Technology and the Public Interest
Books, essays, and commentary from John Palfrey
Essays
Notes from AI Action Summit in Delhi, India, February 2026
Reflections on AI, governance, and the public interest from the AI Action Summit in Delhi.
Read essayConcord Free Public Library 150th Anniversary Celebration
Remarks on libraries, civic institutions, and the enduring importance of public knowledge.
Read essayInvesting in the Arts—in Chicago and Beyond
Thoughts on philanthropy, culture, and why investing in the arts matters for public life.
Read essayCommentary from John Palfrey
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Revision to MA bill changes the ISP-like definition *again*
Some lawyer has edited the proposed MA mini-DMCA’s definition of ISP again, from “Communication Service Provider” to “Telecommunication Service Provider”. Talk about adding value. Not to mention confusion.
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Public Hearing 4/2/03 on Rep. Tobin's MA "state DMCA" bill
Rep. Tobin’s bill, updated as of today, will be discussed at a public hearing tomorrow, April 2, 2003 at 10:00 a.m. in the Massachusetts State House Room 222.
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Jim's article gets picked up
The famous Doc Searls is onto Jim‘s Second Superpower piece. I suspect he won’t be the only one to generate buzz about it.
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Jim Moore on the Second Superpower
Jim Moore has written a brilliant piece on what he sees as the emerging challenge to US hegemony. Blogging, texting, the Net all play critical roles in his story. There’s also an html version available. He’s on to something big.
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MA bill on illegal access (and more) muddies the waters
There’s been a fair amount of critique already about Rep. Tobin’s bill in Massachusetts “to establish a crime of illegal internet and broadband access and establishing penalties therefor.” That’s a euphamism; see for yourself. There’s a lot not to like in this bill. Given what others have already noted, I’m focused now on a tiny little part. I’m…
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Wendy gets it.
This time it’s EFF lawyer and BCIS super-alum Wendy Seltzer, who posted a nice piece on the default we’ve set up for a Creative Commons license on these blogs. Thanks to Larry Lessig who pushed us along in this regard, too, of course.
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POWs pictures on the Web?
The Boston Herald/Business Today ran an article about speech rights v. the rights of POWs not to have their pictures published online. One of those incredibly hard questions at the margins.
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Free online series
We’re launching Monday a free online series on Internet & Development. There are many hundreds registered from something like 85 countries from every corner of the globe (Wendy, who’s done a great job organizing, knows the exact details!). Join us, and let us know what you think. We put a great deal of thought into the…
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The first message of a must-read blog
Christopher Lydon, one to whom we all should listen, has started a blog. This will be one to watch. Next stop for XL: audio blogs.
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Roger responds to Worries
I think that Roger Fischer has answered my time-wasting question quite articulately. It pushes me to wonder if perhaps the point is that people who like to think “in the open” (a process-point, ultimately; this iterative process of decision-making takes time to work out answers but a) such a process may have merit on its own terms…
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DP Moynihan
A sad day. George Will, curiously enough, may have captured my feelings best in his Washington Post essay this morning. Among other insights, Will wrote of Sen. Moynihan: “His was the most penetrating political intellect to come from New York since Alexander Hamilton, who, like Moynihan, saw over the horizon of his time, anticipating the…
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Worries
Worries might be too strong a word. Some things that I wonder about with Weblogs: 1) Is more speech necessarily better (think also about what Habermas, Sunstein, Michelman et al. have said about similar questions)? 2) Is more speech of the sort that blogs enables necessarily better? 3) Can people who use the Net really sort through…


