The Role of the Media "Although this is a free society, the U.S. mainstream media often serve as virtual propaganda agents of the state, peddling viewpoints the state wishes to inculcate and marginalizing any alternative perspectives. This is especially true in times of war, when the wave of patriotic frenzy encouraged by the war-makers quickly engulfs the media. Under these conditions the media's capacity for dispassionate reporting and critical analysis is suspended, and they quickly become cheer-leaders and apologists for war." (words as propaganda, by Edward Herman ; source: http://www.foreignpolicy-infocus.org/progresp/vol3/prog3n22.html The mass-media would have a possibility to get out of this circle of being disinformed and making others disinformed. To admit that oneself is not always informed correctly, and also mention that the pictures shown are not in any case suitable to the text, as some of them are older, or even from another battle. For the media it would be easy to talk about the own disinformation in public. Doing this would provoke the government or in the case of the NATO an international organization, to unveil secrets. The strategy of the governments to hold back information would then look double as unsuitable.

TEXTBLOCK 1/3 // URL: http://world-information.org/wio/infostructure/100437611661/100438658661

Problems of Copyright Management and Control Technologies Profiling and Data Mining At their most basic copyright management and control technologies might simply be used to provide pricing information, negotiate the purchase transaction, and release a copy of a work for downloading to the customer's computer. Still, from a technological point of view, such systems also have the capacity to be employed for digital monitoring. Copyright owners could for example use the transaction records generated by their copyright management systems to learn more about their customers. Profiles, in their crudest form consisting of basic demographic information, about the purchasers of copyrighted material might be created. Moreover copyright owners could use search agents or complex data mining techniques to gather more information about their customers that could either be used to market other works or being sold to third parties. Fair Use Through the widespread use of copyright management and control systems the balance of control could excessively be shifted in favor of the owners of intellectual property. The currently by copyright law supported practice of fair use might potentially be restricted or even eliminated. While information in analogue form can easily be reproduced, the protection of digital works through copyright management systems might complicate or make impossible the copying of material for purposes, which are explicitly exempt under the doctrine of fair use. Provisions concerning technological protection measures and fair use are stated in the DMCA, which provides that "Since copying of a work may be a fair use under appropriate circumstances, section 1201 does not prohibit the act of circumventing a technological measure that prevents copying. By contrast, since the fair use doctrine is not a defense e to the act of gaining unauthorized access to a work, the act of circumventing a technological measure in order to gain access is prohibited." Also the proposed EU Directive on copyright and related rights in the information society contains similar clauses. It distinguishes between the circumvention of technical protection systems for lawful purposes (fair use) and the circumvention to infringe copyright. Yet besides a still existing lack of legal clarity also very practical problems arise. Even if the circumvention of technological protection measures under fair use is allowed, how will an average user without specialized technological know-how be able to gain access or make a copy of a work? Will the producers of copyright management and control systems provide fair use versions that permit the reproduction of copyrighted material? Or will users only be able to access and copy works if they hold a digital "fair use license" ("fair use licenses" have been proposed by Mark Stefik, whereby holders of such licenses could exercise some limited "permissions" to use a digital work without a fee)?

TEXTBLOCK 2/3 // URL: http://world-information.org/wio/infostructure/100437611725/100438659629

The big "change" ... With the invention of the printing press and - as a consequence - the distribution of information in masses (by then already mostly in the shape of propaganda), propaganda could change its methods. It could not only be produced but also reproduced and therefore spread widely. The Protestant Reformation profited by this. The idea of translating the Bible into local languages was successful, because it got possible for many people to get a Bible, as books no longer were affordable only for the nobles and the Church. Royalty and the Courts realized that prestige asked for propaganda and that it was impossible to reign over the people if their mood turned against the king. This gave the impetus for acting. Pamphlets were used for spreading royal messages; like the so-called "mazarinades" (Taylor, Munitions of the Mind, p. 122), written in a very simple language and spread periodically and in big numbers. When - in 1896 - newspapers started being distributed in huge amounts, the access to propaganda and disinformation was opened extremely. Newspapers informed the mass - and disinformed them if it was considered as necessary (e.g. in war-times). From that time on propaganda and manipulation were carried out for the most different political ideas and nearly without frontiers. Censorship - a part of disinformation - seems to have been the only barrier then. Sometimes even the source of a message kept hidden, which was part of the disinformation process. It is easier to spread ideas against somebody if the own name is kept hidden; and speaking out some kind of laudation that the own party is better without mentioning that it was oneself who spread it and therefore claim that it was someone else who praised the very idea.

TEXTBLOCK 3/3 // URL: http://world-information.org/wio/infostructure/100437611661/100438658462

William Gibson American science fiction author. Most famous novel: Neuromancer. For resources as writings and interviews available on the Internet see http://www.lib.loyno.edu/bibl/wgibson.htm

INDEXCARD, 1/3

Internet Exchanges Internet exchanges are intersecting points between major networks. List of the World's Public Internet exchanges (http://www.ep.net) http://www.ep.net/

INDEXCARD, 2/3

Sun Microsystems Founded in 1982 and headquartered in Palo Alto, USA, Sun Microsystems manufactures computer workstations, servers, and software. http://www.sun.com For more detailed information see the Encyclopaedia Britannica: http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/9/0,5716,108249+1+105909,00.html . http://www.sun.com/ http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/9/0...

INDEXCARD, 3/3