Berkman Buzz, week of July 2

BERKMAN BUZZ: A look at the past week's online Berkman conversations
The Berkman Center for Internet & Society, Harvard Law School
Week of July 2, 2007

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

*Jonathan Zittrain wonders if he should sign on to the ICANN petition.
*David Weinberger calls for delamination now!
*Jake Shapiro discusses Russian media.
*Ethan Zuckerman considers the power of the mobile networks in Africa.
*Dan Gillmor remains unsurprised by FOIA survey results.
*Former fellow David Isenberg questions whether AT&T fulfills its merger promises.
*Weekly Global Voice: Touring Libyan Blogs: French Rock in Tripoli and US Embassy Affairs in a Coffee Shop?

The full buzz.

"Internet founding parent David Clark was a guest in my cyberlaw class in the fall of 1997.  We talked about Internet governance, although I don’t think anyone (including us) called it that yet.  ICANN wasn’t a gleam in the U.S. Department of Commerce’s eye, but even then the amazing state of the domain name system — how it came into being, how it was managed — made for an extraordinary story.

Now lawyers and diplomats are all over the subject, and ICANN has ballooned into a multi-million dollar organization. I’ve argued elsewhere that arguments about ICANN and domain names don’t much matter except to those who want a piece of the financial pie, and I think predictions of domain names’ unimportance have largely proven true..."
Jonathan Zittrain, “Keep the Core Neutral”

"So, who can blame the incumbents for extending their old business model into the new world of the Internet?
The model rests on bedrock premises:
    * Provide the connection, but make the real money selling services that use that connection. The telephone companies make money by selling premium services, cable companies make money by selling videos on demand, and cellphone companies are starting to make money by selling video downloads.
    * Lower the risk by routing around the market. It costs money to hook up houses with telephone or cable wires. So, lower the risk by getting government to grant you monopoly status.
    * Go where the money is. The households most willing and able to pay for services are the affluent ones. Hook them up first. In fact, why bother connecting the lower income houses? They only buy basic services and they actually look at their bills before paying them.

The business model works. In fact, it's sweet.  The problem is, this business model requires the carriers to work against the public interest..."
David Weingerber, "Delamination Now!"

“Russia is on the brain, not just because Vladimir is hanging out in Maine with George. NPR did a good piece this morning on the Azerbaijan Radar Base that Russia is offering up for joint missile defense — which is crazy on so many levels. And Julie Shapiro (no relation, other than as a sister in the public radio Shapiro Mafia, although I do have a cousin Julie Shapiro too) writes about her trip to Moscow to the 'Vmeste Radio' festival, organized by the Foundation for Independent Radio, which must have been fascinating...”
Jake Shapiro, “Russian Media”

"I’ve been thinking a great deal about the 'entrepreneurship-first' path - possibly best exemplified by financier Idris Mohammed’s statement, 'If you make Africans rich, they’ll be less poor. That’s my poverty reduction strategy.' Almost every discussion of business opportunity in Africa focused on the amazing growth of the mobile phone industry. That growth has been astounding, but it’s hard to know whether that growth will be replicable in other sectors. There’s a couple of circumstances that I think are critical to understand in the rise of mobile networks on the continent..."
Ethan Zuckerman, "Incremental infrastructure, or how mobile phones might wire Africa"

“NY Times: Survey Finds Action on Information Requests Can Take Years. The Freedom of Information Act requires a federal agency to provide an initial response to a request within 20 days and to provide the documents in a timely manner. But the oldest pending request uncovered in a new survey of 87 agencies and departments has been awaiting a response for 20 years, and 16 requesters have been waiting more than 15 years for results. 

Given the utter lack of incentive to cooperate with FOI requests, this should not be surprising. Some state laws do it better, forcing taxpayers to pay the legal bills when agencies break the law. The feds ignore it because they can...”
Dan Gillmor, “Freedom of Information a Joke to Some Agencies”

“When the FCC approved the AT&T-BellSouth merger in the waning hours of 2006, AT&T committed not only to Network Neutrality but also to a handful of other conditions, especially (a) to offer 768 kbit DSL to new subscribers for $10 a month and (b) to offer 'naked DSL,' i.e. DSL without a voice plan, to people in BellSouth territory.  Yeah right. John St. Julien at Lafayette Pro Fiber Blog had difficulty finding the $10/month plan. It was so difficult that I'd say it'd be approximately impossible for an entry-level Internet user to find it...”
David Isenberg, “Is AT&T Honoring its Merger Commitments?”

“Libyan-French relations, especially in culture and education, have never been totally cut even during the ‘hard’ years of the sanctions. The French Cultural Institute though very discreet in downtown Tripoli has been carrying on from its base, providing language courses and library services for as long as I can remember.  Flying Birds author A. Adam has recently attended a music festival sponsored by the ICF and hosted at the beautiful School of Islamic Craft...”
Fozia Mohamed, “Touring Libyan Blogs: French Rock in Tripoli and US Embassy Affairs in a Coffee Shop?”