The May Report: 12/22/2010: Melanie Adcock on Building a Viable Mobile App Business- An Interview with Jim Figliulo from Fig1; American Airlines pulls Orbitz listings; Groupon hires first CFO from Amazon; GiveForward to close on $500K in funding; Cary Nourie is back in Chicago and gone from the Kansas Bioscience Authority; The Hazards of Nerd Supremacy

The May Report: 12/22/2010: Melanie Adcock on Building a Viable Mobile App Business- An Interview with Jim Figliulo from Fig1; American Airlines pulls Orbitz listings; Groupon hires first CFO from Amazon; GiveForward to close on $500K in funding; Cary Nourie is back in Chicago and gone from the Kansas Bioscience Authority; The Hazards of Nerd Supremacy — The Case of WikiLeaks

The May Report December 22nd, 2010

The May Report: 12/22/2010: Melanie Adcock on Building a Viable Mobile App Business- An Interview with Jim Figliulo from Fig1; American Airlines pulls Orbitz listings; Groupon hires first CFO from Amazon; GiveForward to close on $500K in funding; Cary Nourie is back in Chicago and gone from the Kansas Bioscience Authority; The Hazards of Nerd Supremacy — The Case of WikiLeaks

Editor and publisher: ron@themayreport.com, ronaldmay@aol.com, www.themayreport.com , 773-525-3944.

Assistant editor: Melanie Adcock, iPHONE: 312-259-0610, melanie_adcock@msn.com

If you missed an article, go here: www.tmronline.com/A55951/tmrarticles.nsf/vwFullNewsletter
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Scoop section:

– Building a Viable Mobile App Business- An Interview with Jim Figliulo from Fig1, by Melanie Adcock
– American Airlines pulls fares from Orbitz
– Groupon hires Amazon exec as first CFO
– Groupon Said to Seek New Funding After Rebuffing Google’s $6 Billion Offer
– GiveForward to Close $500,000 in Funding
– Detroit Venture Partners Aimed at Startups
– Jim Frey: Free Shipping Day Gimmick
– Cary Nourie is back in Chicago
– Ara Berberian
– Expanding TMR’s coverage to tech activity in southeast Michigan is in life sciences and green tech, not digital
– Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm: America Needs a Jobs Race to the Top!
– Former Univision President Ray Rodriguez Joins Board of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
– Peter Balbus: In the hospital again and update on his business
– Real World Challenges Identify Top Illinois Tech Students
– Tuesday, January 4, 2011: BNC Venture Capital Group and Wednesday, January 19, 2011: BNC Tech Pitch
– Jeb Ory from The App House gives us an update on what he’s up to…
– BNC Senior Executive Sales Roundtable invites you to BNC Senior Executives in Sales Roundtable – (Jan 14, 2011)
– ASP-Chicago 25th Annual Economic Forecast — January 11, 2011
– The Hazards of Nerd Supremacy: The Case of WikiLeaks – Jaron Lanier – Technology – The Atlantic

[Editor's note: Ron May here. I have to say Ron because someone addressed me as Paul a couple of days ago. Can't have that confusion.

1. Len Bland, you are headed down the bonehead road of Jerry Mitchell. Your newsletter, dated December 18th, still has a sign up and sponsorship notice for Funding Feeding Frenzy, but Len, that event was held on December 8th! You know that very well You were a judge at the event. You might want to check dates and content before hitting the send button.

2. Who knows what is going on with Cary Nourie and wives and/or girlfriends, but we do know that he has left the Kansas Bioscience Authority (his profile has been removed from their site) and that he is in Chicago as evidenced by the fact that he showed up at the Tech Cocktail Mixology Conference and the party that followed on October 28th.

3. I am looking into the ownership of one of the firms that presented on December 8th at the FFF event. I don't want to say the name of the firm today but look for it next week.

4. Add Nicole Duhoski to my Sears Holdings list (she does social media there) and also add Obtiva, the consulting firm to that list.

5. I looked but can't find the email. Hope Bertram sent me a note after the last report saying, "What am I? Chopped liver?" Hope is up to some interesting things and has some real clients in the CPG field. I just ate one of their products today -- one of my faves -- Philly Cream Cheese. BTW, a hint on the first client of NowSpots. A magazine in Chicago.

6. I'm working on a special report on the ITA and its inconsistencies. Will have that for you next week.

7. If we don't have an article Thursday or Friday, Merry Christmas everyone and Happy Holidays.]
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The Scoop section:
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Building a Viable Mobile App Business- An Interview with Jim Figliulo from Fig1, by Melanie Adcock

Subject: Building a Viable Mobile App Business- An Interview with Jim Figliulo from Fig1
Date: 12/22/2010 4:13:53 P.M. Central Standard Time
From: melanie_adcock@msn.com
To: ron@themayreport.com, ronaldmay@aol.com

Building a Viable Mobile App Business- An Interview with Jim Figliulo from Fig1
By Melanie Adcock

A few years ago Jim Figliulo was such a good networker in the Chicago high tech scene he had my business card in his hand before I even met him. It’s a true story we’ve often joked about since. One of the my biggest observations networking in 2010 was Jim seemed to have fallen off the radar screen. How was it that someone so talented and social was out of the spotlight? I reached out to Jim and it turns out, he has been busting his tail to build his business. The story that follows captures a present snapshot of an up and coming start up in Chicago’s vibrant mobile sphere.

In getting caught up with Jim I learned his new direction, focus on celebrity brands and ten new clients signed sum up 2010 for Jim and Fig1 but let’s back up a second. Jim began his journey into the mobile industry with a tragic loss of a business partner, a start that would have permanently hindered many.

After a successful career as the nation’s number one salesperson at ADP, Jim Figliulo began working as Fig1 Solutions with Brian Schultz and his company Schultz Star in 2004 on mobile related projects. They did a pilot for Cardinal Health involving pocket pcs back when pocket pcs weren’t even connected to the web. On New Year’s Eve that year Brian Schultz, Jim’s good friend and business partner, was killed in a tragic car accident. The heartbreaking change in plans led him to do consulting for his Uncle at SPR which resulted in an introduction to Joe Piekarz and a position at TimeXchange. While working with Piekarz the, “Ah-ha,” moment came for Figliulo when the iPhone hit. TimeXchange saw rapid progress with an App which inspired him to revamp Fig1 Solutions and try again.

This summer Fig1 started work on a new venture with an App creation designed to give a premium content experience and fill the void created by companies like Mobile Roadie which enable easy creation of App content but lacks quality and doesn’t necessarily keep people coming back for more. Fig1 provides in depth content creation for their clients’ Apps utilizing not only talented developers but film crews and production teams as well. He feels this sets them apart in giving fans and consumers an exceptional experience. The venture will take place under the name Fig1 Brand Studio with Jim Figliulo as CEO, Matt Bijarchi as the Executive Producer and Dawn Dingman as the Creative Director.

Fig1′s initial focus on mobile technology has evolved into a desire to create original content for high end brands and celebrities. Their Apps allows fans to get information aggregated from the web as free content as well as access to exclusive content like videos, games and chat options which will be in the paid version of their Apps. Revenue will be generated through iAd, subscription and sponsorship with an emphasis on repeat business through access to exclusive content. Celebrities and high end brands are keenly aware of their demographic and want to reach out and talk to fans as well as control their message. Celebs will use their App as a channel for creating original content just for their fans. Jim says Apps are a great way to control your brand because you can put it in your pocket. In the future news stations will start referring people to Apps to get exclusive content about celebrity news. Instead of news organizations breaking news, the celebrities can control their own news, manage it, and monetize it. Driving eyeballs to Apps will equate dollars and exclusive websites that don’t engage the masses won’t generate ad revenue moving forward. Though the marketplace seems crowded Figliulo sees plenty of opportunities and many are just starting to get that if you are a business or a brand without a mobile presence you are missing out.

According to Jim, there is no end in sight for the popularity and need for Apps. These days developers and design studios have emphasized the Mobile Web, or designing your website to look good from a smart phone screen. Fig1 chooses to stay focused on Apps. When asked why Jim had this to say: Apps have features you can’t take advantage of on mobile sites like games and embedded elements that don’t require an internet connection. Also iPhone Apps have iTunes, the best cash register in the world with 160 million registered cards. Mobile sites can’t use that. iTunes allows for easy creation of additional purchases or ‘in App purchases,” within an App, something that is difficult to replicate through mobile web design. Features comparable to Apple’s “in App” purchases for the Google Android platform are speculatively scheduled for release in Q2 of next year but as of now “in App” purchasing is only available with the iPhone. In Jim’s view, the design and experience with Apps is still where its at.

Ten trips to the West Coast this year has landed Fig1 ten new clients and a new perspective on being a Midwestern company. Jim says of his travels that people would be surprised to know how many West Coast people are from Chicago and he says being from the Midwest has actually worked in his favor. According to Jim’s observations, people want to live in the Midwest and raise their kids but stay out west because of industry ties. Otherwise many truly don’t like it and would rather be here. He goes on to say people respect the Midwest, want to do business with a Midwestern company and no question it has positively impacted his business. Fig1 has partnered with terrific creative talent out west including designers from Crispin Porter and has signed several celebrity clients. Fig1 has had a lot of great support from local connections as well. Earlier this year Fig1 released an App called KN2 for his friend and former Chicago resident Kristin Nicole, author of the book The Twitter Survival Guide and News Editor for SiliconANGLE. Kristen Nicole had some great ideas when they worked with her to develop her personal App that contributed to their current vision. Recently Fig1 sponsored an App contest with IIT in conjunction with one of their clients Shakespeare Squared and Fig1 will work closely with IIT moving forward. The Illinois Technology Association (ITA) has also been a big help to Fig1. Through having an office there Jim met so many great people that he would not have met otherwise that helped him build his business.

Around 50-75 NDAs have kept him tight lipped with details of his projects under a veil of secrecy. “When someone comes to you with an idea you have to respect it,” says Figliulo, adding that he loves this part of the work, discussing ideas with others. Wishing he could tell me who some of his celebrity clients he sites not only NDAs but publicity agreements with PR firms who handle all news for their clients making anything he describes subject to publicist and partner approval prior to the release of the Apps. Currently they have more than ten clients signed including NBC Universal, celebrity clientele and other popular brands. They are on track for a total of 45 new clients for mid next year. Speaking of secret sauce, one client he did tell me about was Jacques Torres and the App they’ve recently completed for them called Mr. Chocolate. Video footage he showed me artfully displayed the sexy French celebrity chef and chocolate candy maker, Mr. Chocolate, along with rich chocolate oozing out of candy making equipment. It looked so delicious it triggered an intense buying impulse. www.mrchocolate.com 2011 will include several launches of Fig1 designed Apps featuring similar high end brands and they will have a hand in promoting all of the initial App releases.

