The Right to Technology

In the wake of recent elections, reports are emerging that mobile phone networks and access to various websites are being restricted in Iran. If you trust the reports, the government rigged the re-election of the president, including blocking many of the oppositions means of communication, and has shut down many venues that young people are using to foster their protests.

This raises an interesting question with respect to the rights one has to use various pieces of technology and methods of transfer of information. As a general rule, Americans have carte blanche when it comes to the Internet and it's something we probably take for granted. We do have laws that prevent certain uses (e.g. gambling, child pornography) but as far as my worker bee knowledge is concerned, we're not really blocked from anything. We expect to be able to do what we want, when we want and our nation's president even used it to help get elected.

The citizens of some other countries do not share the same freedoms. There are countless stories about China, Saudia Arabia and others blocking sites with various content; it's something I find difficult to imagine. Do we, as humans, have a right to technology or do governments know what they're doing by keeping us from harming ourselves? Karl Marx would probably argue that as long as we're busy tweeting we won't realize it as a method of distracting us from the real problems in our society. I am likely to argue that as long as it's not a public safety or national security risk, more is better... but I'm guessing those are the reasons given by the governments of these countries.

Mobile OS Wars

There is a lot of buzz surrounding the upcoming release of the Palm Pre smartphone. It is being touted as the next in a long list of iPhone killers, only people say this one might actually best the device from Apple. Who's to say which is really the best, I'm sure everyone will argue about it ad nauseum. It seems the smartphone choice is a very personal one and if you asked 5 people for their opinions, you're likely to get 7 different answers.

The increasing discussion about smartphone preference among friends and colleagues has me wondering what really impacts people's choices. I think we can all agree that marketing and branding play a pivotal role, but the real meat of what makes people happy with their phone is usability. Aside from the ergonomics aspect, like screen and keyboard, people care about what they can do with their phone. What's the thing that fosters all those fancy applications and functions? It's the OS, of course.

For a phone to work well, the OS has to offer a good platform. The article linked above compares several of the mobile versions that are floating around the market but it probably deserves a much larger discussion. Unlike computers, which has one OS dominating most of the market, mobile devices seems to be diversifying at a blistering pace. Even if you're not a techno-geek, PalmOS, Blackberry OS, iPhone OS, Windows Mobile, Android and webOS are all things you've probably heard talked about. Most people really don't think about what OS their phone is running, but if you want your Internet Life in your pocket, it really is the make or break component. If you need any evidence that it matters, consider that Google is very closely tied to the existence of Android. Google rarely gets involves in things that aren't going to be a part of our daily life in a few years (if they aren't now) so... yeah.