Assignment 3 Details and Links

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Overview

This assignment encompasses an audiovisual work of your creation. The work could be an audio file (such as a podcast or song), a video (such as a remix or animation), or a compelling image (such as a mindmap or photo montage). There is a 10 minute maximum for audio and video, but content is much more important than length (a compelling 2-minute audio interview would be great). Whichever format you choose, your assignment should somehow fit in to one or more of the course's six broad thematic areas. Ideally, this assignment would relate somehow to your group presentation and final project. Unlike the other individual assignments, this one may be done in pairs.

Upon completion of the project, you must include a one paragraph write-up describing how your work relates to the course.

Possible ideas include:

  • An audio podcast or video interview with someone doing influential work in a related field
  • A video medley and/or remix related to any one or more of the themes
  • A podcast show where participants debate a topic related to the course
  • A mindmap image that charts out a policy debate or domain
  • A photo montage portraying a particular theme of the course
  • A short film related to one or more of the themes
  • A song or musical work drawing from various samples such as those on Freesound
  • A song with lyrics related to themes of the course
  • A visualization, perhaps using Many Eyes

Submission

If you have the ability to post your work online, you should link to it below along with your explantory paragraph. If not, we'll be posting mechanisms for you to upload your work shortly.

Examples of online services you may use to post your work include:

Video:

Audio:

Image:

Tools and Tutorials

Examples of Finished Products

(some of these are more highly produced or effort-intensive than your projects need be, but they should give you a sense for what finished pieces look like)

Submissions

  • Please link to your submission here with your one-paragraph description

Widespread availability of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have made possible that citizens become economically active in collaborative and peer production networks, and develop new forms of Social Capital. ICTs also may strongly exclude a large group of citizens who are not computer literate or don’t have access to technology. The exclusion happens not only in developing countries. In this regard it is interesting to explore if access to ICTs should be a regulated by government to ensure equal opportunity. Should a Digital Citizenship be regarded as the ability to participate in the new non-market processes and assets? Related to this issue, I would propose to review the positive effects of the development of Social Capital using ICTs and the negative effects of exclusion. This should give us an idea of the desirability of regulation from governments.

Link to the submission: Oscar.howell/Social Capital and Digital Citizenship

Oscar 13:54, 9 March 2008 (EDT)

Sam Bayard: This is an interesting topic, and you've clearly done a lot of research and put a lot of thought into your work. But what you have submitted does not fit into the category of audiovisual work, so it's hard to evaluate. Looks like you've got a good start on a paper if that's what you choose to do for the final project.

  • Mind Map of Internet Economics and Entrepreneurship

This mind map includes the concepts, facts and ideas behind the internet economics. The objective is to summarize the information in a way that is easy to understand and to provide a starting point for further research. The transition from the central topic to its ramifications should be smooth and clear. An attempt was made to stand in an entrepreneurial point of view.

Mind Map Internet Economics and Entrepreneurship

--Andre Monteiro 10:04, 10 March 2008 (EDT)

Sam Bayard: This is a smart, well-researched, and neatly put together mind map. You've managed to present a complex and chaotic reality in an orderly and comprehensible way, and I appreciate the level of detail. It's a good platform for further endeavors.

I plan to use a mind map to show the complex relationship of balancing the regulation of intellectual property on the internet. Are digital rights management(DRM) programs fair to those who pay for music? Should bit torrent programs be allowed to access material that is copyrighted? Is it possible to fairly regulate IP issues on the internet? Can a balance be reached between the artist and consumer?

GJ

  • A Mind Map on e-Commerce and Regulatory Laws

My assignment #3 submission is a Mind Map titled “A Mind Map on e-Commerce and Regulatory Laws.” In essence e-Commerce can be defined as commercial activities conducted over the Internet. E-Commerce is also a body of knowledge under the subject of economics and commerce and is very much driven by technological advancement of the Internet. Commercial activities are increasingly being carried out in cyberspace; from buying and selling traditional goods and services to other non-traditional activities like online auction and gambling. Purpose of this Mind Map is to identify various regulatory laws related to e-Commerce for further research.