Their future includes a redesign of their website, re-branding as Fig1 Brand Studio, hiring additional staff, and moving out of the ITA office to a bigger nearby space. He does plan to stay an ITA member. Currently, he’s most proud of the level of talented people he’s working with on the design and development side. Fig1 is working on the profitability end of their company, they are on target for reaching their goals and are not currently seeking funding at this time.

Despite having stellar communication skills essential in closing deals, Jim isn’t used to a lot of attention and prefers to fly under the radar. If it weren’t for us calling him up and coaxing him out of his shell few would know about the terrific progress he’s made. Admittedly he still has a lot to prove and deliver, but the insights and turning points he’s experienced this year are encouraging markers indicating a future of profitability. During the interview we attempted to put into words aspects that defined both his salesmanship and impassioned mobile geek attributes. I came up with, “charming nerd.” We had quite a laugh over that one. I’m glad he hasn’t lost his sense of humor in the midst of his rise to success. The future looks bright for Fig1 and I bet Jim Figliulo, a great business man who’s charm isn’t lost on celebs needing Apps, won’t be out of the spotlight for long.

If you’d like to get in touch with Jim Figliulo, CEO of Fig1, please visit fig1.us/ This website will soon redirect to www.fig1brandstudio.com You can also e-mail him at jim@fig1.us

Melanie Adcock
Assistant Editor of The May Report
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/melanieadcock
Cell: 312-259-0610
E-Mail: melanie_adcock@msn.com
The May Report Facebook Page: on.fb.me/TheMayReport
Visit The May Report Archives: bit.ly/TheMayReportArchives
Subscribe to The May Report: bit.ly/TheMayReportSubscribe
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American Airlines pulls fares from Orbitz

news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101221/ap_on_bi_ge/us_american_airlines_orbitz

American Airlines pulls fares from Orbitz

By JOSHUA FREED, AP Airlines Writer Joshua Freed, Ap Airlines Writer – Tue Dec 21, 5:29 pm ET
American Airlines says it will no longer sell tickets on the Orbitz travel website, effective immediately.

The announcement by the nation’s third-largest airline came on Tuesday after a judge in Chicago said he would not block American from pulling its flight information off of Orbitz.

The airline said its tickets sold previously on Orbitz are still valid. And American Airlines tickets can still be bought at the airline’s own website as well as other travel websites.

American is a unit of AMR Corp. Orbitz is run by Orbitz Worldwide Inc. American also said it would not sell tickets through the Orbitz for Business website.

___

Freed reported from Minneapolis. AP Airlines Writer David Koenig in Dallas contributed to this report.
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Groupon hires Amazon exec as first CFO

From: Melanie Adcock
Subject: Groupon hires Amazon exec as first CFO
Date: Tue, 21 Dec 2010 02:40:50 +0000
To: ,

Groupon hires Amazon exec as first CFO bit.ly/eTuvXx
Crain’s Chicago Business
By: Brigid Sweeney December 20, 2010

(Crain’s) : Groupon Inc., the homegrown daily-deal website that recently rejected a reported $6-billion acquisition offer from Google Inc., has hired an Amazon.com veteran to be its first-ever chief financial officer.

Jason Child, most recently vice-president of finance for Amazon’s international business, spent nearly 12 years at the company. He also worked in investor relations, technology, marketing and as corporate controller for the online retail giant. Before that, he spent more than seven years as an accountant and consultant at Arthur Andersen.

“Groupon is one of the most amazing businesses I have ever seen,” Mr. Child said in a release. “I am thrilled to join a great team that is attacking one of the biggest opportunities in e-commerce today.”

Mr. Child, 42, received a bachelor of arts in finance with an accounting concentration from the University of Washington. He and his family have relocated from Seattle to Chicago.

Until now, the CFO job had been informally filled by Eric Lefkofsky, one of Groupon’s early investors.

Mr. Child’s hiring follows reports that Groupon is seeking several hundred million dollars in funding. Last week, Bloomberg News reported that the financing, which sources said would put Groupon’s value lower than Google’s reported $6-billion offer, could help Chicago-based Groupon expand and maintain is size advantage over rival deal sites.

Read more: www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20101220/CUSTOM/101229994/groupon-hires-amazon-exec-to-be-its-new-cfo#ixzz18i59wUao
Stay on top of Chicago business with our free daily e-newsletters
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Groupon Said to Seek New Funding After Rebuffing Google’s $6 Billion Offer

Subject: Groupon Said to Seek New Funding After Rebuffing Google’s $6 Billion Offer
Date: 12/20/2010 8:43:27 P.M. Central Standard Time
From: melanie_adcock@msn.com
To: ron@themayreport.com, ronaldmay@aol.com

Groupon Said to Seek New Funding After Rebuffing Google’s $6 Billion Offer bit.ly/fQ0CoA
By Kristen Schweizer, Ari Levy and Douglas MacMillan – Dec 16, 2010 12:42 PM CT
Bloomberg News

Andrew Mason, founder and chief executive officer of Groupon Inc. Photographer: Noah Berger/Bloomberg

Groupon Inc., owner of a daily coupon website with 40 million subscribers, is seeking funds after rejecting a takeover offer from Google Inc., three people familiar with the matter said.

The company aims to raise several hundred-million dollars, one of the people said. The increased financing would value Groupon at less than $6 billion, the amount Google offered in November, said two of the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private.

Groupon, one of the world’s fastest growing companies, may use the money to hire sales staff and retain its lead over coupon-site rivals. LivingSocial, another deal-of-the-day service, lined up $183 million from a group led by Amazon.com Inc. earlier this month and said it would use the investment to overtake its bigger competitor.

An investment group led by Digital Sky Technologies in April gave Chicago-based Groupon a valuation of about $1.3 billion.

Groupon had been considering raising money from investors when it entered talks with Google, Bloomberg reported last month. Founded in 2008, Groupon is on pace to generate more than $500 million in sales this year, according to the people.

Daily Deal Explosion

The company is trying to get a bigger toehold of the U.S. local-advertising market, which may rise to $133 billion this year, according to consulting firm BIA/Kelsey in Chantilly, Virginia.

Groupon also spurned an earlier offer from Yahoo! Inc., owner of the largest Web portal in the U.S., people familiar with those talks have said.

Daily-deal sites offer discounts — often 50 percent or more — from businesses such as restaurants and nail salons, then keep a portion of the sales. The promotions activate once enough people sign up for them. The barriers to start such a site are few; just about anyone with an e-mail list and a deal can do it.

OpenTable Inc., an online restaurant-reservation system offers a daily deal. Other sites including Gilt Groupe Inc. and Facebook Inc. also provide coupons.

LivingSocial is Groupon’s closest rival. The Washington- based company said it will more than triple its employees next year to 1,800 and more than double the number of cities where it offers deals.

That would bring the service to 300 markets, about the number that Groupon now serves with its staff of 3,000.

To contact the reporters on this story: Kristen Schweizer in London at kschweizer1@bloomberg.net; Ari Levy in San Francisco at alevy5@bloomberg.net; Douglas MacMillan in San Francisco at dmacmillan3@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net; Vidya Root in Paris at vroot@bloomberg.net.
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GiveForward to Close $500,000 in Funding

From: “midVentures”
Sender: “midVentures”
Subject: GiveForward to Close $500,000 in Funding; Success at DESIGN+DEVELOP; Interview with Ashish Rangnekar, Co-Founder and CEO of Watermelon Express
Date: Tue, 21 Dec 2010 10:02:30 -0500
To: “Ron May”

// News & Updates
GiveForward to Close $500,000 in Funding

Donations aren’t the only things that GiveForward has raised recently. “We’re very close to closing our $500,000 round and expect to have it completed by Dec 31st,” said Ethan Austin, co-founder of the Chicago-based micro-donation web company that held a table at both midVentures25 and midVenturesLAUNCH.

DESIGN + DEVELOP Series // Holiday Tech Meetup a Success!

With over 150 attendees, two workshops brimming with brilliance and education, Brian’s signature eggnog, Seth and the Technori team decked out in their green Technori t-shirts and an incredible mixture of entrepreneurs, investors, designers and developers, the midVentures DESIGN+DEVELOP Series // Holiday Tech Meetup (and Technori Launch Party) was a success!

Interview with Ashish Rangnekar, Co-Founder and CEO of Watermelon Express

As one of our original selections for midVentures25, Watermelon Express and its co-founders, Ashish Rangnekar and Ujjwal Gupta, have done exceptionally well. Watermelon Express focuses on building award-winning test prep applications to help students study on-the-go for the GRE, SAT, PSAT and MCAT, among others.

Detroit Venture Partners Aimed at Startups

Big news for Michigan tech startups as well as downtown Detroit: A group of three investors recently launched Detroit Venture Partners, a new venture capital fund with plants to invest in Detroit-area tech startups–as many as eight investments in 2011 and 10-20 the following year.

GiveForward to Close $500,000 in Funding
December 20th, 2010

Austin and his co-founder Desiree Vargas Wrigley told midVentures that GiveForward plans on using their investment capital for “improving our technology, expanding our customer service staff, and business development, specifically reaching out to hospitals and non-profit partners in the cancer community around the country.”

Founders Desiree Vargas and Ethan Austin

We first met GiveForward at midVentures25. For a company whose main mission is to help raise money for those in need without needing to qualify as a 501c3, GiveForward’s service has already helped raise nearly $3 million in donations. “Our site focuses primarily on helping people raise money for loved ones’ medical expenses. Donations come in for expenses related to chemotherapy treatments, organ transplants, and living and travel expenses while undergoing treatment,” Wrigley said.

Both founders are passionate about giving back to the community. Before GiveForward, Wrigley worked as an independent consultant for Arabella Philanthropic Investment Advisors. Austin continues to give back by volunteering for Imerman Angels, a cancer-support organization and serves on the steering committee for a Chicago-based nonprofit that working towards putting solar panels in Chicago public schools. Regardless of all they’ve done so far, they realize that they still have a lot of work to do in the fundraising community. Wrigley revealed that “in the cancer community alone, newly diagnosed patients spend $25 billion a year in out of pocket expenses. And, 62% of bankruptcies are caused by medical related debt.”

