like Tr*mp and MTG. These people are not harmless and simply ignoring them will not succeed. This includes a discussion of whether it’s useful to make charges of hypocrisy against these folks — i.e. how can they call themselves pro-life when their actual policies lead to so much death and misery? Zimmer argues that it is not hypocrisy once you understand that their stated policy goals are secondary to their will to impose this white Christian patriarchal structure.

The right clearly believes that only some groups are worthy of power, and all other groups must be kept under control. That principle is rarely expressed in the open, but when you look at their actions you can see the underlying truth.

Around 43:20 — after the second commercial break — comes a subject near and dear to my own heart. They talk about Twitter and its importance as a global organizing tool. Our social media and other communication systems are not democratized, and we are fighting over whether the will of the minority (and white Christian patriarchs by definition will always be a numerical minority) will control the rest of us.

Twitter is the world’s most important political communications channel, one of the largest at any rate, and Musk controlling it is a disaster. He is not politically neutral. He wants freedom from regulation for his ideological allies alone. What the white rich men want is to be unfettered in any way, to be free to do whatever they wish and treat people as they like without even a whisper of criticism. Controlling the public dialogue is a part of that.

Corporate control of the Internet could generate several essays all on its own. Twitter should be a public utility. It has been essential in amplifying voices that traditionally have been suppressed and that’s why the white boy authoritarians (often calling themselves libertarians) hate it. They want the voices shut back down. Killing Twitter will slow our efforts to create a pluralistic world, which is why Musk wants to break it.

His demonization of marginalized groups will lead directly to violence, and that is what we are seeing today. These discussions are at the heart of today’s politics, and as David Frum has written, “If conservatives become convinced that they can not win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. They will reject democracy.” We are watching this play out right now.

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The Georgia runoff election and why it matters

Fierce Planet Posted on by

And there we are — Warnock won! (gift link)

Senate Democrats look to the future with expanded majority after Georgia win

With 51 votes in the Senate now, Democrats are celebrating faster legislative movement and newly obtained subpoena power

 

Tomorrow is election day in Georgia, and our final Senate seat will be decided at last. Nearly two million votes (gift link) have already been cast, setting new records for early voting in the state.

Georgia Senate runoff smashes early voting records — and attracts new voters

Georgia has set new records for early voting again as the two Senate candidates blitz the state ahead of Tuesday’s runoff election. And the contest is drawing new voters, too.

More than 1.85 million Georgians have voted early, according to the office of Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, breaking two single-day records in about a week.

Among those who have already turned out, 56% were women and 44% men. White voters made up 55% of early voters, 32% were Black, and Latinos and Asian Americans each accounted for less than 2% of the total….

 
Incumbent Senator Raphael Warnock may well beat Herschel Walker, but it is not a certain thing. We know that turnout by women, people of color, and young voters is good news for Democrats, but tomorrow’s final vote will be crucial. Right now the Senate has a Democratic majority, but if Walker wins the Senate will return to an even 50-50 split, with Vice President Kamala Harris holding the tie vote. With her vote, Dems will hold the majority regardless of what happens in this race. But turning that to a 51-49 majority would have several very useful effects, as this New York Times essay explains. (gift link)

Everything Democrats Could Do if Warnock Wins

…Yet the outcome of Mr. Warnock’s contest matters significantly, for Democrats and Republicans alike — but especially for Democrats. They need Mr. Warnock in power for at least two overriding reasons: to safeguard their gains in the judiciary and to bolster their national bench….

If Mr. Warnock wins, the Senate can move more rapidly and seek judges who are perhaps more progressive in their worldviews — the sort who could hit a snag if someone like Joe Manchin, the centrist from West Virginia, or Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona is the deciding vote.

Democrats must evenly split committee members in the 50-50 Senate, giving Republicans the power to delay votes on judges. A 51-49 majority would be much more dominant: Committees like the judiciary would be stacked with Democrats, greatly speeding up the confirmation process….

And then there’s 2024. If Mr. Walker defeats Mr. Warnock, Republicans will have an enormous advantage in their quest to not only flip the Senate but also build a durable majority that could last a generation or more. The 2024 map is foreboding for Democrats…

No doubt VP Harris would be more than happy to use her time for something other than babysitting the Senate.

I’ve said before and still believe that Herschel Walker would be incompetent as a Senator. I can barely believe that the Republican Party hasn’t melted down in shame for even nominating such a person to represent them. It’s up to the rest of us, this time in Georgia, to show a better side of the United States by electing Raphael Warnock to remain in the Senate.

