Berkman Blog Buzz, week of March 31

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.

Lawrence Lessig on business as first mover
David Isenberg talks generativity
Dan Gillmor connects net neutrality and citizen media
Creative Commons launches CCHost 2.0
David Weinberger rediscovers connectivity
Rebecca MacKinnon calls for Hao Wu's release

The full buzz.

"Japan is one of my favorite places in the world, and I love any excuse to be here. But I had a strange deja vu as I listened to the stories of what people are doing here. In the late 1990s, I travelled a bunch to South America to talk about cyberspace. In conference after conference, I listened to South Americans describe how they were waiting for the government to enact rules so they could begin to develop business in cyberspace. That reaction puzzled me, an American. As I explained to those who would listen, in America, business wasn’t waiting for the government to “clarify” rules. It was simply building business in cyberspace without any support from government. Yet as I listened to the Japanese describe the stuff they were doing with content in cyberspace, I realized we (America) had become South America...."
Lawrence Lessig, "Lost in Regulation"

"Long term, the ability to launch new apps on a network -- and, most importantly, connect with customers for those new apps -- is even more important. I am disheartened by the cellular operator story -- with many cellular operators to choose from, you might think people would demand one that took a non-walled-garden approach. But there aren't any...."
David Isenberg, "More on red-zone, green-zone"

"If the cable and phone companies are allowed to decide what goes up and down “their” data pipes — built atop government-sanctioned monopoly businesses — and in what order, they will use their power to favor certain content and services, and thereby disfavor others. The rise of citizen media has everything to do with network neutrality, and its loss will ultimately discourage a lot of the creativity we’re seeing in this arena...."
Dan Gillmor, "Legislation Designed to Help Stifle Open Internet"

"We've just released ccHost 2.0, the GPL-licensed software platform that powers ccMixter. Thanks to Victor Stone for months of mad coding (when he's not remixing) and Jon Phillips for packaging the release. I've already blogged about two new features included in this release, remix statistics and the sample pool API, but there's much more. Check out the press release for details...."
Creative Commons, "ccHost 2.0"

"Yesterday as I sat in the audience at a session at the IA Summit, I was unable to connect to the wifi system in order to send an email to a friend about meeting him for dinner. I tried every way I could to connect, but to no avail. I started thrashing through the options for getting him a message. IM? No connectivity. Skype? Nope. Phone call? My cell phone doesn't work in Canada. Text message? Did I mention my cell phone doesn't work? So, I slipped out of the session, thinking maybe I'd ask one of the staff if I could borrow a cell phone for a quick local call. And then, on the way to the staff desk, it hit me. The perfect solution.... "
David Weinberger, "Hacking Internet Connectivity"

"The circumstances of Hu Jia's detention are very similar to those of our Global Voices Northeast Asia editor Hao Wu, who has been held without charge or legal representation since February 22nd - that's 35 days now. (See recent AP and Reuters coverage here.) I am concerned that Hao's detention is equally bad for his health. Despite some nay-sayers who think publicity is counterproductive, it would appear that publicity did help bring about Hu Jia's release. When working in China in the 1990's, I covered the jailings and releases of quite a number of Chinese people detained or sentenced for political reasons - some of whom considered themselves dissidents and some of whom did not, like Hao...."
Rebecca MacKinnon, "Hu Jia plans to sue his captores, day 35 for Hao Wu"

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