With success comes growth. According to Wrigley, GiveForward is hiring. “We are hiring a graphic designer/marketing person, one more PHP developer, 1-2 fundraising coaches, and 1-2 business development people.”

Congratulations to the GiveForward team!

Posted by Meagan Lopez
2 Comments
2 Responses to “GiveForward to Close $500,000 in Funding”

1.
sean says:
December 21, 2010 at 10:24 am

This is really a wonderful company, good people with a great idea. In this age of cynicism and self-interest it’s exciting to see a company doing something so noble and meaningful.

Donate to one of their causes, it will make you feel good.
2.
Meagan Lopez says:
December 21, 2010 at 10:37 am

Hi Sean. It’s so true and we are definitely excited about GiveForward. It’s been particularly fascinating to watch them grow and expand. Thanks for your comment!
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Detroit Venture Partners Aimed at Startups

Subject: Detroit Venture Partners Aimed at Startups
Date: 12/21/2010 2:20:42 P.M. Central Standard Time
From: melanie_adcock@msn.com
To: ron@themayreport.com, ronaldmay@aol.com

This was on the midVENTURES news site. Very interesting. -Melanie

Detroit Venture Partners Aimed at Startups
December 15th, 2010

bit.ly/fuEXGr

(Image: Detroit Venture Partners)

Big news for Michigan tech startups as well as downtown Detroit: A group of three investors recently launched Detroit Venture Partners, a new venture capital fund with plants to invest in Detroit-area tech startups-as many as eight investments in 2011 and 10-20 the following year.

“We are firmly committed to the city of Detroit,” said Josh Linkner of ePrize, who is CEO & managing principal of the new business. “We want to invest in companies in Detroit and recruit them to downtown.”

While it’s true that the economy of Motor City has traditionally centered on auto manufacturing, recent years have seen the growth of technology-based businesses such as Compuware, Quicken Loans, and GalaxE. Solutions.

Other Detroit natives heading up the new highly tech-savvy fund include Brian Hermelin of Rockbridge Growth Equity and Dan Gilbert of Quicken Loans-also known as coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Detroit Venture Partners has an office in the Compuware Building and plans to invest in startups focused on the founders’ areas of expertise. According to the firm’s website, these areas include Internet, digital media, marketing technology, direct-to-consumer, sports & entertainment, social media, eCommerce, and software. While it will encourage startups to move to downtown Detroit, Detroit Venture Partners is not opposed to working with businesses from the rest of Southeastern Michigan and surrounding communities.

Since launching on November 1, the firm has already reviewed 43 business plans since and has term sheets out on two companies.

“Are we gentlemen investors? No, we’re certainly not gentlemen and we’re not dabbling,” Linker told VentureWire. “We’re serious about what we’re doing here – not just economically, but in making a difference” to the local economy.

For each of the up to eight startups Detroit Venture Partners backs in 2011, it will provide between $250,000 and $750,000, using personal funds for initial investments and additional generated funds from other sources thereafter. By 2012, the firm expects to give follow-up financing of up to $3 million for existing portfolio companies.

Detroit entrepreneurs who want more information on the fund are asked to write info@detroitventurepartners.com.
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Jim Frey: Free Shipping Day Gimmick

From: Jim Frey
Subject: Free Shipping Day Gimmick
Date: Tue, 21 Dec 2010 04:12:29 -0800 (PST)
To: melanie_adcock@msn.com
Cc: ron@themayreport.com

Someone put this Free Shipping Day into perspective here –

www.yourstoreforums.com/showthread.php?t=48988

To quote a post:
The guy who came up with this idea is a genius. Tons of business begins at his website each year on free shipping day. From the looks of things, about half of his “participating vendors” have an affiliate program that he has joined. If he gets a million dollars going thru this site on this day, and half of the retailers have an affiliate program and he gets even 5% commission on his sales, he’s made $25,000 in cash in a single day. Why didn’t I think of that?

You won’t see me play this silly game so some guy can grow his affiliate web site.

- Jim
________________________________
Cary Nourie is back in Chicago

From: Name withheld upon request.
Subject: Cary Nourie is back in Chicago
Date: Tue, 21 Dec 2010 17:10:09 -0600
To: ron@themayreport.com

Ron,

I have a scoop for you….Cary Nourie is back in Chicago and no longer with the Kansas City biotech group. Apparently, his wife found out he had a girlfriend. I’m not surprised, I heard rumors about the affair late last year. At a recent event I asked him why he left and he said because the girls are easier here. What a putz!

Please keep my email private
_________________________________
Ara Berberian

Subject: Re: Ara, got your note, multiple times in fact, find it very interesting, we’ll talk
Date: 12/21/2010 12:07:41 A.M. Central Standard Time
From: ajb@hoodfind.com
To: RONALDMAY@aol.com

Ron,

Wonderful to see the story posted. I can’t thank you enough.

-Ara

On Mon, Dec 20, 2010 at 12:30 PM, Ara J. Berberian wrote:

Oops. My apologies Ron. I got a few server rejection notices which is why I sent it over again. The latest version is the most up to date when I rewrote it to send again.

On Mon, Dec 20, 2010 at 11:29 AM, wrote:
____________________________________-
Expanding TMR’s coverage to tech activity in southeast Michigan is in life sciences and green tech, not digital

From: Melanie Adcock
Subject: FW: TMR EXPANSION ?
Date: Sun, 19 Dec 2010 23:59:56 +0000
To: , ,

Ron, I’ll leave this up to you for follow up. Steve, usually if anyone e-mails us things for inclusion in The May Report we run it. Sounds like a good idea. -Melanie

From: sbeeler@pmcorp.com
To: melanie_adcock@msn.com
Date: Thu, 16 Dec 2010 10:01:26 -0800
Subject: TMR EXPANSION ?

Melanie:

I am mentoring a young lady who is earning an undergraduate technical degree this spring and she would like to find a position with a tech start up company. To that end, I have been helping her find networking events to attend?much as you and Ron do for The May Report.

From that association comes an idea in the form of a question. Would you be interested in a “cub reporter” on this side of the lake? While networking, she could take notes and then share them with you. Most of the tech activity in southeast Michigan is in life sciences and green tech, not digital, so this arrangement would broaden TMR’s base both geographically and topically. In return, you could help her network into the Chicago tech community. A WIN-WIN?

Let me know what you think. I have not yet mentioned this idea to my mentee. Let?s compare notes after the New Year. In the meantime, happy holidays to you and yours.

Steve Beeler

Director, Special Situations

phone: (313)441-4460 x1141

fax: (313)441-6098

e-mail: sbeeler@pmcorp.com

cell: (734)560-6031

Production Modeling Corporation (PMC)

15726 Michigan Avenue

Dearborn, Michigan, USA 48126
_______________________________________
Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm: America Needs a Jobs Race to the Top!

From: Bruce Montgomery
Subject: Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm: America Needs a Jobs Race to the Top!
Date: Mon, 20 Dec 2010 12:15:24 -0800 (PST)
To: Ron May , Bruce Montgomery
Cc: DSSA310@aol.com, cbenton@benton.org, jlewis@niu.edu, drew@broadbandillinois.org, jeff.eden@broadbandillinois.org

Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm

Governor of Michigan
Posted: December 19, 2010
America Needs a Jobs Race to the Top
As last week’s jobs numbers reminded us, emerging from the biggest economic crisis since the Great Depression isn’t going to be easy. We need to be creative and daring. We need a moon shot — a Jobs Race to the Top. The goal: create three million new jobs in three years.

It’s doable with an aggressive strategy. Here’s how it could work:

? Take funds the U.S. now spends on economic development programs (about $170 billion) and redirect a portion to a Jobs Race to the Top competition among the country’s regions, states and communities. For it to have an effect, it needs to have the size and scope of the education Race to the Top.

? Focus the competition on clean energy job creation (and Broadband (my add)). There is a critical national need for this and it can create all kinds of jobs for all kinds of people in all kinds of regions across the country.

? Devote the competition to rewarding the most effective public-private partnerships. These must be developed at the local level. Define “effective” in terms of the numbers of lasting jobs created quickly.

? Reward regions that build on their strengths, partner with the private sector and change public policy to drive jobs results. Take the Sunbelt states. In exchange for federal dollars to offset a company’s upfront capital costs or new technology installation, these states might create a dramatically streamlined permitting process for solar farms. Or they could offer a partnership with specific private-sector solar energy producers to build out the energy generation, and ensure strong demand for renewable energy inside the region through a robust Renewable Energy Standard.

The regional governments might lease land tracts at low rates, or even offer them for free. State governments might give incentives for solar energy production. Public utility commissions might offer ways to partner with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to streamline electric grid siting. Allow regions to partner to make their best competitive case; develop the most creative, dynamic and effective public policy, and use the federal dollars to drive technological advances and investment that might otherwise head to another country.

? The same analysis could be done for other regions — including the nation’s high wind areas, the best places to manufacture clean energy or energy efficiency products, regions with the potential to develop biofuels, nuclear, hydro-energy or waste-to-energy technologies. Every region has something to offer to our clean energy future, and every region could be creating all kinds of jobs for their citizens right now — if incentives were right.

? To get quick results, announce the competition in early 2011 and the winners within six months.

In Michigan, we are trying our own version of this race — focused on the lithium-ion advanced battery for the electric car, a high-tech product previously manufactured almost exclusively in Asia.

We offered irresistible state tax incentives for manufacturers of “advanced energy storage.” We pancaked our state incentives on top of the competitive federal Department of Energy grants to advanced battery companies and suppliers. We also created robust public-private partnerships.

In just over a year, we have attracted 18 domestic and international companies, projected to create 63,000 private-sector jobs in Michigan. With breathtaking speed, we built an entire advanced battery “ecosystem” for the purpose of electrifying the automobile.

If the states are the laboratories of democracy, Washington can take a lesson from what is happening in Michigan.

Comprehensive clean energy projects require lots of local collaboration and private sector involvement. Without a financial carrot, the difficult regulatory changes at the local level would take years — if not decades. As we saw with the education Race to the Top, a financial incentive at these fiscally tight times caused states to dramatically change public policy to achieve the critical federal goal of increasing educational achievement in America.