The Mind Map software tool I used is Microsoft Office Visio. After completion of the mind map I converted the Visio file into a Word document for easy viewing. During the mapping exercise I found that mind map is an excellent way to structure a conceptual framework for exploration of a key subject. A bubble represents a key word or a key area of study. My mind map is very much inspired by Lessig’s model of 4 forces with respect to the Internet. The main central key word in the mind map is ‘Internet.’ From “Internet’ I then branched out to ‘Economics’ then to ‘E-Commerce.’ From there I ventured into other key areas like Business Models, eBanking, Payment systems, Financial transactions, International Legislation and Intellectual Properties. These key words allowed me to further drill down to identify the related regulatory laws. The blue bubbles are my current focus of interest. On the left bottom corner of the map ‘Society’ is also identified as an area of potential attention as I believe collaborative activities will eventually have an impact on e-Commerce and its related regulatory laws.

Image:A Mind Map on e-Commerce and the Regulatory Laws.doc

William Tam

--Williamctam 10:26, 10 March 2008 (EDT)

Sam Bayard: This is a remarkably ambitious project, as it is difficult for even an experienced Internet lawyer to get his/her head around how all the different legal and regulatory regimes relevant to e-commerce fit together, not to mention how this meshes with politics, society, social networking, etc.. That said, you did a good job getting a lot of ideas on paper, and many of the linkages seem descriptively accurate. I have a few concerns. It seems awkward to me that "Legislation" (including the DMCA) and "Cyberlaw" are separated off from "Intellectual Property." I'm also not sure how "Filtering" fits in under "Social Networking." But in your main area of concern -- e-commerce -- you have a good grasp of many of the issues. This is a good start. I'll be interested to see where you take it from here.

My visualization shows the disparity in global internet usage penetration (roll over countries to see their percentages). Despite the omnipresence of the internet in America and much of the developed world, the fact remains that the majority of the world’s population is not online. For example, the world’s two most populous countries, China and India, have penetration rates of 15.9 and 5.3%, respectively. A country’s gross domestic product plays a significant role in a country’s internet penetration rate, but other factors like political stability, government regulation and infrastructures can also affect it, as the penetration rate spread in Southeast Asia might suggest (see also Factors Affecting Internet Development - an Asian Survey). The main question I hope my visualization will raise is, how will the world change as more of its citizens connect to the Internet? Two of the presumed benefits of the internet that we have discussed in class are the potential to empower individuals and to increase democracy. I think as internet penetration rates increase worldwide, global citizens will be better equipped to effect positive change.

Melissa Fregosi --Mfregosi 14:28, 10 March 2008 (EDT)

Sam Bayard: This visualization powerfully illustrates the "digital divide" between developed and developing nations, and I think it is all the more powerful for its simplicity. An interesting aspect that I noticed is that, not only is there a disparity between global "north" and "south," but there is a disparity among the "northern" nations, with Scandinavian countries (Norway, Sweden, Iceland) edging out Western Europe and the United States. I wonder whether this could be attributable to a more supportive set of social services and a "pro-social" outlook on politics, which is in marked contrast to the "up-by-the-bootstraps" and de-regulatory bent of the US political and economic discourse. There are some interesting avenues for further work. I wonder whether there are other ways you could slice up the data to illustrate trends and disparities (somehow incorporating population figures?). Could you take a closer look at some of the middle-ground countries (in the 50% and 60% range) to determine any trends? Are there theoretical angles that could help you deepen the analysis -- for instance, you might draw inspiration from Amartya Sen's idea of "human capabilities" and "freedom." In any event, great work.


