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Berkman Blog Buzz, week of March 24

A look at the past week's online Berkman conversations. For a complete picture, please visit our Berkman aggregator. Last week’s Blog Buzz is here.

What’s going on … take your pick here or browse below.

*Ethan Zuckerman considers advocacy organizations and blogging
*Lawrence Lessig comments on Sun’s openDRM project
*Urs Gasser is writing about anti-circumvention legislation
*Wendy Seltzer discusses the DMCA
*David Weinberger reports on the status of the World Digital Library

The full buzz.

“A year ago, we believed that the Russian-language blogosphere was nearly silent. Now, with the assistance of a brilliant Russian-speaking regional editor, we’re able to see the conversations that are taking place. Did we get better at finding blogs, or did the Russian language blogosphere grow? Both. Blogging - and personal publishing of all sorts, from podcasting to photo sharing to videoblogging - is a form of representation that gets easier every day. In the same way that mobile phones come with voicemail in many nations these days, mobiles will come with online publishing space in the near future…”
Ethan Zuckerman, “From representing to pointing: some thoughts on the future of advocacy”

“So let me be as clear as possible here (though saying the same thing I’ve always said): We should be building a DRM-free world. We should have laws that encouraged a DRM-free world. We should demonstrate practices that make compelling a DRM-free world. All of that should, I thought, be clear…”
Lawrence Lessig, “openDRM”

“Thus, I argue that the immediate question before us is no longer whether the second and third layer of protection of digital works is appropriate or viable (personally, I'm convinced that it is not, but that's another story…) Rather, at this stage, attention should be drawn to the alternative design choices that remain with countries that face the challenge of drafting or revisiting a legal regime aimed at protecting TPM…”
Urs Gasser, “Basic Design Principles for Anti-Circumvention Legislation (draft)”

“Copyright has become more regulatory and more market-crippling as it expands, and the DMCA is a case in point. As Lee describes, the DMCA has been (ab)used to prevent competitive development of audio and video players, cable boxes, and even, for a time, printer cartridges. Instead of a free-market rush toward the best technology to meet public demand, we get a trickle of major-label "approved" devices that must be bug-compatible: region-coded DVD players and can't-record cable boxes…”
Wendy Seltzer, “Don’t miss Cato vs. the DMCA”

“Plus, each project is in only two languages, which is a limitation. The next step is to build the World Digital Library. Dr. Billington proposed this about a year ago. It intends to digitize selected materials to enrich particular themes highlighting various cultures. It is not a mass digitizing of libraries. Scholars would advise on which items to scan in…”
David Weinberger, “John Van Oudernaren, World Digital Library”


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