Time for some mad science with political applications!
Conscience Amplifier
The hardware: a camera phone with enough PDA functionality to handle SMS messages.
The software: image analysis algorithms capable of scanning a UPC symbol (bonus points: recognizing a corporate logo) and querying a database about the ethical record of the company making the product.
The use: when you’re shopping, you just point the phone at any product about which you’re concerned. The phone queries a server that knows your preferences in ethical actions, and finds out what the ethical record is of the company, according to the editorial board of the server. Icons would come up in your phone’s screen to represent the record— smokestacks if the company is a polluter, golden elephants if they’re a heavy contributer to the Republicans, and so on. It will also suggest alternatives to this product that are more sound, and can even track how much money you’re spending or saving to help your social conscience.
No more trying to remember who you’re boycotting this week— just scan and check. This allows grass-roots economic action. It may not be enough to force corporations into good behavior on its own, but it would be one more bit of impetus.
One hurdle is the price of network bandwidth— but that should keep dropping.
The Broadband Channel
The hardware: TiVo Series 2 or equivalent, with the Ethernet jack connected to your broadband DSL or cable modem connection.
The software: A BitTorrent client, a network-based remote control mechanism for telling your TiVo to download a show over BitTorrent, and protocol integration with your E-mail client so you can E-mail a friend a link to a TV show and they can just click and have the show waiting for them when they get home at night.
The use: So what if the corporate-controlled media isn’t giving you real news? If you can bypass them entirely, you can just download news from someone you trust. This could provide anything from access to hard-hitting exposés to an echo chamber that makes Fox News look like a bastion of journalistic integrity, but reputations systems should settle that out soon enough.
The shows could even carry other hyperlinks in them. You could download five minutes of summaries and use the thumbs-up button to request followup shows that give more information in depth.
The important thing is to make sure technology like this stays legal. Instead of focusing on a radical “information wants to be free” model that thumbs its nose at copyright in general, we should support laws that leave technology free but crack down on outright piracy. Adding extensions to the file sharing formats to make it trivial to purchase the albums and DVDs that are shared would be a good gesture in this direction, particularly if these can be distinguished from other purchases.