<-- The Filter --> October 2005
No. 7.05 < -- The Filter --> 10.27.05
Your regular dose of public-interest Internet news and commentary from the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School.
CONTENTS:
[1] In the News
[2] Berkman Updates
[3] Up and Coming - Conferences
[4] Networked: Bookmarks, Webcasts, Podcasts, Tags, and Blogposts
[5] Staying Connected
[6] Filter Facts
[1] IN THE NEWS
===============
*Yahoo to follow suit -- Joins with OCA and Plans Open Online Library*
Yahoo! plans to build an online library of copyrighted works with the aid of the Open Content Alliance (OCA). The OCA previously filed suit against Google, claiming that, if Google continues on as planned, it will violate the copyrights of books' authors when digitizing them and placing them online for unlimited public consumption. Yahoo and OCA plan to provide digital versions of content that has been ok'd for digital distribution with a Creative Commons license.
The Open Content Alliance: http://www.opencontentalliance.org
Lawrence Lessig, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Creative Commons, on "CC, How it all began": <http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/5668>
Web Host Industry Review on the issue: <http://www.thewhir.com/find/articlecentral/story.asp?recordid=1460&page=1>
*Massachusetts announces new IT policy: Open Document Formats Become Default*
Effective September 21, the Massachusetts Information Technology Division ratified the Enterprise Technical Reference Model, which requires that MA's Executive Department agencies save documents they create in Open Document Format (ODF). On Monday, October 31, the Massachusetts Senate Post Audit Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing to debate the merits of the Commonwealth’s decision to require Executive Department use of ODF.
For more information on the case and its impacts, please read David Berlind in ZDNet: <http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-5893208.html>
And read the Mass Gov's "Enterprise Technical Reference Model": <http://www.mass.gov/portal/site/massgovportal/menuitem.769ad13bebd831c14db4a11030468a0c/?pageID=itdsubtopic&L=4&sid=Aitd&L0=Home&L1=Policies%2c+Standards+%26+Legal&L2=Enterprise+Architecture&L3=Enterprise+Technical+Reference+Model+-+Version+3.5>
The MA Information Technology Division FAQ: <http://www.mass.gov/portal/site/massgovportal/menuitem.59254d74c0e831c14db4a11030468a0c/? pageID=itdterminal&L=4&L0=Home&L1=Policies%2c+Standards+%26+Legal&L2=Open+Standards&L3=Open+Formats&sid=Aitd&b=terminalcontent&f=policies_standards_opendocformfaqs&csid=Aitd>
*Virus Conquers Starcraft*
World of Warcraft, the most popular online video game around, was recently the host to a virtual infection that killed lower-level players and some of the game's most powerful characters. The game introduced a new character, Hakkar, who fights back with a spray of "corrupted blood." Some players hacked into the game, infected a virtual pet, and let it loose in a crowded virtual city. The game's computer-controlled characters became carriers to the deathly illness.
To read more, please check out the BBC article: <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4272418.stm>
[2] BERKMAN UPDATES
===================
*In Support of Open Standards: Release of the Open ePolicy Group Roadmap Report*
The Berkman Center released the Roadmap for Open Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Ecosystems on Sept 9. The Roadmap demonstrates how to build our technological environment to foster interoperability and growth. From the report: "Technology’s transformative power has always been a source of great expectation and challenge. Today, globalization, fueled by information and communication technologies (ICT) is rapidly changing every society. Our drive towards globalization creates a new set of unique demands on government, business, and our everyday lives. Increasingly, decision makers in all fields are looking to technology to provide solutions and drive desired changes by commingling local, national, and global resources in innovative ways." The Roadmap was produced by a collaboration of public, private, and non-governmental experts from every region of the world, all of whom joined together under the auspices of the Open ePolicy Group.
