Adam Thierer's Blog, page 170

Tim Lee on net neutrality, spectrum policy, and software patents

On the podcast this week, Timothy B. Lee, PhD candidate in computer science at Princeton University and fellow at Princeton's Center for Information Technology Policy, discusses a variety of issues.  Lee parses new net neutrality nuances, addressing recent debate over prioritization of internet services.  He also discusses wireless spectrum policy, comparing and contrasting a strict property rights model to a commons one.  Lee concludes by weighing in on potential software patent reform...

Coping with Information Overload: Thoughts on Hamlet's BlackBerry by William Powers

Information overload is a hot topic these days. I've really enjoyed recent essays by Aaron Saenz ("Are We Too Plugged In? Distracted vs. Enhanced Minds"), Michael Sacasas ("Technology Sabbaths and Other Strategies for the Digitized World"), and Peggy Noonan ("Information Overload is Nothing New") discussing this concern in a thoughtful way.   Thoughtful discussion about this issue is sometimes hard to find because, as I've noted here before, information overload is a subject that bitterly...

Craigslist Bows to State AGs, Censors Adult Services

Chalk up another victim to unwarranted political intimidation by state attorneys general. On Friday evening, Craigslist, which has long been under intense pressure to crack down on sex crimes, replaced its adult services section in the U.S. with a black censor bar. This move comes on the heels of a scathing letter sent to Craigslist by seventeen state AGs insinuating that Craigslist is culpable for the "victimization of children." While the state attorneys general are likely celebrating...

The FTC Wants You!

The Federal Trade Commission is looking for a computer scientist.

Have you always aspired to work at a "duty location"?

Do you think of yourself as a GS-1550-13/14 kinda guy or gal?

Then this is the gig for YOU!

Open Video Conference, New York City, Oct. 1-2

I'll be there, speaking on a privacy-focused panel entitled: "We Know What You Watch."

Spooky!

There's an interesting agenda and, as conferences go, this one seems to be pretty well organized. For example, they have a page of badges they encourage participants to use in promotions like this one. (What do you think of the one I selected?)

And they suggest the Twitter hashtags #openvideo and #ovc10.

Once again, New York TLFers, that's the Open Video Conference, Oct. 1-2 at the Fashion Institute...

Social Media as a News Source

To hails of derision in some quarters—I'm looking at you, Adam—I have talked about how social media will occupy some of the space being ceded by traditional news reporting, which is struggling to find a business model. Perhaps with validation from an official, vetted, professional, dead-tree news source, it will seem less ridiculous to talk about news reporting being generated spontaneously by people "on the scene" or with the greatest knowledge of facts and conditions in a particular area.

T...

Danny Sullivan on search neutrality

On the podcast this week, Danny Sullivan, an expert on the internet search industry and editor-in-chief of Search Engine Land, discusses search neutrality.  He explains the concept of search neutrality and discusses a recent New York Times editorial suggesting Google's search algorithm should be subject to government oversight or regulation.  Sullivan points out flaws inherent to the notion of search neutrality and discusses competition in the search engine industry. He also imagines what it ...

How Many Times Has Michael "Dr. Doom" Copps Forecast an Internet Apocalypse?

How many times can FCC Commissioner Michael Copps declare the Internet dead?  Like a fire-and-brimstone preacher bombastically bellowing sermons warning of the impending End Times, Commissioner Copps has made a hobby out of declaring the Internet dead and buried unless drastic steps are taken right now to save cyberspace! The problem is, he's being saying this for the past decade and yet, despite generally laissez-faire policy in this arena, the Internet is still very much alive and well.

His ...

Two Schools of Internet Pessimism

[I am currently helping Berin Szoka edit a collection of essays from various Internet policy scholars for a new PFF book called "The Next Digital Decade: Essays about the Internet's Future."  I plan on including two chapters of my own in the book responding to the two distinct flavors of Internet pessimism that I increasingly find are dominating discussions about Internet policy. Below you will see how the first of these two chapters begins. I welcome input as I refine this draft. ]

Surveying ...

Economist Debate: "Governments Must Do Far More to Protect Online Privacy"

I'm at the mid-point of an online debate hosted by the Economist.com on the proposition: "This house believes that governments must do far more to protect online privacy."

I'm on the "No" side. In my opening statement, I tried to give some definition to the many problems referred to as "privacy," and I argued for personal responsibility on the part of Internet users. I even gave out instructions for controlling cookies, by which people can deny ad networks their most common source of consumer ...