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Subject: [the-filter] January 2006
< -- The Filter --> January 2006
Your regular dose of public-interest Internet news and commentary from the
Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School.
***We are currently redesigning the Filter's format and content so that it's
easy to read and more informative. If you have ideas for new features or if
there are changes you'd like to see made (or not made!), please send an
email to amichel AT cyber.law.harvard.edu. We welcome all feedback.***
CONTENTS:
[1] News
[2] Berkman Updates
[3] Networked: Bookmarks, Webcasts, Podcasts, Tags, and Blogposts [4]
Community Links [5] Staying Connected [6] Filter Facts
[1] NEWS: a bit of what's going on and where to read more
=========================================================
*ETHICS, US CORPORATIONS, AND THE INTERNET*
MSN Spaces took down Chinese blogger Zhao Jing's blog on New Years Eve.
Zhao Jing, who blogs under the pseudonym Michael Anti, blogged in support of
editors at the Beijing Daily News who were fired for their recent
investigative reporting, including such stories as the recent police
shootings of village protestors in southern China, and of the Beijing Daily
News reporters who quit thereafter in support of their editors. His blog
disappeared a few days after he published his posts that were critical of
the newspaper. On January 3rd Berkman Fellow Rebecca MacKinnon blogged that
Anti's blog was deleted entirely by MSN staff and not blocked by Chinese
authorities. Since then the blogosphere has been on fire, asking why MSN
staffers took down the blog and whether they should have that authority.
In the wake of recent challenges faced by a variety of online service
providers, hardware and software companies, this adds to the growing concern
over how technology companies interact both profitably -- and responsibly --
with repressive governments.
Keep reading:
* Jan. 3 Rebecca MacKinnon, Berkman "Microsoft takes down Chinese
blogger": http://rconversation.blogs.com/rconversation/2006/01/
microsoft_takes.html
* Jan. 3 Robert Scoble, Microsoft "My opinions on that": http://
scobleizer.wordpress.com/2006/01/03/microsoft-takes-down-chinese-
blogger-my-opinions-on-that/
* Jan. 4 Ethical Corporation "Internet Censorship - When In Rome?":
http://www.ethicalcorp.com/content.asp?ContentID=4040`1
*WIKIPEDIA*
In September 2005, John Seigenthaler Sr., former assistant to Robert Kennedy
and now a retired journalist, discovered that an article in Wikipedia
contained false claims about his past, including that he may have had a role
in the assassinations of both John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy. In
October 2005 Seigenthaler contacted Wikipedia
founder Jimmy Wales, who removed the inaccurate information.
Nevertheless Seigenthaler then published an op-ed detailing his attempts to
identify the source of the inaccurate information and criticizing Wikipedia
for hosting false claims by an anonymous user.
While Wikipedia took steps to avoid a repeat, debate ensued about the
virtues of anonymity (and an IP address) versus persistent online identity,
and what standards Wikipedia ought to be judged by. As explained by Berkman
Fellow David Weinberger on his blog: "With Wikipedia, the balance of knowing
shifts from the individual to the social process. The solution to a failure
of knowledge (as the Seigenthaler entry clearly was) is to fix the social
process, while acknowledging that it will never work perfectly. There are
still individuals involved, of course, but Wikipedia reputations are made
and advanced by being consistent and persistent contributors to the social
process. Yes, persistent violators of the social trust can be banished from
Wikipedia, but the threat of banishment is not what keeps good contributors
contributing well. Wikipedia is obviously not the first and only instance of
this type of knowing in our history.
But the balance of heroic individual knowers and persistent, pseudonymous
social processes is sufficiently different that the media generally have
gone wrong with this story. After all, reporters are held accountable when
they get something wrong, so why shouldn't Wikipedians? A: Because Wikipedia
isn't a newspaper and newspaper practices aren't the only way to knowledge."
Keep reading:
* John Seigenthaler's USA Today op-ed: http://www.usatoday.com/news/
opinion/editorials/2005-11-29-wikipedia-edit_x.htm#
* David Weinberger, Berkman Fellow, took on this question in his last
Hyperorg journal piece, titled "Why the Media Can't Get Wikipedia
Right": http://www.hyperorg.com/backissues/joho-dec29-05.html#wikipedia
* Daniel Terdiman (C|Net), "Newsmaker: In search of a Wikipedia
Prankster": http://news.com.com/In+search+of+the+Wikipedia+prankster/
2008-1029_3-5995977.html
* Wikipedia entry "John Seigenthaler Sr. Wikipeda biography
controversy": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
John_Seigenthaler_Sr._Wikipedia_biography_controversy
*WIPO - SHOULD TV AND BROADCAST RIGHTS BE EXTENDED TO THE INTERNET?*
In April and June 2006 the World Intellectual Property Organization
(WIPO) will consider the Broadcasting and Webcasting Treaty. If adopted, the
new treaty would give broadcasters copyright-like control over their
broadcasts, even if the content of the broadcasts is in the public domain.
