Berkman Buzz: March 4, 2011
What's being discussed...take your pick or browse below.
* Jonathan Zittrain and Molly Sauter wonder whether the US will get an Internet kill switch
* Wendy Seltzer reviews takedown complaints in the Android marketplace
* Mike Ananny and Taylor Owen argue that despite Twitter, reporters still matter
* Stuart Shieber reviews institutional memberships for open-access publishers
* Herdict explains Internet filtering during the Jasmine Revolution
* David Weinberger raises questions for the Digital Public Library of America
* Weekly Global Voices: "Palestine: Demands for a Unified Nation set for March 15"
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The full buzz.
"Oddly, the U.S. government may already have the authority to shut down the Internet anyway. Section 706 of the Communications of Act of 1934 – written into the Act shortly after the 1941 attacks on Pearl Harbor – provides the President with the ability to shut down 'any facility or station for wire communication' or take federal control of such facilities in the event of a 'state of war' and for up to six months after the expiration of such a state. Of course, the War Congress of 1941 wasn’t thinking about the Internet at the time, though there is some indication that the Department of Homeland Security believes this provision could apply. In June of 2010, the Department of Homeland security apparently cited Section 706 as 'one of the authorities the President would rely on if the nation were under a cyber attack.'"
From Molly Sauter and Jonathan Zittrain's blog post, "Will the U.S. get an Internet 'Kill Switch'?"
"Since Apple launched its iPhone App Store, applications marketplaces have popped up with increasing prominence. Google, unlike Apple*, does not lock Android users into purchasing from its Android Market, but it does make that marketplace a convenient place to find Android applications (passing 100,000 apps late last year). In February, Chilling Effects saw 206 complaints to Google regarding Android Market apps, almost evenly split between trademark and copyright.* Because the Android Market offers commercial transactions, its context differs somewhat from the search and blog hosting in which DMCA -- copyright -- complaints predominate. At the same time, many apps are offered free of charge."
From Wendy Seltzer's blog post for Chilling Effects, "Takedown Complaints in the Android Marketplace"
"What would it mean for the future of international journalism if – a big if – all revolutions were tweeted? Until recently, most western societies viewed the world through the eyes of foreign correspondents. But if Canadians can now watch revolutions like Egypt’s unfold in real-time – via tweets, Facebook pages and Al Jazeera – then why should news organizations send foreign correspondents to far-off places?"
From Mike Ananny and Taylor Owen's editorial for The Mark, "Why Reporters Still Matter in the Age of Twitter"
"The issue of OA publisher memberships is interesting and fraught. Harvard University is not currently a member of any of the major OA publishers—BioMed Central, Hindawi, or Public Library of Science. (Actually, Harvard Medical School is a PLoS member.) I’m not involved in Harvard’s decisions about institutional memberships, although I am not a fan of memberships in general, as you will see. I’ll explain my own view of the difficulty with memberships in terms of the market design for publisher services, and then talk about what alternatives there are."
From Stuart Shieber's blog post, "Institutional memberships for open-access publishers considered harmful"
"As protests and unrest continue to destabilize the Middle East and North Africa, the effects of these popular revolutions have predictably affected Internet access in these countries. Below is a list of recent filtering measures implemented by governments who continue to face opposition from their citizens."
From Qichen Zhang's blog post for Herdict, "Internet Filtering in the Jasmine Revolution"
"I got to attend the Digital Public Library of America‘s first workshop yesterday. It was an amazing experience that left me with the best kind of headache: Too much to think about! Too many possibilities for goodness!"
From David Weinberger's blog post, "Questions from and for the Digital Public Library of America workshop"
"As the Arab world witnesses uprising after uprising, seeing dictators fall and others exposed one after another, the Palestinian case looks like the ultimate goal. The fate of Palestine has long suffered from its neighbors’ incapability (more or less intentional) of forming a strong block against Israel, whether through feeding the divisions inside the Palestinian political scene, or more directly by being an ally of Israel."
From Imane Eddbali's blog post for Global Voices Online, "Palestine: Demands for a Unified Nation set for March 15"
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Compiled by Rebekah Heacock
The weekly Berkman Buzz is selected from the posts of Berkman Center people and projects and sometimes from the Center's wider network.
Suggestions and feedback about the Buzz are always welcome and can be emailed to buzz@cyber.harvard.edu.