StopBadware.org Newsfeed

Berkman Buzz: December 16, 2011

rheacock — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 17:04:27 -0500

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.

* Tom Stites publishes a three-part series on the future of digital journalism
* Wendy Seltzer critiques SOPA's anti-circumvention measures
* Sasha Costanza-Chock surveys Occupy demonstrators worldwide
* Dan Gillmor explores Big Media and the Occupy movement
* StopBadware opposes SOPA
* Weekly Global Voices: "Kyrgyzstan: 'There Will Be No Winter'"

Note: This Sunday is our deadline for 2012-2013 fellowship applications through our open call! See http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/getinvolved/fellowships/opencall20122013 for information. Additionally, we are now accepting applications for a Clinical Instructional Fellow: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/getinvolved/fellowships/clinicalinstructionalfellow

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

The full buzz.

"The buzz about how bloggers and citizen journalists will save the day, once almost deafening, has died down to a murmur, although the buzz about Twitter, Facebook, and cellphone video cameras saving the day has picked up thanks to their powerful contributions to coverage of major breaking stories, from the Arab spring to Occupy Wall Street. But the triumphant march to the digital future, at least when measured in terms of original reporting, has yet to lead anywhere near triumph. Yet the picture is not entirely bleak."
From Tom Stites's article for the Nieman Journalism Lab, "Taking stock of the state of web journalism"

"The House’s Stop Online Piracy Act is in Judiciary Committee Markup today. As numerous protests, open letters, and advocacy campaigns across the Web, this is a seriously flawed bill. Sen. Ron Wyden and Rep. Darrell Issa’s proposed OPEN Act points out, by contrast, some of the procedural problems. Here, I analyze just one of the problematic provisions of SOPA: a new 'anticircumvention' provision (different from the still-problematic anti-circumvention of section1201)."
From Wendy Seltzer's blog post, "Stopping SOPA’s Anti-Circumvention"

"The OccupyResearch network is pleased to launch this exciting survey, which aims to create a better understanding of who engages with the Occupy movement, and how — it includes questions about media, communication, political activities, and more. The survey is open to people living in any country, regardless of their level of involvement with the Occupy movement. The more people we can reach with this survey, the better we can reflect on this exciting time — so we invite you to spread the word."
From Sasha Costanza-Chock's blog post, "Occupy Demographics and Political Participation Survey"

"None raised more eyebrows than the 2006 pick: 'You' – when Time literally put a mirror on its cover and told its readers they were oh-so-special. The point that year was to celebrate the way the public was becoming its own media in the Information Age. This year's pick resonated with the one from half a decade ago, but unlike that one, it was entirely justified."
From Dan Gillmor's post for The Guardian, "Time magazine's Protester cover reminds us of the value of Big Media"

"To claim that the bill will meaningfully improve America's national security posture is preposterous on its face — one must conflate risks to U.S. copyright holders with the national interest writ large — and, with the exception of rogue pharmacies, very few infringing websites facilitate threats to public health. But let's take SOPA’s sponsors at their word for a minute and consider it a given that they want to make a serious attempt to address these important issues. Why wouldn't they target websites distributing badware instead?"
From Isaac Meister's post for StopBadware, "PROTECT-IP, SOPA, and the real threat to national security"

"Governments fall, parliamentary speakers come and go, and as one season fades another always begins. That, at least, was what Kyrgyz Internet users thought prior to former presidential candidate Arstanbek Abdylayev’s startling announcement that 'there will be no winter'."
From Chris Rickleton's post for Global Voices, "Kyrgyzstan: 'There Will Be No Winter'"

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

Compiled by Rebekah Heacock.

The Berkman Buzz is selected weekly from the posts of Berkman Center people and projects and sometimes from the Center's wider network.

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

Berkman Buzz: May 20, 2011

syoung — Fri, 20 May 2011 18:00:00 -0400

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.

* David Weinberger proposes new defaults for library privacy.
* Media Cloud, "The Russian Media Ecosystem and the Arab Spring"
* Doc Searls wonders aloud about mainstream media's hyperlinking practices.
* Dan Gillmor asks us to raise our linking standards.
* Citizen Media Law Project on the District's Anti-SLAPP Law.
* OpenNet Initiative looks into a case of centralized, automated filtering.
* StopBadware on the security benefits (and drawbacks) of centralized app stores.
* Weekly Global Voices: "Tunisia: Internet Censorship Makes a Comeback"

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

The full buzz.