  • Teaching Media Literacy: Profiles of Teachers Today

Teacher attitudes and experiences have a big impact on how media literacy is taught in the classroom. I chose to interview two elementary teachers: one with 3 years experience teaching in a large urban school in the Northeast, the other with 30 years experience teaching in a suburban/rural school in the Midwest. I asked them first about where they find information, to get an idea of their own personal experience with computer and media literacy. While you'll notice that the more inexperienced teacher tends to lean a bit more towards using the internet, there really isn't a huge difference in their personal use. Noting that the less experienced teacher, at about 25 or 26, is not considered "born digital" as discussed at our March 4th class, it is interesting that her attitudes and personal practices of using the internet are not all that different from the more experienced teacher. I then asked each teacher about how they would go about guiding their students to find out something they don't know, and continued into how well their respective schools prepare students for an internet-based society. The most striking difference is that socioeconomic status (SES) (loosely based here on number of students on free or reduced hot lunch and the teacher's perceived availability of computers in student homes) seemed to be the biggest difference between the two teachers. The urban teacher, whose students did not really talk about having computers at home, was not sure that her 2nd graders were getting much preparation for such a future society; however, the rural/suburban teacher, who stated that 16 out of 18 students had computers at home, felt very positive that they were getting the experience they need with computers and the internet.

Teaching Media Literacy: Profiles of Teachers Today

Sources referenced:

Kellner, Douglas & Share, Jeff (2005). Toward critical media literacy: Core concepts, debates, organizations and policy. Discourse: Studies in the cultural politics of eucation. 26, 369-386.

Russell, Michael; Bebell, Damian; O'Dwyer, Laura; & O'Conner, Kathleen (2003). Examining teacher technology use: Implications for preservice and inservice teacher preparation. Journal of Teacher Education, 54, 297-310.

Sara M. Russo

--Srusso 20:48, 10 March 2008 (EDT)

Sam Bayard: Fantastic work, Sara. You clearly put a ton of effort into this, and I'm impressed that you were able to put it all together so quickly. I liked your lines of questioning, especially the way you established the teachers' relative familiarity and reliance on the Internet. Great choice of interviewees - and I like the subtlety of your take on their respective points of view. And the work really brought out a the socio-economic aspect of media literacy, which is an important issue. One small point: the two quotes at the end of the video washed over me a bit too quickly, and I wonder whether they might work better up front, so that your viewer has the theoretical insights in mind while evaluating the footage. Once again, great job.


  • Assignment Three: Money Contributions to Congress from the Internet Segment

I have included my presentation through the link below.

http://www.rockyhill.name/harvard/internet/

Secondary Link - http://67.228.124.124/~rockyh/harvard/internet/

Nashville, TN --Rocky W. Hill 01:09, 11 March 2008 (EDT)

Sam Bayard: I like this idea, and I'm glad you created multiple images and put them on the same page with an explanation. It gives the project a more formal feel than just dropping a link. I was a little confused about the $148,000 figure mentioned in the text, as I don't see it reflected on the 1996 chart. I'm sure this is just a technical issue, but it's too bad that the 2008 bubbles were so much smaller than the 1996 bubbles, when they represent much larger numbers. I guess that's a problem with generating two separate visualizations. Also, you may want to flesh out in more detail what you see as the effect on politics of money coming in from the Internet sector. Overall, it's a good start.

  • Assignment Three: Ana

I hadn't heard of ccmixter. It's a site where musicians can download sampled sounds or loops to use in their own music and then post what they've created (where other people can download and further manipulate them, etc.). By posting sounds or songs, you agree to license your work under the Creative Commons license, which essentially stipulates that once your work is on the site, anybody can do anything they want to with it as long as they're not profiting from it -- meaning that ccmixter's users don't have to worry about getting sued for using any of the samples. Although I've played music for a long time, I've never been much into sampling or assembling music on a computer. But I spent some time browsing ccmixter and freesound, a similar site with more of an emphasis on sound effects and field recordings, until I came across various isolated sounds and instrumental snippets from a song by Vieux Farka Toure, a guitarist from Mali I'm familiar with.

