The Founding Fathers couldn’t have fathomed such technology, but you can bet they’d be appalled at the limits on freedom in which the government-corporate cabal is regularly engaged.   

This text appears on Cingular’s website:

 Links to the Sites. You are granted a limited, nonexclusive right to create a hypertext link to the homepage of the Sites, provided such link does not portray Cingular Wireless or any of its products and services in a false, misleading, derogatory, or otherwise defamatory manner… This limited right may be revoked at any time.

So in effect, Cingular asserts that you can’t say anything bad about them and link to their site. If you wanted to say Cingular charges too much for their services (which is an opinion and protected speech) and wanted to link to them, that would be in violation of how you are allowed to talk about them.

The arbitrary nature of the word "derogatory" leaves quite a bit of room for interpretation. For example, if I said Cingular’s parent company AT&T had monopolistic practices and is blowing smoke about their support of Net Neutrality, is that derogatory, my opinion, or both? It shouldn’t matter. I should be (am) allowed to say it and point to any public forum.

The language that follows in that legal statement just aggravates the egregiousness of it through blatant not-good-for-the-gander hypocrisy:

Cingular Wireless makes no claim or representation regarding, and accepts no responsibility for, the quality, content, nature, or reliability of third-party Web sites or services accessible by hyperlink from the Sites, or third-party Web sites linking to the Sites.

In other words, you’re responsible for your linking, but Cingular is not responsible for its own. If Cingular links to a site with malicious code and you get a virus that destroys your computer, you’re on your own. But if you say Cingular sucks and link to them, they say that’s not allowed.

While those are some pretty bold assertions, Verizon Wireless takes it to another level of audacity. Verizon’s requirements for linking include:

• You must link only to our homepage, and not to pages within the site itself.
• The Verizon Wireless name must not be associated with unfair, deceptive or libelous advertising or commentary or used in any way that will tend to injure or compromise our professional reputation and corporate identity and policies.
• Your text hyperlink must include the following company name: Verizon Wireless. No stylization is permitted.

There aren’t many options for linking to anything but the homepage, as, even if you want general information you have to enter some personal details to access other pages. That could be construed perhaps as a non-public page.

But again, a word like "unfair" is a bit arbitrary, and by that language, it’s unclear if "commentary" is linked with the preceding adjectives or stands on its own.

Can I say Verizon damages its own reputation by overcharging for text messaging? Is that unfair commentary? What if I think Verizon damages its own reputation by trying to tell everybody what can be said about them?

Can I say Verizon’s full of it? Would I have to prove it in a court of law?

The way I see it, anything published on the World Wide Web in plain view (without any type of access control) is in public. That doesn’t apply to copyrighted content, it applies to what you can point out.

If, on the street, someone was asked for directions to Maggie’s Irish Restaurant, could Maggies require, or, if you use some of the above language, allow that person to point down the road to the restaurant’s location only if they say "Maggie’s is at 111 St. Patrick Street and Irish food isn’t as bad as it sounds"?

Now we’re just getting persnickety.

Limits on to whom you can link and what you can say about the entity to whom you are linking are violations of fundamental rights. It’s too bad that this day in age, that free speech still has to be spelled out.

Some additional sources on linking:

DMOZ

Don’t Link To Us
 

It’s hard to imagine an entire week going by without a single post from Scoble, given the fact that he is one of the most active posters throughout the entire blogosphere. The guy is a blogging machine and seems to really enjoy spending countless hours behind a keyboard interacting with his ever-increasing web following.

As it turns out, Scoble only lasted five of seven days sans blogging. I can hardly blame the guy for coming back a little early, though. I’m impressed that he managed to last as long as he did. 

The Sierra story has passed so quickly in the past week, however, that Scoble barely touches on the issue in his first post since the ordeal:

Seriously, on Monday I’ll be on CNN with Kathy Sierra and Chris Locke talking about this week’s events. I spoke against more rules or other infringments on our freedom of speech. No matter how vile or disgusting that speech is. That said, I reserve my right to take a week off to point out the rotten strawberries sitting on our meme shelf.

I have to admit that I was really anticipating what Scoble would have to say given the time he had to reflect on the events that transpired. The post feels anticlimactic, but it’s understandable that Scoble would join the rest of the blogosphere in trying to put the whole thing behind him and get back to what he actually enjoys blogging about.