An Energy Jobs Race to the Top is likely to ensure that America will actually be at the table to feast on this explosively growing jobs sector — instead of watching our global economic competitors eat our lunch.

The New Deal was about employment by the federal government. But this new era demands a private sector-focused, bottom-up approach: jobs created by businesses through local public-private partnerships in an economic sector important to our national strength and incentivized by the federal government.

The models are there. The federal experiment with Race to the Top worked. The state experiments with public-private partnerships are working — look at Michigan. Let’s combine the two and create millions of jobs in America.

Follow Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm on Twitter: www.twitter.com/govgranholm

Bruce Eric Montgomery
Montgomery & Company, Inc.
Technology | Innovation | Commerce
9 West Washington Blvd., Suite 400
Chicago, Illinois 60602
1-312-725-8601
email: onepresence@yahoo.com
twitter: @onepresence
facebook: www.facebook.com/brucemontgomery
_____________________________________
Former Univision President Ray Rodriguez Joins Board of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

Subject: Former Univision President Ray Rodriguez Joins Board of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
Date: 12/21/2010 2:22:44 P.M. Central Standard Time
From: melanie_adcock@msn.com
To: ron@themayreport.com, ronaldmay@aol.com

Former Univision President Ray Rodriguez Joins Board of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

bit.ly/fK79hV

Dec. 21, 2010
MIAMI, Fla. (Dec. 21, 2010) The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation has elected seasoned media executive Ray Rodriguez to the board of trustees.

Rodriguez is the former President and COO of Univision Communications. During his tenure, he helped transform Univision into a Hispanic media empire including three television networks, an Internet portal and a major radio company. Univision’s ratings regularly surpass at least one of the English-speaking competitors in major television markets, putting it on par with networks like ABC, CBS and NBC.

Ray Rodriguez
“Ray is a logical addition to our board team,” said Rob Briggs, Knight Foundation’s Chairman of the Board. “The transformational style with which he helped lead Univision perfectly suits Knight Foundation.”

“Ray understands the critical role of information in a democracy. And his medium, television, is the country’s most popular source of news,” said Alberto Ibargüen, Knight Foundation’s president and CEO. “Ray’s expertise and insight will inform Knight Foundation strategy, especially as we expand the scope of our partnerships with innovators and national leaders to help our society meet its information needs.”

“Knight Foundation is a national leader in strengthening our democracy as the seismic changes in technology continue to turn the journalism industry upside down and impact our communities,” said Ray Rodriguez. “Given my passion for media and for community, I couldn’t think of a more fitting organization to join.”

A native of Cuba, Rodriguez began his career with Deloitte & Touche and later worked as entertainer Julio Iglesias’ worldwide manager and CEO. He joined Univision in 1990 as vice president, ultimately spending 20 years helping to lead the company before retiring in 2009.

A graduate of the University of Miami, Rodriguez is the founding president of the Kiwanis of Little Havana Foundation and helped establish Miami’s Calle Ocho Festival, the largest celebration of Hispanic culture in the nation. He also was a board member of the United Way of Miami-Dade and is a member of the Miami Business Forum, a local business group.

About the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation advances journalism in the digital age and invests in the vitality of communities where the Knight brothers owned newspapers. Knight Foundation focuses on projects that promote informed and engaged communities and lead to transformational change. For more, visit www.knightfoundation.org.

Contact: Marc Fest, Vice President of Communications, Knight Foundation,

305-908-2677; fest@knightfoundation.org

A high resolution photo of Ray Rodriguez is here: xylink.com/rodriguez
___________________________________
Peter Balbus: In the hospital again and update on his business

Subject: So now we share else in common
Date: 12/20/2010 10:30:59 P.M. Central Standard Time
From: pbalbus@hotmail.com
To: ronaldmay@aol.com

I’ve been in the hospital for a few days with my 4th infected abscess since July, and will be discharged tomorrow with a PICC line embedded in my left inside upper arm to facilitate home IV antibiotic treatment. Turns out I’ve had an undiagnosed E. coli infection in my abdomen for some time now – upwards of a year, possibly more, and this was likely the cause of my massive infection in May that cost me 3 feet of colon. I currently have a golf-ball sized divot in my upper abdomen with a finger-sized tunnel extending up towards my sternum. The whole thing is packed with about 24 inches of shoelace-like packing strip and topped with 20 4-inch gauze pads.

Welcome to my world.

On a more positive note, I’ve struck a strategic alliance with a consulting group based in northern NJ called Nanobiz www.nano-biz.com. The group’s founder is a former IP and licensing attorney for ExxonMobil and Honeywell with a focus on green & sustainable technology commercialization, especially for the chemicals, semiconductor, electronics, packaging, cosmetics and consumer products. The group provides IP and licensing legal support, deep primary and secondary research, Ph.D. technology strategy and R&D support, corporate transaction & M&A support, and I bring corporate strategy, channel strategy and innovation management and commercialization support. We have 7 active clients in the US and Asia.

How have you been?
=
____________________________________
Real World Challenges Identify Top Illinois Tech Students

Subject: Real World Challenges Identify Top Illinois Tech Students
Date: 12/4/2010 10:47:47 A.M. Central Standard Time
From: tatvshow@yahoo.com
To: RONALDMAY@aol.com
CC: melanie_adcock@msn.com

Nov 30, 2010Real World Challenges Identify Top Illinois Tech Students
Michael Lusignan of the University of Chicago Outscores Field of 47 Students in the ITA Fall Challenge Presented by BigMachines

CHICAGO, IL–(November 30, 2010) – The Final Challenge focused on real world issues faced by Illinois technology companies and it proved to be a good test of ability! From the field of forty-seven students, the top three stood apart from the crowd.

Michael Lusignan from the University of Chicago, Kevin Deichl from Northern Illinois University and Jared Lash from Northern Illinois University scored in the 90th percentile on a challenge including questions on user interface, back-end processing, database design, and general programming understanding.

“Building strong relationships between bright, young developers, bringing them to the Chicago technology community, and then repeating the process consistently over the next few years, will have as great an impact on innovation, new ventures and new jobs for our region as anything we could do for the region,” says Terry Howerton, Chairman of the Illinois Technology Association.

All students in attendance completed more than 85 interviews with Presenting Sponsor,BigMachines and Supporting Sponsors Allscripts, Grubhub.com, Model Metrics, andCentro. Additional interviews were scheduled with selected students as their second and third interviews.

The finalists completed a survey identifying where they expect to search for career opportunities in order to begin their professional career. Students identified Silicon Valley (73%), Seattle (57%), Boston (47%), New York (43%), and Austin (27%) as their top 5 markets. However, a full 73% identified Chicago as their preferred home.

“BigMachines is proud to be a part of the inaugural Fall Challenge,” said Godard Abel, CEO and Co-founder of BigMachines. “The ITA has been an asset in helping to attract talented and knowledgeable recruits for member companies, supporting the continued growth of Illinois technology businesses.”

The ITA thanks BigMachines, presenting sponsor, Allscripts, GrubHub.com, Centro, and Model Metrics, supporting sponsors, and participating sponsor companies including Alterian, Applied Systems, Authentify, Cleversafe, Corptax, EDL Consulting, Forte CG, Google, Leapfrog Online,Lextech, MBX Systems, NAVTEQ, Nokia, Pointbridge, Restaurant.com, SmartSignal, SPR Companies, Vail Systems, and Vibes Media. We also thank the Final Challenge sponsors, IBM Corporation, School2Life.com, and the NIU Computer Science Alumni Club (CSAC).

Students from each of the universities were represented in the Top 10 of the Final Challenge. The average score on the final challenge, across all students who participated, was 73 out of 120 possible. The students were given two hours to complete the exam and with little exception, students used every minute.

Universities included were University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois Institute of Technology, University of Chicago, DePaul University, University of Illinois at Chicago, Northern Illinois University and Northwestern University.

For more information about the ITA and the Fall Challenge, visit illinoistech.org.

About the ITA
The Illinois Technology Association (ITA) is a driving force behind the growth of Illinois’ vibrant technology industry. We are relentless in championing the development and application of technology, from start-up companies to industry leaders, leveraging the transformative nature of technology to revolutionize industries. ITA uniquely capitalizes peer-to-peer collaboration, networking, and access to experts across the breadth of business to cultivate the Illinois technology industry. The unique and powerful integration of these valuable and experienced resources differentiates the ITA as a source of accelerated growth for the technology industry of Illinois. For more information about ITA, please visit www.illinoistech.org.

About BigMachines
BigMachines is the global leader in enabling B2B sales, helping companies sell more and sell faster. BigMachines’ award-winning on-demand configurator, pricing and quoting, proposal generator, and B2B eCommerce software solutions empower sales across customers’ channels by streamlining their sales processes from opportunity to order. Using BigMachines software, sales teams and channels can quickly configure products, generate quotes and proposals, manage complex pricing, generate legal contracts, and manage orders. BigMachines offers extensive reporting capabilities and easily integrates to leading CRM and ERP systems, including those from salesforce.com, Oracle, Microsoft and SAP. BigMachines’ rapidly growing customer base includes global leaders such as Kodak’s GCG, Siemens, Ingersoll Rand, and NTT Communications, as well as innovative growth companies such as Acme Packet and Voltaire. For more information, visit www.bigmachines.com.

Contact:
Dorothy Radke
Marketing & Communications
ITA
+1.312.924.1044
dradke@illinoistech.org

Bruce Eric Montgomery
Executive Producer & Host
Technology Access Television
200 S. Wacker Drive, 15th Floor
Chicago, IL 60606-5865
(312) 725-8601
tatvshow@yahoo.com
www.twitter.com/techaccesstv
www.facebook.com/brucemontgomery
_______________________________________
Tuesday, January 4, 2011: BNC Venture Capital Group and Wednesday, January 19, 2011: BNC Tech Pitch

Subject: BNC VC Group 1/4/2011 5:00 PM at LLB&L – Happy Holidays
Date: 12/19/2010 11:10:37 P.M. Central Standard Time
From: len_bland@conceptequity.com
To: ronaldmay@aol.com

Click here to see web version of this notice conceptequity.com/BNCVCGroup.htm

You are receiving this email from Concept Equity Group, Inc. because you have expressed an interest in attending these events. If you haven’t done so already, click to confirm your interest in receiving email campaigns from us. You can now sign up to be a presentation coach as well. Simply view your subscription options.

You may unsubscribe if you no longer wish to receive our emails.

