CFP ‘08: Clay Shirky, Konstantinos Karachalios, and a Letter to the President
Posted on Wednesday, May 7th, 2008 at 9:59 pmThere have been some exciting developments as we near the Computers, Freedom & Privacy conference on “Technology Policy ‘08“:
- We are pleased to announce that Clay Shirky will deliver the closing plenary keynote on Friday lunch (5/23). (See my post on the CFP’08 blog.)
- Konstantinos Karachalios of the European Patent Office, who led the “Scenarios of the Future” of IPR report, is the plenary speaker on Thursday evening (5/22).
- A “Letter to the President” collaborative project will take place during the Wed. (5/21) night dinner, when all conference attendees will be collectively putting together a “Letter to the President” on technology policy, which will then go up on the conference wiki for further editing and discussion. The Yale ISP “9.5 Theses” will serve as the reference document for the project.
Check out the program, and don’t forget to register.
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First Monday Podcast: The Faustian Bargain with Web 2.0
Posted on Monday, April 28th, 2008 at 6:23 pmThere’s nothing worse than listening to yourself talk.
Following up on March’s special issue of First Monday on “Critical Perspectives on Web 2.0,” I was recently interviewed by Joy Austria and A.J. Hannah for the First Monday Podcast series.
You can download the MP3 (5.2MB, 15:16) or read the transcript. Hopefully you can read between the awkward phrasing of my responses (I think I was travel-weary at the time), and find something insightful to complement the special issue.
(Speaking of that special issue, the Washington Post recently quoted Anders Albrechtslund’s contribution. I’m thrilled folks are finding it useful.)
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Reminder: Computers, Freedom, & Privacy: Technology Policy ‘08
Posted on Monday, April 28th, 2008 at 6:05 pmThe program for next month’s Computers, Freedom & Privacy conference on “Technology Policy ‘08“ has been posted and features an excellent array of tutorials, plenaries and panels:
Plenary Sessions
- Presidential Technology Policy: Priorities for the Next Executive
- The 21st Century Panopticon?
- The National Security State and the Next Adminstration
Tutorials
- A Short History of Privacy
- Constitutional Law in Cyberspace
- e-Deceptive Campaign Practices: Elections 2.0
- Maintaining Privacy While Accessing On-line Information
Panel Sessions
- Activism and Education Using Social Networks
- Breaking the Silence: Iranians Find a Voice on the Internet
- Charismatic Content: Wikis, Social Networks, and the Future of User-Generated Content
- Filtering Out Copyright Infringement: Possibilities, Practicalities, and Legalities
- Filtering and Censorship in Europe
- Hate Speech and Oppression in Cyberspace
- Interoperability at the Crossroads?: The “Liberal Order” versus Fragmentation
- Law, Regulation, and Software Licensing for the Electronic Medical Record
- Measuring Global Threats to Internet Freedom
- Network Neutrality: Beyond the Slogans
- New Challenges for Spyware Policy
- Patents: The Bleeding Edge of Technology Policy
- Privacy, Reputation, and the Management of Online Communities
- Rights & Responsibilities for Software Programs?
- States as Incubators of Change
- “The Transparent Society:” Ten Years Later
- Towards Trustworthy e-Voting: An Open Source Approach?
The “early bird” registration deadline is Fri., May 2, 2008. Hope to see you there.
Yale ISP’s “9.5 Theses for Technology Policy in the Next Administration”
Posted on Friday, April 25th, 2008 at 9:55 amIn preparation for next month’s Computers, Freedom & Privacy conference on “Technology Policy ‘08“, the Yale Information Society Project has released “9.5 Theses for Technology Policy in the Next Administration“:
1. Privacy. Protect human dignity, autonomy, and privacy by providing individuals with control over the collection, use, and distribution of their personal information and medical information.
2. Access. Promote high-speed Internet access and increased connectivity for all, through both government and private initiatives, to reduce the digital divide.
3. Network Neutrality. Legislate against unreasonable discrimination by network providers against particular applications or content to maintain the Internet’s role in fostering innovation, economic growth, and democratic communication.
4. Transparency. Preserve accountability and oversight of government functions by strengthening freedom of information and improving electronic access to government deliberations and materials.
5. Innovation. Restore balance to intellectual property rules and explore alternative incentives to better promote innovation, freedom, access to knowledge, and human development.
6. Democracy. Empower individuals to fully participate in government and politics by making electronic voting consistent, reliable, and secure with voter-verifiable paper trails.
7. Education. Expand effective exceptions and limitations to intellectual property for education to ensure that teachers and students have access to innovative digital teaching techniques and educational resources.
8. Culture. Ensure that law and technology promote a free, vibrant and democratic culture, fair exchanges between different cultures, and individual rights to create and participate in culture.
9. Diversity. Limit media concentration and expand media ownership to ensure a diverse marketplace of ideas.
9.5 Openness. Support innovation and fair competition by stimulating openness in software, technological standards, Internet governance, and content licensing.
Please feel free to comment on the official post at the CFP08 blog.
(9.5 Theses - get it?)
Google to “systematically” provide data on suspect Orkut users to Brazilian authorities
Posted on Thursday, April 24th, 2008 at 10:17 amSocial network services are increasingly being used in legal and criminal investigations. Google’s social networking site Orkut, which is immensely popular in Brazil, is no exception.