I won’t spoil the fun of what Scoble did talk about in his first post back, but I will tell you that it has to do with a huge venture between Apple, Amazon, Google and Cingular. How’s that for a teaser to wet your technological appetites?

When I see Robert salivating over dream gadgets, it just tells me that the blogosphere is finally back to normal after the Sierra fallout.

Chris Parnell and Andy Samberg’s “Lazy Sunday” SNL Digital Short spread like wildfire across the Internet following it’s debut on the show, becoming one of the most downloaded videos of the year. Why not parlay the success of cult digital shorts and classic SNL skits into a mobile content deal?

The deal between NBC Universal, Broadway Video Entertainment, and Cingular Wireless provides all of the hilarious sketches and shorts from America’s longest running television comedy to Cingular customers. The collaboration also marks the first time that SNL content can be viewed from a mobile device.

According to Cingular representatives, mobile access to Saturday Night Live content, including video clips from classic and current episodes, as well as original material produced especially for the mobile screen will be available to Cingular Video subscribers.

Customers who are true blue fans of SNL can download and purchase themed ringtones, such as the SNL theme song, memorable quotes, and graphics from both current and classic seasons.

The deal comes soon after the announcement by NBC Universal chief digital officer, George Kliavkoff, that SNL dress rehearsals would be aired via webcast.

“For more than 30 years, SNL has entertained television audiences throughout the world with some of the most memorable comedic sketches Now, with the introduction of Saturday Night Live Mobile, Cingular becomes the first wireless carrier to deliver classic and current SNL shorts, as well as newly produced original content, to the mobile stage-exclusively for the enjoyment of our customers,” said John Burbank, vice president of marketing at Cingular Wireless.

Cingular Video subscribers will also have access to over 100 video shorts, ranging in duration of 2-3 minutes each, from current and classic SNL episodes, as well as some original shorts produced solely for Cingular Video. Shorts from the current season will appear on Cingular Video the day after the Saturday night premiere, according to representatives.

Representatives from all involved parties are extremely optimistic about the possibility for growth in the mobile market with this landmark deal, and hope to have future collaborations with other highly reputable franchises.

“This is a landmark deal for NBC Universal and Cingular, said Ron Lamprecht, Vice President, New Media, NBC Universal Television Networks Distribution. “This agreement will allow consumers to watch NBC’s Emmy Award- winning late-night comedy showcase, SNL, in a way that’s convenient for them. NBC Universal is committed to providing our customers with content on a variety of platforms to meet their needs.”

SNL has won 18 Emmy awards in it’s 32 seasons and has been nominated for 80, all while launching some of the most famous names ever in entertainment.

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Autmn Davis is a staff writer for WebProNews covering ebusiness and technology.

The deal between MySpace.com, the world’s leading lifestyle portal, and Cingular Wireless, the nation’s largest wireless carrier, was announced today to the delight of Cingular users.

To date, this is MySpace’s largest-scale mobile partnership and representatives of the company see nothing but unlimited potential.

“MySpace.com has a passionate community of users, many of whom use our site as their primary means of staying in touch with family and friends. We are thrilled to team with Cingular to enable their mobile users to experience the richest MySpace Mobile offering to date,” Chris DeWolfe, CEO, MySpace said regarding the deal.

For Cingular customers, the deal provides exclusive access to MySpace Mobile’s rich tool set including the ability to edit MySpace profiles, view and add friends, post photos and blogs, send and receive MySpace messages from their mobile device, according to site representatives.

MySpace will now provide Cingular users with all the capabilities of the site on their mobile phone. New features available to Cingular users on MySpace’s new rich feature set include uploading photos, responding to mail, searching for friends, posting comments and blog entries, and viewing friends and groups.

In addition to the added features, Cingular users may still receive real-time MySpace Mobile alerts via their mobile phone, informing them when they have received a new comment, blog post, or mail via text message.

Cingular customers may access the enhanced MySpace mobile features by simply texting MYSPACE to 386 (FUN), on their handset. The cost of the MySpace mobile application for users is $2.99 per month

MySpace and Cingular hope this landmark deal will help further expand the reach of the social networking community, although it is already a staple of American culture.

“Not only are we excited about the ability for customers to stay connected to their MySpace community while they’re on the go, we think this will open up a new world of interaction and content for them to share via MySpace,” said Marc Lefar, chief marketing officer, Cingular Wireless.

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Autmn Davis is a staff writer for WebProNews covering ebusiness and technology.