Prof. Charles Nesson presented the report in Washington, DC. To find out more, please read his blog post: <http://cyber.harvard.edu/nesson/blog/?p=82>
The report: <http://cyber.harvard.edu/epolicy/roadmap.pdf>
* Open Net Initiative Releases "Filtering in Burma: 2004 Country Study"*
The OpenNet Initiative released a report on Internet censorship and filtering in Burma on Oct. 12. Drawing from technical, legal, and political sources, ONI's research found that the Burmese state seeks to maintain the capability to conduct surveillance of communication methods such as e-mail, and to block users from viewing websites of political opposition groups, organizations working for democracy change in Burma, and pornographic material. Among those costly and time-consuming controls are the following: individual dial-up subscribers may only access state-monitored e-mail and the country's Intranet, a small collection of mostly government and business Web sites hosted by respective Burmese authorities and companies; opportunities for anonymous communications are hampered by the state's ban on free email sites such as Hotmail and Yahoo! e-mail, enforced through filtering software obtained from the open source DansGuardian project and purchased from U.S.-based vendor Fortinet; and citizens who want to access the World Wide Web and who do not have individual subscriptions can only do so from Internet cafes in Rangoon and Mandalay.
For more on ONI and filtering, please check out the ONI blog: <http://www.opennetinitiative.net/blog/>
The report: <http://www.opennetinitiative.net/studies/burma/ONI_Burma_Country_Study.pdf>
*State of Play III: Social Revolutions conference*
The Berkman Center, the Institute for Information Law & Policy at New York Law School, and the Information Society Project at Yale Law School hosted "State of Play III: Social Revolutions" October 6-8 at New York Law School in TriBeCa, New York City. The focus of this year's conference was on social relationships in the metaverse and how to build vibrant, flourishing, creative places. Professors Terry Fisher, Charles Nesson, and Jonathan Zittrain, and Executive Director of the Berkman Center, John Palfrey, spoke at this year's conference.
Check out coverage in CNet: <http://news.com.com/The+serious+side+of+games/2100-1043_3-5887948.html?tag=nefd.top>
And a post from Rebecca MacKinnon, Berkman fellow, on her reaction: <http://rconversation.blogs.com/rconversation/2005/10/vitual_world_jo.html>
*Boston to Host Wikimania 2006*
Boston was selected as the host city for next summer's Wikimedia conference (known as Wikimania 2006) on global collaboration and free knowledge. Over 50 speakers and 600 attendees from around the world are expected to attend - an energetic mix of Wikimedia contributors; wiki maintainers and developers; academic researchers in law, technology, and sociology; and librarians, educators, and entrepreneurs. The decision followed a month-long bid process that culminated in a deadlocked jury and a week of overtime deliberation. The two finalist bids, for Boston and Toronto, were both so strong that a jury vote earlier this month was inconclusive. After asking for more information from both bids and from the global Wikimedia community, a second vote this past weekend was 5 - 4 in favor of Boston, with 2 abstentions.
For more information, please check out wikipedia: <http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2006/Boston>
[3] UP AND COMING - CONFERENCES
===============================
*Symposium on Social Architecture (SSA), November 15 at the Berkman Center: Corante, a cutting-edge social media services and publishing organization, is partnering with the Berkman Center to bring together the leading lights of social software and media spare to discuss the overarching themes and technologies driving this market. The SSA will be the first in a new series of symposia to be held in concert with the introduction of a suite of Web-based "Hubs" that will offer topic-specific services, including Symposium highlights, podcasts, expert advice and opinion blogs, product reviews, and more.
SSA topics to be explored: The Landscape of the Social Web; The Economics and Ethics of Social Infrastructure; Tagsonomy and Sense Making; Open versus Closed Models; Privacy and Identity; Better Social Indicators; Public versus Personal Top 100 Lists; and more.
To register: <http://www.corante.com/events/ssa>
*World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), Nov. 16-18, Tunis, Tunisia. A team of Berkman faculty and fellows will go and is actively involved in the organization of three events: "Expression Under Repression," "Geneva-Tunis and beyond: culture, creativity and capacity," and "Bridging technologists and international policy makers."