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To the ones who keep the passion, respect…

Fierce Planet Posted on by

I’m writing a very personal post, which as usual means I’m half-blocked and writing very slowly. Can’t be helped, this is my only process.

So while that goes on, let’s celebrate Jane Fonda, who at the age of 84, after five arrests and recent treatment for cancer, once again leads the Fire Drill protests that began years ago, before Covid. (gift link should get you past the firewall). Their goal is to increase awareness of the continual dangers of climate change, and to pressure Congress to take action now.

Fonda retakes the Hill: ‘Cancer is scary, but the climate crisis is scarier’

After years away from Washington, the actress is reviving her Fire Drill Fridays rally — and occasionally still talking movies

…The actress and activist, who will turn 85 in a few weeks, arrives at an upscale Washington hotel looking chic in a snappy charcoal blazer, a gray newsboy’s cap and an array of tasteful gold jewelry pieces. She’s just come from Capitol Hill, where she’s been lobbying Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.). But her main reason for returning to Washington is to revive Fire Drill Fridays, the weekly grass-roots political action she began in 2019 to draw attention to climate change….

She has mostly sailed through her chemotherapy treatments, although she admits the last one was hard. “It took a couple of weeks to recover,” she says. But she literally laughs off a disease that she insists won’t stop her from doing what she cares about most. “Cancer is scary, but the climate crisis is scarier,” she says flatly.

Fonda recalls co-founding Fire Drill Fridays with Greenpeace three years ago. “Our goal was to reach the 70 percent of the population who were concerned about the climate but had never taken action,” she explains, “and move them from being alone and concerned to together and active.”

Thousands of people turned up for Fonda’s in-person weekly demonstrations…

May we all continue to stand up for the things that must be done to insure that humanity and the planet we rely on remain alive and well.

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Dreamers

Fierce Planet Posted on by

Look who we are, we are the dreamers
We make it happen ’cause we believe it
Look who we are, we are the dreamers
We make it happen ’cause we can see it

Here’s to the ones that keep the passion
Respect, oh, yeah
Here’s to the ones that can imagine
Respect, oh, yeah

 

 
Jungkook of BTS opens the FIFA World Cup Ceremony with Qatari singer Fahad Al-Kubaisi and a dazzling host of dancers who appeared to be from all over the world. This is the first time a Korean performer has opened the World Cup. The song is his new solo work, Dreamers.

 

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A change of Democratic leadership in the House

Fierce Planet Posted on by

The entire top tier of Democratic leadership will turn over soon. Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer have both announced they will not run for leadership positions again. And Jim Clyburn, who would otherwise move up, announced he is instead stepping down into the fourth place position. This makes way for an entire team of new, younger leaders. As ever Nancy has perfect timing, and I’m very glad that she and Hoyer plan to remain in Congress for now.

I haven’t heard a lot about Hakeem Jeffries, who they’ve recommended for Leader, though I knew he was sort of “in training” for some role or other. If I hear more about him, I’ll drop a line.

I still love her. Thank you Nancy Pelosi, for all you’ve done.

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The liberation of Kherson

Fierce Planet Posted on by

Kherson, the largest Ukrainian city that Russia managed to occupy, has been fully liberated and returned to Ukrainian control. Kherson was always a site of fierce resistance, resistance that was met with brutality (gift link). Atrocities of this sort have been found everywhere the Russians took over, but in Kherson they were particularly widespread.

Witnesses recount detentions, torture, disappearances in occupied Kherson

…Days after Russian forces fled in retreat, surrendering the only regional capital Russia had managed to seize since the start of its invasion, the horrors that occurred in this stately 18th-century port city are just starting to come into focus.

During a visit to the city on Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said occupying Russian forces had committed “hundreds” of atrocities in the Kherson area, though he said the precise number was not yet known.

What is already apparent, however, is that the Russians here operated a detention system on a scale not seen in any of the dozens of other cities, towns and villages liberated by Ukrainian forces in recent weeks….

 
As you can imagine, residents are jubilant, and met every soldier with kisses and praise.

 
And afterwards, they retrieved the Ukrainian flags they had carefully hidden, and let them fly free once again. Sláva Ukrayíni!

