Berkman Center for Internet & Society

Computers, Freedom, and Privacy Conference 2008 - May 20-23

This year, the 18th annual Computers, Freedom, and Privacy conference is focusing on those issues at the forefront of technology policy this election year. The conference will take place in New Haven, CT, May 20-23.

English Libel Law's Pernicious Impact on First Amendment Speech

Citizen Media Law Project director David Ardia walks us through Floyd Abrams' op-ed in today's Wall Street Journal...

Onward!

John Palfrey named new head of Harvard Law library

With more than a little bit of pride and enthusiasm, we celebrate the appointment of our dear friend and colleague John Palfrey as Harvard Law School's first Vice Dean of Library and Information Resources.

VRM 2008 - European Identity Conference

Last week, Berkman Fellow Doc Searls delivered the keynote -- virtually -- at the VRM 2008 conference in Munich. And ProjectVRM won a special prize...

ROFLCon encore

The internet was rolling on the floor and laughing out loud this weekend, as ROFLCon filled the MIT campus with live memes discussing Net culture and fame.

Berkman Buzz: Week of April 21, 2008

ROFLCon, infrastructure, elections in Zimbabwe, the NJ Supreme Court, and more...in this week's BUZZ!

Ethan Zuckerman: the history of digital community, in less than 7 minutes

Fasten your time machine seatbelt. As part of the Berkman Center’s ongoing tenth anniversary celebration, Berkman@10, we’re retrieving some classics from our multimedia archive, including, to date, four great moments that were saved on tape. This week, a double hat tip -- to ROFLCon's group dissection of Internet culture and to Digital Natives' roundup of Internet video, which reminded us of this classic from the watershed first Beyond Broadcast conference...

How Trademark Law Casts A Dark Cloud Over Free Speech

The Citizen Media Law Project is preparing the intellectual property sections of its legal guide. An article by Professor Bill McGeveran provides some grist for the mill, raising questions about "free-expression-related defenses to trademark claims."

Welcome to the ROFLdome

ROFLCon, the greatest gathering of Internet celebrities and memes seen this side of the kitteh-osphere, LOLifies Cambridge tomorrow and Saturday, April 25-26, at MIT and other venues in the Cambridge/Boston area. The Mozilla Firefox, the TripAdvisor Owl, and hundreds of others will probe the hows and whys of Net culture and contemplate its future.

On a Scale of 1 to 10...

David Weinberger, who has been teaching The Web Difference at HLS this semester with John Palfrey, tells us, "In case you were wondering, we have scientifically determined that the Net is different on a scale of 8.4 out of 10..."

The Citizen Media Law Project follows the Quash of the Seidel Subpoena

From the CMLP blog...A federal magistrate judge in New Hampshire has quashed the subpoena issued to Kathleen Seidel. Seidel publishes the blog Neurodiversity, where she writes about autism issues...

JZ in 4D: contending with the future of the Internet

Jonathan Zittrain's whirlwind spring of talks on "The Future of the Internet--And How to Stop It" brought him to Cambridge last Friday evening for discussion of the book and a congratulatory toast. If you've missed JZ this spring, we have videos...

Doc Searls on Understanding Infrastructure

In his new Linux Journal piece, fellow Doc Searls asks, "How about the Internet? Is the Net infrastructure? Or is it just the #3 'service' in the 'triple play' sold by your local phone or cable company?"

Q + A with Tracy Mitrano on Building a Global University

As a primer to tomorrow's luncheon, we sat down with Tracy Mitrano for a Q + A on her discussion topic, "Building a Global University".

Berkman Buzz: Week of April 14, 2008

YouTube, the blogosphere, Tim Robbins, and more...in this week's BUZZ!

Reality re-check: Will the Internet draft the next president?

Organize your neighbors, it's time for a (re)viewing party. As part of the Berkman Center’s ongoing tenth anniversary celebration, Berkman@10, we’re retrieving some multimedia classics from our past. To date, we’ve featured Lessig v. Valenti, Nesson re: University, and Barlow on "The Economy of Ideas." This week, in anticipation of our May 14 event with the Institute of Politics -- Youth, Civic Engagement, and the 2008 Campaign -- we're highlighting an earlier, election year collaboration with the IOP.