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Category Archives: Topics

Anonymity on the Web

Essay by the Cheshire Cat “C’mon. Give us the juice. Posts are totally, 100% anonymous.” So reads the juicycampus.com web page. Read on and you’ll find every manner of gossip about America’s college students, searchable by name. Joe Johnson’s mental and venereal illnesses. Mary Smith’s suicide attempt after her sex life was splashed across the […]

Posted 25 July 2008 § Anonymity ‡ Comments (1)

Cybercrime – and what we will have to do if we want to get it under control

Essay By Michael Barrett with companion pieces by Beau Brendler and David Clark. Continue the security conversation with John Clippinger and Dembitz. As I write this, in the spring of 2008, we have recently passed a milestone – on April 22nd, 1993, Mosaic 1.0 was released by the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) . […]

Posted 18 July 2008 § Beau Brendler § David Clark § Michael Barrett § Protection from Harm ‡ Comments (2)

The Good Governance Mix

Essay by Charlie Leadbeater, a response to Tacit Governance by David Weinberger. One of the outstanding features of David Weinberger’s writing about the web is his unwillingness to fall into the trap of making all or nothing, simple dichotomies. More than anyone writing about the web he understands and enjoys its miscellaneous messiness. So I […]

Posted 17 June 2008 § Charlie Leadbeater § David Weinberger § Esther Dyson § Kevin Werbach § Tacit vs. Explicit Governance § Wendy Seltzer ‡ Comments (3)

Opening Access in a Networked Science

Essay by Melanie Dulong de Rosnay, a response to The Opening of Science and Scholarship by Peter Suber Some researchers can’t use their own scholarship anymore because, in order to be published, they assigned all their rights without being aware of the implications of the exclusive terms of their initial agreements with their publishers. They […]

Posted 13 June 2008 § Jean-Claude Guedon § John Willinsky § Melanie Dulong de Rosnay § Melissa Hagemann § Open Access § Peter Suber ‡ Comments Off on Opening Access in a Networked Science

The Looming Destruction of the Global Communications Environment

Essay by Ron Deibert Ask most citizens worldwide to identify the most pressing issue facing humanity as a whole and they will likely respond with global warming. However, there is another environmental catastrophe looming: the degradation of the global communications environment. The parallels between the two issues are striking: in both cases an invaluable commons […]

Posted 10 June 2008 § Authority § Diversity and Global Inclusion § New Institutions § Ronald Deibert ‡ Comments (1)

On Technology, Security, Personhood and Privacy: An Appeal

Essay by John Clippinger with a response by Dembitz. Continue the conversation on security with David Clark, Michael Barrett, and Beau Brendler. American democracy has weathered many storms in its 239 years. Its survival and prosperity are consequences of both good fortune as well as the remarkable foresight and common sense of its Founders. However, […]

Posted 10 June 2008 § Dembitz § John Clippinger § Privacy ‡ Comments (1)

What Would a More Secure Future Look Like?

Essay by David Clark with responses by Beau Brendler and Michael Barrett. Most users of the Internet today would probably say that they are concerned about the state of Internet security. And they would probably be more concerned if they understood the true state of affairs. While many technical improvements have been added to the […]

Posted 10 June 2008 § Beau Brendler § David Clark § Michael Barrett § Protection from Harm ‡ Comments (1)

The Right to Communicate

Essay by Daithí Mac Síthigh, a response to Freedom of Listening, by Lewis Hyde Lewis Hyde’s thoughtful essay on network neutrality and the trials of 18th-century preachers-without-pulpits is a timely reminder that the issue of net neutrality is not one that should be the sole business of a small group of Internet activists and lobbyists. […]

Posted 09 June 2008 § Daithí Mac Síthigh § Foundations for Participation § Lewis Hyde § The Cultural Commons ‡ Comments Off on The Right to Communicate

Malware: The Great Equalizer

Essay by Beau Brendler, a response to David Clark Continue the conversation with Michael Barrett. Eight years ago I spent two-grand-plus on a Sony Vaio laptop when they were still sort of cool. It was kind of a muscle car then, full of multimedia editing software I wanted to make movies with in hopes I’d […]

Posted 06 June 2008 § Beau Brendler § David Clark § Michael Barrett § Protection from Harm ‡ Comments Off on Malware: The Great Equalizer

A Take on Peter Suber’s “The Opening of Science and Scholarship”

Essay by Jean-Claude Guedon, a response to The Opening of Science and Scholarship by Peter Suber There is much to be liked in Peter Suber’s piece, but one of the most important facets of his argument certainly lies in his beginning: “Who controls access..?” Indeed, the issue of control is closely related to access. Placing […]

Posted 05 June 2008 § Jean-Claude Guedon § John Willinsky § Melanie Dulong de Rosnay § Melissa Hagemann § Open Access § Peter Suber ‡ Comments Off on A Take on Peter Suber’s “The Opening of Science and Scholarship”