"Without library privacy, individuals might not engage in free and open inquiry for fear that their interactions with the library will be used against them. Library privacy thus establishes libraries as a sanctuary for thought, a safe place in which any idea can be explored. This in turn establishes the institution that sponsors the library — the town, the school, the government — as a believer in the value of free inquiry. This in turn establishes the notion of free, open, fearless inquiry as a social good deserving of support and protection. Thus, the value of library privacy scales seamlessly from the individual to the culture." From David Weinberger's blog post for Hyper-Public Rebooting Library Privacy in the Age of the Network

"It is no secret that the Arab Spring has shaken authoritarian governments not just in the Middle East, but around the world. China has engaged in a severe crackdown on dissent, including imprisoning well-known artist Ai Weiwei, and has also gone so far as to prohibit the sale of Jasmine. But what about Russia, which has left its Internet mostly open but is more similar to China in its repression of offline political action? ...the recent events in Egypt and Tunisia provide a great example of the appearance of an agenda item in the Russian blogosphere that is almost completely absent from official Russian government information channels. The Russian government, it seems, didn’t know what to say, or how to say it." From Bruce Etling's post for Media Cloud, The Russian Media Ecosystem and the Arab Spring

"On the whole, mainstream media have had a passive-aggressive approach to the Web ever since they were first challenged by it, in the mid-’90s. Even now, in 2011, they’re still trying to shove the Web’s genie back in the old ink bottle. They do it with paywalls, with schemes to drag your eyes past pages and pages of advertising, and (perhaps worst of all) by leaving out hyperlinks. Never mind that the hyperlink is a perfect way to practice one of journalism’s prime responsibilities: citing sources. Or, by another verb, attriibuting." From Doc Searls' blog post Why not link to sources?

"In a book a few years ago, I called the worldwide web a 'great autonomous linking machine' – a shoutout to the web's most essential characteristic: hyperlinks. Information creators use them to take people to new places. Information consumers use them to traverse the increasingly blurry boundaries of human knowledge. We all benefit." From Dan Gillmor's post on the Guardian, The web's weakest links

"We're pleased to announce that we have updated the CMLP Legal Guide on the District of Columbia's anti-SLAPP law to incorporate its brand new anti-SLAPP statute that came into effect on March 31, 2011. A SLAPP, or 'Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation,' is a lawsuit filed in retaliation for speaking out on a public issue or controversy. The new D.C. statute falls on the more protective end of the spectrum of anti-SLAPP laws..." From the CMLP blog post Legal Guide Updated With D.C.'s New Anti-SLAPP Law

"I investigated the issue and found out that the website tumblr.com and all blogs hosted by Tumblr are indeed blocked, but interestingly, the decision to block the site was actually made in Canada by the company that provides the filtering technology to the ISPs in Qatar (Qtel), UAE (du), Yemen (Yemennet), and Kuwait (Fasttelco). I checked how Netsweeper currently categorizes the Web site tumblr.com, and found out that it has been categorized/miscategorized as ‘Journals and Blogs’ and as ‘Pornography’. As a result, tumbr.com and all blogs hosted by the service became inaccessible for Internet users in the four countries because ISPs in these countries rely on Netsweeper technology to implement national Internet filtering." From Helmi Noman's blog post for ONI, When a Canadian company decides what citizens in the Middle East can access online

"The other day, the JoshMeister blogged about the Mac App Store and the effect of its approval delays in getting critical security updates to users. [...] As the app store model becomes more popular on both smartphones and PCs, it’s important to explore issues like this. What the JoshMeister doesn’t mention is that centralized app markets can also help encourage users to keep software updated. It’s much easier to have a single marketplace app, once per day or week, say 'here are all the apps that have updates, click to update them all' than to have to manage each app individually. If this encourages users to keep their apps up to date, that’s a positive thing for security." From Maxim Weinstein's blog post for StopBadware, The App Store giveth and the App Store taketh away

"Internet censorship is making a comeback in Tunisia, much to the annoyance of many cyber activists across the country. During the rule of ousted Tunisian president Zein El Abideen Ben Ali, the government exercised a harsh censorship policy by blocking all web pages and websites that criticized the regime, including websites such as those of Al Jazeera, Amnesty International, WikiLeaks, YouTube, Nawaat and DailyMotion, as well as dozens of Facebook pages. On January 13, 2011, Ben Ali addressed the Tunisian people and promised to put an end to Internet censorship, in an attempt to absorb the rage of the masses, especially the youth. Ben Ali kept his promise but it was too late for him to remain in power and, ever since mid-January, Internet users in Tunisia have started to enjoy an unprecedented uncensored web access. Recently, however, the Tunisian Agency of Internet censored four Facebook pages..., following a military order." From Afef Abrougui's blog post for Global Voices Online, Tunisia: Internet Censorship Makes a Comeback

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

Compiled by Seth Young.

