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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Yale ISP's Open Standards Conference
I’m with our friends at the Yale Information Society Project today for a fine conference called the Open Standards International Symposium. Eddan Katz and company have assembled a group from many of the places around the world where this issue is raging, along with representatives of many of the key industry players and stakeholders, like…
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What's the "Day 2" Story on the Viacom-YouTube Tussle?
Google News suggests that there have been about 500 stories so far written in this news sources that they scan on the topic of Viacom’s 100,000 take-down notices to YouTube users. Most of the stories focus on the business dynamics of the matter, understandably: 1) why Viacom did this; 2) the possibility (or likelihood, or…
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Community Organizing Around Takedowns
Jim Moore has reposted, on Google Video (heh), the “offending” work that prompted the nastygram from Viacom today. It’s hard to imagine what might have prompted the take-down. As JZ asks in the comments from an earlier post, what can we surmise about the tactic in getting to 100,000 take-downs? Was some bot scanning for…
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How Many Jim Moores Are Out There? Viacom's Cease and Desist Letters … for Home Videos?
Jim Moore has received a cease and desist letter from Viacom for a home video that he shot. (I love Jim, but the video’s pretty bad. Highly unlikely to be affecting any market that Viacom cares about, among other things.) The DMCA’s Section 512 has a provision that allows for counter-notification for people, like Jim,…
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A Test Post from OPML Workstation/Grazr
From my list of OPML files here, I can easily create a Grazr interface for one of the outlines, such as the one I created in preparation for class tomorrow.
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Internships at the Berkman Center
Apply to come work with us this summer as an intern in at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School in Cambridge, MA. Applications are due on Feb. 15; the process is here. College and graduate (including law, business, etc.) students interested in law, technology, politics, communications, new media, and so…
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Companies, NGOs, Investors, Techies, Academics Step Up on Censorship, Surveillance Issues
This press release is actually big news. Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!, and Vodafone have been working very hard — alongside academics and NGOs — to produce a set of common principles guiding company behavior when faced with laws, regulations and policies that interfere with the achievement of human rights. There is an enormous amount of work…
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New Pew survey on Internet & Politics
Lee Rainie and John Horrigan have released the latest in their series of insightful reports about the impact of Internet use on politics. This report (covered by Frank Davies of the Merc) examines political activity and information access online during the 2006 campaign cycle. Good news for those focusing on digital natives and their use…