Berkman Buzz: Week of August 4, 2008

BERKMAN BUZZ:  A look at the past week's online Berkman conversations.  If you'd like to receive this by email, just sign up here. The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University

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*On Jonathan Zittrain's Future of the Internet blog, we are encouraged to join the Herd(ict)
*Wendy Seltzer thinks Hasbro would have been better off had it played nice with Scrabulous
*The Internet & Democracy Project looks at the division of the South African blogosphere
*David Ardia helps us understand the legal risks associated with publishing online
*Digital Natives Reporters in the Field: "The Ballad of Zack McCune, Part 3"
*Weekly Global Voices: "Georgia: South Ossetia Update"
*Weekly Publius Essay:  "John Clippinger: On Technology, Security, Personhood and Privacy: An Appeal"

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The full buzz.

"This fall the Berkman Center for Internet and Society (and JZ’s new home) will unveil Herdict, a suite of programs that gathers data from users around the world about their PCs’ performance and ability to access websites. Herdict aggregates this information and aims to provide a real time picture of users’ PC health and web accessibility. If you read The Future of the Internet or saw some of the interviews, or came to Berkman@10, Herdict is the “take away.” For the Internet we know and love is under attack..."
From Elfine Peterson's blogpost for Johnathan Zittrain's Future of the Internet blog, "Protect your PC, Protect our Network, Protect the Internet: JOIN Herdict"

"Hasbro should have settled with the Scrabulous developers, not sued. While Hasbro was scrapping with Mattel over rights to develop an official online Scrabble (the two split geographic ownership of the Scrabble trademark), the Agarwalla brothers were building one. Their Facebook app, launched a year ago, won a loyal following among Scrabble fans who appreciated a chance to play the word game online, with friends in their social networks. Scrabulous listened to user suggestions, enhancing the online version to the point where it could boast 1.3 million monthly users and a 4.2 star rating, (as compared to 235k users giving Hasbro’s recently launched “beta” 1.2 stars)..."
From Wendy Seltzer's blogpost, "Follow the Lead-Users, Not with Cease-and-Desists"

"In his article “The Daily We”, Cass Sunstein proposed a theory of Internet polarization that has sparked interesting dialogue among cyber philosophers. Essentially, Sunstein argues that while the web has demonstrated its potential to democratize public discourse, the habits of its users also feeds a kind of balkanization. Empirically, research has shown how individuals tend to navigate toward online content that fits within their own spheres of interest and opinion, creating a fragmented and polarized net..."
From the Internet & Democracy Project blogpost, "Balkanization in the South African Blogosphere"

"Over the next few weeks I'll be posting about various topics we cover in the CMLP's Citizen Media Legal Guide.  If you would like to read any of the previous "highlights" from the guide, you can find them here. Today, I'll start with the risks associated with publishing online (for information on the legal risks associated with gathering, as opposed to publishing, information, see the Newsgathering section of the CMLP's legal guide)..."
From David Ardia's blogpost, "Understanding Your Legal Risks When You Blog or Publish Online"

"If you need a refresher, watch Part I and Part II.  In April of last year, Zack McCune was sued by the RIAA. He ended up $3,000 lighter (he settled), but with a much richer understanding of the contemporary debate surrounding music, copyright law, and file sharing. Part I gives an intro to his story, while Part II explores the disconnect between young downloaders and the recording industry. Part III, presented here, concludes Zack’s misadventure and examines where it led him: to the Free Culture Movement, which advocates more flexible intellectual property law..."
From the Digital Natives Project blogpost, "The Ballad of Zack McCune, Part 3"

"With local and international media outlets reporting that fighting is spilling over into Georgia proper, the latest military confrontation with Russia over the breakaway region of South Ossetia looks increasingly like war. Wu Wei reports from Tbilisi that the Vaziani military base just outside the Georgian capital has been bombed. The signs look very ominous indeed...'"
From Onnik Krikorian's blogpost for Global Voices, "Georgia: South Ossetia Update"

"American democracy has weathered many storms in its 239 years. Its survival and prosperity are consequences of both good fortune as well as the remarkable foresight and common sense of its Founders. However, a new kind of challenge looms on the horizon, unanticipated by even the most prophetic of the Founding Fathers. It is Technology, more specifically, digital technology, which both offers the promise of unfettered communication, learning, and global commerce, and the prospect of a Panopticon-like State. Two extremes, two doors; each with radically different outcomes..."
From the Publius essay by John Clippinger, "On Technology, Security, Personhood and Privacy: An Appeal"