Sign up here: bit.ly/fRpwTk
1/4/2011, 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM 111 S. Wacker Drive, 41st Floor
Please do not arrive before 5:00 PM

Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell, LLP is a national law firm with extensive experience representing emerging growth businesses and venture capital funds through formation, initial financing, protection of intellectual property, and other legal and regulatory hurdles that face such businesses.

When the time comes, Locke Lord has the necessary practical experience to advise entrepreneurs and investors regarding initial public offerings, mergers, acquisitions and divestitures.

Locke Lord attorneys assist emerging growth businesses with choosing the proper entity and initial financing arrangements, as well as other possible legal issues and regulatory hurdles that growing businesses face. We advise venture capital firms and private equity funds concerning their formation and operation, including initial investments in small and start-up businesses.

Entrepreneurs, send your executive summary to len_bland@conceptequity.com to be considered to present at the BNC Venture Capital Group.

How does Business Network Chicago choose their 3 monthly presenters?

Join the BNC VC Group on LinkedIn

Events

Concept Equity Group and BNC VC Group sponsor The Funding Feeding Frenzy Dec 8.

BNC TechPitch – January 19

News and Articles

The Top 10 Lies Entrepreneurs Tell VCs – Tech Europe – WSJ

Angels act: 100 percent exemption for gains made in Qualified Small Business Stock

“We all know that business plans are a sub-genre of science fiction”

11 Ways to Lose Investors Before You Finish Speaking

The 5 biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make
Know Your Numbers Cold

Series AA Equity Financing Documents

Business method patents preserved for software entrepreneurs.

Illinois Passes Angel Tax Credit

Concept Equity Blog: What goes into the PPM? How to generate a Term Sheet?

Inc: An Insider’s Guide to Venture Capital Financing

When should entrepreneurs use an NDA?

Inc Magazine: How to Read a Term Sheet
Why You Should Start a Company in Chicago

Entrepreneurs have trouble crafting a simple, emotional message because they suffer from the curse of knowledge.
Audio Sample from Made to Stick

Perfecting Your Pitch – what goes into a good investor presentation?

How does the investor make money? Modeling the answer to one of our four questions.

Stories connect to emotions, where decisions are made

Angels take an average of 67 days to close a deal.

Why It’s So Difficult to Find Angel Capital

Len Bland Funding Interview on SmallBiz America

Startup Valuation: Top Ten Techniques

Investor Presentation – 10 Slides is Just Right

Must see from 2006, Guy Kawasaki’s The Art of the Start presentation

Setting your company’s valuation

Why Business Plans Don’t Deliver – The five most common flaws-and how to fix them

Study Disputes The Value of VCs “Buying Local”

In Pitching to Angel Investors, Preparation Tops Zeal

I Love Executive Summaries

The BNC Venture Capital Group introduces exciting investment opportunities to professional investors (angels, early stage venture capitalists, and private equity firms seeking add-ons) and fosters the growth of entrepreneurial activity.

Len Bland, CEO of Concept Equity, and David Carman, CEO of Business Network Chicago, lead the BNC Venture Capital Group. We will review three entrepreneurial opportunities. Each presentation lasts 10 minutes, followed by a 15 minute Q&A.
Effective presentations answer 5 questions:

·What is the product or service?
-Why will customers buy it?
·Why is this management team the best one to run the business?
-How does the company make money?
·How will the investor make money?

5:00 PM – Networking
5:30 PM – Introductions
5:45 PM – Presentation
6:15 PM – Presentation
6:45 PM – Break
7:00 PM – Presentation
7:30 PM – Results

Locke Lord Bissell

111 South Wacker Drive, 41st Floor

Chicago, Illinois 60606

Evening Meeting includes food and beverages

Call Len Bland at 847-317-0656 or write len_bland@conceptequity.com with questions or if you have any difficulty registering. Other investors welcome.

If you have a scheduling conflict, please join us for the next meeting set for the first Tuesday of each month.

DISCLAIMER: ….

Previous Presenters

Click Here for Information on Previous Presenters.

For More Information Contact:
Len Bland, Concept Equity Group, Inc.

Follow Len Bland and Concept Equity on twitter @conceptlen
See Len Bland’s latest blog

Need funding to grow your business?

Looking for meaningful, exciting investments?

Concept Equity Group helps close the funding gap between entrepreneurs and investors.

We prepare entrepreneurs by:

Introducing vendors, customers, talent, and investors

Preparing investor communications
Providing strategic insight
We engage investors by:

Learning their creativity and passion
Leveraging their experience
Qualifying entrepreneurs
We match successful business people with entrepreneurs. Contact len_bland@conceptequity.com if you would like to be included in a list of recommended business people.

More about our services

TechPitch
The BNC Technology, Entrepreneur & Venture Capital groups have joined forces with the newly-formed Syncubator to host “TechPitch” and bring together start-ups, angel investors, venture capitalists, bloggers and other tech enthusiasts to discuss cutting-edge ideas, disruptive technologies, and innovative companies. Start-ups can find capital and other valuable resources that are critical to their survival and ultimate success.

Date: Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Time: 5:30 – 8 p.m.
Location: 322 S. Green Street, 3rd Floor (1 block south of Jackson & 1 block west of Halsted in the heart of Greektown, just west of the Loop. Dial 0300 to enter.)
Admission price: $10 online, $20 at the door (Online price does not include registration fees)

Entrepreneurs receive 5 minutes to pitch their companies. An effective presentation should answer the following 5 questions:
1. What is the product/service?
2. Why would a prospective customer buy it?
3. What is the TAM? (Total Addressable Market)
4. Why is the management team qualified to run the business?
5. What traction have you gained? (Customers, key influencers, other important milestones)

Evening agenda:
5:30 – 6:00 p.m. Registration
6:00 – 6:35 p.m. 5 entrepreneurs pitch their companies
6:35 – 7:00 p.m. Interview with successful local startup
7:00 – 8:00 p.m. Open networking

“TechPitch” is hosted by the Syncubator, Chicago’s hottest new incubator for promising start-ups. The Syncubator provides the infrastructure (office space, legal counsel, marketing strategy, software development, contacts, etc.) necessary to nurture and accelerate the growth of early-stage companies
.
The BNC Technology Group facilitates structured networking among technology professionals and brings in speakers to address the latest trends in technology.

The BNC Entrepreneur Group provides a forum for wannabes, start-ups, and small business owners to share resources, best practices, and experiences to support each other in building a successful company.

If you are a startup and interested in presenting at “TechPitch,” contact David Carman at: 312-943-6376 or dcarman@BNChicago.com
To find more information about BNC groups, go to: www.BNChicago.com
______________________________________
Jeb Ory from The App House gives us an update on what he’s up to…

From: Melanie Adcock
Subject: Jeb Ory from The App House gives us an update on what he’s up to…
Date: Wed, 22 Dec 2010 23:29:38 +0000
To: ,

Hey there, things are cookin’. I’m sticking with The May Report of course with a lot of great new things on the horizon for next year. Thanks for keeping me looped into what you are doing. I want to check out your beta FanTaskIt thing for sure. Count me in! -Melanie

Hey Melanie,

Happy holidays! How are you? I saw on Facebook you are making some moves, so I hope all is going well with the new gig(s).

I wanted to catch you up on The App House’s developments… We have had an active December, and are looking forward to an exciting January and 2011!

First, and I am not sure you are aware of this, we hired two awesome developers just before Thanksgiving–Matt Ledwon and Jason Davis.

This week we launched 2 new iPhone apps, Drink Deck Chicago and 7th Heaven.

Drink Deck Chicago, which provides $520 in discounts at 52 of the hottest and most fun bars in Chicagoland, went live on Sunday. The app, which is priced at $19.99, pays for itself after 2 uses.

Drink Deck partnered with The App House to bring their app to market, and we are making a strong push to be considered as a last-minute gift idea. We are encouraging people to “gift” the app today.

I think we actually met at Drink Deck’s launch party at Motel Bar, just a few short months ago!

The second app we just launched is called 7th Heaven, and is based on a board game originally created by John W. Cooper, the appreneur who sponsored this project. He wanted to see his board game come to life in app form. 7th Heaven is a trivia game challenging players to answer questions about the three major religions. Questions were originally developed by experts in each religion. The board game received a fair amount of press upon launch in 2007.

We will be releasing a really cool task management app in January called FanTaskIt. FanTaskIt is a task management system with the ability to delegate and update tasks via push notification. We are offering interested members of the tech community the opportunity to use the product for free while we are in beta, if you know anyone that is interested.

More great things are also on the way…

Happy holidays!

Jeb

Jeb Ory
jeb@theapphouse.com
The App House

Subject: FW: BNC Senior Executive Sales Roundtable invites you to BNC Senior Executives in Sales Roundtable – (Jan 14, 2011)
Date: 12/20/2010 2:10:30 P.M. Central Standard Time
From: melanie_adcock@msn.com
To: ron@themayreport.com, ronaldmay@aol.com

BNC Senior Executive Sales Roundtable invites you to BNC Senior Executives in Sales Roundtable – (Jan 14, 2011)

A roundtable of employed sales management senior executives to network, to learn from each other, and to help our staff and us perform to the best of our abilities.
Audience:
Domestic and international sales, channel sales, or business development SVP, EVP, VP, or directors, and Chief Sales Officers. You must be currently employed and not in transition. You must have a sales management responsibility, not just in an individual contributor’s role.

Agenda: Prospecting
07:30 – 07:45 – Networking, registration and breakfast
07:45 – 08:00 – Brief introductions of attendees
08:00 – 08:45 – Panel presentations (two to three panelists)
08:45 – 09:15 – Best practice sharing session
09:15 – 09:30 – Close and Networking

The Panelists: TBA
Attendance:
By invitation only. You must have an updated linkedin account/profile. You must be a member of this BNC Senior Executives Sales Roundtable Group. The co-leaders of this roundtable retain the right to accept or reject any requests for attendance.

Ticket sales will end the day prior to the event at 3pm so we can send a copy to Microsoft for security purposes.

BNC Senior Executive Sales Roundtable
A roundtable exclusively for employed (not in transition) sales senior executives (Domestic and International) to network, to share, to learn sales best practices, and to empower each other and our respective teams to be the best we can be. You must be invited to become a member of this group.

We will meet five times a year: January, March, May, September, November at a yet-to-be announced location.

