Professor Shubho Bandyopadhyay will be discussing his research on net neutrality. Using game theory models, he counter-intuitively found that broadband providers would be more likely to improve Internet service if they were barred from charging for preferential treatment.

His talk will be at 6:30pm on Monday, April 2nd in the Reitz Union room 121 (Johnson Lounge). For more information about the research, see the story from UF’s news site. For more on net neutrality, see SaveTheInternet.com.

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A reminder: CopyNight Gainesville for March has been moved to Thursday, March 29. Join us at 7 pm at Tim and Terry’s (1417 NW 1^st Ave.) for a lively and convivial discussion.

One subject we’ll be discussing is the future of Alachua Freenet. As previously mentioned, AFN is discontinuing its free dial-up Internet service for the community, which has resulted in a lot of soul-searching and hand-wringing. We’re offering this month’s CopyNight as a forum to share opinions and discuss our vision for connectivity in the community.

Afterwards, you can head downtown to the Kid Koala show at Common Grounds (210 SW 2^nd Ave.). Doors open at 9 pm; tickets are $10. Put a little remix culture in your life thanks to this renowned turntablist.

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Well, this is good news.

A state Senate committee has approved a bill that would ban the implantation of microchips in human beings without their permission.

I guess this is a win for privacy…?

FWIW, I’m pretty sure I saw this in an episode of Law and Order (guest-starring Bob Saget) recently.

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Due to Lewis Black’s performance on Wednesday, March 28 — the previously scheduled date for March’s CopyNight meetup — we’re moving the event to the following day. (A lot of us are Lewis Black fans.)

We’ll still be at Tim and Terry’s at 7 pm, it’ll just be a day later. Be sure to join us on Thursday, March 29 for an enjoyable evening.

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This month’s issue of the Satellite had an article on alacloud.net, an initiative to create a community wifi mesh network in Gainesville. It’s a terribly exciting project so it’s nice to see some publicity.

The Satellite’s site is down, but the alacloud.net site has a very readable scan of the article.

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In response to the resolution that UF’s Student Senate passed in support of the Federal Research Public Access Act, Stevan Harnad has blogged a list of suggestions: What Students Can Do To Support OA.

There’s also a section for students in Peter Suber’s What you can do to promote open access.

Two suggestions I’d make, that anyone can do:

• Sign the Petition for Public Access to Publicly Funded Research in the United States
• Join Access to Research Now! on Facebook (if you use Facebook)

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Following up on our earlier post on access to information comes the news of a new project from Florida’s Attorney General.

AG Bill McCollum announced last week the creation of the Government Accountability Project. The project is designed to spur state and local government entities to make more documents available online. As the AG’s message notes:

Florida is among the nation’s leaders in providing for public access to government meetings and records. But, simply allowing access to records is, in my opinion, no longer enough in light of the technological advances that make it infinitely easier, cheaper and more efficient to provide information to people far and wide.

The St. Petersburg Times has an editorial today praising the action.

He aims to move disclosure from paper to computer. Let the government sun shine online.

The project will partner with UF’s Brechner Center for Freedom of Information. The AG’s Web site also has a page with information about Florida’s sunshine laws.

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