With Flickr you can get out, via the API, every single piece of information you put into the system.

Every photo, in every size, plus the completely untouched original. (which we store for you indefinitely, whether or not you pay us) Every tag, every comment, every note, every people tag, every fave. Also your stats, view counts, and referers.

Not the most recent N, not a subset of the data. All of it.

It’s your data, and you’ve granted us a limited license to use it.

Additionally we provide a moderately competently built API that allows you to access your data at rates roughly 500x faster then the rate that will get you banned from Twitter.

Exactly. I’m super lazy about taking pictures. If I’m going to go through all that work, I’m going to make damn sure a) I can get those photos back, and b) they aren’t degraded to a crappy resolution.

[Kellan Elliott-McCrea, via Chairman Gruber.]

For years, James Taranto quoted novelist and journalist Mark Helprin in a running gag called “Homeless Rediscovery Watch”. In that quote, the latter (correctly) predicted the media would suddenly, magically, rediscover social problems that mysteriously disappeared from 1993 to 2001. Similarly, I’d like to introduce a new segment on this blog which will highlight things I predicted on Election Night to someone very close to me, when she asked why I wasn’t happy about something so “historic” happening. She can corroborate my story, though I no doubt bored her to tears with my sermon.

Today’s thing I predicted: the Obama administration and its Democratic Congress, despite being backed by tech pundits and the venture capitalists whose investments keep the employed, will destroy the capital necessary to keep the tech revolution going. The new bill proposed by retiring Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) will tightly regulate the financial instruments of any company it deems risky to the financial system. As the WSJ notes, that fly-by-night venture Apple Computers was once deemed too risky by state regulators:

[B]efore 1996, certain initial public offerings of stocks were subject to merit review in certain states, where the state decided if a security is a “bad” investment and thus not appropriate to be offered to its citizens. In fact, this is exactly what happened to Apple Computer when it first went public in 1980. Massachusetts prohibited the offering of Apple shares because they were “too risky,” and Apple did not even bother to offer its shares in Illinois due to strict state laws on new issues. What if federal bureaucrats had had the power to impose their judgment on a “risky” financial product (such as an IPO) on a nationwide scale, or every state followed Massachusetts’ lead? Would Apple have become the successful company that it is today?

So now we’re going to put this power in the hands of the Feds. Yeah, this is going to end well.

Slagsmålsklubben – Sponsored by destiny from Tomas Nilsson on Vimeo.

Fairey’s lawyers said in papers filed at a New York court Wednesday that the artist’s use of the photograph is protected by the First Amendment as well as by fair-use laws.

But the real attention-grabber was Fairey’s assertion that the AP itself violated copyright laws when it used a photo of the artist’s “Hope” poster without getting permission. In other words, he’s arguing that the AP can’t reproduce an image by Fairey that the artist himself appropriated from the AP.

The AP’s case probably has merit (Fairey certainly pushes the bounds of fair use), and Fairey’s case is clearly a sarcastic stretch being used to make a point, but I can’t help but laugh at a wire service that clearly does not get it.

Merlin Mann: Or, like, and my rant?—?and I’m sorry, I’m not gonna shut up about this?—?I’m so tired of every social media douche going “Zappo’s is on Twitter!”. And you’re like, “Yeah, they’re on Twitter; after putting millions of dollars into customer support.” It’s like, getting an account on Twitter does not make you Zappo’s. Having the resources behind serving the shit out of your audience makes you Zappo’s. And it doesn’t happen overnight, with a login and an email that you click on a link. So anyway; not to go on a rant.

John Gruber: Have you ever read… ’cause you know, Comcast is on Twitter.

. . .and. . .

Merlin Mann: So people think “Oh, you’re so down on social media. Why are you such a jerk?”. And I’m like, “‘Cause social media, when it’s really social media, is not about what you have to say; it’s having a tolerance for what people have to say about you.”?—?which is so different from posting about your great run. Social media is when they say “You’re a jackass. Stop talking about your run.” That’s social media. And that’s the conversation.

And one wonders if even social media experts understand that.

President Obama plans to appoint current Federal Trade Commission member Jon Leibowitz to lead the agency, which partially enforces antitrust laws and has taken a recent interest in online advertising.
. . .
“Industry needs to do a better job of meaningful, rigorous self-regulation, or it will certainly invite legislation by Congress and a more regulatory approach by our commission,” he said earlier this month.

In November 2007, Leibowitz suggested that Internet companies should take an “opt in” approach to cookies instead of the current “opt out” approach, a requirement that would have roiled the industry. He also suggested the idea of a “Do Not Track” list for Web surfers.

In contrast to spam, which is a hellspawn phenomenon that should die a thousand bloody deaths, cookies are what enable perfectly legitimate organizations to see if you’ve ever been on their site before, and then customize content accordingly. It’s what enables web analysts (like yours truly) to track visitor behavior and improve site traffic, and what enables Amazon to recommend products to you. Leibowitz essentially wants me to fill out thirty registration forms before I can allow a site to track my browser. (I steadfastly refuse to fill out the one that the WaPo asks me to.) Now that’s the way to help improve online innovation!

Also, buried deep in almost all articles, was this note:

Leibowitz previously worked as a lobbyist for the Motion Picture Association of America. Before that, he was chief counsel and staff director for a Senate antitrust subcommittee.

A former lobbyist, and for an industry organization that had to be dragged kicking and screaming into the digital age? That’s the change I was believing in!

Science is delicious! (via Kottke)

(via Jeremy H)

President Clinton, who oversaw the 90s tech boom, sent just two emails during his time in office, and doesn’t own a blackberry, according to a nugget in a Vanity Fair article on his wife’s failed presidential bid.

President Bush said last year in an interview that he refrained from using email as president, even though he enjoyed using it to keep in touch with friends, because of potential political risks.

“I don’t want to receive emails because, you know, there’s no telling what somebody’s email may — it would show up as, you know, a part of some kind of a story, and I wouldn’t be able to say, `Well, I didn’t read the email,’” Bush said in a 2006 interview with CNBC. “So, in other words, I’m very cautious about emailing.”

So I wouldn’t expect Obama to be personally replying to your Facebook pokes (does anyone use those anymore?) or Twitter @replies. And I know this will crush your spirits, but Obama does not actually post all those tweets himself. Nor does he actually friend you on Twitter. That whole bit about his holiness Barack Obama living in your heart? It’s sort of a figure of speech. Sorry about that.

I wonder what Merlin Mann would think about the president spending half his day staring at a Blackberry.