Format/Agenda of meetings:
- Networking, registration, breakfast and quick introductions
- Panel presentation on chosen topic “du jour”
- Best practices sharing session
- Networking and close of session

Friday, January 14, 2011 from 7:30 AM – 9:30 AM (CT)
Add to my calendar
Where
Microsoft Corporation
200 E Randolph, 2nd Floor
Enter Aon Building via Randolph
Chicago, IL 60601

From: “ASP Chicago”
Subject: ASP-Chicago 25th Annual Economic Forecast — January 11, 2011
Date: Mon, 20 Dec 2010 20:40:22 -0600
To: ron@themayreport.com

If you’re having trouble viewing this email, you may see it online.
Share This:

ASP – Chicago
Presents

“25th Annual Economic Forecast — Featuring David Hale, International Economist and TBD”

Dear Colleague,

On behalf of ASP – Chicago, we extend a special invitation to join us for what we know will be an interesting presentation and conversation ..

Thank you. We look forward to meeting you on Tuesday, January 11th 2011.

Rick Kaufmann, President

A slow recovery has been underway for the better part of a year now. However, employment growth remains weak and many are asking, “recovery, what recovery?” Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve has adopted a program of quantitative easing that has met with strong objections from Germany, China and others (both domestically and internationally).

David Hale is a leading economist and is routinely consulted by the Federal Reserve, the Department of Treasury, and foreign heads of state for his insights into economic developments around the globe. Second economist bio teaser…

As in previous years, this meeting is co-sponsored by the Harvard Business School Club of Chicago.

We hope you can join us for an engaging discussion and networking with your peers.
Registration

Advanced Registration Registration Onsite
Member $55.00 $65.00
Non-member $75.00 $85.00
Agenda
05:00 PM to 06:00 PM Cocktails & Hors d’oeuvres
06:00 PM to 07:30 PM Program

• Advanced registration ends at midnight Monday, January 10.

• For more information contact: Christine Glatz – (815) 806-4908

“25th Annual Economic Forecast — Featuring David Hale, International Economist and TBD”

Tuesday, January 11th 2011
5:00 pm to 7:30 pm

The Metropolitan Club
233 S. Wacker
Chicago, IL 60606
312.993.2500
_______________________________________
The Hazards of Nerd Supremacy: The Case of WikiLeaks – Jaron Lanier – Technology – The Atlantic

www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2010/12/the-hazards-of-nerd-supremacy-the-case-of-wikileaks/68217/1/

The Hazards of Nerd Supremacy: The Case of WikiLeaks
Dec 20 2010, 2:50 PM ET 11
The degree of sympathy in tech circles for both Wikileaks and Anonymous has surprised me. The most common take seems to be that the world needs cyber-pranksters to keep old-school centers of power, like governments and big companies, in check. Cyber-activists are perceived to be the underdogs, flawed and annoying, perhaps, but standing up to overbearing power.

It doesn’t seem so to me. I actually take seriously the idea that the Internet can make non-traditional techie actors powerful.1 Therefore, I am less sympathetic to hackers when they use their newfound power arrogantly and non-constructively.

This is an interesting difference in perception. How can you tell when you are the underdog versus when you are powerful? When you get that perception wrong, you can behave quite badly quite easily.2

A version of this story first appeared in the German magazine Focus.
Every revolutionary these days must post a video online. So the group Anonymous, which avenged the perceived enemies of Wikileaks by ganging up on sites like MasterCard and PayPal, released theirs, a scratchy cyberpunk scrawl. In it, a digitized announcer condemns the attacked companies for the “crime of cutting people off from the global brain.” This might seem like an odd bit of propaganda for those who aren’t familiar with the world of nerd supremacy.

The ideology that drives a lot of the online world — not just Wikileaks but also mainstream sites like Facebook — is the idea that information in sufficiently large quantity automatically becomes Truth. For extremists, this means that the Internet is coming alive as a new, singular, global, post-human, superior life form. For more moderate sympathizers, if information is truth, and the truth will set you free, then adding more information to the Internet automatically makes the world better and people freer.

The one exception to be carved out is that technically skilled programmers are celebrated for erecting digital privacy curtains around themselves. Thus we didn’t necessarily get to know where Mr. Assange was at a given moment, before his detention on rape-related charges, or what Facebook or Google know about you.

But leaving hypocrisy aside, is there something to the idea? If the number of secrets falls with each passing minute and gradually approaches zero, what does that do to the world? Would a world without secrets be fairer, or more compassionate? More efficient? Does it matter if some secrets are revealed before others?

It is often the case that microstructure influences macrostructure. In the case of digital systems, where the microstructure is bits that are either completely on or completely off, it is easiest to build big things that tend to peg completely one way or another. You can easily be completely anonymous online, or utterly revealed, but it is hard to find an in-between spot.

The strategy of Wikileaks, as explained in an essay by Julian Assange, is to make the world transparent, so that closed organizations are disabled, and open ones aren’t hurt. But he’s wrong. Actually, a free flow of digital information enables two diametrically opposed patterns: low-commitment anarchy on the one hand and absolute secrecy married to total ambition on the other.

While many individuals in Wikileaks would probably protest that they don’t personally advocate radical ideas about transparency for everybody but hackers, architecture can force all our hands. This is exactly what happens in current online culture. Either everything is utterly out in the open, like a music file copied a thousand times or a light weight hagiography on Facebook, or it is perfectly protected, like the commercially valuable dossiers on each of us held by Facebook or the files saved for blackmail by Wikileaks.

The Wikileaks method punishes a nation — or any human undertaking — that falls short of absolute, total transparency, which is all human undertakings, but perversely rewards an absolute lack of transparency. Thus an iron-shut government doesn’t have leaks to the site, but a mostly-open government does.

If the political world becomes a mirror of the Internet as we know it today, then the world will be restructured around opaque, digitally delineated power centers surrounded by a sea of chaotic, underachieving openness. Wikileaks is one prototype of a digital power center, but others include hedge funds and social networking sites.

This is the world we are headed to, it seems, since people are unable to resist becoming organized according to the digital architectures that connect us. The only way out is to change the architecture.

The Internet as it is, which supports the abilities of Anonymous and Wikileaks, is an outgrowth of a particular design history which was influenced in equal degrees by 1960s romanticism and cold war paranoia. It aligned the two poles of the bit to these two archetypal dramas. But the poles of the bit can be aligned with other things. The Internet can and must be redesigned to reflect a more moderate and realistically human-centered philosophy.

Assange sees information as an abstract free-standing thing. Differences in perspective and circumstance mean nothing. This is how nerd supremacists think.It is possible for tiny actions to occasionally have huge consequences on the Internet — like the creation of a Facebook or a Wikileaks by tiny teams — because many thousands of people over decades set up the underlying structure of that seeming magic trick.

It seems to cost nothing to send an email, so we spend billions of dollars on spam. The existing Internet design is centered on creating the illusion of no-cost effort. But there is no such thing. It’s an illusion born of the idylls of youth, and leads to a distorted perception of the nature of responsibility. When there seems to be no cost, the idea of moderation doesn’t seem sensible.

——————————————————————————–

Openness in itself, as the prime driver of events, doesn’t lead to achievement or creativity.

One problem is that information in oceanic magnitudes can confuse and confound as easily as it can clarify and empower, even when the information is correct. There is vastly more financial data set down in the world’s computers than there ever has been before, including publically accessible data, and yet the economy is a mess. How can this be, if information is the solution?

A sufficiently copious flood of data creates an illusion of omniscience, and that illusion can make you stupid. Another way to put this is that a lot of information made available over the internet encourages players to think as if they had a God’s eye view, looking down on the whole system.

A financier, for instance, might not be able to resist the temptations of access to seemingly endless data. If you can really look down on the whole market from on high, then you ought to be able to just pluck money out of it without risk, which leads to the notion of a highly computerized, data intensive, brobdingnagian hedge fund. This is fine, for a while, until other people start similar funds and the whole market becomes distorted.

The interesting similarity between Mr. Assange and a typical financier who overdid it is that both attempted to align themselves with a perceived God-like perspective and method made possible by the flow of vast information on the Internet, while both actually got crazy and absurd. Wikileaks and similar efforts could do for politics approximately what access to a lot of data did for finance in the run up to the recession.

Whom does Cablegate harm? This issue has been debated extensively elsewhere, but I do want to point something out about how to interpret the question. The details that are prematurely revealed in Cablegate are not essential knowledge for me, since I am not immediately involved in the events, and the contents of the leaks thus far haven’t disrupted my worldview or my politics.

They are, however, potentially consequential to American diplomacy, which is often, if we are to believe the cables, both trickier and better intentioned then we might have feared. The contents might be extremely consequential, even deadly, to a hapless individual on the ground — and we’ll once again invoke the canonical unfortunate fellow in Afghanistan who translated for a US diplomat and counted on the USA to keep it secret. I don’t know if he exists, but it seems to me that there must be analogs to him, at least.

Julian Assange, in defending his actions sees a vindicating contradiction in this difference: How can information be both dangerous and inconsequential, he asks? He sees information as an abstract free-standing thing, so to him, differences in perspective and circumstance mean nothing. This is how nerd supremacists think.

Wikileaks isn’t really a “wiki,” but it is designed to look and feel like the Wikipedia. It aspires to emulate the practical philosophy of the wiki movement. The Wikipedia professes to get humanity as a whole to arrive at the one truest truth.

The Wikileaks design, by invoking Wikipedia, creates the impression that some universally negotiated, balanced unveiling of human affairs is being approximated; that what was formerly hidden is being fairly unhidden. But that is not true.

If you are a fan of Wikileaks, you might have trouble seeing this, so you would do well to consider Wikileaks-like activities performed by people of opposing ideological persuasions. The comparison will probably enrage some Wikileaks supporters, but if you are one of them, I ask you to try it on as an exercise to test your own internal degrees of bias.

Two cases from the United States come to mind: In one, personal information about abortion providers was posted online, and an “X” was drawn over the information about a specific provider once that provider was murdered. In another, which occurred in Utah in 2010, vigilantes published personal details about undocumented Hispanic immigrants, in an apparent bid to encourage harassment.

In the first case, there were deaths, while the second was all noise and fear mongering with no action, so far as I know. The activists who listed abortion doctors never pulled a trigger, didn’t know the people who pulled triggers, and so perhaps had “nothing” to do with the murders.