I downloaded all the sounds from his song, created some beats of my own, and patched together an instrumental remix with a dub feel, although structurally the song is nothing like the original so I don't know whether it really classifies as a remix. I then registered on ccmixter as an artist called King Catsup and posted the recording on my artist page here.

King Catsup's artist page on ccmixter

As a new artist with no connections on the site, I'll be curious to see whether anybody discovers and reviews the song I did.

A couple of other notes. I participated a few years ago on a web site called Songfight, which I was reminded of while doing this project. At Songfight, a random title is posted each week; people write, record, and submit songs with that title; and the songs are posted and the site's users write reviews and vote for their favorites. Though Songfight is not collaborative in the same sense as ccmixter, it's similarly a place where songs are created primarily to be shared with a community, completely openly and solely for the enjoyment and feedback from others. Like on ccmixter, there's a wide range of quality but some of the work is great and the diversity is always astounding. It's a shame for all these artists that the brouhaha surrounding file-sharing of copyrighted material consumes so much attention.

Also, I should mention that I used Linux and free software for every stage of this project. I have experience with Ardour, a native Linux multitrack recording software, but I tried to push myself and learn new tricks while piecing the song together. Other software I used included Hydrogen (a drum machine), the LADSPA effect plugins, Alsa Modular Synth, Jamin for mastering, and a program called jack to tie everything together. Linux audio software is a little buggier than Windows or Mac software, but Linux programs are much better at working together, which can be maddening and/or revelatory.

--Mrshannon 01:42, 11 March 2008 (EDT)

So far, within about a day and a half of my posting the song, two people have written short reviews. I'll keep an eye on it.

--Mrshannon 12:28, 12 March 2008 (EDT)

Sam Bayard: Very impressive! Excellent feedback too. I like that you took a great deal of initiative, clearly put a lot of work into the project, and weren't afraid to take some risks. You've also got the beginnings of an excellent peer production-based framework/explanation for what you did and why. My only criticism would be that you need to focus the written frame of the work more, and you could make more explicit the social, legal, technological, and/or theoretical issues involved this kind of creative endeavor. Great work.

  • Assignment Three: The cost of security breach

The internet needs to have controls to fight security breaches and the US government should be responsible for the security of US Internet just like it is responsible for the physical security of our nation. The cost to the economy is staggering and it is affecting all industries, government organizations and types of information. This link [1] shows the different types of firms, number of companies and types information which has been affected so far this year. It gives a sense of the size of problem by seeing the number of companies which have been affected and the cost each company will most like endure. The breadth of this issue leads me to believe that data security is a public issue and therefore it is best regulated by the government.

--Zark 01:50, 11 March 2008 (EDT)

-Sam Bayard: This is an interesting use of a cool tool. The graph looks great. More importantly, you've highlighted an important issue. However, if you go further with this project, you'll need to figure out a way to give it some depth. There are lots of interesting questions you could pursue: What kinds of regulation do you think work well and not so well? Can you imagine a legal framework that could help? How could a clampdown on security breaches affect the way we use the Internet and personal computers? Who should pay? One difficult question with the Many Eyes application is how to integrate it into a larger presentation; so you'll need to think about that as well.

Nevertheless, this is a good start.

  • Assignment Three: Hollywood and the Big Boxes- are they fuelling piracy?

presentation can be found at: http://web.mac.com/seamuis/iWeb/Site/Blog/Blog.html

Technological advances are usually, but not always good things. There are some inventions that many observers wish we could un-invent. The world would likely view itself as better off (today) without the A-bomb, sarin gas, and disco for example. I think Hollywood et al’s behavior and response relative to the internet demonstrates a similar wish to un-invent that hallowed series of tubes. Barring some unforeseen miracle (chickens are being sacrificed in numerous Hollywood boardrooms as we speak), this is highly unlikely.

That said, the technological and social advancements provided by the internet are championed (and leveraged) by other business sectors- with a high degree of success and innovation. I point this out to draw a contrast between good examples of “embracing technological advancement for the benefit of consumers and the company’s bottom-line,” vs “a good example of turning off the lights, deadbolting the door and refusing to come out from under your bed until the mean people with the computers go away.”

