Berkman Buzz, week of May 21

BERKMAN BUZZ: A look at the past week's online Berkman conversations
The Berkman Center for Internet & Society, Harvard Law School
Week of May 25, 2007

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

*Lisa Williams comments on the state of citizen media.
*Colin Rhinesmith reports on Open Content Conference.
*Ethan Zuckerman explains Global Voices new project.
*David Weinberger compares free speech rights.
*William McGeveran on paying the price for identity theft.
*Global Voices: A brief explanation of Darfur.
*Internet & Society Conference 2007: Question of the Week.

The full buzz.

“In 2006, Wired called us a “spiraling vortex of ruin.” But television is still a $65B business, said Mark Lucasiewicz, VP of Digital Media for NBC said at Editor & Publisher Interactive today in Miami. My reaction: Welcome to the high-tech industry — the Land of the Premature Obituary. How many obituaries have I read for Apple Computer alone?”
Lisa Williams, “We’re not dead yet, they’re not journalists yet, says Lucasiewicz”

“ReNew Media is founded by Rockefeller Foundation to help media artists with funding their projects. ReNew offers Media Arts Scholarships and in this process they hear a lot about what filmmakers and media artists do not make (meaning $$) from their productions.”
Colin Rhinesmith, “Video, Education, and Open Content - Brian Newman”

“I’m at the Editor and Publisher and Adweek “Interactive Media” conference today because the Knight Foundation is announcing its News Challenge winners this morning at the conference. Global Voices has won one of the 24 awards, a $244,000 two-year grant that’s going to support our Rising Voices, our new outreach program. We’re going to support projects to help diversify the range of blogs and media featured on the Global Voices site.”
Ethan Zuckerman, “Global Voices wins Knight Foundation News Challenge”

“Our local newspaper, the St. Paul Pioneer Press, quoted me briefly at the end of a story about a freshly-passed Minnesota law concerning credit cards and identity theft. When a security breach involving credit card data is the fault of a retailer rather than the issuer of the card, the “Plastic Card Security Act” shifts liability to the retailer to pay for associated costs like notifying affected consumers and reissuing cards.”
William McGeveran, “New Law on Paying the Price for Identity Theft”

“Viacom sends YouTube a list of 100,000 videos that Viacom claims violate copyright, and under the terms of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, YouTube has no practical choice except to take them down. Viacom did not look at all 100,000. Some certainly did not violate copyright. For this violation of First Amendment free speech rights, Viacom was penalized, um, wait, let me get out my calculator...yeah, nothing.”
David Weinberger, “Violate copyright? $150,000. Violate free shpeech? $0”

"Darfur, in the minds of different people, constitutes and means different things. This is due to the fact that we, the general public around the world are getting exposed to a tirade of conflicting views and information. As that continues, so will our polarization. Therefore, the long and seemingly endless debates will keep stretching and as that happens, innocent lives will continue perishing.”
Sudanese, “Darfur: The Reality, the Agenda & the Proposed Solution”

"Are you coming?"
About the Internet & Society Conference 2007 - University: Knowledge Beyond Authority
The conference will be held at Harvard on June 1, 2007.  Register now!