The Berkman Buzz is selected weekly from the posts of Berkman Center people and projects and sometimes from the Center's wider network.

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

Berkman Buzz: April 29, 2011

rheacock — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 16:37:30 -0400

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

*danah boyd gets kicked off Tumblr by a company and writes about getting her identity back
*Doc Searls chronicles the recent public debate about personal data
*Dan Gillmor does not support the blogger lawsuit against Huffington Post
*Ethan Zuckerman explores the roles facts and values play in polarization
*Stop Badware is developing best practices for malware reporting
* Weekly Global Voices: "Rwanda: Ask Rwandan President Questions on YouTube"

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

The full buzz.

"Yesterday, I threw a public hissy fit when I found out that Tumblr’s customer service had acted on a trademark request from a company called Zephoria who had written them to ask that they release my account to them. (Tumblr has since apologized and given me my identity back.) In some ways, I feel really badly for Tumblr – and all other small social media companies – because brokering these issues is not easy. In fact, it’s a PITA. Who has the legitimate right to a particular identity or account name? What happens when the account is inactive? Or when the person who has the account is squatting? Or when there are conflicting parties who both have legitimate interests in an account name? Or when the account owner has died?"
From danah boyd's blog post, "A Customer Service Nightmare: Resolving Trademark and Personal Reputation in a Limited Name Space"

"Here in the U.S. we’ve been focused more on prophylaxis than empowerment, at least at the federal level. This is a problem with our obsession with privacy as an issue in itself. Focus on privacy alone, and conversation inevitably veers toward policy. What new laws and regulations do we need to protect ourselves? we ask. That may be a good question, but it ignores answers that are already coming from the marketplace — answers that see today’s privacy problems as secondary effects of market dysfunction, and which pursue opportunities that marginalize and obsolete today’s privacy-threatening business practices."
From Doc Searls' blog post for Project VRM, "Personal leverage for personal data"

"I do not support Tasini’s lawsuit. In fact, if this case doesn’t get laughed out of court by the first judge who hears it, I’ll be amazed. I’ll also be willing to testify on Huffington’s behalf. Her lawyers are surely smart enough not to call me, of course, because I’d hold my nose as I defended their client, and would explain why to anyone who asked."
From Dan Gillmor's blog post, "No, I Do Not Support the Blogger Lawsuit Against Huffington Post"

"If the path that leads from polarization towards common ground is rooted in understanding values as well as facts, we’ve got a challenge – how do we start listening to the needs, wants and aspirations of people who view the world differently?"
From Ethan Zuckerman's blog post, "Overcoming political polarization… but not through facts"

"Last month, we released a set of best practices for hosting providers responding to malware reports. The best practices are intended to address inconsistency within the industry about how to responsibly and effectively respond to malware reports; they lay out a high-level framework that web hosting providers of all sizes can follow. Today, we at StopBadware are pleased to announce that we have already begun to take the logical next step in helping to strengthen the Web ecosystem: developing a set of best practices for malware reporters."
From Caitlin Condon's blog post for Stop Badware, "StopBadware to develop best practices for malware reporting"

"On May 5, 2011 President Paul Kagame of Rwanda will be the first African leader to be interviewed on YouTube World View. World View is a series of monthly interviews with the world's foremost leaders, where you ask the questions. The top-rated questions will be asked in exclusive interviews."
From Ndesanjo Macha's blog post for Global Voices Online, "Rwanda: Ask Rwandan President Questions on YouTube"

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

Compiled by Rebekah Heacock.

The weekly Berkman Buzz is selected from the posts of Berkman Center people and projects and sometimes from the Center's wider network.

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

Berkman Buzz: April 15, 2011

rheacock — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 15:59:42 -0400

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

* StopBadware reviews the US takedown of the Coreflood botnet
* Doc Searls explains the concept of fourth parties in virtual rights management
* Ethan Zuckerman liveblogs a discussion between Evgeny Morozov and Zeynep Tufekci on Internet and social change
* The Citizen Media Law Project gives an update on the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act
* Writing for the Atlantic, Mike Ananny wonders why apps about sex offenders are connected to apps for gay men
* Weekly Global Voices: "Kenya: Citizen Journalism of the Kibera News Network"

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

The full buzz.