For all their bluster over “art and creativity” Hollywood doesn’t seem to be demonstrating any with regards to truly embracing this new distribution channel…


--Jim 07:38, 11 March 2008 (EDT)

Sam Bayard: Jim, this rocks. Not only is it articulate, interesting, and relevant to the themes of the course, it's also entertaining and hilariously funny. Everyone would do well to take a look.

Assignment Three: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24609947@N06/?saved=1

Looking over the assignment I quickly came to the realization that I couldn't do any of the audio or video components as I simply didn't have the hardware to make a video from scratch, nor did I have access to the video or audio editing software. I decided to expound on the marketing elevator pitch that I had turned in for the second assignment. It's not as pretty as it could be, I used MS Paint (I'm blushing) but all things considered it was a fun project, I'd never done one of these things before. The internet has changed economic and business models the world over. Pre-existing businesses were affected by a force so powerful that they couldn't resist the change. Titans of business and industry did not have the option of business as usual in the face of the internet as far as point of sale is concerned, nor production. The internet also allowed for business models that couldn't have survived before. The capital needed for point of sale was greatly minimized among a myriad of other factors. It was a fun project, when I'm done reformating my computer and I have access to photoshop I'm going to take another crack at it, this was a blast.

--Josh Z. Pelletier

Sam Bayard: Josh, you did a good job coming up with an inventive way to get around your technological limitations, I think you've created an interesting mind map that addresses a lot of the relevant issues. I'd love to see you somehow tie these ideas to specific examples of companies operating in the "real" world.

  • Assignment Three: Visualization of Presidential Candidate Speeches

Well earlier I had submitted some photoshopped images intended to question the role the internet actually plays versus the role we think it should play...most of these were from sources in the public domain, but some were derived from copyright images, so I've removed those. Instead I've chosen to compare the speeches from Super Tuesday of the three remaining presidential candidates using many eyes: Hillary Clinton; John McCain; and Barack Obama. One thing it made me notice is how little of substance there is in all three of their speeches, and that they each rely on a core set of power words to repetitively drive home their message.

--Luke 17:01, 11 March 2008 (EDT)

--Sam Bayard: Luke, this is interesting stuff. And it is certainly a good start for a project looking at how Internet tools can change our ways of looking at and engaging in politics. If you continue to work with this material, however, you'll need to develop your ideas a bit further and more explicitly. (I understand this is somewhat difficult to do in a visualization.)

  • Assignment Three: Internet Filtering Around the World

Link to my presentation and explanation here.

--Zsaulkalns 17:15, 11 March 2008 (EDT)


Sam Bayard: There's no link here.

Assignment Three: Copyright material on YouTube

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a United States copyright law which implements two 1996 WIPO treaties. It criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or services that are used to circumvent measures that control access to copyrighted works (commonly known as DRM) and criminalizes the act of circumventing an access control, even when there is no infringement of copyright itself. It also heightens the penalties for copyright infringement on the Internet.

Youtube harbors much material that is copyrighted which has prompted a lawsuit Viacom v. Google. In response to this, on October 15, 2007, Google announced the release of YouTube Video Identification, a tool would go "above and beyond our legal responsibilities." This way, copyright holders can be more in control of their own material-as in control as they probably can be in this day and age.

