Welcome to the newest iteration of the Berkman Buzz. As we've mentioned in previous weeks, we're now using a new platform that allows us greater editorial flexibility and better list management. We'll continue to bring you interesting voices from around the community on some of the most important issues of our day, as well as news from the Berkman Center, and other things we're excited to pass along. We'll also be experimenting with new content types and formats. Along the way, please let us know what you think: buzz@cyber.harvard.law.edu.
News from the Berkman Center
Today we're excited to welcome our 2015 summer Berkterns! Our 25 interns represent 8 countries, 17 schools, and an uncountable number of skills and interests as they join us for 10 weeks of hands-on research, tool building, media creation, and shared inspiration.
Do actors have a copyright interest in their own films? No, according to a federal appeals court ruling last month concerning the infamous video "Innocence of Muslims." Andy Sellars of Harvard Law School's Cyberlaw Clinic explains in BetaBoston why this is a major victory for free speech online.
"Right now, choosing among providers is not a choice between surveillance or no surveillance, but only a choice of which feudal lords get to spy on you," writes Berkman Fellow Bruce Schneier in The Guardian. Schneier argues that it's time for governments to act to curb online surveillance.
If there was suddenly no Internet, what would we do? Berkman Fellow Nathan Freitas poses this question as he describes the Windfarm eventheld at the Berkman Center in May. Using tools like Bluetooth, NFC and Wifi to share information directly between smartphones, a diverse team of explorers attempted to answer the question.
"To argue that our smart tech is making us dumb is not only to be on the wrong side of history; in this case, it's to be on the wrong side of evolution," argues David Weinberger in the NPR/Intelligence Squared debate, "Is Smart Technology Making Us Dumb?"
More flak for Internet.org. As David Talbot writes in the MIT Technology Review, groups around the globe are criticizing Mark Zuckerberg's plan to provide access to certain websites and apps for free.
LISTEN: "Don't Hate the Player, Change the Game"
In this new episode, Radio Berkman talks with cognitive neuroscientist Jeffrey Lin about hate speech in the online gaming world, what one company is doing to stop it, and how their strategies might be applied to other areas of the Web.
WATCH: Lunch talk with author James Bessen (5/19)
Today we feel the impact of technology everywhere except in our paychecks. But there is hope, argues author James Bessen in his new book, Learning by Doing: The Real Connection Between Innovation, Wages, and Wealth.
