Skip to the main content

Berkman Buzz: November 18, 2011

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.

* VIDEO: Justin Reich discusses technology and educational equality
* Juan Carlos de Martin publishes an op-ed in La Stampa on Italy's digital agenda [in Italian]
* The Citizen Media Law Project reviews an ACLU/NAACP lawsuit revolving around an ad at the Philly International Airport
* Dan Gillmor argues against SOPA
* Herdict attends the first EU Hackathon
* Harry Lewis reviews this week's government attacks on freedom of speech and thought
* Weekly Global Voices: "Zambia: Porn Video Sparks Debate on Gender, Culture and Morality"

 

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

The full buzz.

VIDEO: "Today I have a video op-ed up on the Harvard Graduate School of Education website, where I address some of my concerns about the role of education technology in expanding educational inequalities."
From Justin Reich's blog post, "Will Free Benefit the Rich?"

"È ora di risalire dal fondo della classifica europea, per superare uno «spread» digitale che rischia di azzoppare i nostri sforzi quasi quanto lo «spread» finanziario. In questo momento di transizione è quindi essenziale che la politica capisca l’importanza di dare subito un’agenda digitale all’Italia: banda larga in tutto il Paese, superamento dell’analfabetismo digitale, azioni mirate per portare il digitale in settori trainanti come turismo, cultura, artigianato, piccole imprese."
From Juan Carlos de Martin's op-ed in La Stampa, "Anche i sacrifici pretendono un futuro: ci vuole un ministro per il digitale"

"The NAACP and the ACLU filed suit against the City of Philadelphia over a refusal to accept an advertisement for placement at Philly International Airport. The billboard reads: 'Welcome to America, home to 5% of the world's people & 25% of the world's prisoners.' (A larger image of the billboard is available at the NAACP's website.) The City claims it rejected the ad because of a policy against 'issue' and 'advocacy' billboards. However, the suit alleges that the City has allowed such ads in the past."
From Marc J. Randazza's blog post for the Citizen Media Law Project, "Not THAT kind of Brotherly Love"

"America is fond of chiding other nations about freedom of speech in the internet age. Leaders including President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are constantly reminding their global counterparts, especially in places like China, that internet censorship is a detriment to open government and honest self-rule. Yet, the Obama administration has used tactics that smell of censorship, and Congress is making common cause with a corporate cartel that wants to turn the internet into little more than an enhanced form of cable television. In the name of protecting copyright holders, they would censor the internet and force entrepreneurs to get permission to innovate."
From Dan Gillmor's article for The Guardian, "Stop Sopa now"

"Herdict Technical Director Mike King and I attended the first (annual?) EU Hackathon held last week in Brussels, Belgium. This event, sponsored by Google and Skype, was an opportunity to educate members of European Parliament about Internet censorship, filtering, and the need for transparency. It was also an opportunity for 54 programmers to demonstrate the transparency-enhancing projects that they could develop in only 23 hours."
From Ryan Budish's blog post for Herdict, "Herdict Attends First EU Hackathon in Brussels"

"I fear that for a variety of reasons, American governments, and especially the federal government, are increasingly willing to infringe Constitutional guarantees of freedom of thought and of speech. Sometimes the assault is head on, on stages that are brightly lit by politically spotlights. Sometimes the assaults are apparently minor skirmishes, at hard-to-notice spots in remote regions of the bureaucracy. Here are three I have noticed this week."
From Harry Lewis's blog post, "This Week's Government Attacks on Freedom of Speech and of Thought"

"A video clip of a young female student at one of Zambia’s expensive colleges having sex with her boyfriend surfaced on a hardcore pornography website. The case has generated a lot of debate online about culture, morality and gender."
From Gershom Ndhlovu's post for Global Voices Online, "Zambia: Porn Video Sparks Debate on Gender, Culture and Morality"

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

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.harvard.edu.