I was disappointed in what Google has so far. Not that the product isn't good, I just assumed Video ID would be further along since it was announced last October. It's not as if YouTube hadn't thought of these issues when it was created in 2004. While searching, I found a bunch of copyrighted material including artists that have expressed contempt against the freeloaders(U2 is one example). Even though the site contains a lot of copyrighted material, what Google has done is enough. We'll just have to wait until it becomes available to everyone... Here is the link to my project unitedjourneys.com/assignment3

--Ternto333 17:30, 11 March 2008 (EDT)

--Sam Bayard: Good job, Trent. I thought your a/v presentation looked polished, and it was clever to put it together using videos found on YouTube and email correspondence. You could have added a little more meat to your conclusion and edited down the U2 video, however. Moving forward, you'll want to develop a sharper argument. You seem to be battling the urge to condemn YouTube for failing to remove copyrighted content on the one hand, and on the other saying that what they've done is "enough." While it's important to keep an eye on the complexity of a situation, you also need to come out a little stronger with your personal point of view. And if you could express that point of view more clearly in writing, then you could take the whole thing to the next level -- getting the a/v presentation itself to express that point of view clearly.

The DMCA anti-circumvention discussion doesn't have much applicability to your point. The safe harbor provisions in the DMCA (17 U.S.C. sec. 512) are more relevant to your topic. If you end up working on this further, and want to look at the legal side, you would want to consider the safe harbor provisions, not anti-circumvention.

You might think about some additional questions: Are there any deeper issues you can identify with individuals using (and YouTube supporting) this kind of ID technology? Is this a form of regulation? If so, is it a legitimate form? What are the technological work-arounds that might arise to thwart this tool? Do any already exist? Is YouTube a good thing for society (local, national, international)? How important is copyright infringing content to what YouTube does?

This project required several revisions in the text and a narrowing of scope as it progressed. I realized my topic was much more complicated than it looked at first and I needed to provide alot of background to avoid sounding simplistic an naive. My main premise is that the internet provides direct and indirect means of democratizing international relations. The effects are decidedly slow and long term, but I believe they are real none the less. My podcast is here --Whall 10:02, 18 March 2008 (EDT)


--Sam Bayard: This is a thoughtful and thought-provoking piece, and I think you successfully avoided appearing simplistic or naive. The images were well chosen and powerful. I understand the need to provide a lot of background, but you might think about foregrounding the Internet issues, and then stepping back for the background. I wonder if there is any theoretical work that you could draw on to bolster your argument, perhaps something coming out of peer production or the Internet and democracy work. Good job.

Assignment 3: Online campaigning with voter-generated content

One the most obvious effects the internet is having on democracy is in merging political campaigns with popular culture. By all accounts young voters are turning out in significant numbers this primary season. Barack Obama, in particular, is drawing strong support from the 18-30 year old cohort. This “millennial” generation is coming of age with the internet, many of them spending several hours a day online. (That is not to say that some of us more mature folks are not equally as enamored with the net.) One new development this campaign season is the influence of user or voter-generated content. Thus, I thought YouTube videos might be one way to gauge Obama’s appeal to the younger demographic - which at 100% participation would be worth some where in the neighborhood of 45 million votes, I believe. In brief, here is what I found…

As of 3/13/08 Obama dominates YouTube relative to Hillary Clinton. Creative video contributors are nearly universally anti-Hillary. I couldn’t find any homemade anti-Barack videos with a significant number of views. A search for either Hillary or Barack turns up long lists of predominantly pro-Barack videos. Obama has 798 direct-link videos, Clinton has 300. Most of Clintons are of the more polished, professional, canned message variety. Obama’s are a mix of the aforementioned type, news coverage and campaign footage. Obama hits like “Yes We Can” (not even part of his official channel, just recommended) have over 12 million views. Clinton’s biggest hit is the so-called “Red Phone” ad, but it has less than a million views. Conversely, one of the “Red Phone” child actresses turned out to be an Obama precinct captain and the news coverage with her story has several hundred thousand hits and counting.