"Wednesday’s court-sanctioned takedown of the Coreflood botnet by the Department of Justice and the FBI has made big headlines in badware news. This is the second high-profile takedown to make it through the U.S. court system in as many months; Microsoft persuaded a court to allow them to take down the Rustock botnet only a month ago. But there are some key differences in the legal posture and tactics used in Coreflood that should inform future efforts to take down botnets — and invite further questions."
From Isaac Meister's blog post for StopBadware, "The Coreflood takedown: building a better, broader botnet response"

"When the fourth party idea came to me in the first place, I was thinking about voice. That is, first party would be like the first person voice (I, me, mine, ours), while second party would be like the second person singular voice (you, yours), and third party would be like the third person singular voice (he, she, it, them, theirs). I thought fourth party would be defined most clearly as 'a third party for the customer.' What matters most is coming to, and guiding, understandings of fourth parties and what they do, and what makes them distinctive, as customers (in their first party role) gain more tools, independence and power in the marketplace."
From Doc Searls's blog post for Project VRM, "Fourth parties and VRM"

"I was grateful for the chance to hear these two thinkers engage in a debate, though I feel like the points of disagreement in this discussion were harder to identify than in Zeynep’s review of Evgeny’s book. I think Evgeny’s presentation of his arguments has become softer and more careful in the wake of recent events than it was in his book. While I don’t think the Arab Spring invalidates all of Evgeny’s points – I agree strongly with his critique of technocentrism – I think it’s harder to make the case that technology is likely to favor dictators over activists."
From Ethan Zuckerman's blog post, "Morozov vs.(?) Tufekci at the US Naval Academy"

"So the Congress appears to be considering the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act ("COICA") again. The act would essentially allow the government “to block sites at the domain name (DNS) level” (per Ars Technica) and would impose intermediate liability on credit card companies that did not stop transacting with blacklisted sites. This (much like a jump to conclusions mat) is a terrible, terrible idea."
From Andrew Moshirnia's blog post for the Citizen Media Law Project, "COICA, the Sequel: Back in Blacklist"

"As I was installing Grindr on my Android phone yesterday, I scrolled down to take a look at the list of 'related' and 'relevant' applications. My jaw dropped. There, first on the list, was 'Sex Offender Search,' a free application created by Life360 that lets you 'find sex offenders near you and protect your child ... so you can keep your family safe.' I was flabbergasted. How and why was this association being made? What could one application have to do with other?"
From Mike Ananny's post for The Atlantic, "The Curious Connection Between Apps for Gay Men and Sex Offenders"

"Young people in Kibera, Kenya, which is known to some as Africa's largest slum, are determined to show a different face of the place where they live. With video cameras in hand, they scout the streets for stories to show the world how Kibera sees itself."
From Juliana Rincón Parra's blog post for Global Voices Online, "Kenya: Citizen Journalism of the Kibera News Network"

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

Compiled by Rebekah Heacock.

The weekly Berkman Buzz is selected from the posts of Berkman Center people and projects and sometimes from the Center's wider network.

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

Berkman Buzz: Week of January 3, 2011

rheacock — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 16:34:23 -0500

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

* Peter Suber reviews the open access movement in 2010
* Ethan Zuckerman ponders how to rewire Facebook for serendipity
* The OpenNet Initiative covers the recent DDoS attacks on Tunisian government websites
* Harry Lewis discusses the implications of computer vision
* StopBadware is holding an "unconventional T-shirt design contest"
* Weekly Global Voices: "Our Most Read Posts in 2010"

SPECIAL NOTE: The Berkman Center is now accepting applications for its 2011 summer internship program.

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

The full buzz.

