It’s fun to say that the Internet tears down walls and allows a free flow of information around the world.  In many ways, it’s true.  People can communicate and organize in ways never before possible.  But at the same time, people can be blocked and restricted from content just as easily.  Look at China, Iran, North Korea, Singapore, and many other states that prevent their citizens from free use of the Internet.
This is not a post on the freedom of the Internet.  It’s also not a grand statement about the Internet’s role in democratization.  It’s about how I can’t watch my US television shows, and how I climbed over the wall.  Listen, I can be selfish sometimes. Read more →

Today is National Coming Out Day in the UK.  It’s a day to celebrate coming out and to raise awareness of LGBT issues around the world.  It is usually a day of happiness and camaraderie with reflections on the hardships of coming out.  This year it is marked with incredible sadness.

Seth Walsh, 13; Billy Lucas, 15; Tyler Clementi, 18; Asher Brown, 13; Zach Harrington, 19, took their lives this year.  They were bullied, harassed and tormented for being gay.

Their deaths are tragic and an incredible loss to their families and communities.  They were promising youths that could have achieved great things in this world – if only their peers and elders had been more accepting. Read more →