I don’t know if this support for Obama will translate into victory. It is nearly impossible to judge the effects of the videos on voter turn out. I did find compelling evidence for the argument that Obama is winning the internet battle, though. If you want to know why, consider the last 2 clips in my video sampler – Hillary’s “I Need Your Advice” and Barack’s “YouTube Interview.” You can draw your own conclusions. See my compilation YouTube video here. --Chris L 14:42, 18 March 2008 (EDT)

--Sam Bayard: This is a great video sampler, and it goes a long way toward explaining the differences in the two candidates' YouTube presences. There's lots of room for further development in a group or final project too -- you might look at how the candidates' web presence outside of YouTube fits with the conclusions you draw from YouTube. Or alternatively look closer at what's on YouTube and break it down into categories to achieve a more detailed picture -- how many videos are true "home-made" videos, how many are slick private productions like Yes We can, and how many are created by the candidates themselves (I Need Your Advice, Red Phone). There also could be a bit more clarity in the presentation about what we're looking at and what conclusions you draw from it - e.g., it's not always apparent whether a news clip was posted by a pro-Obama or pro-Clinton user, and the Clinton 1984 ad is difficult to interpret if you haven't already seen the rest of the ad. Overall, very good work.

The online music phenomena has become a significant portion of Internet activity. However, there are vested interests which want to protect their revenue stream - either legitimately or excessively.Image:MP3_Controversy.png --BobKeyes 18:14, 18 March 2008 (EDT)

Sam Bayard: Interesting work, Bob. And thanks for going through the effort to get it up here. You've done a good job of sketching out the general area and some of the legal issues involved. To develop your work further, you'll need to pick something specific, probably something relatively narrow, and develop some arguments and policy positions.

This Youtube presents an interview with the Video/Digital artist Cliff Evans [www.Cliffevans.net]. His process is primarily concerned with the appropriation of online content, especially images. He mostly downloads very large images from people's personal photo collections from sites like Photobucket and Flickr and cuts them out very precisely in Photoshop. He then makes montages from these images with After Effects. He explains in this interview how his creative process interacts with the realm of internet privacy and copyright law, as well as how breaking those laws puts him into the role of either internet pirate or NSA-like surveillance operative. He argues that his process would be changed drastically if the laws were to change to prohibit this low-level, illicit use of content. Visit the interview, which is a montage of Evans' work and audio of my interview with him at: [2] --Ego138 22:43, 19 March 2008 (EDT)

Sam Bayard: This is an interesting and visually compelling piece. Great job. It's interesting to consider the extent to which fair use protects what Evans does in the copyright context -- he may not be quite the pirate he believes. I could easily see expanding this one out a bit for a great group and/or final project.

  • Chris Crosby

The intersection of Campaign Finance Transparency and Contributor Privacy Link is here [3]

Some of you may have seen that Barack Obama raised a record $55 million in the month of February. What I find more interesting than the jaw dropping dollar amount, is how much of the fundraising activity is happening relatively under the radar. Yesterday his campaign made the rather boastful statement:

"No campaign has ever raised this much in a single month in the history of presidential primaries. But more important than the total is how we did it — more than 90% of donations were $100 or less, and more than 385,000 new donors in February pushed us past our goal of more than 1,000,000 people owning a piece of this campaign."

That translates too roughly 900,000 donors we can’t track…

The Federal Elections Commission (FEC) regulates that a campaign has to disclose all donors contributing more than $200 to Candidate. I downloaded the most recent FEC database and found only 84K contributors to the Obama Campaign at a time when he was claiming north of 500,000k. That means the vast majority of campaign money is originating virtually anonymously.

This raises questions around current Campaign Finance laws and if they will need to be revisited or reporting limits adjusted to adapt to current trends. My sense is that inevitably they will, but whether that’s good or bad for us is its own animal.

For example, last summer I contributed a whopping $25 to the Obama campaign. Should my Name, Address and Contribution Amount have to exist in a publicly accessible database as a matter of Campaign Finance Reform? From a privacy standpoint my reaction is “Not just no, but hell no”. But as a fan of Government Transparency, shouldn’t we be able to have visibility into the money flows of these campaigns? My answer is “yes”. So then, where in lies the balance?

The gray matter that exists at the intersection of Personal Privacy and Government Transparency when you participate in “public” activity will no doubt be the subject of much debate when the dust settles on this election. My gut says the issue will be raised from which ever side looses in November.

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