"The growth of OA over the past year was deep, wide, and steady. While this has been true every year since my first year-end review in 2003, the difficulty of documenting that growth with useful detail has become nearly unmanageable.... But with these caveats, here's a feast of the OA highlights from 2010. As always, apologies to the many projects I had to omit."
From the SPARC Open Access Newsletter by Peter Suber

"Facebook is utterly brilliant in finding people I used to know, from elementary school classmates to ex-girlfriends. I suspect if I used it better, it would do an excellent job of helping me maintain closer ties with these friends, turning weak ties into stronger ones. What I’ve not found a good way to do is to use Facebook to discover people I don’t know and would like to (something that happens to me all the time through retweets on Twitter). Are there ways to rewire Facebook to try to create a specific sort of serendipity – discovery of people, places and things outside of your ordinary orbit, but exciting and interesting nevertheless? What would an algorithm look like, and does Facebook expose enough data to make it possible to build such a tool?"
From Ethan Zuckerman's blog post, "Algorithms, Unbirthdays and Rewiring Facebook"

"The repercussions of Tunisia’s strict online censorship reached an apex in the Arab country this week as multiple DDoS attacks continue to target the government. Hackers known collectively as the Anonymous group took down at least eight government websites beginning on January 2, according to the New New Internet. In their online manifesto, the group cites government censorship as their primary reason for launching their series of attacks."
From Qichen Zhang's post for the OpenNet Initiative, "Tunisian Government Websites Attacked Via DDoS"

"There are many, many tasks people do by watching or seeing that computers could do, imperfectly to be sure, but well enough to pay for themselves. I am thinking of things like watching for shoplifters (defined, say, as people who leave a store with more stuff than they entered with and did not go through a checkout process). I think one of the developing issues will be how to deal with false positives, when the computers alert authorities to something suspicious and really nothing untoward has happened."
From Harry Lewis' blog post, "Watching You"

"We’ve been racking our collective badware-busting brain this past week to come up with a great StopBadware T-shirt design. After much arm wrestling, chest beating, and rending of garments (okay, not really), we made an executive decision: we’re opening this up to all of you. After all, we’re working to protect you and yours online, so it’s only fair that you decide how we’re artistically represented."
From Caitlin Condon's blog post for StopBadware, "StopBadware announces an unconventional T-shirt design contest"

"Often the stories that are most popular are the ones that relate to a story that is making major headlines around the world, like the earthquake in Haiti, or the World Cup in South Africa. Other times, it's something the media isn't talking much about."
From Solana Larsen's post for Global Voices Online, "Our Most Read Posts in 2010"

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

The weekly Berkman Buzz is selected from the posts of Berkman Center people and projects and sometimes from the Center's wider network

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

Berkman Buzz: Weeks of October 4 & 11, 2010

syoung — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 23:00:00 -0400

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.

* Joseph Reagle reads his readers.
* David Weinberger untwists Gladwell's "Small Change."
* Sasha Costanza-Chock situates the horizontalism before the ICTs.
* Ethan Zuckerman hums 'it's a small world' with Duncan Watts.
* Doc Searls, "Keeping relationships humanized."
* Radio Berkman 165: Zittrain & Lessig TAKE ON...Net Neutrality!
* ONI reviews Libya's disabling of vb.ly.
* Herdict: "Tajikistan Government Blocks Three News Sites"
* Jonathan Zittrain thinks about malware and the Net's ground beef.
* StopBadware.org envisions a vast shared pool of malware data.
* Brad Abruzzi blogs Jim Bessen asking "Is technological innovation on the Web different?"
* John Palfrey replays the book, Born Digital.
* Weekly Global Voices: "China: More reactions to a first Nobel Prize"

Special note: The Berkman Center is now accepting applications for fellowships for the 2011-2012 academic year.

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

The full buzz.

"...it is interesting to be speaking to people about the book, particularly when they assume that I am necessarily optimistic about technology and am willing to make universalizing claims or predictions about the future. As I responded in the excellent OpenSource interview, lessons can be learned but there is no wiki pixie dust. Wikipedia was interesting to me not because it is the new normal, but because it was a surprising attempt to counter the old normal of Godwin's law. I suspect this is why I found myself in sympathy with Gladwell's recent "why the revolution will not be tweeted" article and gob smocked by Negroponte's claim that the physical book will be dead in five years (based on Amazon reporting that Kindle versions are now outselling hard cover versions)."
  From Joseph Reagle's post Staeiou's Review and Technological Optimism

"Likewise, I venture that few believe that Facebook or Twitter on their own are going to bring about revolutionary political change. But that doesn’t mean that political change is unaffected by them. As the Tea Party looks like it’s rolling to victory in 2010, try to imagine that it could exist much less succeed without social media. It also needed money from Big Interests, the attention of mainstream media, and non-Net communication channels. But, who is arguing otherwise? The ecology has changed."
From David Weinberger's blog post Gladwell discovers it takes more than 140 characters to overturn a government

"However, Gladwell fails to understand that social media are actually mostly used to extend and maintain f2f relationships over time and space. So there’s actually no contradiction between the position that strong personal (f2f) relationships are key to social movements, and the idea that social media are now important tools for movement activity. To me it’s more of a problem that he conflates strong ties with vertical organizational structure, and thus ends up arguing that real social movements require strong, military style hierarchy. This also leads him into the tired claim that we don’t see movements like back in the good old days… because everyone is too busy with their armchair activism on SNS."
From Sasha Costanza-Chock's blog post Do Tweets the Revolution make?