These actions were related to what goes on in Wikileaks, though people with different politics performed them. Defenders of Wikileaks will probably feel that the comparison is unwarranted, so I would like to address some of the rationalizations I have heard.

It is often pointed out that Wikileaks didn’t leak all the diplomatic cables it had, but only a small percentage that was filtered through traditional news organizations, as if this were a sign of deliberation and moderation.

But it did use all of the cables for blackmail. Encrypted copies were sent around the world, creating what is known as a “dead man switch.” It was claimed that the encrypted cables contained genuinely dangerous information. Under certain circumstances the key would be released. Is this not similar to the case of the abortion doctors? “Either do what I want or I will expertly use my Internet skills to enable creepy third parties I don’t even know to harm you.”

It seems that our perceptions of the two cases are strongly colored by how we feel about the targets and where we find the underdog. At the very least, the comparison demonstrates that there is no such thing as a neutral Internet leak organization. Anyone who plays the game brings biases into the work.

The same critique can and should be applied to militaries and other traditional players who have become cyber-fascinated. It is true that the U.S. military faces a moral hazard in the use of drones. An anonymous operator a world away can direct an attack, and there is an inevitable danger of forgetting the seriousness of the decision. But consider: Anonymous Wikileakers attacked anonymous drone operators, sniping from snug perches in front of computer screens. Wikileaks published the names of Afghans who were put at risk, potentially becoming collateral damage.

Isn’t it clear that we tend to become like what we mock and fear?

Another common rationalization favoring Wikileaks is that we don’t have documentation of individuals, such as the canonical example of liasons in Afghanistan, who were killed as a result of a leak.

I wish I could find comfort in this line of thinking, but bad behavior doesn’t become ok just because we don’t know if anyone’s been hurt yet. Did anyone ask the individuals who were named for permission to leak their names? I don’t think any of the undocumented immigrants in Utah were killed, but does that excuse what happened? Assange has stated that if there were deaths from leaks, it would be acceptable because of the bigger picture. The ideological framework and rationale for collateral damage has been made explicit.

To me, both right wing extremist leaks and Wikileaks are for the most part resurrections of old-fashioned vigilantism. Some of the targets of vigilantism in the Utah of the 19th century, say, might have unquestionably been “bastards,” and yet there are, to say the least, some tremendously attractive things about the rule of law. Vigilantism has always eroded trust and civility, but what’s new online is the sterile imprimatur of a digital ideology that claims to offer automatic betterment.

Vigilante information violation is a form of assault that degrades society for everyone. If we are to experiment with giving up some degree of privacy, we have to do it all at once, including even the hackers.

——————————————————————————–
Can we say Wikileaks is doing anything beyond sterile information worship? Is it engaged in nonviolent activism?

We celebrate the masters of nonviolent activism, such as Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Ghandi, and Martin Luther King, Jr. All these figures displayed astounding courage, faced arrest, and suffered without hating their oppressors in order to demonstrate a common humanity. These remarkable people did not make “Crush the bastards” into their mantra.

So the question has to be, if you add the Internet, can you now be a nonviolent activist without having to show courage and respect the opposing side? Is it now suddenly helpful to be a troll, attacking from the darkness, as the members of Anonymous do? Does the Internet really make life that much easier?

Of course it doesn’t.

Although I have certainly not done as much as any of us should, I can say that I have gone to jail as a result of political protest, and doing so was not a way of rejecting society, but engaging it. In my case, I was arrested while protesting the nuclear weapons policies of the United States in the 1970s. I helped block the entrance to a power plant that was also feeding the weapons program. I smiled and had a friendly conversation with the police who carried me off, and with the jailers.

Civil disobedience is fundamentally respectful of the shared project of having a civilization, but only when the protestor gets arrested voluntarily and without sneering at opponents. Instead, one hopes to raise consciousness with a flood of respect and compassion, even for those who disagree.

In the intervening years, my point of view on nuclear weapons policy has shifted, though not totally. If my phase as a protester had been ruder, I would have complicated my own avenue for personal evolution, because I would have become too invested in the trauma that would have ensued. Respectful civil disobedience is not only more productive for others, but for oneself. It is the path away from extremism.

Totally aside from whether Wikileaks has hurt the USA or anyone else, we should ask the question, “What has it done to us?” The hacker idea has gotten meaner, less sensitive, more combative, and more reactive. This is what I mean by the problem of nerd supremacy.

Wikileaks grew out of a forum hosted by John Gilmore, one of the founders of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. I almost became one of the founders of EFF as well. I was at the founding meeting, a meal in San Francisco’s Mission District with John, John Perry Barlow, and Mitch Kapor. What kept me out of EFF was a sudden feeling — at that very meal — that something was going wrong.

There was a fascination with using encryption to make hackers potentially as powerful as governments, and that disturbed me. I could feel the surge of ego: We hackers could change history. But if there’s one lesson of history, it is that seeking power doesn’t change the world. You need to change yourself along with the world. Civil disobedience is a spiritual discipline as much as anything else.

EFF has matured, and is now moderate enough to be subject to occasional attacks from outfits like Anonymous (though Anonymous rejects characterizations of itself as a group of people and prefers to be known as collective cyber-brain.) In its early days, however, EFF helped glamourize the image of the encrypted nerd resisting the government. EFF was hardly alone: One of the first covers of Wired magazine featured a dashing gaggle of outlaw hackers, faces hidden by scarves. The hacker as glamorous revolutionary was a guiding image as the Internet was first coming together and being polished for widespread use a couple of decades ago, and we are paying now for our silly romanticism back then.

When you feel that urge to power within yourself- that is when you should be most careful. When I hear Julian Assange talk about “crushing bastards” I feel grateful that I avoided getting swept up back then.

——————————————————————————–
Should information flows be controlled in the network age? Who should get to decide who gets access to what information? It’s not as if these questions have only been asked for the first time because of the Internet. The many generations of people that learned how to build democracies wrestled with them over the centuries.

Privacy is not about anachronistic prohibitions on information flow, but about personhood.We know what the answers are. If the secret is about something that isn’t a vital interest for other people, then everyone has a right to keep a private sphere private. If the secret is about something of vital interest to other people, then secrets can be kept by those who are sanctioned and accountable to keep them within the bounds of a reasonably functional democratic process.

Both of these answers are under assault by the ideology of nerd supremacy which I understand well, since I was part of it in its early days.

You need to have a private sphere to be a person, or for that matter for anything creative to happen in any domain. This is the principle I described as “encapsulation” in You Are Not a Gadget. I have written about this idea in various ways, but I’d like to try another way here, addressed to the truest believers. Let’s consider encapsulation in computer code.

There was a time when computer code was messier, in that any piece of code could read or write to any other part. That didn’t work out well. Programs were too tangled and impossible to maintain.

So a movement to add structure to programming took root. For instance, the idea of “object oriented” code breaks a program up into encapsulated modules centered on chunks of data and code related specifically to that data. If you program in an object oriented way, you are not allowed to make the code in one object directly manipulate the interior of another. Instead, everything has to go through the proper channels.

A great many programmers hated the object oriented idea in the early days. It seemed like nothing but prissy restrictions. To others, it was simply incomprehensible how restrictions would do you any good. Wasn’t the point to be able to program anything? How could a negative be a positive? How could restrictions improve results?

And yet, ideas like object oriented programming were essential to making big programs reliable. The world we know today couldn’t exist if code had stayed as messy as it used to be. Structure is what makes information usable. Making everything totally connected and open to everything destroys structure. This principle works for code, but it is also cosmic.

Even we people need structure in our affairs. Imagine openness extrapolated to an extreme. What if we come to be able to read each other’s thoughts? Then there would be no thoughts. Your head has to be different from mine if you are to be a person with something to say to me. You need an interior space that is different from mine in order to have a different, exotic model of the world, so that our two models can meet, and have a conversation.

Privacy is not about anachronistic prohibitions on information flow, but about personhood. I was one of those young hackers who didn’t get this point for a long time. I used to think that an open world would favor the honest and the true, and disfavor the schemers and the scammers. In moderation this idea has some value, but if privacy were to be vanquished, people would initially become dull, then incompetent, and then cease to exist. Hidden in the idea of radical openness is an allegiance to machines instead of people.

Improving access to information can be a very good thing in the right circumstances. For instance, another huge factor in making code better (in addition to structure) was a flow of information feedback from the real world.

We sanction secretive spheres in order to have our civilian sphere. Coding used to be based on hope. You’d code something and someone else would experience whether it crashed or not, and while they would let you know, it was hard to learn much from their tales of woe. With the arrival of the Internet, crash logs could be reported back to the programmers automatically, so software engineering became a closed loop feedback system. I well remember Steven Sinofsky showing me the early results of this flow of data about crashes in the early Windows operating system. It was as if a new sense organ had suddenly sprouted on one’s face.

I bring this up to say that asking whether secrets in the abstract are good or bad is ridiculous. A huge flow of data that one doesn’t know how to interpret in context is either useless or worse than useless, if you let it impress you too much. A contextualized flow of data that answers a question you know how to ask can be invaluable.

——————————————————————————–

As has been frequently observed, the Cablegate episode hasn’t revealed military or “top” secrets; at least as I write this. Furthermore, while some Wikileaks supporters see the documents as a portrait of an evil USA, actually the USA comes off pretty well in them.

In fact, most of the figures who have been embarrassed by the leaked cables seem to not have been America’s closest friends. Instead, a typical hot leak dishes dirt about someone who was disturbing to American diplomats.

This is to be expected, since the Cablegate leak was of American documents, expressing American perceptions. So Wikileaks ended up accentuating the American point of view, which was already easy to know, instead of bringing new perspectives to the world!

If your primary motivation for supporting Wikileaks is that you think the USA is the problem, and must be opposed, then please meditate on this. (I happen to think the USA is going through a troubling period in some ways, but is overall an essential positive force in the world. But what I think about that isn’t what’s at issue here.)

If we want to understand all the sides of an argument, we have to do more than copy files. It’s not as though we are supporting reporters out there on the ground to do independent investigative journalism. Random leaking is no substitute for focused digging. The “everything must be free and open” ideal has nearly bankrupted the overseas news bureaus.

——————————————————————————–
The point of Cablegate is to make it hard for diplomats to function. We know this is the point, since Julian Assange has described the strategy in his writing. He hopes to screw up the USA, which he considers a conspiracy of bastards, by screwing up the trust which glues the USA together. When you reveal what one person said in confidence to another, you screw up their relationships with other people. That’s what Wikileaks has come to be about with the Cablegate episode, not the revelation of deeply scandalous secrets.

