No. 6.6 <--The Filter--> 4.19.04
Your regular dose of public-interest Internet news and commentary
from the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at
H a r v a r d L a w S c h o o l
CONTENTS: HIGHLIGHTS:
[1] In the News: Gmail, Can I Have a Cookie?
[2] Case in Point: On Hiatus
[3] Berkman News: Come Aboard
[4] Conference Watch
[5] Bookmarks: Step Inside
[6] Quotables: Everybody's Free?
[7] Talk Back
[8] Subscription Info
[9] About us
[10] Not a Copyright
-----------------------------------------
[1] IN THE NEWS
================
* Mixed Signals in Online Music
Recent headlines about online music have offered conflicting views on
how file sharing has affected music sales. A study from professors at
Harvard Business School and the University of North Carolina Chapel
Hill found that downloading activity has no discernable impact on how
well a song sells. The study has generated a great deal of debate, as
other industry experts have disagreed with its methodology. And
recent economic data offers mixed conclusions about market trends.
For the first time in three years, U.S. music sales improved, rising
9.1% in the first quarter. International music sales followed the
opposite trajectory, dropping 7.6% in 2003.
Sales up:
<http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/business/index.ssf?/newsflash/get_story.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?f0086_BC_MusicIndustry&&news&newsflash-financial>
Sales down:
<http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,62985,00.html?tw=newsletter_topstories_htmlc>
Sales same:
<http://www.rollingstone.com/news/newsarticle.asp?nid=19563>
Developments on the legal front were similarly mixed. Supporters of
file sharing celebrated over the recent ruling from a Canadian court
that music downloading does not violate the country's copyright laws.
While the Canadian Recording Industry Assocition appeals the decision,
new lawsuits have emerged in Europe and abroad. The IFPI, which
represents the international music industry, has initiated legal
action against 247 individuals in Europe and several other nations who
are accused of illegal downloading.
The Berkman Center's report on developments in European courts:
<http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/media/uploads/72/7/breakingnews.htm>
News about the Canadian decision:
<http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/media/home?wid=25&func=viewSubmission&sid=29>
News about the CRIA appeal:
<http://www.cbc.ca/arts/stories/appeal20040413>
The Berkman Center recently released a new study shedding light on one
aspect of the digital media debate: Apple's Online Music Store,
iTunes. The iTunes Case Study analyzes the legal foundations of the
service and considers the future of the contract-copyright interplay
as iTunes and other online music stores consider expansion into
international markets.
The iTunes Case Study:
<http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/media/itunes>
* Cybernews From Around the Globe
Canada:
CRTC on VoIP: <http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/NEWS/RELEASES/2004/r040407.htm>
Internet gambling legal?: <http://www.globetechnology.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20040408.gtgamble0408/BNStory/Technology/>
EU:
Filesharing the news: <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3611227.stm>
Companies may share tech: <http://news.com.com/2100-7343_3-5186262.html>
Asia:
Vietnamese access tightens: <http://star-techcentral.com/tech/story.asp?file=/2004/4/12/technology/7749162&sec=technology>
Dispute resolution in the Philippines:
<http://www.itmatters.com.ph/news/news_04052004c.html>
Africa:
Find missing kids with tech: <http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/business/2004/0404080938.asp?A=CEL&S=Cellular&O=FPT>
Nigerian ISP troubles: <http://allafrica.com/stories/200404080921.html>
* Google Controversies Grow
Gmail, the new email service from Google, is bumping up against
privacy and trademark complaints. Can a free gigabyte of storage sell
the online community on Gmail, which will serve targeted ads based on
the content of a customer's email? As of this writing, a California
state senator is drafting legislation to block the service, and Google
has responded to complaints by promising to listen to customer
concerns. And by the way, how did that anti-Semitic group get to be
#1 in the search engine for the word "Jew"? Some weblog writers have
noted, and taken action to the effect, that users have a choice in this
matter: a "google-bomb" might adjust the search results if many people
link to a particular site in order to "fix" the search results.
On Gmail:
<http://www.dmnews.com/cgi-bin/artprevbot.cgi?article_id=27113>
<http://news.com.com/2010-1032-5187543.html?tag=nefd.acpro>
<http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,63041,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_3>
<http://news.com.com/2100-1024_3-5191028.html?tag=nefd.top>
On Googling "Jew":
<http://news.com.com/2100-1038_3-5186012.html>
<http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=15212>
* Social Networking: The Next Generation
A new generation of social networking applications is beginning to
emerge. Last week, the New York-based company, Dodgeball.com,
released software that utilizes text messaging to allow users to post
their whereabouts from their cell phones and find out if members of
their networks are in the area. Our newest Berkman Fellow, John
Clippinger, is also exploring new forms of social networking. One of
his projects, Social Physics, involves developing an open source
platform for writing and testing the "social protocols" needed to
allow trust, reputation management, information sharing, shared
awareness, and synchronized action in communities and networked
organizations.
News about Dodgeball.com:
<http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1563927,00.asp>
More on John Clippinger's work:
<http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/home/john_clippinger>
The most recent release from AudioBerkman explores the ins and outs of
social networks. Producers traveled to South by Southwest Interactive
to find out what happens when an online community is forced to meet
face-to-face.
