white house
  • Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. - Abraham Lincoln
map of bike hispaniola route

Back from Bike Hispaniola

I just returned from biking across the Dominican Republic and Haiti. An epic experience through these beautiful countries. You can check out some of the pics and stories on the blog we kept throughout the journey at bikehispaniola.tumblr.com and find out why I decided to make the trip through my blog post at Digital Democracy. … Read more

bike hispaniola banner

Going To Bike Hispaniola

Over the new year, I’ll be riding a bicycle from the Dominican Republic to Haiti. Follow the trip on our blog at bikehispaniola.tumblr.com At crossroads in my life, I bike across countries. Nine years ago, I biked across the United States. Today, I find myself at another transition: I am moving on from my role … Read more

Senator Gillibrand is a Dangerous Pirate

Stifling the economy, trampling private property and straight thievery are the Senator’s current activities, at least according to the legislation she’s trying to pass. The PROTECT IP legislation being discussed in the Senate that she’s a co-sponsor of in theory seeks to prevent online piracy, but does little to stop intellectual property theft and in … Read more

MB-colored-rev

Reform & Revolution

I arrived to the country of Georgia on an unusual night of riot police and torrential rains. My handler advised me that it was too dangerous to leave the hotel. I had not heard this from anyone since my time in Iraq. I immediately dropped my bags and left for the protest areas. The demonstrators … Read more

Risk To Transmit

In this podcast, digital advocate Mark Belinsky talks with Fortnight Editor Samantha Hinds about training young people to safely organize political action online. Mark describes the advent of online innovations in democratic organizing, but he also warns of a risky new complacency. Mark trains marginalized communities to understand porous security settings on platforms such as … Read more

When Crowdsourcing is Not Democracy

A response to “Democratizing ICT4D with DIY Innovation and Open Data” In the digital era, it’s easier to conflate participation with democracy. This is a dangerous and unfortunate trend as it degrades the very concept of what a democracy can and should be: a transparent, participatory, and accountable means of representative governance. Voting itself doesn’t … Read more

Jiew in Thai Jail by Nick Nostitz

This Can Get Mark Zuckerberg Arrested

Mark Zuckerberg faces 15 brutal years in a Thai prison. According to the Computer Crimes Act of Thailand, a website owner is responsible for anything written on their site, not just the actual author of the content. So if anyone posts anything on Facebook that is considered illegal in Thailand, Zuckerberg could be held responsible. … Read more

training in the field fortnight journal

Training in the Field

Young activists seek Digital Democracy. Teaching tech in Burma & Haiti. Watch the video at Fortnight Journal…

MB-iraq-interview SMALL

Iraq: A Digital Dissenter

In today’s podcast, Mark talks with young Iraqi digital media activist Hayder Hamzoz. They discuss current conditions of repression in Iraq for new media political activism. Hamzoz runs the blog Iraqi Streets 4 Change, which documents peaceful public dissent in order to push the Iraqi government to expedite democratic reforms. He also works on Salam … Read more

Do It Yourself

Music  eventually drove me to the internet’s dark underbelly.  But first, it connected me to an innovative community I’d been pining for as a teenager. Through liner notes in Dischord and Lookout! Records cassette tapes, I discovered not just a directory of information, but a network. Punks used the post office to bridge distance. Mainstream … Read more

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