Berkman Buzz: Week of September 27, 2010

BERKMAN BUZZ: A look at the past week's online Berkman conversations
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What's being discussed...take your pick or browse below.

* Joseph Reagle holds an Easter egg hunt.
* David Weinberger saddles his innovation hobby horse.
* OpenNet Initiative's new bulletin: "Policing Content in the Quasi-Public Sphere"
* Ethan Zuckerman blogs Cynthia Dwork's talk on differential privacy.
* Kidney exchange? Doc Searls takes notes.
* Jonathan Zittrain isn't worrying about Robin Sage.
* CMLP covers Low-Profit Limited Liability Company (L3C) formation.
* Plug! Stuart Shieber's been tweeting.
* Weekly Global Voices: "Egypt: 'The Inevitable Mubarak Photoshopping Contest'"

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The full buzz.

"One of the anxieties I experienced as a first-time author was what to expect with each step of the process. In particular, things like the title and cover design seem both trivial -- with respect to the substantive content one has spent years on -- and also really important -- with respect to the initial representation of all that work. During the discussions with my collaborators at The MIT Press I did have a few moments of "oh no, not that," as I am sure they did, but I am extremely pleased with the result....I was so pleased with what I called the "puzzle people" it is now a motif on the book's website. Since today is the actual official date for availability of the book, I thought I would propose a little contest...."
From Joseph Reagle's post GFC Easter Egg Hunt

"So, will the Internet’s navigation systems follow the same pattern? Will they settle down so that over the course of several generations, the Net will look and work basically the same? Even within particular functional areas, say, search engines? Or will we be constantly innovating the basic navigational systems of the Net? Or, will some systems become settled — say, search engines with text entry boxes (and their oral equivalent) and lists of results — while there is wild innovation in other areas?"
From David Weinberger's blog post Are we in for perpetual innovation?

"As private companies increasingly take on roles in the public sphere, the rules users must follow become increasingly complex. In some cases this can be positive, for example, when a user in a repressive society utilizes a platform hosted by a company abroad that is potentially bound to more liberal, Western laws than those to which he is subject in his home country. Such platforms may also allow a user to take advantage of anonymous or pseudonymous speech, offering him a place to discuss taboo topics. At the same time, companies set their own standards, which often means navigating tricky terrain; companies want to keep users happy but must also operate within a viable business model, all the while working to keep their services available in as many countries as possible by avoiding government censorship. Online service providers have incentive not to host content that might provoke a DDoS attack or raise costly legal issues. Negotiating this terrain often means compromising on one or more of these areas, sometimes at the expense of users."
From Rebekah Heackock's blog post for ONI, New Report from ONI: "Policing Content in the Quasi-Public Sphere"

"Cynthia Dwork is a theoretical computer scientist who is known for applying the theory of her field to problems that seem like they might not be best solved by computer science. One of those problems is privacy, the topic of her lunch talk at Berkman titled, “I’m in the Database, But Nobody Knows”. When we think about loss of privacy, we often think about threats like data theft, phishing, virii as well as the changing privacy policies of sites like Facebook. There’s another risk – the danger of data leakage through data analysis."
From Ethan Zuckerman's blog post Cynthia Dwork defines Differential Privacy

"I’m at a fascinating luncheon talk by Al Roth at CRCS with the irresistable title, “Kidney Exchange.” This can’t help but call to mind “Anonymous Philanthopist Donates 200 Kidneys“, in The Onion. which I hope Al has in this talk or puts in his next one. So I’m taking notes here. Lots of good fodder for the Markets chapter of the book I’m wrirting.,, Market Design is Al’s summary and collection of works on that subject, including Kidney Exchange. See his “Efficient Kidney Exchange” paper In the American Economic Review. Market design is around patient-donor pairs (usually relatives), even though one half the pair will not be donating a kidney to the other half of the pair..."
From Doc Searls' blog post Playing the organs

"The Robin Sage experiment — and the lessons we’re supposed to draw from it — interest me because I’m interested in the ways in which kindness among strangers can be crucial to the world being a good place to live — and the Internet functioning at all. It’s not surprising that a security professional would conduct an experiment in which people were duped into friending someone who wasn’t real and then conclude that those people were observing security practices that were too lax. But the more you think about it, the more you can think of all sorts of similar experiments: offer to help someone with his or her shopping bags, and then drop them. See someone taking a picture of his friends in a park, offer to do it so he can join the picture, and then run away with the camera. Hold a door for someone, and then hit them from behind. Should an experimenter do any of these, would the lesson be about the gullibility of the target or the cruelty of the experimenter?"
From Jonathan Zittrain's blog post Cybersecurity: separating genuine worries from fearmongering

(Bonus: All of the posts from Concurring Opinions' recent symposium on Professor Zittrain's "The Future of the Internet" can be found at http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/category/symposium-future-internet)

"With subscription and advertising revenue dropping, the newspaper industry is in dire need of a new and - more importantly - sustainable business model. The Low-Profit Limited Liability Company (L3C), a novel hybrid business form combining a social mission with a for-profit entity, has been named by many as the solution to journalism's money problem. Back in February, Sally Duros argued that the L3C can save newspapers. Likewise, Free Press discussed the L3C on SaveTheNews.org. Then, in July, Andy Bromage reported that the Pulitzer Prize-winning newsweekly Point Reyes Light had already found salvation in the L3C. As a result of this publicity, CMLP has been receiving a lot of inquiries from online media creators who would like to form an L3C. The business form is now extensively covered in our legal guide, including a detailed explanation of its tiered capital structure, state by state sections on how to form an L3C, and an overview of its advantages and disadvantages."
From Marina Petrova's blog post for CMLP, New Section in the Legal Guide: L3C Business Form

"Observant followers of the Pamphlet will have noticed that I have taken up with Twitter over the last few months....As I get a hang of the medium, I’ve been tweeting on a wider range of topics than covered by the Pamphlet, but still hope this will be of interest to those of you who read the blog. So feel free to follow me (pmphlt) on twitter, and urge your friends, acquaintances, family members, pets, and hangers on to follow as well..."
From Stuart Shieber's blog post I've been tweeting

"As the 2010 Peace Talks–the latest round of direct negotiations between leaders from Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Egypt, and the United States–kicked off at the beginning of the month, Egyptian bloggers were already expressing skepticism about their outcome, as well as about the involvement of President Mubarak (who is often the target of protests in the country). Though bloggers may view Mubarak one way, however, Egypt's most widely-circulated newspaper, Al Ahram, sees things differently. As blogger WaELK reported on his blog, the paper, using relatively advanced Photoshop skills, placed Mubarak front and center in the lineup of heads of state..."
From Jillian C. York's blog post for Global Voices, Egypt: "The Inevitable Mubarak Photoshopping Contest"

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The weekly Berkman Buzz is selected from the posts of Berkman Center people and projects: http://cyber.harvard.edu/planet/current/

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