Worse still, if controversial webcasting provisions are included, anyone who
serves up material online "will be granted the right to authorize or
prohibit anyone from copying their data, or republishing or re-using the
webcast in any form,"
again, regardless whether they own the rights in the underlying material.
The US and European Union support the creation of this new Internet-based
right, while others, particularly developing countries such as Brazil and
India, oppose it. Proponents say they're advancing "parity" for webcasters
and broadcasters. Opponents point to lack of evidence that new rights are
needed, suggesting that added layers of rights and clearances would actually
stifle innovation and creative development.
Considering the explosion of user-generated material that is weblogged,
podcasted, Flickr'd, or Wikipedized (and already protected under current
law, including by various Creative Commons copyright licenses), it seems
unlikely that "webcasting" is threatened without new rights.
For the full picture:
* James Love, Huffington Post, "A UN/WIPO Plan to Regulate Distribution of
Information on the Internet": http://
www.huffingtonpost.com/james-love/a-unwipo-plan-to-regulat_b_11480.html
* James Boyle, Financial Times, "More rights are wrong for
webcasters": http://news.ft.com/cms/s/
441306be-2eb6-11da-9aed-00000e2511c8.html
-Wendy Seltzer, Berkman Fellow, contributed to this news item.
[2] BERKMAN UPDATES: news from in and around the center
=======================================================
*John Palfrey Appointed Harvard Law School Clinical Professor of Law*
At the end of last semester the Faculty of Harvard Law School voted to
appoint John Palfrey as a Clinical Professor of Law. This appointment
recognizes the enormous contributions John has made since becoming the
Berkman Center''s Executive Director in 2002. Everyone at Berkman - its
faculty, fellows, staff, and friends - is extremely proud of John''s
extraordinary achievements and wish their intrepid leader, known for his
equal measures of brilliance, commitment, kindness, and modesty, the best in
this exciting new phase of his career.
Keep reading: <http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/home/home?
wid=10&func=viewSubmission&sid=883>
*Undergrad Berkman Fellow, Derek Slater, Co-Author of Industry Paper on
Playlists*
On December 13 Berkman Student Fellow Derek Slater and Gartner Research
Director Mike McGuire released "Consumer Taste Sharing Is Driving the Online
Music Business and Democratizing Culture," a report that documents the
extent of peoples' use of consumer-to- consumer recommendation tools, like
playlist sharing.
Drawing from an early-adopter survey conducted through Gartner, Derek and
Mike found that consumer-to-consumer recommendation tools, like playlists,
enable consumers to actively present their individual tastes to each other
and are becoming increasingly common. According to survey results, nearly
20 percent of online music listeners reported listening to music via
playlists at least five days a week.
Keep reading:
* Report: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/home/uploads/511/11-
ConsumerTasteSharing.pdf
* Berkman Blogpost "Playlists, Podcasting, and Other New Forms of
Sharing": http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/home/home?
wid=10&func=viewSubmission&sid=879
* Derek Slater's "A Copyfighter's Musings" Post: http://
blogs.law.harvard.edu/cmusings/2005/12/13#a1508
*Clinical Program Semester Overview*
A favorable decision in a case with important implications for online free
speech capped off a busy and exciting fall semester for the Berkman Center's
Clinical Program in Cyberlaw. The case, Gentle Wind Project v. Garvey,
involved a defamation and civil RICO lawsuit brought by a fringe religious
group against two former members who
posted a web site recounting their abusive experiences in the group.
Their web site was linked to, and discussed by, operators of anti- cult
organizations. The religious group charged that the links and discussions
between the defendants and other anti-cult organizations was tantamount to
an ongoing criminal enterprise. A federal district court, however, strongly
disagreed, and granted summary judgment for the defense on both the RICO and
defamation claims. Berkman Center clinical students assisted defense
counsel with research and drafting of the dispositive summary judgment
memoranda.
