Berkman Buzz, week of October 8

BERKMAN BUZZ: A look at the past week's online Berkman conversations
Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School
Week of October 8, 2007.

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

* David Isenberg provides a concise history of net neutrality
* OpenNet Initiative: EU interior ministers discuss proposal to sanction or block websites
* Doc Searls links health care to vendor relationship management
* Internet & Democracy: Myanmar’s ‘Dictator’s Dilemma’?
* danah boyd discusses her unintentional marketing savvy
* Citizen Media Law Project: Justice Thomas's Myopic View of the Internet
* Weekly Global Voice: Blogger Flees Uganda After Threats

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The full buzz.

“Last Friday morning I was part of a panel on Network Neutrality at the annual NATOA conference. NATOA is the "National Association of Telecommunications Operators and Administrators." Its members are mostly municipal employees who operate their town government's telephone systems, Internet systems and information systems.  My fellow panelists were Josh Silver, co-founder of Free Press, and Matt Wenger, President of The Americas for Packetfront. The panel was ably moderated by Ken Fellman, Mayor of Arvada, Colorado and long-time telecom activist.”
David Isenberg, “My NATOA Talk on Network Neutrality”

“EU is moving to build online barriers to Internet sites spreading ‘terrorist propaganda’ and bomb-making recipes. The governments are pressing for adopting strong security measures against terrorism or activities that aim at facilitating crime, while critics caution that some of the proposed measures could lead to censorship and privacy invasion. In early November, EU Justice and Security Commissioner Franco Frattini plans to submit to the Member States a package of proposals aimed at introducing new counterterrorist measures including technology to block ‘terrorist’ Web sites and plans to incriminate online recruitment of terrorists.”
OpenNet Initiative, “EU interior ministers discuss on proposals to sanction or block Web sites”

“Putting patients in control of their own health care data is a Good Thing. Each of us should have the means to accumulate and store personal health care data as we move through various care systems, from routine interactions with doctors to emergency room visits to relations between ourselves and the insurance companies, hospitals, schools and other institutions that have a bureaucratic interest in our health.  I believe that many of our health care problems, including the high number of people killed each year by bad or absent data, can only be solved by a fully decentralized system, rather than by a centralized one (or ones) run by governments, businesses, or some combination of both.”
Doc Searls, “Health care or Health snare?”

“In 1993, Christopher Kedzie wrote that an increase in the relevance of digital/networked technologies will force repressive regimes to face a ‘Dictator’s Dilemma’, where they will have to choose between open communications (encouraging economic development) and closed communications (controlling ‘dangerous’ ideas). Based on last week’s events in Myanmar, where the Junta simply shut off the Internet in response to the worldwide transmission of words, pictures, and film of their repressive actions, it is easy to say that one of the world’s most repressive regimes has no qualms about shirking economic development in favor of complete control.”
Internet & Democracy, “Myanmar’s ‘Dictator’s Dilemma’?”

“This morning, I spoke on a panel at the Retail Industry Leaders Association. The day before, a guy from Unilever gave a presentation on what happens when users take up your content and spread it all across the web. He was invited to be on the panel at the last moment because of a cancellation and because his presentation was so well received with regards to Web 2.0. Right before we go on, I'm informed that the guy from Unilever was talking about the Dove Evolution campaign that was spread all over YouTube.  This is the moment where I went white.  Y'see... I played a role in that.”
danah boyd, “my role in a marketer's dream”

“Timed to coincide with the release of Justice Clarence Thomas’s autobiography, the First Amendment Center today published an online symposium concerning Justice Thomas’s First Amendment jurisprudence. Erwin Chemerinsky of Duke Law School, Geoffrey Stone of the University of Chicago Law School, and Supreme Court practitioner Tom Goldstein are among the scholars and practitioners who scrutinized Justice Thomas’s thoughts on a variety of free speech issues, from commercial speech to campaign finance.”
David Ardia, “Justice Thomas's Myopic View of the Internet”

“Ugandan blogger and radio personality Dennis Matanda's provocative opinions on African culture, Idi Amin and recolonization have been covered on Global Voices before. Dennis caused another stir last month when he posted on his blog under the title “How to Be Dead.” The post chronicled the radio show, ensuing threats and frightening act of vandalism leading up to his flight from Uganda, a decision met with a mixture of support, bemusement and skepticism by his fellow blogren.”
Rebekah Heacock, “Blogger Flees Uganda After Threats”