"I suspect that small world networks are important, though, in helping us decide what news is important to us. If you have a personal connection to Haiti – a Haitian friend, someone who’s traveled to the country – the story may be one you followed more closely that stories about other natural disasters. If you chose to get active in providing support to people affected by the Haitian quake, your involvement may have inspired friends to pay closer attention to the situation and, perhaps, to get involved themselves. And your attention to a story sends a signal to news outlets (professional and amateur) that this is a topic of interest that they should cover."
 From Ethan Zuckerman's blog post Shortcuts in the social graph

"Making relationships work has always been both the foundation and the frontier of business. Ideally, technology should help relationships. And to some degree it does. Telephony and other “social” technologies certainly do help us stay in touch. But there are many other technologies, and uses — including some in the “social” space — that prevent or pervert relationships."
 From Doc Searls' blog post Keeping relationship humanized

This week, Radio Berkman rolls out the second episode in a new, special series of conversations between Professor Lessig and Professor Zittrain. The first conversation in the series addressed technology competition, and, this week, the topic is especially thorny and contentious: network neutrality.
Radio Berkman 165: Zittrain & Lessig TAKE ON...Net Neutrality!
More episodes of Radio Berkman

"NIC.ly states that URLs shorter than four letters will now be available only to organizations within Libya. But for now, other URL shortener sites like bit.ly appear safe. (Interestingly enough, HuffPo Technology Editor Bianca Bosker mentions that the domain fuk.ly remains accessible.) But the abrupt action of Lybian authorities raises a question that affects a huge number of Twitter and Web 2.0 users. Will other American competitors in the business of URL shortening will find their fates under the discretion of a country on the other side of the world?"
 From Qichen Zhang's blog post for ONI, Sex-Positive vb.ly Taken Down by Libyan Domain Provider

"So far, Herdict’s profile on Tajikistan has not received any inaccessibility reports on the three news sites. However, news sources indicate that the government just took them down today. This is not the first time that the Tajikistani government has exercised authoritarian control over the Internet. In 2006, the Tajik Agency for the Regulation of Communications shut down ferghana.ru right before the presidential election. With a history of censorship, followers of the continuing violence remain watchful of the government’s attitude toward other sites that are still accessible within Tajikistan."
From the Herdict blog post Tajikistan Government Blocks Three News Sites

"In fact, given its popularity as an ad server network, your computer probably visits doubleclick.net more than most any other site — even though you’ve likely never asked to go there yourself in your Web surfing. Doubleclick in turn gets the ads it runs from its customers: companies who want to sell you something or otherwise try to get to you click on their ads. So: visiting one site actually means you’re visiting a third party site, which in turn is getting information from fourth parties. Even the most careful site can thus become host to malware..."
  From Jonathan Zittrain's blog post Shouting fire in a crowded Twitter

"When StopBadware started the Badware Website Clearinghouse a few years ago, we envisioned creating a system much like Grimes describes: a shared pool of known badware URLs, updated frequently. We even took it a step further, establishing clear guidelines for badware, and building in mechanisms for transparency (you can search on our website to find out if a URL has been reported as bad, and by whom) and "due process" (our independent review process allows site owners to request manual investigation if they believe a URL is reported in error). So, what happened?"
From Maxim Weinstein's blogpost for StopBadware.org, Sowing the Seeds - What Next?