Cingular has teamed with Firethorn Holdings to enable customers to do their banking with Web phones. Cingular has been in talks with a variety of banks concerning their participation.
Spokesman Mark Seigel for Cingular said, “”We hope a lot of banks participate, the early signs are very encouraging.” Cingular does not have plans to charge an extra fee for the service. They will charge for the bandwidth customer’s use while doing their banking. Banks may also charge an additional fee.

In order to be able to use the service you must have an account with one of the participating banks. Cingular has not said which banks they are in negotiations with.

To receive access to the service Cingular customers will go to their banks website and sign up for the mobile banking service. The bank will download the service and then customers will be able to do their banking.

Mark Collins, Cingular’s vice president for long-term products and services planning said, “Two-thirds of America’s 300 million people now use wireless phones and nearly 60 percent of wireless customers use their handsets for something other than making calls. It is only natural that we move the ease, convenience and efficiency of electronic banking onto the wireless device.”

On the issue of security spokesman Mark Siegel said that Firethorn is using a data-encrypted, password-protected network. One other safety feature is if a consumer’s phone is ever lost or stolen users will be able to erase the contents of their mobile phone.

The overall impact this will have on the banking and wireless industry will be of some interest. How much revenue this will generate and who will be the next wireless provider to venture into the mobile phone banking arena will be the thing to watch.

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Mike is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest ebusiness news.

The transition from fixed platforms to mobile technology is becoming an imperative focus these days for content providers, who are looking to infuse an even greater sense of “virality” throughout online communities in regards to their products.

This week, Google unveiled a new client for mobile Gmail to the public. Also, the blogosphere has been rampant with rumors anew concerning the iPhone, based mostly on partnership initiatives between Cingular and Apple, and Apple’s new speech recognition patents.

Clearly, content mobility is becoming a major focus among the leaders in the digital sphere. At the same time, consumers and industry experts alike are always eagerly awaiting the “next big thing” in mobile content.

Enter YouTube, who announced plans this week to bring its popular video-sharing model to the mobile marketplace.

According to co-founder Chad Hurley, the company is aiming toward making its mobile debut sometime within the next year.

So what obstacles stand in between YouTube and a mobile network of plugged-in Tubers?

For starters, the company has no current plans for a revenue model to support a mobile venture. YouTube’s advertising model for its web site isn’t going to translate as easily to a Blackberry Pearl or a Palm Treo. So monetization is going to be one of the primary hurdles the company will have to overcome to enter the mobile market.

YouTube, however, does have a key advantage: limited size of content.

Bandwidth and disk space always factor into the equation when it comes to conceptualizing mobile video. With YouTube only allowing a 10-minute maximum for its clips, however, potential mobile subscribers won’t have to worry so much about the bandwidth constraints for data transfers, or the potential disk space issues should the option of retaining mobile clips become available.

But before all this can happen, YouTube and Google have to settle the potential myriad of copyright issues facing them concerning the site’s video content. If YouTube can establish and maintain content partnerships throughout the recording and broadcast industries, then its venture into the mobile marketplace has the best chance of succeeding.

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Joe is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest ebusiness news.

An iPhone would come with the obvious advantage of Apple’s established dominance in the sphere of portable music and video.

The question mark in iPhone’s development, however, lies in the realm of podcasting.

Traditional methods of information dissemination are dwindling by the nanosecond. Technology enthusiasts and consumers alike are spending more and more of their time gathering information via the blogosphere as well as through podcasts.

The industry is taking note of this, and the hot trend as of late has been the notion of “corporate podcasts” in an effort to take advantage of the ever-growing podcasting audience.

Jason Calacanis, producer of recently launched CalacanisCast, shares with me his ponderings on the potential of podcasting with the iPhone.

“The Holy Grail is wireless downloading of podcasts. If I could have the daily source code of ScobleShow downloaded to my phone while I’m on the treadmill or walking through an airport, I would be in heaven.”

Robert Scoble gives me his take as well, “iPhone will be popular, but just how good it’ll be for music and podcasting depends on a lot of factors.”

But just what are the factors that will contribute to the success (or failure) of wireless podcasting on the iPhone?

Calacanis touches on two major hurdles in our conversation — “In order to do this you need a) disk space and b) bandwidth, so I think the first person to solve this will have a hit on their hands.”

The major obstacle for Apple thus far has been the issue of storage. Its past attempts to merge iTunes with cellular telephones has been plagued by storage capacity limits in the devices, usually only allowed for 50-100 songs on any given telephone.