Yet the controversies around radical openness are usually framed around questioning the legitimacy of keeping regulated institutional secrets. Military, commercial, and diplomatic spheres sanction more secret keeping than we are used to in civilian life.

If the distinctions between these spheres fail, then what we will lose is civilian life, since the others are ultimately indispensible. Then we’d turn into a closed society. In closed societies, like North Korea, everyday life is militarized.

You might not agree that this is what would happen, because it might seem as though fewer secrets ought to always, always mean a more open society. If you think that, you are making the same mistake those programmers who resisted structure made long ago.

Anarchy and dictatorship are entwined in eternal resonance. One never exists for long without turning to the other, and then back again. The only way out is structure, also known as democracy.

We sanction secretive spheres in order to have our civilian sphere. We furthermore structure democracy so that the secretive spheres are contained and accountable to the civilian sphere, though that’s not easy.

There is certainly an ever-present danger of betrayal. Too much power can accrue to those we have sanctioned to hold confidences, and thus we find that keeping a democracy alive is hard, imperfect, and infuriating work.

The flip side of responsibly held secrets, however, is trust. A perfectly open world, without secrets, would be a world without the need for trust, and therefore a world without trust. What a sad sterile place that would be: A perfect world for machines.

Still drawn from The Ray and Charles Eames film, The Information Machine, held in the Prelinger Library and hosted at Archive.org.

Footnotes:
1. The hacker community sometimes has a way of talking the talk about its own empowerment, but pretending it isn’t walking the walk when it actually is, in order to enjoy the blessed cover and forgiveness granted to the oppressed.

This observation immediately brings up another difficulty in perception. I just made up a construction: “The hacker community.” What the hell is that? Since important actors in the present dramas are anonymous, including many Wikileaks activists, it can be hard to pin ideas or actions on specific people. Does that mean we can’t talk about what anyone thinks or does? We have to do our best to perceive actors in order to perceive and assess ideas and actions.

A range of ideas and strategies are in play. There are people from the Wikileaks community who became uncomfortable with Julian Assange, and are attempting to rev up alternative leak sites. Some of these experiments might turn out well, and I might become an enthusiast for them.

While acknowledging this diversity, it is also important to address certain mistaken core ideas underlying much of the world of cyber-activism.

2. Yet another essay that is critical of techie culture! Am I giving comfort to enemies of friends by challenging friends? Maybe a little, but I think my friends can take it and we get better and stronger from these conversations.

I’ll declare here that I happen to share some of the concerns of many of the supporters of Wikileaks and related efforts. To be specific, am worried that the American government seems to be better able to lie to itself by keeping secrets digitally. The same can be said about the Chinese government, and many others. Digital information systems can help you lie to yourself better because dubious information can seem so much more credible and substantial when you’ve digitized it, and there can be so much of it.

But we can’t descend into a primal sorting of who is friend and who is enemy.

——————————————————————————–
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kaffiend75 2 days ago

This is an excellent and sharp piece of writing.
Flag 21 people liked this. Like
Bill Briere 1 day ago

Wow, that was a refreshingly thorough look at a topic that’s been getting mostly superficial, knee-jerk, partisan coverage. Honest, thought-provoking, cautionary.
Flag 23 people liked this. Like
nivehive 1 day ago

Lanier’s article is ignorant and offensive, riddled with inaccuracy at best, lies at worst.

-The article conflates Government Privacy with Personal Privacy – governments and politicians acting officially don’t have a fundamental right to privacy, citizens do. When governments such as the US abuse the rights of state secrecy to the extent that they have (illegal CIA wiretapping, falsifying facts to lead the country to the Iraq War), and systematically and illegally violate the trust of their own citizenry, then drastic journalistic measures such as Wikileaks are warranted and necessary for the health of the world.

-There has not been an indiscriminate dumping of documents, less than 2,000 of the 250,000 cables have been released, all of them redacted by multiple journalistic sources. This is pure journalism on a large scale.

- The idea that the cables reveal nothing is spurious. Only someone who has not paid attention at all can claim such a lie : The US secretly strong armed the German government out of convicting two CIA operatives who were accused of torture; the US military has been secretly operating in Pakistan without the consent of Congress, as it has been been bombing locations in Yemen; Sec. of State Clinton has explicitly told diplomats to illegally gather personal data on other member of the UN. These are activities that certainly don’t support the author’s naive view that the US is an overwhelming force for good in the world.

Lanier is a conservative of the worst kind – spewing the ill informed vague admonishments of the mainstream ruling classes ( you can see his arguments fitting well with the hateful right’s ideas about Don’t Ask Don’t Tell repeal threatening the sanctity of the military). The privileged and powerful will always be uncomfortable when their structures are challenged. No surprise coming from The Atlantic.
For intelligent commentary, read Glenn Greenwald.

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joshwimmer 1 day ago in reply to nivehive

@nivehive: You’ve apparently missed the entire thrust of the post.

- There’s no conflation of the two types of privacy; there’s an acknowledgment that government officials are people, who have to maintain personal relationships with other people, and that such relationships depend on mutual trust and the expectation that information shared privately won’t be indiscriminately revealed. There’s a corresponding acknowledgment that democracy must be structured “so that the secretive spheres are contained and accountable to the civilian sphere, though that’s not easy.”

- The post notes specifically that “Wikileaks didn’t leak all the diplomatic cables it had, but only a small percentage that was filtered through traditional news organizations.”

- As for the spuriousness of the idea that the cables reveal nothing — well, yeah, that is spurious, but I don’t see where Lanier made that claim. He simply noted that the information released from them so far did not have much impact on his everyday life, and that “actually the USA comes off pretty well in them.” Now, you can question his wording, but isn’t it indeed true that the bulk of the information revealed so far portrays American diplomats abiding by the rule of law? (Note also that nowhere does Lanier call the U.S. an overwhelming force for good, as you put it. On the contrary, he says, “I happen to think the USA is going through a troubling period in some ways, but is overall an essential positive force in the world” — that is, he explicitly acknowledges that the country is *not* always in the right.)

And of course, he also implicitly and explicitly says he shares some of the concerns of Wikileaks’ supporters — which should be very clear, given his history, and given the thought and care he put into this critique, and his calm entreaty to those supporters to consider what he’s saying. Of course, you have not addressed any of the substantive points he is making, and even your tangential criticisms weren’t made in intellectual good faith. Indeed, your perceptions here seem to be “strongly colored by how [you] feel about the targets and where [you] find the underdog,” and you seem to be committed to “a primal sorting of who is friend and who is enemy.” So for now, I’m going to give the guy with the foresight to recognize those responses my attention, and not you, thanks.
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zipflash 1 day ago

Was the invention of the musket good or bad? Irrelevant question. It is done, and cannot be un-invented. More generally, it is unconstructive to debate the merits of the inevitable.

Wikileaks is not an isolated event, but rather a harbinger, a messenger of a technological inevitability. Digital secrets in large organizations are highly vulnerable to assymmetric attack. It’s easy, and getting easier. That may indeed be a bad thing. But it is a fact. Thus it would be more constructive to think and write about how best to work around the inevitable, rather than debate whether it is good or bad.

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Sweeter Home Skins 1 day ago

I find it interesting you were happy with your political activism in the 70′s, yet if the US nuclear weapons policy was _not known_ by you, you would have been disallowed your opportunity to take part in democracy through protest. Only with the knowledge of what you government was doing, and who it was involved with, were you able to make a decision on what to do about that as a citizen. You can’t have your cake and eat it too. Like nivehive said, Government privacy is not the same as personal privacy: government is supposed to be _by_ the people _for_ the people.
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exiledsurfer 1 day ago

Let’s just call a spade a spade here. Jaron, you are articulate, but this piece is just purely apologist for the fact that you sold out on your own ideals; your language reeks of subliminal guilt. I am pleased do read your “reasonable argumentation”, but it just doesn’t pan out. So disappointed.
Flag 29 people liked this. Like
Liz McLellan 1 day ago

War crimes are not appropriate secrets. Financial fraud are not appropriate secrets. Personal privacy is quite different that calumny protected by powerful institutions.

I imagine this would not be so fraught for people if Assange had dumbed the 5 gigs of proof of “an ecology of corruption.” at a major bank. Much less confusing when people’s cash is involved…and not just lives of journalists or non combatants summarily killed by American death squads.
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Jonas Kyratzes 1 day ago

“Furthermore, while some Wikileaks supporters see the documents as a portrait of an evil USA, actually the USA comes off pretty well in them. ”

And you’ve lost all credibility. Do your research first, maybe? Unless crimes ranging from child abuse to good old regular murder mean nothing to you, of course.

Thanks for mindlessly repeating a bunch of memes. There is much to criticize about the internet community, but this is not it.
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Scott Thill 1 day ago

Man, that was a long-winded way of saying nothing. The U.S. is mostly a force for good? I’m sure the tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of civilians we have killed in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere since 9/11 — I’ll do him a favor and not count Vietnam — would heartily disagree. What about the annihilation of the American economy, thanks to hedge funds (way worse than Wikileaks, sorry) and other quants building virtual money machines for us and real siphons for themselves? Lanier is typical of your “enlightened” digitalist: Living in a virtual world, desensitized from reality, viewing “reality” from on high while chastising those who don’t as if they are. Wake me when the American economy is back to normal, and our kids are back from the middle of nowhere for nothing.
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alexismadrigal 1 day ago

Hi guys. Thanks for your informed commentary here. Unfortunately, the deal we made with Jaron was that we were not going to have comments enabled. Since we’ve never actually done that before, I tried to disable comments in Moveable Type and that appears to have had no impact on Disqus. My apologies to Jaron and to you all who began this thread.

We *are* going to have alternative venues for responding to this piece. Feel free to email me at amadrigal[at]theatlantic.com. We’re going to collect critiques and add-ons from around the web (as well as a couple pieces that we’ve specifically asked for) for posting here, and I’ll take any emails you send my way into consideration.

So why shut off comments? For a piece like this, I don’t tend to think comments are the best means to a good discussion. Now, you all have done a good job of disproving the theory, but I still think I need to follow through on Jaron’s wishes to have commentary occur in other venues.

Apologies again, and thanks for the contributions thus far.
Flag 21 people liked this.
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