Skip to the main content

Berkman Buzz: Week of February 22, 2010

BERKMAN BUZZ: A look at the past week's online Berkman conversations
If you would like to receive the Buzz weekly via email, please sign up here.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

What's being discussed...take your pick or browse below.

Essential reading: * Ethan Zuckerman problematizes censorship circumvention systems.
* Chilling Effects witnesses the Microsoft/Cryptome collision.
* Donnie Dong on China's newest website registration requirement.
* Has the CMLP found a new test for Section 230 of the CDA?
* ProjectVRM surfaces a conversation on geocasting.
* danah boyd shares her perspective on Chatroulette.
* David Weinberger waves a terse goodbye to the information age.
* Weekly Global Voices: "Macedonia: Grassroots Effort to Preserve Folk Music Online"
* Dan Gillmor insists on journalism as ecosystem.
* Christian Sandvig kvetches about video game criticism.
* A year ago in the Buzz: "Join the herd!"

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The full buzz.

"I strongly believe that we need strong, anonymized and useable censorship circumvention tools. But I also believe that we need lots more than censorship circumvention tools, and I fear that both funders and technologists may overfocus on this one particular aspect of internet freedom at the expense of other avenues. I wonder whether we’re looking closely enough at the fundamental limitations of circumvention as a strategy and asking ourselves what we’re hoping internet freedom will do for users in closed societies. So here’s a provocation: We can’t circumvent our way around internet censorship."
From Ethan Zuckerman's blog post Internet Freedom: Beyond Circumvention

"Network Solutions has taken the Cryptome website down after receiving a DMCA takedown notice from Microsoft claiming copyright infringement. Microsoft objects to the publication of a handbook provided to law enforcement describing what information the service keeps on its users and what legal steps are required to obtain that information. However, its takedown of the well-known web site may have effect of increasing the number of people who read the document."
From David Abrams' blog post for Chilling Effects, Microsoft Invokes DMCA to Take Down Cyptome.org, then Relents

"“Registration” is a premising procedure for setting up a website in China. The information required in the registration includes the domain name, the IP address of the hosting server, the brief introduction of the website’s intended content, the owner/operator’s true name and Chinese citizen ID number, address and other contacts. Although the regulation uses the term of “registration” but not “license”, it is actually a compulsive requirement for any websites."
From Donnie Dong's blog post Wanna setup a Personal Website in China? BEING TAKEN A Portrait Please.

"The premise for this website is brilliant, even if potentially a litigation risk. PleaseRobMe.com ("PRM") aggregates Twitter posts indicating that the Tweeter in question is not at home. The folks at PRM aren't doing anything sneaky or hacker-like—they're just doing a simple Twitter search of anyone using foursquare.com—a site that lets Tweeters post their locations on a street map. The only thing that PRM is adding to the mix is framing content that snarkily suggests that these Tweeters aren't home, and thus, perhaps, would be good targets for robbery."
From Arthur Bright's blog post for CMLP, Please Sue Me: Is "Please Rob Me" A New Test for Section 230?

"The following excerpts a recent Project VRM Conversation on Geocasting — the ability to share your location data with the world, how you could optionally share it, and how it could be abused. A thread on privacy developed as often happens in these discussions about the ongoing digitization of our thoughts, movements, and actions. On Sun, Feb 21, 2010 at 7:45 AM, [Doc Searls] wrote: "This is a good thread. Thanks to all who are weighing in. I believe the fundamental problem — and opportunity — lies in the near-absolute difference between physical and virtual space. Privacy, as we’ve always understood it, is a physical thing."
From the ProjectVRM blog post Geocasting

"What I like most about the site is the fact that there’s only so much you can hide. This isn’t a place where police officers can pretend to be teen girls. This isn’t a place where you feel forced to stick around; you can move on and no one will know the difference. If someone doesn’t strike your fancy, move on. And on. And on."
From danah boyd's blog post ChatRoulette, from my perspective

"Just a terminological note: Over the past decade, we’ve gone from talking about social circles to social networks..."
From David Weinberger's blog post From circles to networks

"Appreciation of folk music has been a distinguishing feature of the Macedonian culture, and thanks to selfless efforts of one dedicated blogger it spreads through the blogosphere, too. As part of the world heritage, traditional Macedonian music has been enjoyed and reused world over, sometimes without attribution."
From Filip Stojanovski's blog post for Global Voices, Macedonia: Grassroots Effort to Preserve Folk Music Online

"The Polk awards have been ahead of the game in recent years. Two, notably, have recognized that journalism has moved squarely into the Digital Age, even though most of the kinds of journalism achievements that win big prizes — notably investigative reports — continue to be done by organizations willing to spend serious money and devote serious time to the efforts."
From Dan Gillmor's blog post The Old Guard Misses, Again, the Emerging Journalism Ecosystem

"I’ve always liked the kind of manliness that Esquire tries to evoke. The Esquire man wants to read advice about cufflinks, politeness, and how to order fancy drinks. Yet video games are now well established as a common domain of men–not boys–and it still isn’t clear how an Esquire man would play them, or comment on them."
From Christian Sandvig's blog post The Esquire gamer never shoots for the face.

"The folks at the Herdict project, a new effort being launched at the Berkman Center today, are interested in a different way of documenting web filtering and censorship. They’re asking users around the world to use the Herdict site or toolbar to report when they’re having trouble reaching a site. Herdict will coordinate reports and attempt to determine whether a site is being blocked by a government, an ISP or whether there’s a technical failure that’s preventing people from accessing a site."
From Ethan Zuckerman's blog post Join the herd! [originally included in the Berkman Buzz in February 2009]