Users Educating Users
This past Friday StopBadware.org announced the winner of their Cookie Crumbles Contest. Clayton Miller’s video, "Cookies," took home the grand prize award, marking a close to Berkman and StopBadware’s first video contest.
It wasn’t the first step for StopBadware, however, in working to broaden user awareness of online privacy and security issues. Berkman co-founder and StopBadware co-director Jonathan Zittrain helped to establish StopBadware on his belief that the innovative nature of the net is best preserved by user empowerment rather than legislative or technological lockdowns by governments or corporations. Berkman Executive Director John Palfrey articulated the need for distributed solutions to distributed problems in the paper written along with David Johnson and Susan Crawford, "The Accountable Net: Peer Production of Internet Governance." Combined, these threads informed StopBadware’s founding principles. In the nearly 2 years since its founding, StopBadware has become a leading independent authority on trends in harmful software and its distribution, and a focal point for developing collaborative, community-minded approaches to stopping badware.
StopBadware’s reporting on badware applications and organizations that produce and distribute them has already been useful to internet users and regulators alike. In December of last year, StopBadware and the Center for Democracy & Technology collaborated to file a formal complaint to the Federal Trade Comission against FastMP3Search.com.ar. The FTC has continued to be a friend of StopBadware and its work; it hosted last week's Town Hall workshop, where the video contest entries were discussed and the grand prize awarded.
As Berkman celebrates our 10th anniversary, StopBadware continues to expand its programs and tools in this arena. You can read Jonathan Zittrain's most recent thoughts on internet vulnerabilities as written on his blog, and keep an eye out for his forthcoming book, “The Future of the Internet – and How to Stop It.” Further, you can learn more and join in the future of Berkman and StopBadware’s online safety and educational efforts over at the StopBadware site.
It wasn’t the first step for StopBadware, however, in working to broaden user awareness of online privacy and security issues. Berkman co-founder and StopBadware co-director Jonathan Zittrain helped to establish StopBadware on his belief that the innovative nature of the net is best preserved by user empowerment rather than legislative or technological lockdowns by governments or corporations. Berkman Executive Director John Palfrey articulated the need for distributed solutions to distributed problems in the paper written along with David Johnson and Susan Crawford, "The Accountable Net: Peer Production of Internet Governance." Combined, these threads informed StopBadware’s founding principles. In the nearly 2 years since its founding, StopBadware has become a leading independent authority on trends in harmful software and its distribution, and a focal point for developing collaborative, community-minded approaches to stopping badware.
StopBadware’s reporting on badware applications and organizations that produce and distribute them has already been useful to internet users and regulators alike. In December of last year, StopBadware and the Center for Democracy & Technology collaborated to file a formal complaint to the Federal Trade Comission against FastMP3Search.com.ar. The FTC has continued to be a friend of StopBadware and its work; it hosted last week's Town Hall workshop, where the video contest entries were discussed and the grand prize awarded.
As Berkman celebrates our 10th anniversary, StopBadware continues to expand its programs and tools in this arena. You can read Jonathan Zittrain's most recent thoughts on internet vulnerabilities as written on his blog, and keep an eye out for his forthcoming book, “The Future of the Internet – and How to Stop It.” Further, you can learn more and join in the future of Berkman and StopBadware’s online safety and educational efforts over at the StopBadware site.