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Berkman Buzz: Week of September 13, 2010

BERKMAN BUZZ: A look at the past week's online Berkman conversations
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What's being discussed...take your pick or browse below.

* Jonathan Zittrain observes the network neutrality debates.
* David Weinberger interviews Google's Rick Whitt on net neutrality.
* Radio Berkman 162: "Lessig & Zittrain Take On...Competition"
* Ethan Zuckerman blogs Eric von Hippel's talk on user and collaborative innovation.
* Berkman Center alum Rebecca MacKinnon comments on Microsoft in Russia.
* Weekly Global Voices: "Brazil: Jornal do Brasil Quits Print and Goes Online"
* A year ago in the Buzz: "Capital, Power, and the Next Step in Decentralization"

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The full buzz.

"Now the FCC has re-entered the picture with its September “further inquiry,” and done so with a deft touch. First, by seeking additional comments, the document makes it clear that its “NPRM” — a proceeding to craft rules to promote an open Internet that many thought the Comcast decision had derailed — is still alive. Exactly how any rules will be made is not discussed; instead, the FCC notes the areas where consensus has been reached: some conception of net neutrality is a good idea, at least on non-wireless platforms; that network practices should be disclosed; that net neurality shouldn’t preclude reasonable network management practices by ISPs; and that case-by-case, flexible adjudication beats lengthy and complex rules."
From Jonathan Zittrain's blog post Net neutrality: the FCC takes back the ball

(Bonus: all of the posts from Concurring Opinions' recent symposium on Professor Zittrain's The Future of the Internet )

"Rick Whitt, a Google lawyer and lobbyist, helped negotiate the highly controversial Google-Verizon framework proposal for Net neutrality. I got a chance to interview him and asked him about it...Two notes: 1. I apologize for the awful camera work; I couldn’t see the screen of the device I was using, plus I suck at this. 2. I’ve known Rick for a few years and count him as a friend who I enjoy spending time with when I run into him."
From David Weinberger's blog post Rick Whitt on Googizon

Last week Radio Berkman returned from summer vacation with a big new episode in which Professors Lessig and Zittrain think through the Microsoft antitrust case and its implications for the current technology competition landscape...
Radio Berkman 162: Lessig & Zittrain Take On...Competition
More episodes of Radio Berkman

"To explain his body of work, von Hippel explains that he’s tried to bring thinking about the communications space into the world of physical things, examining how processes we think of as affecting digital media can also apply to other forms of innovation. Today’s talk introduces a national survey of innovation carried out by customers – there’s 2-3 times more innovation from consumers than there is from the industry. This counters our traditional thinking about innovation. We generally believe that manufacturers dominate innovation – users satisfy their own, personal needs, but manufacturers can spread costs across customers, allowing for innovation that serves wider audiences. As a result, our understanding of intellectual property tends to protect manufacturers, not users. If we think about the emergence of markets over time, at the beginning of markets, there are very few users, which gives manufacturers little reason to innovate, and lots of reason for users to innovate."
From Ethan Zuckerman's blog post Eric von Hippel and 2.9 million British innovators

"Many companies go on the defensive or go into denial mode, head-in-the-sand mode, and even petulant adolescent mode when confronted by reports like this one in the Sunday New York Times. Not Microsoft. In the face of clear evidence that Microsoft has been used by Russian authorities to crack down on activists under a thinly veiled pretext of intellectual property enforcement, Microsoft reacted in a grown-up, responsible manner. Senior Vice President and General Counsel Brad Smith wrote a long blog post the very next day in which Microsoft accepted full responsibility and accountability for what has happened in Russia, launched an independent investigation, and announced that Microsoft will release a free blanket license for use of Microsoft software by non governmental organizations and take further measures to prevent authorities from raiding NGO offices on vague allegations of using pirated Microsoft software."
From Rebecca MacKinnon's blog post Microsoft's Russia problem highlights a bigger problem

"On August 31st, 2010, Jornal do Brasil (JB) announced the end of its printed edition and the migration to an 100% online version. The owner of the newspaper, Nelson Tanure, as well as the last editorials were praising the initiative as a step forward on the way of the future, while on the other hand, the employees were protesting against what could be the first step on the way of the definitive close down of one of the oldest Brazilian newspapers. Founded in 1891, JB was among the most important newspapers in Brazil at the end of the 19th century and for most of the 20th century. It was also the first newspaper to go online in the country, in 1995."
From Raphael Tsavkko Garcia's blog post for Global Voices, Brazil: Jornal do Brasil Quits Print and Goes Online

"The core attribute of the networked information environment has been the radical decentralization of the capital structure of information, knowledge, and cultural production. Beginning in the second quarter of the 19th century, the expansion of markets and polities combined with the development of capital intensive information production technologies like mechanical presses and processes like the professionalized press, to drive effective engagement in information production and exchange toward an industrial model. From double-entry bookkeeping to the major accounting firms; from the telegraph to the mainframe; and from the phonograph to 24 hour cable channel; information production and exchange centered around an industrial model, driven by the need to secure and sustain substantial, concentrated funding. The personal computer connected to the Internet changed the basic model of capitalization of information, knowledge, and cultural production."
From Yochai Benkler's essay on Publius.cc, Capital, Power, and the Next Step in Decentralization [originally included in the Berkman Buzz in September 2009]

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The weekly Berkman Buzz is selected from the posts of Berkman Center people and projects: http://cyber.harvard.edu/planet/current/

Suggestions and feedback about the Buzz are always welcome and can be emailed to syoung@cyber.harvard.edu