For more information: <http://www.itu.int/wsis/>
OTHER CONFERENCES TO WATCH OUT FOR:
November 2005
* Persistence of Memory: Stewardship of Digital Assets - November 1-2, 2005, Boston, MA <http://nedcc.org/pom/pomcover.htm>
* Museum Computer Network's 33rd Annual Meeting: Digits Fugit! Preserving Knowledge Into the Future - November 2-5, 2005, Boston, MA <http://www.mcn.edu/Mcn2005/mcn2005index.htm>
* Open Source for Education in Europe: Research & Practice - November 14-15, 2005, Heerlen, The Netherlands <http://www.openconference.net/index.php?cf=3>
* IRFD World Forum on Information Society: Digital Divide, Global Development and the Information Society - November 14-16, 2005, Tunis, Tunisia <http://irfd.org/events/wf2005/>
* World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) - November 16-18, 2005, Tunis, Tunisia <http://www.itu.int/wsis/>
* Online Educa Berlin 2005: 11th International Conference on Technology Supported Learning and Training - November 30 - December 2, 2005, Berlin, Germany <http://www.online-educa.com/en/>
December 2005
* Beyond Blogs and Social Networks: How Consumer Generated Media and the Virtual Handshake will Make or Break Your Business - December 1-2, 2005, Jersey City, NJ <http://www.srinstitute.com/cf401>
* ITI 3rd International Conference on Information & Communication Technology (ICICT 2005): Enabling Technologies for the New Knowledge Society - December 5-6, 2005, Cairo, Egypt <http://www.icict.gov.eg/ICICT2005/index.jsp>
* GL7: Open Access to Grey Resources: Seventh International Conference on Grey Literature - December 5-6, 2005, Nancy, France <http://www.textrelease.com/pages/2/>
* Third International Conference on Innovative Applications of Information Technology for the Developing World (AACC - 2005) - December 10-12, 2005, Kathmandu, Nepal <http://www.aacc.org.np/>
* 2nd International Conference on Technology, Knowledge and Society - December 12-15, 2005, Hyderabad, India <http://t06.cgpublisher.com/>
[4] NETWORKED: BOOKMARKS, WEBCASTS, PODCASTS, TAGS, AND BLOGPOSTS
=================================================================
*[podcast] Joshua Schachter, Del.icio.us founder: <http://cyber.harvard.edu/home/podcasts>
*[webcasts] State of Play III: <http://www.nyls.edu/pages/3903.asp>
*[blogpost] John Palfrey's "The Problems of Filtering": <http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/palfrey/2005/10/13#a991>
*[blogpost] Ethan Zuckerman, Berkman fellow, on participating in Charles Nesson's Cyberstrategy in Jamaica Conference and his impressions of Jamaica: <http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/?p=206>
*[blogpost] Rebecca MacKinnon on "Taishi Village and The Guardian's big error: Western media discredited in China": <http://rconversation.blogs.com/rconversation/2005/10/taishi_village.html>
*[tags] <http://Del.icio.us/tag/globalvoices>
*[blogpost] David Weinberger, aka Joho the Blog, on Schachter's talk: <http://www.hyperorg.com/blogger.com/blogger/mtarchive/berkman_joshua_schachter.html>
*[blogpost] Charles Nesson on Jimbo Wales, "High Mountains Free Culture Will Climb": <http://cyber.harvard.edu/nesson/blog/?p=84>
*[bookmark] <http://www.pledgebank.co.uk>
[5] STAYING CONNECTED
=====================
*We webcast every Tuesday Luncheon Speakers event and take questions over email. The webcast link is <http://h2odev.law.harvard.edu:8000/>
*The Berkman Center sends out an events email every Wednesday. If you'd like to be notified of upcoming events - virtual and otherwise - please sign up by emailing amichel at cyber.harvard.edu.
[6] FILTER FACTS
================
* Talk Back
Tell us what you think -- send feedback and news announcements to:
filter-editor@cyber.harvard.edu.
* Subscription Info
Subscribe or Unsubscribe:
<http://cyber.harvard.edu/signup/>
* About Us
Filter is a publication of the Berkman Center at Harvard Law School.
Editor: Amanda Michel
*Not a Copyright
This work is hereby released into the public domain. Please share it.
