Berkman Buzz: December 20, 2013

In most states the process of starting a business is encumbered by paperwork. Dozens of forms that need to be physically filled out and filed with state agencies.

With the help of the Law Lab, a project of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, Nevada has launched a one-stop e-portal for filing and operating a business.

Jeff beautifully summarized our year's work at the DMLP. MT @DMLPBerkman: 2013 at the Digital Media Law Project http://bit.ly/1dW4lK0
—Andy Sellars (@andy_sellars)

The explosion of social media services such as Twitter, which allow researchers to pull data on who is following whom and where has led to another explosion — of social science that seeks to map out social media relationships, and figure out how they influence (or are influenced by) politics, economy and society. One of the people doing interesting work in this space is John Kelly, chief data scientist at Morningside Analytics.

Just like last year, there are four criteria for winning. The winner had to do something in the calendar year. The action had to involve information and communications technology. It had to be notable. That is not asking much, so the final feature is the most important: The award winner has to contain something that deserves a snarky remark or a bit of sarcasm. Like last year, every winner gets a virtual trophy called a “Sally,” affectionately named for Sally Fields. Why her? Because she memorably said, “You like me, you really like me.” That label is meant to convey a simple message: none of this should be taken too seriously.

On Monday morning, those of us who work at Harvard found our phones buzzing with activity as we were warned to stay away from four evacuated university buildings because of bomb threat. For those of us who were near the Boston Marathon this spring, these kind of threats seem particularly scary. Thus, the fact that a Harvard sophomore appears to have created fear and distracted our first responders from real work, all to postpone a final exam, is particularly disgusting. So let me get this out there: I’m glad he was caught, confessed, and will be punished.

But what I want to talk about is the power of metadata. In defense of its bulk phone record collection program, the government has repeatedly insisted that the data it collects is “just metadata.” The implication is that metadata creates no invasion of privacy because it isn’t the content of the communication. In short, surveillance isn’t surveillance unless it captures the “what” of your communications; the “who”, “when”, and “where” doesn’t count.

Government takedown requests to Google hits new record, company says http://wapo.st/J8tMhb | Meanwhile, intermediary liability piles up.
—Ron Deibert (@RonDeibert)

Are we seeing a Korean version of Occupy Wall Street?

A handwritten poster by a university student that spelled out the student's frustration with social injustice and current political developments went viral, both on- and offline in South Korea. Inspired by this so-called “We are not fine” poster, which lists various social issues as the reason why “we are not fine”, young Koreans have started writing their own posters and plastering campus bulletin boards with their messages.