Berkman Center for Internet & Society

Release of iTunes Case Study

The Berkman Center's Digital Media Project Team has just released a new Case Study that examines the legal foundation of Apple's online music store, iTunes.  The Study analyzes the interplay between contract law, copyright, and DRM, and it also investigates how this legal foundation is likely to fare in other jurisdictions, such as in the EU and Japan, which have different regulatory guidelines for copyright and contract.  Read an overview of the research and download the Study from the iTunes Case Study website.  We have released the Case Study as a Green Paper because we welcome comments and feedback (email: digital-media AT cyber.law.harvard.edu).

Vigilante Justice Online

Fraud, misuse, and exploitation online has pushed some frustrated Internet users to take justice into their own hands.  Increasingly private individuals are enforcing their own ideas about the "law" online.  Websites like perverted-justice.com and self-appointed eBay "cops" are filling the gaps where no regulatory agency, government, or committee currently police behavior.  In this weekend's New York Times story, Berkman Center Prof.

FRAMED!! How Law Constructs and Constrains Culture, 4/2/04

The Arts Project at Duke's Center for the Study of the Public Domain presents FRAMED!! How Law Constructs and Constrains Culture on Friday April 2, 2004, 10am-5:30pm at Duke Law School, Room 3043, Durham, NC, supported by the Rockefeller Foundation.  This conference, held in association with Full Frame, the premier documentary film festival in the United States, examines the impact of intellectual property law on documentary filmmaking and music.

Privacy and Security: Technology, Policy, and Society, April 22-23

The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study and The Division of Engineering and Applied Science at Harvard University present "Privacy and Security: Technology, Policy, and Society" on April 22-23, 2004 at Maxwell Dworkin, 33 Oxford Street in Cambridge.

The Legacy of WSIS

State Governments Embrace Open Source

The Government Open Code Collaborative (GOCC) -- a partnership of state and local governments -- was launched earlier this month to pioneer the shared use of open source software.  The initiative, prompted by Massachusetts state IT officials who were frustrated about the inability to share code within the public sector, involves building an Internet repository for such common applications as systems to automate drivers-license testing, management of incarcerated populations, and on-line permitting.

Sounds of Bloggers Typing: SXSW

AudioBerkman traveled to SXSW Interactive last week to record what happens when online communities converge in real space.  We talked with bloggers, Friendsters, and Craigslisters to learn more.  A full-feature piece will be available later in the week, but in the meantime, we filed this audio-postcard that aired today on NPR's noon show, Day to Day.  Click here to listen to the broadcast (scroll to the bottom).  Stay tuned for more from AudioBerkman about the conference.

iCommons in China

Clinical students Yuanshi Bu and Jinfei Zhang are assisting iCommons director Christiane Asschenfeldt and project leader Mao Xianghui to "port" Creative Commons licenses to China.

Evolving Media - JOLT Annual Symposium This Weekend

On March 19th and 20th, Harvard Law School's Journal of Law and Technology hosts Evolving Media: Emerging Distribution Technologies, and the Legal Response, at Langdell Hall.

Music for the Masses

A track from the controversial Grey Album blared over the speakers as the audience entered the conference hall.

We Hate Spam

The Future of Wireless Devices

Industry leaders and scholars discussed the Future of Wireless Devices on a panel at South by Southwest Interactive yesterday.  Discussion centered on the range possibilities in both the future of devices, including better phones and networked medical devices, and in utilization of bandwidth, including available spectrum for delivering data across the digital divide.  Panelists noted that reaching this potential will hinge on questions like standardization and future regulation.  The divide between potential and actuality of wireless technology was clear as we sat in the audience: despite good WiFi signals in the conference rooms, cords from laptops still overloaded outlets and power strips.

"Is it the machine, or is it the vertical application of the machine?"

James DeGraw of Ropes & Gray joined us today to discuss "The Impact of Software Patents on Technology Practice." The main focus was the case State Street Bank & Trust Co.

Berkman Center Fills Harvard Law Bulletin's Pages

The Spring 2004 edition of the Harvard Law Bulletin features the Berkman Center and its faculty throughout the issue.

Day Two -- The Internet at its Political Tipping Point

On the Ground at South by Southwest

This weekend, some of the biggest names in blogging, Internet innovation, and wireless technology have converged on the Austin Convention Center for South by Southwest Interactive.

Barlow and Fisher to Speak on Entertainment Business Today

From 1-4:30pm today, the HLS Committee on Sports and Entertainment Law hosts "Corporate Consolidation and the Business of Entertainment" at Austin West, Harvard Law School.

"If the Law Is Not Consistent, It Loses Strength"

Today, Professor Jean Nicolas Druey (Emeritus of the University of St.

Maclay: Higher Education Will Spur Innovation

Recently, Berkman Fellow Colin Maclay spoke on a panel that examined venture capital, entrepreneurship and technology in emerging markets at Harvard’s annual Social Enterprise Conference.

VoIP: Packets are Packets are Packets

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) has generated considerable attention in recent months as telecom giants like Comcast, Time Warner, and AT&T have announced plans to expand services that use Internet channels for transmitting phone calls.  Expansion of the service still hinges on several tough legal questions, like how the service will be regulated.  Will VoIP be treated as an information service or as a public utility like traditional telephone companies, which are subject to heavier fees and regulatory constraints?  "VoIP in the Crosshairs," a story in Government Technology, investigates these questions and enlists the legal expertise of Berkman Center Fellow Andrew McLaughlin.