To read the public domain dedication, visit:
<http://creativecommons.org/licenses/publicdomain>.
Your regular dose of public-interest Internet news and commentary from the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School.
CONTENTS:
[1] In the News
[2] Berkman Updates
[3] Up and Coming - Conferences
[4] Networked: Bookmarks, Webcasts, Podcasts, Tags, and Blogposts
[5] Staying Connected
[6] Filter Facts
[1] IN THE NEWS
===============
*Yahoo to follow suit -- Joins with OCA and Plans Open Online Library*
Yahoo! plans to build an online library of copyrighted works with the aid of the Open Content Alliance (OCA). The OCA previously filed suit against Google, claiming that, if Google continues on as planned, it will violate the copyrights of books' authors when digitizing them and placing them online for unlimited public consumption. Yahoo and OCA plan to provide digital versions of content that has been ok'd for digital distribution with a Creative Commons license.
The Open Content Alliance: http://www.opencontentalliance.org
Lawrence Lessig, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Creative Commons, on "CC, How it all began": <http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/5668>
Web Host Industry Review on the issue: <http://www.thewhir.com/find/articlecentral/story.asp?recordid=1460&page=1>
*Massachusetts announces new IT policy: Open Document Formats Become Default*
Effective September 21, the Massachusetts Information Technology Division ratified the Enterprise Technical Reference Model, which requires that MA's Executive Department agencies save documents they create in Open Document Format (ODF). On Monday, October 31, the Massachusetts Senate Post Audit Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing to debate the merits of the Commonwealth’s decision to require Executive Department use of ODF.
For more information on the case and its impacts, please read David Berlind in ZDNet: <http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-5893208.html>
And read the Mass Gov's "Enterprise Technical Reference Model": <http://www.mass.gov/portal/site/massgovportal/menuitem.769ad13bebd831c14db4a11030468a0c/?pageID=itdsubtopic&L=4&sid=Aitd&L0=Home&L1=Policies%2c+Standards+%26+Legal&L2=Enterprise+Architecture&L3=Enterprise+Technical+Reference+Model+-+Version+3.5>
The MA Information Technology Division FAQ: <http://www.mass.gov/portal/site/massgovportal/menuitem.59254d74c0e831c14db4a11030468a0c/? pageID=itdterminal&L=4&L0=Home&L1=Policies%2c+Standards+%26+Legal&L2=Open+Standards&L3=Open+Formats&sid=Aitd&b=terminalcontent&f=policies_standards_opendocformfaqs&csid=Aitd>
*Virus Conquers Starcraft*
World of Warcraft, the most popular online video game around, was recently the host to a virtual infection that killed lower-level players and some of the game's most powerful characters. The game introduced a new character, Hakkar, who fights back with a spray of "corrupted blood." Some players hacked into the game, infected a virtual pet, and let it loose in a crowded virtual city. The game's computer-controlled characters became carriers to the deathly illness.
To read more, please check out the BBC article: <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4272418.stm>
[2] BERKMAN UPDATES
===================
*In Support of Open Standards: Release of the Open ePolicy Group Roadmap Report*
The Berkman Center released the Roadmap for Open Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Ecosystems on Sept 9. The Roadmap demonstrates how to build our technological environment to foster interoperability and growth. From the report: "Technology’s transformative power has always been a source of great expectation and challenge. Today, globalization, fueled by information and communication technologies (ICT) is rapidly changing every society. Our drive towards globalization creates a new set of unique demands on government, business, and our everyday lives. Increasingly, decision makers in all fields are looking to technology to provide solutions and drive desired changes by commingling local, national, and global resources in innovative ways." The Roadmap was produced by a collaboration of public, private, and non-governmental experts from every region of the world, all of whom joined together under the auspices of the Open ePolicy Group.
