Berkman Buzz, week of January 19

A look at the past week's online Berkman conversations.  If you'd like to receive this by email, just sign up here.

What's going on... take your pick or browse below.

*Ethan Zuckerman looks abroad for "activist inspiration."
*Rebecca MacKinnon responds to CDT/BSR's recent announcement.
*David Weinberger looks for the latest tool of democracy.
*William McGeveran talks injunctions, leaks, and their international effects.
*Doc Searls shares his thoughts on Apple's iPhone.
*Dan Gillmor on "Pay-for-Play" Blogging
*John Palfrey talks about the quest to improve politcs.

The Full Buzz:

"I used my (brief) lunchtime talk to try to get some of the attendees focused on the way political activists in the US and the developing world could learn from one another. I tried to make the point that this learning needed to be symetrical - it’s a mistake to assume that American activists will always be teaching developing world activists to use tools developed for the US, and it’s a missed opportunity for US activists not to learn from activists in developing nations.

I outlined four projects that I take inspiration from..."
Ethan Zuckerman, "Looking beyond the US for activist inspiration"

"I won't stop being critical when and where deserved, but I do believe that Google, Yahoo!, and Microsoft are to be commended for taking all the criticism directed at them seriously enough to send representatives to discussions where human rights groups and socially responsible investment funds have been asking Internet and telecoms companies to set ethical standards and draw "red lines" that their global operations would not be permitted to cross.

This is not only the right thing to do, but these three U.S.-based firms plus the European Vodaphone all recognize that in the long run ethical business is smart business: if your users can't trust you to do all you can to uphold their interests and rights, you will be hard-pressed to retain customers globally. When a company is known to be colluding with state censorship in one country, that tarnishes its credibility in other markets. And when another firm hands political dissidents over to the police in one jurisdiction, its users elsewhere will think twice about using its services..."
Rebecca MacKinnon, "Google, Yahoo! and display some cahones"

"...So, here's my question: Most of the attendees are progressives, although some are non-partisan. But even the people behind the non-partisan services tend to be left-leaning. Yet what these folks are devoting their time to building are tools that help all citizens no matter how they lean—seeing patterns of private infliuence on public events, exposing corruption. Why is it that these tools for a better democracy are coming from the left? Or are there similar tools developed by the right that I don't know about?"
David Weinberger, "Why are the tools for open democracy coming from the Left?"

"...So, how can we have a world where the good of helping anonymous dissidents in China can coexist with the (arguably) bad of leaking confidential court documents or even private information the same way? How can we decide what information is in the public interest and what information rightfully remains sealed? That’s a big question. The general answer is that we must rely on sensible, nuanced, and rigorously checked systems at the disclosure points. More specifically, to go back to Zyprexa, courts should enter confidentiality orders with care and under well-considered standards to balance protection of the public interest, privacy, and the smooth functioning of discovery and other functions of the civil litigation system. Sealing orders should not be, as too often they are, routine ministerial matters. Finally, there should be real penalties, not wrist-slaps, for violating a conscientiously considered order."
William McGeveran, "Courts, Injunctions and WikiLinks"

"...Backlash by the customersphere, the journalsphere and the developersphere to news that the iPhone is closed is a huge gift to the iPhone's many new competitors. The market points to a clear and wide opening both for product differentiation and for giving customers what they want.

Which is an open phone.

It is time for an equipment maker to not only make an open phone that is open to all kinds of development, but to turn their carriers into 'dumb pipes' for their own good..."
Doc Searls, "oPhone"

"...Like most people with some old-school journalistic values — you know, the ones like thoroughness, accuracy, fairness et al — the pay-for-play system is not my idea of a great plan. Another flaw, besides the questionable equating of value with readership, is that the placement on the page has a lot to do with how many people read something. Bury any story, in print or online, and you’ll just about guarantee that it won’t be well-read.

But the system is in some ways inevitable..."
Dan Gillmor, "Connecting Readership with Pay"

"...One of the primary questions that the Sunlight Foundation’s work raises, and the subject of this meeting, is one that is core also to the work of the Berkman Center. Are people using Internet in a way that improves politics? Put another way, are people using Internet in a manner that strengthens democracies? The answer lies in the distributed group of people, some right here in this room today, and in other rooms like it around the world. The answer is that it’s 'you.' Time Magazine got it right.

But there’s a ton of work still to be done.  For those on the contemplative end of the scale, there are also a lot of puzzles to be worked out. Three things on my mind by way of issues that one might consider in the context of this big topic..."
John Palfrey, "Sunlight Foundation Event On MLK, Jr., Day at HLS"