In 2006, I commented on Google’s decision to comply with a Brazilian court order to release data on Orkut users to help Brazilian authorities investigate use of the site related to racism, pedophilia and homophobia. Part of Google’s justification was that the data requested by Brazilian authorities was “relatively discrete — small and narrow.” They weren’t turning over massive amounts of general data, but specific bits of information in response to specific requests.
Then, in 2007, I pointed to reports that Google was taking further steps to cooperate with Brazilian authorities to help censor content and track down offenders on Orkut, providing the police access to an admin tool for deleting or blocking illegal content.
Now, the AP reports that Google has “handed over data stored by suspected pedophiles on its Orkut social networking site to Brazilian authorities, ceding to pressure to lift its confidentiality duty to its users.” Apparently there was pressure from a Brazilian senate commission to turn over the data, threatening Google with criminal and civil lawsuits if it did not comply with opening the restricted online photo albums of users under suspicion. Approximately 200 accused pedophiles are affected by this disclosure.
It is inclear whether Google simply folded under pressure of lawsuits and provided the information based on simple (if coercive) requests by the Brazilian government, or if there were legal warrants or subpoenas issues to obtain the data. If the latter, then Google had a choice as to whether to comply with a legal request or to fight it in court. They might have determined that a court battle wouldn’t succeed, and simply provided the data. If the former is true — that there were no legal demands or requirements to turn over the data and Google just did it to avoid potential civil suits — then Google is setting a troublesome precedent that it will maintain the confidentially of its users only so long as it won’t be sued.
But what concerns me most about this report is this passage:
Google representatives met with police, prosecutors and other officials late Wednesday in Sao Paulo to negotiate a wide-ranging deal that would see the US company systematically providing data on suspect Orkut users to Brazilian authorities.
What does “systematically providing data” mean? Will the Brazilian authorities have direct access to Google’s systems? Will a data file be routinely and “systematically “shared with the police? How will “suspect Orkut users” be defined and identified? Exactly what data will be shared? Will Google require warrants or subpoenas before “systematically” providing data on its users?
This needs further clarification.
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Joining UW-Milwaukee School of Information Studies
Posted on Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008 at 12:00 pmI am thrilled to announce that I have accepted an offer to join the faculty of the School of Information Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
As of August 18, 2008, I will be an Assistant Professor at SOIS, with teaching responsibilities focusing on its undergraduate Bachelor of Science in Information Resources, and my research will be aligned with the Information Policy concentration of its new Ph.D. in Information Studies. I also will be affiliated with the Center for Information Policy Research.
On a personal note, it is hard for me to express/contain my excitement about joining SOIS. Here are just a few of the reasons for my euphoria:
- SOIS has an informal slogan referred to as I3 — “Information is our focus; International is our scope; Interdisciplinary is our mindset” I couldn’t think of a better framing of my own intellectual work. SOIS’s mission and goals are equally on par with my personal aspirations for my work.
- I look forward to helping SOIS ensure it meets the high standards within its research philosophy: We at SOIS understand that at the heart of our research lies curiosity, tenacity, commitment and creativity – all traits of our faculty members. By doing research we contribute to the international body of knowledge that can make a difference in the lives of people. We therefore firmly believe that our research: helps to provide solutions to problems; creates opportunities for people; and brings hope for the future.
- SOIS is committed to a rich research profile that compliments my own broad research interests, including information law & policy, information ethics, history of information technology and systems, Internet information search & utilization, and the information society.
- SOIS has a world class faculty, and recently has been ranked No. 1 nationally among schools of library and information science for contributions to its university’s overall research output. This prestigious honor marks the second time in two years that a national publication has ranked SOIS as a leading school of library and information science: SOIS was also ranked among the top library and information science schools in the U.S. in scholarly productivity.
- SOIS is home to the Center for Information Policy Research, directed by Elizabeth Buchanan. CIPR’s research agenda revolves around social, ethical, economic, legal, and technical aspects of information and information technologies with a focus on such key information policy issues as intellectual property (copyright, patents, etc.), privacy, equity of access to information, ethics of information use and service, censorship, cyberlaw, and government, corporate, and international information policies. CIPR also has close affiliations with the International Society for Ethics and Information Technology, the International Center for Information Ethics, ASIS&T’s special interest group in Information Policy, and AoIR’s ethics working group.
- Finally, joining SOIS means not only will I be returning to where I started my graduate education (working with Prof. David Pritchard in the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication), but that I’m also returning home. After 7 years in New York City, it will be nice to come back to Wisconsin, actually purchase a home, have ready access to Leinenkugels at bratwurst (both almost impossible to find in NYC), and be closer to family (Ethan’s grandparents are perhaps more excited that I am).
I have been lucky throughout my (young) academic career to have benefited from associations with amazing faculty, colleagues, and friends at the Department of Media, Culture, and Communication at NYU (especially Helen Nissenbaum), and more recently at the Information Society Project at Yale Law School. I honestly can’t think of a better place to continue my academic adventures than at SOIS.
(ps - for those who want a taste of the kind of work SOIS/CIPR is committed to, check out its upcoming conference: Thinking Critically: Alternative Perspectives and Methods in Information Studies. Hope to see you there!)
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