Berkman Buzz, week of November 17

A look at the past week's online Berkman conversations.  If you'd like to receive this by email, just sign up here.

What's going on... take your pick or browse below.

*Lawrence Lessig continues debate over copyright term extension.
*Ethan Zuckerman reflects on launch of Al Jazeera International.
*William McGeveran discusses Finnish ban on Googling job applicants.
*PRX highlights comedic program additions.
*Doc Searls advocates for change in method of managing Internet identities.
*Creative Commons impacts Internet users across the globe.
*MediaBerkman Video: Jay Rosen describes Open Source media project, NewAssignment.net

The Full Buzz.

“The real problem with the government’s position — a point I really tried to make clear again and again — was that it was precisely the same position the DC Circuit had adopted in Eldred, and which the Supreme Court in Eldred explicitly rejected. Put differently, if the only 'traditional contours of copyright protection' are the idea/expression dichotomy and 'fair use,' then the Supreme Court’s rule in Eldred would be exactly the same as the DC Circuit’s rule in Eldred. And only problem with that interpretation is that the Eldred court explicitly said the DC Circuit’s rule was wrong…”
Lawrence Lessig, “Kahle v. Gonzales II Part I, Part II"

“I feel strongly that Al Jazeera International is a good thing. I think a lot of the criticism Al Jazeera’s Arabic service receives are, frankly, off the mark, and more a reflection of Western news coverage of Jazeera than the truth of what’s on the network. My experiences in Doha were of a network determined to bring debate to every possible issue, going out of their way to put people who disagree with one another on camera in the hopes of knocking sparks…”
Ethan Zuckerman, “Al Jazeera International Launches…”

“…[P]rospective employers now use search engines to learn things about job applicants that cannot be discerned from the usual routine of cover letter, resume, interview and references. The general American reaction is that this is a new reality of the Internet age, which may persuade people to display a little less of themselves online, may expand employers’ tolerance of certain off-hours conduct, and may create demand for services that claim to clean up one’s undesirable information found online. (Probably all three…) Finland has now adopted another response entirely…”
William McGeveran, “Finnish Employers Cannot Google Applicants”

“Now, comedy is dangerous. It's like brussel sprouts: not to everyone's tastes. But something is happening out there. And it is exciting to see -- and hear -- these works on PRX. Here is what has caught my ears in recent months…”
PRX, “Dramatic Comedic Listening”

“The customer relates to that vendor through a few hunks of authentication data (login, password, answers to questions for recovering lost logins and passwords...) and then interacts ('relates' is a gross exaggeration) inside a narrow and highly confined system that totally controls what the customer can do — and utterly cuts off any possibility of useful contributions to the company other than in through repeated purchases and whatever secondary data might be gleaned from the transaction and customer history. 'Your opinion counts?' No way. They don't care what I think. They care what their survey results tell them. Huge difference. One relates. The other doesn't…”
Doc Searls, “Why I Want VRM”

"The first example comes from Brazil, at the site 'Overmundo.' Overmundo is a collaborative website designed to spread Brazilian culture. Its distinction is that both its content and design are generated by its users. Users choose what should or should not be published on the website. They choose what goes on the front page. And everything made available on the site is licensed under a CC license. The Overmundo tools give users the capacity to rate the quality of contributed content. This invitation to the site’s users has in turn inspired a community that has built a 'cultural database,' with thousands of people sharing and making content available broadly…”
Creative Commons, “CC as a Global Movement”

"Jay Rosen joined us at The Berkman Center to talk about Open Source journalism and his new project, NewAssignment.net.  Open Source has worked in software, but can it work in journalism? Can it break news? Can it tell big important stories? Can the advantages of the bazaar come to the cathedral of investigative reporting? NewAssignment.net will try to find out..."
Media Berkman, "Jay Rosen on Open Source Journalism"

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