Prof. Charles Nesson presented the report in Washington, DC. To find out more, please read his blog post: <http://cyber.harvard.edu/nesson/blog/?p=82>
The report: <http://cyber.harvard.edu/epolicy/roadmap.pdf>
* Open Net Initiative Releases "Filtering in Burma: 2004 Country Study"*
The OpenNet Initiative released a report on Internet censorship and filtering in Burma on Oct. 12. Drawing from technical, legal, and political sources, ONI's research found that the Burmese state seeks to maintain the capability to conduct surveillance of communication methods such as e-mail, and to block users from viewing websites of political opposition groups, organizations working for democracy change in Burma, and pornographic material. Among those costly and time-consuming controls are the following: individual dial-up subscribers may only access state-monitored e-mail and the country's Intranet, a small collection of mostly government and business Web sites hosted by respective Burmese authorities and companies; opportunities for anonymous communications are hampered by the state's ban on free email sites such as Hotmail and Yahoo! e-mail, enforced through filtering software obtained from the open source DansGuardian project and purchased from U.S.-based vendor Fortinet; and citizens who want to access the World Wide Web and who do not have individual subscriptions can only do so from Internet cafes in Rangoon and Mandalay.
For more on ONI and filtering, please check out the ONI blog: <http://www.opennetinitiative.net/blog/>
The report: <http://www.opennetinitiative.net/studies/burma/ONI_Burma_Country_Study.pdf>
*State of Play III: Social Revolutions conference*
The Berkman Center, the Institute for Information Law & Policy at New York Law School, and the Information Society Project at Yale Law School hosted "State of Play III: Social Revolutions" October 6-8 at New York Law School in TriBeCa, New York City. The focus of this year's conference was on social relationships in the metaverse and how to build vibrant, flourishing, creative places. Professors Terry Fisher, Charles Nesson, and Jonathan Zittrain, and Executive Director of the Berkman Center, John Palfrey, spoke at this year's conference.
Check out coverage in CNet: <http://news.com.com/The+serious+side+of+games/2100-1043_3-5887948.html?tag=nefd.top>
And a post from Rebecca MacKinnon, Berkman fellow, on her reaction: <http://rconversation.blogs.com/rconversation/2005/10/vitual_world_jo.html>
*Boston to Host Wikimania 2006*
Boston was selected as the host city for next summer's Wikimedia conference (known as Wikimania 2006) on global collaboration and free knowledge. Over 50 speakers and 600 attendees from around the world are expected to attend - an energetic mix of Wikimedia contributors; wiki maintainers and developers; academic researchers in law, technology, and sociology; and librarians, educators, and entrepreneurs. The decision followed a month-long bid process that culminated in a deadlocked jury and a week of overtime deliberation. The two finalist bids, for Boston and Toronto, were both so strong that a jury vote earlier this month was inconclusive. After asking for more information from both bids and from the global Wikimedia community, a second vote this past weekend was 5 - 4 in favor of Boston, with 2 abstentions.
For more information, please check out wikipedia: <http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2006/Boston>
[3] UP AND COMING - CONFERENCES
===============================
*Symposium on Social Architecture (SSA), November 15 at the Berkman Center: Corante, a cutting-edge social media services and publishing organization, is partnering with the Berkman Center to bring together the leading lights of social software and media spare to discuss the overarching themes and technologies driving this market. The SSA will be the first in a new series of symposia to be held in concert with the introduction of a suite of Web-based "Hubs" that will offer topic-specific services, including Symposium highlights, podcasts, expert advice and opinion blogs, product reviews, and more.
SSA topics to be explored: The Landscape of the Social Web; The Economics and Ethics of Social Infrastructure; Tagsonomy and Sense Making; Open versus Closed Models; Privacy and Identity; Better Social Indicators; Public versus Personal Top 100 Lists; and more.
To register: <http://www.corante.com/events/ssa>
*World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), Nov. 16-18, Tunis, Tunisia. A team of Berkman faculty and fellows will go and is actively involved in the organization of three events: "Expression Under Repression," "Geneva-Tunis and beyond: culture, creativity and capacity," and "Bridging technologists and international policy makers."
