www.eff.org

From the Internet to the iPod, technologies are transforming our society and empowering us as speakers, citizens, creators, and consumers. When our freedoms in the networked world come under attack, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is the first line of defense. EFF broke new ground when it was founded in 1990, well before the Internet was on most people’s radar, and continues to confront cutting-edge issues defending free speech, privacy, innovation, and consumer rights today. From the beginning, EFF has championed the public interest in every critical battle affecting digital rights. Blending the expertise of lawyers, policy analysts, activists, and technologists, EFF achieves significant victories on behalf of consumers and the general public.

www.worldchanging.com/archives/005437.html

www.makezine.com/04/ownyourown

Make magazine have published a Maker’s Bill of Rights to demand hackability in products. Interestingly, the things that make a device hackable are the same things that make a device repairable and upgradeable, so design-for-hacking is also green design. Some of these requirements are nearly word-for-word from green design certification standards like EPEAT. Why is design for hackability the same as design for long lifetime? Because the things a hacker wants to do to a device today are the same things required to keep a device from getting obsolete years from now.

picture:
Windell Oskay, Creative Commons