Yesterday I wrote about the Future of Privacy in light of the ongoing Leveson Inquiry into phone hacking by journalists in England. But in another courtoom on the other side of the Atlantic yesterday, Facebook was being held accountable for its massive invasions of privacy. Specifically, the American Federal Trade Commission concluded that Facebook deceived... Continue Reading →
Phone Hacking and the Future of Privacy
I have been keeping tabs on the Leveson Inquiry in the UK, which continues to deliver the most astonishing insights into contemporary media culture and its effect on the lives of British citizens. Today's testimony was perhaps the most remarkable yet, although its hard to measure degrees of amazement when almost every witness offers mind-boggling... Continue Reading →
When Bad Things Happen to Good Bassists
Anyone who has gotten out to hear good music in Montreal over the last half-dozen years or so has likely spent a fair amount of time in Casa del Popolo and Sala Rossa, the two cozy and creative music venues founded by Godspeed You Black Emperor bassist Mauro Pezzente. Mauro also programs the amazing and... Continue Reading →
Phone Hacking and Digital Culture
If you've spent any time watching the live feed provided by The Guardian you will surely agree that the Leveson Inquiry into British Press ethics, practices and culture is the most riveting public inquiry since Watergate. I mean, you've got the most famous, the most beautiful, the most tragic, the most scarred and the most... Continue Reading →
Is There Life (or creative desktop software) After Photoshop?
You know how you can know something in theory but still have it surprise you when you encounter it in real life? That happened to me yesterday with software. I had decided to unplug my kids' desktop Mac from the web for about 23 hours a day and instead load it up with cool creative... Continue Reading →
Gig at Casa Del Popolo in Montreal Sunday night
Hi all, just wanted to let any Montrealers reading this know that I am doing a show at the Casa del Popolo on St.Laurent tomorrow evening at 8pm as part of the Wired on Words series hosted by poetic comrade Ian Ferrier. Casa del Popolo is a terrific cafe that was expanded recently to include... Continue Reading →
Basketball Business as Black Revolution?
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is in trouble. The league locked out the players months ago, bargaining has failed, and now the players have disbanded their union and are taking the league to court to contest the most basic notions of player-league business relations. Things like player drafts and even the notion of 'owning a... Continue Reading →
Playing Misty For Ringo (A Dove)
Here's a little late night sax serenade for all you social media lovebirds...
Put an End to Terminal Thinking
Until we understand that stories are beginnings and not ends we will be ruled by Terminal Thinking. (When a story is seen as an end and not a beginning, that is Terminal Thinking.) Until media is made to be transmitted through the many to many, and to be changed in transmission from each to each,... Continue Reading →
Radicalizing Kids
A couple of weeks ago I was at Toronto Digifest. It's a festival I actually co-directed for several years in the early 00s but which has been dormant since 2005. It has now been started up again by its original founder, Luigi Ferrara. I was curious to see what it would be like and so... Continue Reading →
John Sobol 