Recipe#101

2 cups of cabbage, roughly chopped
1 baked potato, peeled and cubed
1 unblemished serrano pepper, diced
3 sun-dried tomatoes, diced
4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 cups of rotini, boiled
4 tablespoons of oil
1 cup fettucine sauce
Lemon juice, to taste
Salt and peppe, to taste

Fry the garlic for a minute on medium heat and then throw in chopped tomatoes and potatoes. Fry for five minutes, stirring occasionally. Throw in the cabbage and fry till it becomes slightly soft. Pour in the sauce and chopped chilli. Cook for a couple of minutes before seasoning and spiking with lemon juice. Cook for another couple of minutes before serving.
Makes two servings.

Review - Lessig's Code v2 - Code is Law

Lawrence Lessig is one of the most prominent advocates of a "free" Internet (or cyberspace) culture. Currently, a Professor of Law at Stanford University and the founder of the University's Centre for Internet and Society, he is also the author of books such as Code v2, Free Culture and The Future of Ideas (all freely available online under the Creative Commons License).

The book under review is Code v2. The argument of the book is that the State and commercial entities are, through legal and technical means, increasingly regulating the Internet. States may ban certain websites, monitor traffic and demand access to private information. Commercial entities are enforcing copyright laws, providing hardware/software support for data monitoring, allowing access to user information. Hence, the book also seeks to understand regulatory and counter-regulatory mechanisms. We intend to discuss specific problems raised in each chapter and understand their relevance to the Internet users in Pakistan. Already, through the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2007, which has already been approved by the Cabinet without taking the stakeholders' objections in account; we are witnessing legal regulation creeping in unchallenged in the developing country. Salient objectionable features of the Act are:

• Vague/incorrect terms such as obscene, immoral, spamming, spoofing, malicious code, cyber terrorism (neologism: “terroristic”) .


• Unbridled agency powers: complete access to all information and info systems – obstructing investigators can be penalized! No safeguards against agency misdemeanor.


• Mandatory real-time data collection by ISPs – retain at least 90 days of data and the government may extend the period - no safeguards on traffic data usage.

Was the Internet always regulated? Lessig opens chapter 1 - entitled Code is Law - by comparing Internet's openness in the mid-1990's with the libertarian ideals of post-communist Central European societies in late 1980's. Arguably, professors of these ideals made the same mistake - that of believing that liberty is ensured by the absence of the State whether in cyberspace or real-life society. Lessig argues that instead a "constitution" - a way to structure and contain legal and social power - was, but all the more now, needed to guarantee certain fundamental values (e.g. freedom of expression and privacy) agreed upon by the society. Left to itself, cyberspace offers an open invitation to become a perfect tool of control for "invisible" hands. Yet, protecting fundamental values needs understanding how regulation works, particularly how "code" - the hardware and software that determines Internet users' choices - works and how it can be used to protect these values. As Lessig says:

"The first generation of these architectures was built by a noncommercial sector—researchers and hackers, focused upon building a network. The second generation has been built by commerce. And the third, not yet off the drawing board, could well be the product of government. Which regulator do we prefer? Which regulators should be controlled? How does society exercise that control over entities that aim to control it?"

Part I of the book describes the current evolution of the Internet toward greater regulation. Part II tries to reach a broad (legal, but especially technical) understanding of regulatory mechanisms. Part III focuses on three controversial issues in the Internet: Intellectual property, privacy and free speech. Part IV returns to the role of State regulation, internationally. Finally, Part V draws the most important lessons of the book and suggests the way forward.