Listen in:
<http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/audio/socialnetworks>
And read a Berkman Briefing, "Interactive at Interactive":
<http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/briefings/interactive>
* Lessig's Extremely _Free_Culture_
Professor Lawrence Lessig of Stanford's Center for Internet & Society
recently released his third book, _Free_Culture_, under a Creative
Commons license - downloadable as a .pdf as well as in book form.
This groundbreaking act has spurred the online community to create an
audio library of the book's chapters, translations, and a Wiki
version, among others.
About the book:
<http://www.free-culture.cc/index.html>
Other versions:
<http://www.free-culture.cc/remixes/>
<http://www.socialbrain.org/freeculture/>
More on the story:
<http://www.globetechnology.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20040412.wxlessig12/BNStory/Technology/>
[2] CASE IN POINT
=================
Case In Point is taking a short hiatus. Please look for a new topic
in the May issue of Filter.
[3] BERKMAN NEWS
================
* New Berkman Fellows: Mary Rundle and John Clippinger
The Berkman Center is pleased to announce the arrival of two new
fellows, Mary Rundle and John Clippinger. Rundle, also a fellow at
the Stanford Center for Internet & Society, will be working on Net
Dialogue, a project focusing on international Internet governance.
Clippinger, also an advisor at the Department of Defense, studies
social networks from a scientific perspective; he is working an open
source platform for building social network applications.
<http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/blogs/rundle/>
<http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/home/john_clippinger>
* A Few Seats Remain for the Internet Law Program
Register now for the Internet Law Program, which brings together the
top minds in cyberlaw for three days of on-site instruction. The
program kicks off with a distance learning component on April 14 to
May 5. The program is intended for a broad audience, and no previous
experience with Internet law is necessary. Past participants have
included entrepreneurs, policymakers, educators, technology
professionals, and journalists who write about technology. American
lawyers in some states may be eligible for Continuing Legal Education
(CLE) credit.
Program information:
<http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/ilaw/>
To register:
<http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/ilaw/register>
* iTunes Case Study Released
The Berkman Center's Digital Media Project Team has just released a
new Case Study that examines the legal foundation of Apple's online
music store, iTunes. The Study analyzes the interplay between
contract law, copyright, and DRM, and it also investigates how this
legal foundation is likely to fare in other jurisdictions, such as in
the EU and Japan, which have different regulatory guidelines for
copyright and contract. Read an overview of the research and download
the Study from the iTunes Case Study website.
<http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/media/itunes>
<http://www.apple.com/itunes/>
[4] CONFERENCE WATCH
====================
May:
* May 2-4, 2004, Washington, DC--Future of Music Coalition Policy
Summit
<http://www.futureofmusic.org/events/summit04/>
* May 10-14, 2004, Barcelona--INET/IGC 2004 Strengthening the Net:
Building an Open and Trusted Internet
<http://www.isoc.org/inet04/>
* May 13-15, 2004, Cambridge, MA--Internet Law Program (Registration
Open!)
<http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/ilaw>
* May 26-27, 2004, Zaporozhye, Ukraine--The Second Cybercrime
Conference 2004
<http://www.crime-research.org/conferenc.html>
June:
* June 9-11, 2004, San Francisco, CA--IAPP TRUSTe Symposium: Privacy
Futures
<http://privacyfutures.org/>
* June 24-25, 2004, Lucerne, Switzerland--Digital Rights Management:
The End of Collecting Societies?
<http://www.unilu.ch/rf/4945.htm>
July:
* July 14-31, 2004, Oxford, UK--Oxford Internet Institute Summer
Programme
<http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/teaching/?rq=sdp2004>
[5] BOOKMARKS
==============
* Ethan Katsh to ICANN: Where is our ombudsman?
<http://www.odr.info/icann>
* Copyfight Moves, Expands Authorship
<http://www.corante.com/copyfight>
* New EFF Weblogs - Deep Links and Mini Links
<http://blogs.eff.org/deeplinks/>
<http://blogs.eff.org/minilinks/>
[6] QUOTABLES
==============
"...In a technologically mediated age, our grand freedoms -- freedom
of speech, of association, of the press -- are based on the narrow
ones. Wave after wave of world-changing technology like email and the
Web and instant messaging and Napster and Kazaa have been made
possible because the technological freedoms we enjoy, especially the
ones instantiated in the internet." -- Clay Shirky
<http://www.gothamist.com/interview/archives/2004/04/09/clay_shirky_internet_technologist.php>
"The upshot is that any blogger in the heat of exchange, a pissy mood,
or an incautious moment can get you killed in the news, which feeds
off matters the campaign will comment on." -- Jay Rosen, on the
Kos-Atrios-Kerry controversy
<http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/weblogs/pressthink/2004/04/07/atrios_kos.html>
[7] TALK BACK
================
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Further comments and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Please send them to filter-editor@cyber.law.harvard.edu
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[9] ABOUT US
=============
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<http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/filter/about.html>
[10] NOT A COPYRIGHT
=====================
A publication of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard
Law School <http://cyber.law.harvard.edu> You may--and please
do--forward or copy this newsletter to friends and colleagues.
This work is hereby released into the Public Domain. To view a copy of
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<http://creativecommons.org/licenses/publicdomain/>
or send a letter to Creative Commons, 559 Nathan Abbott Way, Stanford,
California 94305, USA.