Berkman Briefings Newsfeed

Berkman Briefing: WSIS – Conference Hype or Lasting Change?

rtabasky — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 18:56:38 -0500

In terms of size alone, the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) was a stunning achievement: 11,000 official participants representing 176 nations convened in Geneva for four days to discuss the future of information and communication technologies (ICTs). More than fifty heads of state and 970 press people attended, making it a benchmark in Internet history. But now that the diplomats have returned home and trade-show representatives have repacked their wares, it is time to consider whether WSIS was simply an exercise in summit formalities or an event that left a lasti

Berkman Briefing: Rip, Mix, and Burn - Lessig's Case for Building a Free Culture

rtabasky — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 18:12:02 -0500

In a low-lit auditorium at Harvard University's Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Stanford Law Professor Lawrence Lessig leaned against the podium and clicked a remote control. Above him, a video with Peanuts cartoons filled the screen—Linus sawed on a cello as a familiar chord progression began. My baby don’t mess around/ Because she loves me so/ And this I know for sure… The audience shifted uncomfortably. OutKast? Was he rea

Berkman Briefing: Free Software, the Gospel

rtabasky — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 17:57:42 -0500

If Eben Moglen's recent address at Harvard could be condensed to bumper-sticker format, it might read: Free Software, It isn't just source code—It’s a way of life. Moglen is a professor, a lawyer, and a programmer, but he spoke as a crusader for social justice in his lecture, "SCO and After SCO: The Future of Free Software," at Harvard Law School on February 23. His speech offered a counterpoint to a presentation by read more

Berkman Briefing: SCO vs. IBM - Questioning the Kernel

rfink — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 12:04:50 -0500

I went to see Darl McBride’s presentation, “Defending Intellectual Property in the Digital Age,” because I wanted to learn more about his company, SCO, and its challenge to open source software. I also went because I love protests. The event had all the necessary ingredients for a rowdy, political evening: enraged leftist software programmers, a spokesperson for corporate America, and the backdrop of a college campus. When McBride entered the Harvard lecture hall with two bodyguards, my suspicions were confirmed (though, as I learned later, one of stern men was actua

Berkman Briefing: Averting the Internet Meltdown

rfink — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 11:52:58 -0500

A call to action went out: a small, California-based organization called People for Internet Responsibility (PFIR) posted an announcement for an urgent conference – “Preventing the Internet Meltdown.”

Berkman Briefing: Interacting at Interactive - Social Networks at SXSW

rfink — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 11:41:57 -0500

An easy way to strike up conversation with attendees of South by Southwest Interactive was to go around and ask, “Do you have a blog?” As I quickly learned, the more interesting question was, “How many blogs do you have?”

Berkman Briefing: Diebold vs. The Bloggers

rfink — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 11:32:51 -0500

When the National Archives needed new vaults to protect the country’s most precious documents – the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights – it contracted with the market leader in security solutions to build a customized, high-security storage system. Diebold, Inc., a 145-year-old company based in North Canton, Ohio, specializes in security-related projects ranging from construction of ATMs to the case that holds the Hope Diamond.

Berkman Briefing: Inside the Courtroom - The Music Industry Takes on the Uploaders

rfink — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 11:18:36 -0500

While the Recording Industry of America’s (RIAA) crackdown on illegal file sharing has resulted in lawsuits against nearly 3000 individuals, a number of legal questions raised in the cases were under debate inside the John Joseph Moakley U. S. Courthouse in Boston yesterday. Judge Nancy Gertner of the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts convened a hearing to address pre-trial motions in the case of Capitol Records et al. v. Alaujan, in which the Recording Industry is suing 40 defendants.