Google to move its data out to sea?

Google may move its data centers to offshore barges. While ostensibly this would be a cost-saving measure, it could also place the control of their service beyond the jurisdiction of any government. Readers of Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson -- or my book, for that matter -- will experience a sense of déjà vu.

Why tyrants hate free markets

The Club for Growth's Andrew Roth quotes my book, The PayPal Wars, in his blog post today. Roth makes a point that I strongly believe: "Tyrants should be deeply concerned. Capitalism will one day destroy them."

Egyptians using Facebook to protest government

The WSJ reports that dissidents in Egypt are attempting to organize a nationwide strike using Facebook. The article says this is part of a larger trend across the Mid East:

The activism on Facebook is part of larger efforts by youths across the Arab world to use technology -- from blogs to cellphone text messages to YouTube -- to challenge their governments and push the envelope on dissent in ways older generations didn't know. In parts of the Middle East such as Beirut and Tehran, local governments immediately jam cellphones if there is civil unrest, to prevent it from spreading. ...

Egyptian officials have taken notice. Tech-savvy Interior Ministry officers browse the social-networking site to keep an eye on anything they may deem a security threat.

This excerpt really captures the double-edged sword of technology. While overall the Internet clearly promotes freedom (a main theme in my book, The PayPal Wars), technology can also be used by oppressive regimes trying to promote their own interests.

Blocking content is an obvious example, and a favorite tactic of dictators. Recall China's recent efforts to block access to YouTube during the uprising in Tibet, or Iran's crackdown on Web access back in 2006. But dictators are also pretty inventive in their efforts to twist tech to their benefit. In this particular case, Egypt is monitoring Facebook to identify dissenters. Similarly, China has convinced many Silicon Valley companies such as Google and Yahoo to cooperate with it by restricting content available to Chinese citizens.

Let us pray that the advocates of freedom -- empowered by technology created through the free market -- stay two steps ahead.

PayPal Wars cited in The Economist

This week's print edition of The Economist chronicles the ongoing clash between PayPal and Google's Checkout. I have to admit that I was truly humbled by the article's first paragraph:

IN HIS celebrated book, “The PayPal Wars”, Eric Jackson described how in its early years the internet firm had to battle crotchety regulators, identity thieves, volatile markets, scrappy rivals and even scheming Mafiosi. It has since gone on to become the undisputed master of online-payments processing. Now, however, to stay on top, it must leap from being merely big to ubiquitous. And it will have to do so while fending off new competitors—especially Google.

The piece goes on to document how much eBay Inc. now depends on PayPal as a primary growth driver (which I previously noted), and how Google is subsidizing Checkout with the hope of gaining traction on the market leader.

eBay propped up by PayPal, but Google's still killing 'em

eBay reported earnings that beat Wall Street estimates, thanks in large part to the ongoing strong performance of PayPal. From Reuters:

Net revenue at online payments service PayPal grew 31 percent to $439 million, while the number of registered users of the credit card alternative rose 36 percent to 143 million.

Merchant services, the PayPal unit that supplies online payment services to Web sites beyond eBay's own properties, reported payment volumes grew 51 percent to $4.38 billion.

Competition from rival merchant payment system Google Checkout appears to be continuing to help drive PayPal's own growth, Whitman said. "Amazingly enough, we had 51 percent growth. The interest in this category is helping [PayPal]."

Readers of my book, The PayPal Wars, should know that it's no surprise to me that PayPal remains the engine of growth for eBay. The company's core auction business is facing strong competition from Google Adwords, and its management still suffers from the same lack of vision that I described in the book. All of this means that eBay is lucky that it has PayPal on its side to fuel revenue and user growth.

Additionally, I'll comment on Meg's statement about Google Checkout. I think she's not seeing the forest for the trees here. The reason that PayPal's non-auction volume is growing rapidly is primarily because Google's ad program continues to decentralize online commerce; it's not because of any press that Checkout is getting. This growth is coming at the expense of eBay's auction websites, which offer costly centralized commerce. Meg admits that their U.S. and German marketplaces are lagging, but this failure is a symptom of the same underlying trend that's lifting PayPal's non-auction growth. At least Google's ability to harm eBay Inc. is mitigated by PayPal's ability to profit from this shift.

(Interested readers are welcome to download a free chapter of The PayPal Wars.)

How do u txt msg "we r all going 2 die"?

Evidently cell phones are wiping out bees. Which means that we are not far behind.

(Someone should notify John Derbyshire.)

Egyptian blogger jailed for advocating moderation

The AP reported this disturbing story of naked censorship in Egypt last week:

An Egyptian blogger was convicted Thursday and sentenced to four years in prison for insulting Islam and Egypt's president, sending a chill through fellow Internet writers who fear a government crackdown.

Abdel Kareem Nabil, a 22-year-old former student at Egypt's Al-Azhar University, had been a vocal secularist and sharp critic of conservative Muslims in his blog. He often lashed out at Al-Azhar -- the most prominent religious center in Sunni Islam -- calling it "the university of terrorism" and accusing it of encouraging extremism.

Nabil was actually eligible for 9 years in prison, but his sentence of 4 included 3 for "insulting Islam and the Prophet Muhammad" and 1 for "insulting President Hosni Mubarak." His lawyer says he plans to appeal, but in the meantime Nabil is behind bars for daring to advocate moderation in his online posts.

By way of contrast, here in the U.S., "Titanic" director James Cameron is airing a dubious documentary that claims to have found the ossuary of Christ, and Louis Farrakhan (leader of the Nation of Islam) has just called for the impeachment of our president. I'd like to point out to the freedom-hating Islamofascists that neither of these shysters are on their way to the klink. Free people are generally smart enough to recognize a kook when they encounter one.

The imprisoning of Nabil highlights the intellectual and moral feebleness of Islamofacism, offering yet more proof that it's nothing more than a violent, backward ideology.

World's oldest newspaper goes web-only

I may not have the Post-och Inrikes Tidningar website bookmarked on my browser, but its decision to go completely digital does merit a mention:

For centuries, readers thumbed through the crackling pages of Sweden's Post-och Inrikes Tidningar newspaper. No longer. The world's oldest paper still in circulation has dropped its paper edition and now exists only in cyberspace. The newspaper, founded in 1645 by Sweden's Queen Kristina, became a Web-only publication on Jan. 1. It's a fate, many ink-stained writers and readers fear, that may await many of the world's most venerable journals.

This article by the AP goes on to quote the paper's editor, who bemoans being forced to abandon the print edition. But, with a circulation of only 1,000, it's an understandable decision. And at least the economics of the Internet allow a low-circulation publication like this to stay in business.