The iPod, by comparison, is capable of storing thousands of songs, not to mention video content and podcasts.

If, however, Apple and Cingular can devise a method of overcoming these pitfalls, podcasting could potentially become one of the most viral phenomena that the tech world has seen in quite some time.

Why? Simple mathematics. The iPod is popular, to be sure. The cellular phone, however, has become a near necessity in the 21st century.

Those leery of purchasing yet another techno-gadget to carry around will be drawn to an iPhone, as it provides all the entertainment value of the iPod while also serving the essential communication function of a cell phone.

Consequently, more people will have access to podcasting technology than ever before, expanding the potential audience for show producers such as Scoble and Calacanis –perhaps at an exponential rate.

This is all conjecture, however, but the premise is still conceivable. Nonetheless, one has to believe that podcasters the world over are drooling over the prospect of their shows being made available to such an audience all without the hassle of a single wire.

I know I’ll be one of the first ones to buy an iPhone when/if it hits the street.

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Joe is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest ebusiness news.

Why? Cause it is able to dual boot both Windows and Mac OSX and I wanted to have a machine that could have run both. An article showing how to do this is on Memeorandum right now.

But Steve Jobs pulled one of his favorite tricks. He removed a popular IO system and put in a new slot that no one uses yet. It’s called an ExpressCard. I’m sure it’ll be very cool soon, but today there’s no peripherals that use this.

Why does this matter? Well, go down to Sprint and ask for an EVDO card. Or Verizon. Or Cingular. They all have them. I would say these are all now NECESSARY for a traveling businessperson. I just got one yesterday and I’ve said goodbye to Wifi forever. My friends are all buying them (Phillip Torrone showed me his running on his 17-inch Apple Powerbook at Macworld expo).

Now that I have this capability I’ll never buy a machine that isn’t compatible. Torrone told me that’s why he’s not buying one of the new Macs either.

How about you?

By the way, I say this is a Steve Jobs trick because he famously pulled a floppy drive out of his NeXT computer which made it very futuristic (very few computers today have floppy drives, just 17 years later) but also made it hard to use at the time.

Robert Scoble is the founder of the Scobleizer blog. He works as PodTech.net’s Vice President of Media Development.

Go to Scobleizer …

…you might want to save these directions on how to use it as a GPRS/Edge modem in your references file for when you need to get on the Internet but no Wifi network is nearby. Thanks to Mike Poulson for doing the hard work.

Robert Scoble is the founder of the Scobleizer blog. He works as PodTech.net’s Vice President of Media Development.

Go to Scobleizer …

But, we had no idea what we wanted to see. So, we went to the movie theater that’s inside the Metreon in San Francisco and started looking at what was playing. That we all did in “meatspace.” Er, by looking at the board. But, we couldn’t decide between a couple of movies. So Dave asks me “can you look up the reviews on your phone?”

“Yeah!”

I know that Google shows movie reviews right at the top of the search. So, I go to Google and type: Google+Search” class=”bluelink”>last holiday. Of course it works. We look at the reviews, realize it’s a comedy, see that it’s rated OK and that it probably doesn’t have too much that would be inappropriate for Patrick to see.

It works AWESOME on my new Cingular 2125 phone. Having a readable screen makes all the difference.

You know, there’s a lot of heat and fire about the Microsoft and Google competition, but, seriously, who is the winner here? Microsoft made a few bucks by making the operating system for my cell phone. Google made a happier customer. Sounds like a win-win combination.

By the way, the cell phone didn’t come with the best two search engines loaded in favorites. I find that funny. Even Microsoft’s own mobile optimized search engine wasn’t loaded. That’s a nice and fast page to load.

By the way, MSN, Yahoo, and Google have special mobile services. It’s going to be interesting to watch these three to see who gets used more on cell phones:

MSN Mobile
Google Mobile
Yahoo Mobile

By the way, Shel Israel bought the same phone I have and said “it’s the first cell phone I’ve ever used that works in my own house.” When I was there I showed him mine had four bars and his didn’t even have a signal, even though we were both on Cingular. This phone rocks.

Anything else cell phone users should try while walking around?

Update: here’s a site that has various phone themes so you can make your phone look even cooler!

Robert Scoble is the founder of the Scobleizer blog. He works as PodTech.net’s Vice President of Media Development.

Go to Scobleizer …