Here is a bit more on what we are looking for in a managing director of the Berkman Center.  The online application is via this link.

Hi.  The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School is hiring for three positions — managing director, technical lead, and staff assistant.  They are each posted on the Harvard jobs site.  Please apply!

We at the ONI have a new bulletin
out today on Telus’s blocking of access to a web site set up by an
employee labor union.  That’s bad enough, but our research shows
that the ham-handed way they did so blocks an additional 766 unrelated
sites.  An unfortunate reminder of the occasionally unchecked
power of intermediaries, like ISPs, on the web — even in countries
that we think of as supportive of the right to free expression. A PDF of the bulletin, if you prefer, is here.  (Michael Geist deserves another nod for pointing the ONI in the right, or wrong, direction.)

The NYT has a terrific piece today on Chris Lydon and Mary McGrath’s new show, “Open Source
from P.R.I.”  The article’s emphasis on the blogosphere’s
participation in developing programs is exactly the point.   (Disclosure: I am on the Board of Directors of the non-profit that produces the show.)

Urs Gasser, having left us and taken up his new post as a prof at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland, writes in about the newly proposed EU IPR enforcement directive.  (The proposal itself is here.)

Prof. Dr. Gasser’s take-away: “Personally, I agree with the draft
Directive’s objective to fight organized IP crimes and infringements
that bear risks for public health and safety. However, the much broader
provision on ‘attempting, aiding or abetting’ and ‘inciting’
infringements is highly problematic and should be removed or at least
significantly limited in scope. Under this standard, for instance,
software programmers would run the risk to be criminalized if their
software could be used for large-scale copyright infringements,
especially vis-

Dave writes on
podcatch: “It’s a wonderful thing! People in the community want the
newcomers to podcastng to use their work, and help them do more. But so
far they’ve taken the Atex approach, one-corporation doing
everything-for-everyone. It can’t possibly compete with the structure
the community has already built. I’m committed to making it work, and I
think we have the strength to do it, because so many people are pulling
in the same direction.”  Toward structure, directories, RSS, OPML,
and launching a new medium in record time.

More on this, for certain, when he returns to the Berkman Thursday blog group, of which he is the founder.

Congratulations to Ethan, Rebecca, Boris Anthony, Paul Frankstein, and the whole GV team on the relaunch of the GV site with its new look and functionality. 

Words to the wise academics who blog then look to get a job, from the Chronicle of Higher Education. 

A snippet: “Worst of all, for professional academics, it’s a publishing
medium with no vetting process, no review board, and no editor. The
author is the sole judge of what constitutes publishable material, and
the medium allows for instantaneous distribution. After wrapping up a
juicy rant at 3 a.m., it only takes a few clicks to put it into global
circulation.

“We’ve all done it — expressed that way-out-there opinion in a lecture
we’re giving, in cocktail party conversation, or in an e-mail message
to a friend. There is a slight risk that the opinion might find its way
to the wrong person’s attention and embarrass us. Words said and e-mail
messages sent cannot be retracted, but usually have a limited range.
When placed on prominent display in a blog, however, all bets are off.”

The bottom line: “[Academic] [j]ob seekers who are also bloggers may
have a tough road ahead, if our committee’s experience is any
indication.”

Words to the wise academics who blog then look to get a job, from the Chronicle of Higher Education. 

A snippet: “Worst of all, for professional academics, it’s a publishing
medium with no vetting process, no review board, and no editor. The
author is the sole judge of what constitutes publishable material, and
the medium allows for instantaneous distribution. After wrapping up a
juicy rant at 3 a.m., it only takes a few clicks to put it into global
circulation.

We’ve all done it — expressed that way-out-there opinion in a lecture
we’re giving, in cocktail party conversation, or in an e-mail message
to a friend. There is a slight risk that the opinion might find its way
to the wrong person’s attention and embarrass us. Words said and e-mail
messages sent cannot be retracted, but usually have a limited range.
When placed on prominent display in a blog, however, all bets are off.”

The bottom line of this article: “Job seekers who are also bloggers may
have a tough road ahead, if our committee’s experience is any
indication.”

I can’t think of anything to say other than that I am thinking of our British friends.  Others have done a better job of what to say.  And a demonstration of why Flickr is so powerful.