Public Knowledge

(Newser) - The 241-year-old Encyclopedia Britannica is tired of being overshadowed on the web by Wikipedia, so it’s decided to start copying the competition’s defining feature: allowing users to edit and create content. Britannica will not be as laissez-faire as Wikipedia, the Sydney Morning Herald reports, as alterations to online...

(Newser) - Only 18% of Americans can correctly name the current secretary of state, Britain’s prime minister and which party controls the US House, a LiveScience survey finds. Among the survey’s 3,612-person sample, more than half correctly said that the Democrats have a majority in the House, while 42%...

(Newser) - Cable and Internet service giant Comcast is disrupting more than just BitTorrent traffic, reports Ars Technica. Tests by the Electronic Frontier Foundation show that Comcast customers using a growing list of apps may find their Net access slowed or denied. A Lotus Notes engineer, for example, discovered Notes emails sent...