Berkman Buzz, week of September 24

BERKMAN BUZZ: A look at the past week's online Berkman conversations
The Berkman Center for Internet & Society, Harvard Law School
Week of September 24, 2007.

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

*Ethan Zuckerman stands up for One Laptop Per Child
*Wendy Seltzer critiques the Harvard Coop’s intellectual property claims
*Open Net Initiative: How Secret Must Surveillance Be?
*Derek Bambauer describes trademark trouble for an unintended insult
*Citizen Media Law Center: Texas Judge Orders Discovery of Anonymous Blogger's Identity
*Weekly Global Voice: Myanmar: Voices from the Region

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The full buzz.

“The One Laptop Per Child team has responded to a good idea offered by countless bloggers, well-wishers, critics and journalists: sell the XO-1 laptop to the general public in a way that helps subsidize uptake of the device in the developing world. Nicholas Negroponte has announced a program called ‘Give 1 Get 1,’ which will allow people in the US and Canada to pay $399, and receive a laptop. The laptop costs approximately $188 to produce, which means that the remaining $211 subsidizes the purchase of an additional laptop for use in the developing world.”
Ethan Zuckerman, “G1G1 is a good idea. And, for the record, so is OLPC”

“The Crimson has been reporting on the Harvard Coop’s silly claims of 'intellectual property' against those who come to the bookstore to compare prices. It’s escalated all the way to calling the cops, who wisely refused to throw students out of the store. A terrific clinical student at the Berkman Center helped us to write an op-ed on the limits of copyright, which the Crimson ran today."
Wendy Seltzer, "Has Common Sense Flown the Coop: No copyright claims to book prices"

“According to Haaretz.com, the Movement for Freedom of Information in Israel has obtained evidence that cell phone licenses in Israel ‘contain a secret codicil requiring them to give the Shin Bet security service information about conversations and messages that its customers transmit on their cell phones,’ and a similar clause allows Shin Bet to access information about Internet communications.  The fact that the very clause requiring cell phone and Internet service providers to cooperate with government requests for secret illustrates an increasing trend to maintain secrecy not only about the specifics of ongoing surveillance programs but also as to the very existence of those programs.”  
Open Net Initiative, “How Secret Must Surveillance Be?”


“One of my former Trademarks students, Sonja Markwart, notes that local coffee chain Beaner’s Coffee is changing its name to Biggby Coffee (does the extra G stand for ‘extra good’?). Why? Turns out ‘beaner’ is a slur (though not a well-known one) that maligns Hispanics. (I didn’t know this, and I drove in Boston traffic for ten years, so I’ve been exposed to virtually every extant derogatory remark.) The alteration lets the company keep its logo – a black B in an orange box – although whether loyal customers will be confused is still an open question. It’s costing the company a cool million bucks to re-brand.”
Derek Bambauer, “Using Your Bean?”
 
“A recent case from Texas highlights the difficulty of identifying the correct legal standard for determining when a court should order disclosure of the identity of an anonymous person engaging in speech on the Internet. In June 2007, a subsidiary of Essent Healthcare, Inc. filed suit in Texas state court against an anonymous blogger and an undefined number of anonymous posters to his blog. Essent's petition contains claims for defamation, trade disparagement, breach of contract, and breach of the duty of loyalty.”
Sam Bayard, “Texas Judge Orders Discovery of Anonymous Blogger's Identity”

“Myanmar's government is warning the protesters to stay off the streets following a large demonstration in Yangon yesterday. The protesters are being led by monks and they are demanding more freedom and roll-back of price hikes announced earlier this month. Bloggers from the neighboring countries are posting their thoughts and support.”
Preetam Rai, “Myanmar: Voices from the Region”