Weekend Entrepreneur Links: Billionaires and Hacktivists

by Nathaniel Whittemore · 2010-08-09 11:31:00 UTC
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10% of Billionaires Commit to Give Half Their Wealth: I haven't had a chance to dig into the full implications of this here, but the first announcement following the public launch of the Gates-Buffet billionaire giving pledge is pretty impressive. So far, about 40 billionaires have joined the pledge, and many of them have written publicly about their reasons. How far can they tip this commitment for the world's wealthy? And how effective can these dollars be?

Needles in a Haystack: A legitimately good piece by Newsweek (noticed the skepticism there?) about "hacktivism" -- the phenomenon of software engineers turning their talents towards promoting freedom, stopping oppressive regimes, or helping relief organizations better coordinate their responses. This piece focuses on the story of Haystack, a piece of software developed during the Iranian Green Revolution that obscures what site a user is actually visiting, making it safer for dissidents to search for vital information and connect with one another.

VCs plan to invest $53 mn in social biz over 6 mths: A story from the Economic Times of India that tells the story of the burgeoning social enterprise scene in the country. Interestingly, many of the issues brought up in the article -- for example, a question of from where financial "exits" will come -- are similar to what we experience in the US.

Valedictorian Speaks Out Against Schooling in Graduation Speech: An absolutely awesome speech about the ultimate folly of American education. This valedictorian talks about how, to her, the honor is only an indication that she learned the system better than the rest. The most moving part to me is when she talks about what she could have been doing with all the hours she spent studying instead, and laments that her subjects were always so totally about "work" that she forgot to even discover which ones she actually loved.

Photo credit: José Goulão

Nathaniel Whittemore is the founder of Assetmap. Previously he was the founding director of the Northwestern University Center for Global Engagement.
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