For more information: <http://www.itu.int/wsis/>
OTHER CONFERENCES TO WATCH OUT FOR:
November 2005
* Persistence of Memory: Stewardship of Digital Assets - November 1-2, 2005, Boston, MA <http://nedcc.org/pom/pomcover.htm>
* Museum Computer Network's 33rd Annual Meeting: Digits Fugit! Preserving Knowledge Into the Future - November 2-5, 2005, Boston, MA <http://www.mcn.edu/Mcn2005/mcn2005index.htm>
* Open Source for Education in Europe: Research & Practice - November 14-15, 2005, Heerlen, The Netherlands <http://www.openconference.net/index.php?cf=3>
* IRFD World Forum on Information Society: Digital Divide, Global Development and the Information Society - November 14-16, 2005, Tunis, Tunisia <http://irfd.org/events/wf2005/>
* World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) - November 16-18, 2005, Tunis, Tunisia <http://www.itu.int/wsis/>
* Online Educa Berlin 2005: 11th International Conference on Technology Supported Learning and Training - November 30 - December 2, 2005, Berlin, Germany <http://www.online-educa.com/en/>
December 2005
* Beyond Blogs and Social Networks: How Consumer Generated Media and the Virtual Handshake will Make or Break Your Business - December 1-2, 2005, Jersey City, NJ <http://www.srinstitute.com/cf401>
* ITI 3rd International Conference on Information & Communication Technology (ICICT 2005): Enabling Technologies for the New Knowledge Society - December 5-6, 2005, Cairo, Egypt <http://www.icict.gov.eg/ICICT2005/index.jsp>
* GL7: Open Access to Grey Resources: Seventh International Conference on Grey Literature - December 5-6, 2005, Nancy, France <http://www.textrelease.com/pages/2/>
* Third International Conference on Innovative Applications of Information Technology for the Developing World (AACC - 2005) - December 10-12, 2005, Kathmandu, Nepal <http://www.aacc.org.np/>
* 2nd International Conference on Technology, Knowledge and Society - December 12-15, 2005, Hyderabad, India <http://t06.cgpublisher.com/>
[4] NETWORKED: BOOKMARKS, WEBCASTS, PODCASTS, TAGS, AND BLOGPOSTS
=================================================================
*[podcast] Joshua Schachter, Del.icio.us founder: <http://cyber.harvard.edu/home/podcasts>
*[webcasts] State of Play III: <http://www.nyls.edu/pages/3903.asp>
*[blogpost] John Palfrey's "The Problems of Filtering": <http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/palfrey/2005/10/13#a991>
*[blogpost] Ethan Zuckerman, Berkman fellow, on participating in Charles Nesson's Cyberstrategy in Jamaica Conference and his impressions of Jamaica: <http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/?p=206>
*[blogpost] Rebecca MacKinnon on "Taishi Village and The Guardian's big error: Western media discredited in China": <http://rconversation.blogs.com/rconversation/2005/10/taishi_village.html>
*[tags] <http://Del.icio.us/tag/globalvoices>
*[blogpost] David Weinberger, aka Joho the Blog, on Schachter's talk: <http://www.hyperorg.com/blogger.com/blogger/mtarchive/berkman_joshua_schachter.html>
*[blogpost] Charles Nesson on Jimbo Wales, "High Mountains Free Culture Will Climb": <http://cyber.harvard.edu/nesson/blog/?p=84>
*[bookmark] <http://www.pledgebank.co.uk>
[5] STAYING CONNECTED
=====================
*We webcast every Tuesday Luncheon Speakers event and take questions over email. The webcast link is <http://h2odev.law.harvard.edu:8000/>
*The Berkman Center sends out an events email every Wednesday. If you'd like to be notified of upcoming events - virtual and otherwise - please sign up by emailing amichel at cyber.harvard.edu.
[6] FILTER FACTS
================
* Talk Back
Tell us what you think -- send feedback and news announcements to:
filter-editor@cyber.harvard.edu.
* Subscription Info
Subscribe or Unsubscribe:
<http://cyber.harvard.edu/signup/>
* About Us
Filter is a publication of the Berkman Center at Harvard Law School.
Editor: Amanda Michel
*Not a Copyright
This work is hereby released into the public domain. Please share it.
To read the public domain dedication, visit:
<http://creativecommons.org/licenses/publicdomain>.