"To be sure, Jim says, the Web enables a whole new level of collaboration (take, for example, open-source software). Digital media and the Internet reduce the cost of communication, with the result that you can cheaply and easily “pool knowledge” all across the globe. The conventional wisdom is that Internet collaboration has triggered a “revolution of innovation.” Jim isn’t convinced, and he urges us not to buy into the hype, which is in large part predicated on mythologies of pre-digital innovation..."
From Brad Abruzzi's blog post for Web Exceptionalism, Jim Bessen — "Is technological innovation on the Web different?" (Oct. 5, 2010)

"The purpose of this project is in part to push the boundaries of what a “book” is in the digital age. I love the traditional codex and all that’s followed on from the original idea. But I think also that there’s room for new designs for long-form arguments that make a series of complex, interrelated points and which require sustained attention to understand. I’m convinced that the traditional book will survive, but I think it’s also important that we experiment with new formats as well."
From John Palfrey's blog post Born Digital: The Video Version

"Pending his acceptance speech, discussion around China's first Nobel laureate, Liu Xiaobo, has ranged from his nomination and the censorship which followed his win, his writings, suitability, the talking points against him, his detractors, how many people know who Liu is, if any, the subsequent house arrest of his wife, and whether, if an award for Liu is an award for moderate progress in China, who might have made a better candidate. A number of related quotes collected from popular Chinese social network website Renren can be found here. From the blogs..."
 From John Kennedy's blog post for Global Voices, China: More reactions to a first Nobel Prize

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

The weekly Berkman Buzz is selected from the posts of Berkman Center people and projects -- http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/planet/current/ -- and sometimes from the Center's wider network -- http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/planet/network/

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

Keeping the Net healthy

syoung — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 15:00:00 -0400

Our friends at StopBadware.org are having a conversation about Net security -- an Immune System for the Internet? -- with Vinton Cerf, Paul Mockapetris and Esther Dyson! at the Commonwealth Club on October 4. From the StopBadware blog:

StopBadware is offering an exciting opportunity for anyone in the Bay Area interested in Internet security: Join StopBadware and The Commonwealth Club the evening of Monday, October 4 in Menlo Park, CA, for a discussion on how to keep the Net safe. Three Internet pioneers—all StopBadware Board members—will lead a conversation entitled Keeping the Net Healthy: How Can We Develop an Immune System for the Internet? with opening and closing remarks by StopBadware's Executive Director, Maxim Weinstein.

Featuring:
Vinton Cerf, VP and Chief Internet Evangelist, Google; one of the "fathers of the Internet"
Paul Mockapetris, Chief Scientist and Chairman of the Board, Nominum; creator of the Domain Name System (DNS)
Esther Dyson, Chairman EDventure Holdings; angel investor, philanthropist, and recently trained cosmonaut

Viruses, spyware, spam, phishing, zombie machines. Several years ago, we might have thought of these as just a nuisance, and their perpetrators as mostly underemployed kids. Today, cybercrime is worth billions of dollars to loosely organized networks of criminals that prey on individuals, businesses and governments with malicious or profit-seeking intent. What are some of the current threats, and how is industry responding to them? What new threats might we expect in the coming years? Is the Internet's health partly a result of misaligned incentives, where those who cause the damage don't bear its costs? How can we change that? What more should industry, government and individuals be doing to protect the network and, ultimately, ourselves?

The event begins with a networking reception at 6:15, followed by the main program at 7:00. Tickets are $30 in advance and $50 at the door. Advance tickets are available here. We hope you'll join us for what promises to be a spirited and educational discussion.

The StopBadware Blog: "New feature: report a badware site!"

syoung — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:38:44 -0500

StopBadware spins off as a standalone non-profit!

syoung — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 10:20:00 -0500

The Berkman Center is pleased to share the news that our anti-malware project, StopBadware, is now a non-profit of its own (full press release). This is an exciting step for our StopBadware colleagues, and we're looking forward to the org's continued evolution.

On the StopBadware blog, Maxim Weinstein shares the news:

Four years ago today, StopBadware.org was announced as a Berkman Center project, with the ambitious goal of fighting badware by building and sharing knowledge through the collective efforts of the community. As the project has evolved, our activities have changed, but the goal has remained the same. So, too, have the tremendous spirit and support of the dedicated individuals and organizations that make our work possible.

Over the past year, our small team has worked with the Berkman Center leadership, our corporate partners, our advisory board and working group, and other key volunteers to figure out how we could make StopBadware even better and how we could lay a strong foundation to carry the organization forward as we enter our fifth year. During this process, we made the difficult decision to leave the Berkman nest and spread our wings as an independent organization.