 
I know there are people calling for Ukraine to “negotiate” with Putin, which frankly sounds like a call to surrender, at least to me. I’ll say more about that soon when I have time for a longer post.

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Where we stand

Fierce Planet Posted on by

I still feel good about the election this week, though the Congressional side of things will remain unsettled for a while longer. But democracy has survived to fight another day, and that matters a lot.

Women in particular turned out in defense of abortion rights and every state that had a vote on the issue upheld the right to choose. There is also a strong likelihood that Democrats will continue to hold the Senate, and there was no red wave in the House or anywhere else. The Secretary of State positions have been kept out of the hands of the Big Lie pushers (at least so far, some are still counting), and Dems did well with state races such as governors and state legislative runs. Details below.

 
On the Senate

Of our eight critical Senate seats, four were lost (Demings, Barnes, Ryan, and Beasley), we won one (Fetterman in PA), and three remain undecided (Kelly in AZ, Masto in NV, and Warnock in GA). We must take two of those three seats to hold the Senate.

Kelly is running ahead and seems likely to eke out a win. Masto is behind at this moment, but there are many ballots uncounted from Dem strongholds in Nevada so we still hope for a victory here. Warnock is once again headed for a runoff vote, this time on Dec. 6th.

If we win in both AZ and NV, GA becomes less pressing. Of course in the Senate every vote counts (and anything that weakens the power of Manchin/Sinema is a good thing in my book). But they say NV won’t have a full count until next week, so you may as well relax while we wait.

Control of the House is also unconfirmed as I write, but clearly there was no red wave. Even if Republicans eke out a win here, they will control the thinnest of margins, making the next two years very volatile as they attempt to force the majority of the country to bend to their will using their tiny leverage.

 
On abortion rights

Pundits insisted that the loss of abortion rights had faded as an important issue in this election, that public attention had turned away. Many of us disagreed with that, and we were right. Voters, especially women, declared that abortion rights were a top issue in bringing them out to vote. And every state that had a vote on abortion rights reaffirmed that right, even encoding it in some state constitutions.

From Bolts Mag:
Measures to Protect Abortion Rights Triumph on Tuesday
California, Michigan and Vermont became the first to explicitly codify the right to abortion in their state constitutions.

From Dahlia Lithwick at Slate:
Women Remembered to Vote on Abortion
Contrary to the media narrative, women responded to what the Supreme Court did in June.

From Amanda Marcotte at Salon:
The Dobbs effect is real: Voters, still angry about the Roe overturn, turned out to protect abortion
Pundits said people forgot about Dobbs. The success of abortion rights and pro-choice politicians says different

 
On various Secretary of State elections

Republicans nominated several election deniers for Secretary of State positions. Some of these races are not yet finalized. Big Lie supporting, Trump-approved candidates lost their races in Michigan and New Mexico, while two more in Arizona and Nevada have not yet been called.

Putting these folks in charge of state elections would be a very bad idea, as this is one more way Republicans want to subvert the popular will, by skewing how elections are carried out and counted. Let’s hope the final vote counts in Arizona and Nevada will keep them out of office.

I am happy to report that Colorado, being a reasonably sane state, returned Jena Griswold to her role as Secretary of State. Our state elections will continue to run smoothly.

 
On state governors

I was so happy to see that Michigan re-elected Gretchen Whitmer. She’s been very impressive in that role, and Republicans targeted her for defeat. She deserves attention and praise much more than Desantis in Florida, and I hope she continues to be a strong figure in the national Party for years to come.

Another Democratic governor targeted by Republicans was Kathy Hochul of New York, who also won reelection handily. (The rest of the NY Democratic Party seems to be a disaster right now, the result of years of terrible leadership in the NY Party. I do hope they get it together soon.)

Here in Colorado, current governor and known gay guy Jared Polis won reelection easily. (Oh, and flashback to the Senate, Michael Bennet also won easily as I expected.)

 
And some misc. state legislature changes

Colorado also maintained full Democratic control of the State Legislature, and in fact there will be no chance for Republicans to have any statewide influence until at least 2024. The Republican Party here is in even worse shape than the Dems are in New York.

Rhode Island and Massachusetts are also under full legislative control by Democrats now.

And in Michigan:
Democrats Take Control Of Michigan House And Senate For First Time In Decades

Ballotpedia has an in-depth overview of state legislative control, and is following the impact of the 2022 elections. Let’s hope we’ve seen the end of the time where Democrats ignored down-ballot races.

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