Tuesday, July 21, 2015

History of the internet – 40 maps and key resources

INK BOTTLE“A work in which there are theories is like an object which still has its price-tag on it.”
~ Marcel Proust, In Search of Lost Time

The internet makes you think you’re smarter than you are.  

“There was a naughty Boy,
A naughty boy was he,
He would not stop at home,
He could not quiet be—
He took
In his Knapsack
A Book
Full of vowels
And a shirt
With some towels—
A slight cap
For night cap—”
~John Keats on Cold River

History of the internet – 40 maps and key resources
For all those who do not recollect or may not know how the internet evolved from ARPANET in 1969 to the web of 2015 with its data analytics, e-commerce profiling and of course, global surveillance, I recommend 40 maps that explain the internet by Timothy B. Lee via Vox, posted on June 2, 2014: “The internet increasingly pervades our lives, delivering information to us no matter where we are. It takes a complex system of cables, servers, towers, and other infrastructure, developed over decades, to allow us to stay in touch with our friends and family so effortlessly. Here are 40 maps that will help you better understand the internet — where it came from, how it works, and how it’s used by people around the world.”

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has created a new tool that makes emailing your congressional lawmakers a quick and easy process. Democracy.io simplifies and streamlines the current fractured system for contacting lawmakers, allowing you to message your two senators and your representative from a single website. “Democracy thrives when the voices of Internet users are heard in Washington. The easier it is for you to reach your member of Congress, the better,” said EFF Activism Director Rainey Reitman. “With Democracy.io, you can send one message to both your senators and your representative right away, instead of tracking down three different forms on three different websites. We are proud to open this tool to the public and increase lawmakers’ awareness of how their constituents really feel.” At Democracy.io, you enter your home address, and a quick look-up provides the names of your three congressional lawmakers. You then can choose any or all of those lawmakers, and send them whatever message you’d like. Democracy.io follows best practices for protecting the privacy of users, and all of the code is licensed under the AGPL, which means people can create new versions with different features. EFF does not control or influence the messages sent through Democracy.io.”


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