<http://www.med.uscourts.gov/Opinions/Carter/2006/
GC_01032006_2-04cv103_Gentle_Wind_v_Garvey.pdf>
For more information on the Clinical Program, or to determine if the Clinic
might be able to assist with a particular high-tech legal issue:
<http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/home/clinical>
[3] NETWORKED: PAPERS, BOOKMARKS, WEBCASTS, PODCASTS, TAGS, AND BLOGPOSTS
Links to Berkman conversations happening online
=======================================================================
=
*INTERNET GOVERNANCE*
ARTICLE: "Without a Net," Jonathan Zittrain: <http://
www.legalaffairs.org/issues/January-February-2006/
feature_zittrain_janfeb06.msp>
PAPER: Beyond Internet Governance: The Emerging International Framework for
Governing the Networked World, Mary Rundle:
<http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=870059>
PAPER: Regulating Search? Call for a Second Look, Urs Gasser: <http://
blogs.law.harvard.edu/ugasser/2005/11/30#a382>
THREAD: The Commonwealth's ODF Forum, Dec. 14, Berkman Blog:
<http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/home/home?
wid=10&func=viewSubmission&sid=881>
BLOGPOST: ICANN: How to listen to the individual Internet user, Wendy
Seltzer <http://wendy.seltzer.org/blog/archives/2005/12/08/
icann_how_to_listen_to_the_individual_internet_user.html>
BLOGPOST: What a Network Neutrality Rule wants, David Isenberg :
<http://isen.com/blog/2005/12/what-network-neutrality-rule-wants.html>
PLAYLIST: Free Culture and Municipal Wi-Fi, Jonah Bossewitch: <http://
h2obeta.law.harvard.edu/73538>
WEBCASTS: David Weinberger and David Isenberg at Oxford Internet Institute,
<http://webcast.oii.ox.ac.uk/>
*CITIZEN MEDIA AND JOURNALISM*
BLOGPOST: Why the media can't get Wikipedia right, David Weinberger :
<http://www.hyperorg.com/backissues/joho-dec29-05.html#wikipedia>
BLOGPOST: Global Voices Summit: Emergence of a Conversation Community,
Rebecca MacKinnon <http://rconversation.blogs.com/rconversation/2005/12/
the_aftermath_g.html>
BLOGPOST: Thoughts on the Future of Journalism, Rebecca MacKinnon
<http://rconversation.blogs.com/rconversation/2005/12/
thoughts_on_the.html>
LINK: Toot, <http://www.itoot.net/>
*DIGITAL MEDIA*
PAPER: Consumer Taste Sharing Is Driving the Online Music Business and
Democratizing Culture, Mike McGuire and Derek Slater: <http://
cyber.law.harvard.edu/home/uploads/511/11-ConsumerTasteSharing.pdf>
PLAYLIST: A Playlist About Music Playlists and Other Taste-Sharing Tools,
Derek Slater: <http://h2obeta.law.harvard.edu/74724>
PAPER: Catch-As-Catch-Can: A Case Note on Grokster, Urs Gasser and John G.
Palfrey, Jr.
<http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?
abstract_id=869030#PaperDownload>
BLOGPOST: Getting OPML, John Palfrey:
<http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/palfrey/2006/01/04#a1030>
[4] COMMUNITY LINKS:
featuring our affiliates and friends
============================================
"Will Fair Use Survive?" (Free Expression Policy Project at NYU's School of
Law) by Marjorie Heins and Tricia Beckles: http://
www.fepproject.org/policyreports/WillFairUseSurvive.pdf>
CC in Review: Lawrence Lessig on Final Thoughts: <http://
creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/5743>
Open Internet Discussion Paper, Public Knowledge: <http://
www.publicknowledge.org/content/papers/20051201-open-internet-summary>
Public Knowledge Policy Blog: <http://www.publicknowledge.org/blogs/
policy>
Electronic Frontier Foundation Action Center: <http://action.eff.org/
site/PageServer?pagename=ADV_homepage>
Center for Social Media "Future of Public Media Project": <http://
www.centerforsocialmedia.org/future.htm>
Stanford Center for Internet & Society blog: <http://
cyberlaw.stanford.edu/blogs/>
Oxford Internet Institute: <http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/>
Generation PRX, PRX's youth project: <http://generation.prx.org/>
Global Voices Online World Blog Aggregator: <http://www.bloglines.com/
public/globalvoicesonline>
[5] STAYING CONNECTED:
how to find out about Berkman's weekly events
=====================================================
* We webcast every Tuesday Luncheon Speakers event. Luncheon Series
events start at 12:30 pm Eastern Standard Time. The webcast link is
<http://harmony.law.harvard.edu/luncheon.sdp> The Berkman homepage
features next week's guest speakers every Thursday. Tune in!
* The Berkman Center sends out an events email every Wednesday. If
you'd like to be notified of upcoming events - virtual and otherwise
- please sign up by emailing amichel at cyber.law.harvard.edu.
* Future events are listed on the Berkman public calendar. It is
available here: <https://cyber.law.harvard.edu/calendar/month.php>
[6] FILTER FACTS
================
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Editor: Amanda Michel
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