After months of planning, fundraising, paperwork, and more planning, the time has come. This morning, we announced that the work of StopBadware.org has migrated to StopBadware, Inc., a new non-profit organization based here in Cambridge, Massachusetts. While we have dropped the .org for vanity’s sake—it becomes cumbersome to say “StopBadware dot org” all the time—the spirit (and finances) of a .org still apply. In fact, even with the generous backing of our corporate partners, Google, PayPal, and Mozilla, it will be more important than ever for individuals to contribute to our success. Some of our most important work is done by people who contribute their time, whether assisting website owners at BadwareBusters.org, coding for LittleVoice, or getting involved in some other way.

In celebration of this new stage of our existence, we’ve updated our logo and colors, as well as some of the content on our website. Over the next few months, watch for more changes, both aesthetic and substantive, as we embark on this new adventure. As always, we welcome your feedback and guidance.

Finally, we want to express our gratitude to our founders and principal investigators at the Berkman Center, Professor Jonathan Zittrain and Professor John Palfrey, to Berkman’s executive director, Urs Gasser, and to the Berkman Center staff for making the past four years—and the future—of StopBadware possible.

STOPBADWARE SPINS OFF FROM HARVARD’S BERKMAN CENTER FOR INTERNET & SOCIETY

syoung — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 10:10:00 -0500

Cambridge, Mass. -- StopBadware, an anti-malware effort started at Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society, announced today that it has begun operating as a standalone non-profit organization. Google, PayPal, and Mozilla have together committed the initial funding to support the launch of StopBadware, Inc.

StopBadware began four years ago today as an ambitious Berkman Center project intended to engage the Internet community in fighting what the organization refers to as badware -- software such as viruses or spyware that disregard a user’s choice about how his or her computer or network connection will be used. The goal was and remains to build and share knowledge through the collective efforts of a community of web users.

StopBadware works with its network of organizations and individual volunteers to collect and analyze data, to build community momentum for fighting badware, and ultimately to advocate for change. “If we want to put an end to badware -- or even put a dent in it -- we have to change the attitudes and behaviors of individuals, organizations, and governments,” said Maxim Weinstein, StopBadware’s executive director. “That’s no small task, but we know progress is possible by combining the creativity and passion of our BadwareBusters.org community members with the hard facts derived from our Badware Website Clearinghouse.”

The decision to spin StopBadware off from the Berkman Center was made in recognition of the effort’s evolution from research project to mission-driven organization. “StopBadware has grown in just a few years from the seed of an idea into an internationally recognized force in the fight against harmful software,” said Urs Gasser, executive director of the Berkman Center. “We are proud that, by developing a unique mission and becoming independent, StopBadware now follows in the footsteps of previous ventures like Creative Commons and Global Voices that have their roots here at the Berkman Center. We’re grateful for the inspiration and guidance of the project’s leaders, professors Jonathan Zittrain and John Palfrey.”

Palfrey will serve on the new non-profit’s board of directors, along with Michael Barrett (PayPal), Vint Cerf (Google), Esther Dyson, Mike Shaver (Mozilla), Ari Schwartz (Center for Democracy & Technology), and executive director Maxim Weinstein.

StopBadware has already had success in its goal of changing attitudes and behaviors. Its “badware alerts,” which highlight applications that violate its badware guidelines, have led major corporations -- including AOL, Real Networks, and Sears Holding Corporation -- to make changes to their software to protect customer choice. Its collaboration with Google in warning users about websites that can install malware on visitors’ computers, and in assisting with the remediation and prevention of such compromised sites, has increased awareness of the role individual site owners can play in reducing the spread of malware.

“There is still much to do. Badware remains a growing problem, but in the past few years, there’s also been a growing sense that this is a problem we -- the Internet community -- can and should work together to address. StopBadware is committed to making that happen,” said Weinstein.

About StopBadware
StopBadware is a non-profit organization that works with its network of individuals and partner organizations -- including Google, PayPal, and Mozilla -- to fight back against viruses, spyware, and other badware. The organization began as a project of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University before spinning off as a standalone organization in 2010. It is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. http://stopbadware.org

About the Berkman Center for Internet & Society
The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University is a research program founded to explore cyberspace, share in its study, and help pioneer its development. Founded in 1997, through a generous gift from Jack N. and Lillian R. Berkman, the Center is home to an ever-growing community of faculty, fellows, staff, and affiliates working on projects that span the broad range of intersections between cyberspace, technology, and society. More information can be found at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu.

Contact

Maxim Weinstein
StopBadware
617-466-9676
press@stopbadware.org

Seth Young
Berkman Center for Internet & Society
617-384-9135
syoung@cyber.law.harvard.edu

###