Berkman Center senior fellow Andrew McLaughlin has published a new working paper that critiques Mongolia’s proposed new Information Technology law.  “The core conclusion of this analysis and critique,” McLaughlin writes, “is that the Draft Law as it now stands would do significant harm to Mongolia’s vibrant and promising information and communication technology (ICT) sector.”

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Thoughts on RIAA, Jon Johansen, and more.  (Via Dave).

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We’ve just released a 15-minute audio clip (available for stream or download, from the Berkman Media Library) about our Digital Media Project.  It’s a take-away from a conference we hosted in Cambridge earlier this fall.  Our idea is to try to produce reports out of our Digital Media events that are not just paper-based.  We’re…

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A very interesting development in the digital music crisis.  The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit holds: “Because we agree with Verizon’s interpretation of the statute [the DMCA Section 512], we reverse the orders of the district court enforcing the subpoenas and do not reach either of Verizon’s constitutional arguments.”  Verizon’s argument, in…

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I’m working on a simple list of things that ordinary people can do to help themselves and the rest of us in the fight against spam.  Here’s a start.  It’s meant to help answer the question: “What can I do about spam?”  I know it won’t solve the problem, but it strikes me that users taking some…

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An amazing record in the making: onling postings of CNN transcripts.  (The downside: you can look back — here too — and see just how incoherent you were.)  What an archive these transcripts will make.

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Are citizens really re-engaged in the political process?  And if so, what would a president elected by a citizen-powered groundswell do once elected to govern in a manner consistent with how s/he was elected?  Participate in a discussion ongoing here; it’s free and experimental and it’s only going to work if lots of us dig in.  You’ll…

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A nice short essay on politics and the Net, by Jim Moore.

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We’ve released a new study on public participation at ICANN, plus a serious critique of that study by senior fellow Andrew McLaughlin here.  (It’s a forceful statement, and I’ll have to give some thought to a response to his critique). A few notes, speaking for myself only: 1) I mean to be constructive, not piling on…

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Today, at the Berkman Center at HLS, we’re hosting 40 people here to talk about alternative compensation systems for digital media.  The morning discussion is about compulsory, state-run systems; the afternoon is focused on a voluntary “entertainment co-op.”  There are several wonderful bloggers here who will surely have things to say about it.

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The Harvard Crimson’s Zachary M. Seward reports this morning on his call with a Diebold spokesman, who confirmed that the company would not sue for copyright infringement any of the students who recently posted the e-voting-related memoranda.  Last week, Diebold filed a motion with a federal court stating its intention to drop its copyright claims. …

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Congratulations to Denise Howell and family on their wonderful Thanksgiving news.  One of the first babies in the Blawgosphere!

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