digital rights
Re:publica 08 #3 (Law)
One of the best panels My favorite panel at re:publica was Henning Krieg’s panel on law and blogging. At pretty much every other conference I missed out on Henning’s quite famous talks, and it was no surprise to find the room packed to the limits. Relaxed, informal and funny presentation, a lot of value for […]
re:publica 08: Program online, ticket sales are on
As Markus pointed out, the (drafted) program for re:publica 08 is online and tickets are for sale as of now. This year the conference is subtitled “critical mass”, referring to the exponential growth of successful web services.
If you’re not familiar with re:publica, it’s a Web 2.0 conference in Berlin. Last year the conference was a […]
Facebook, Google & Plaxo Join the DataPortability WorkGroup
This rocks: Duncan Riley just has a scoop on Techcrunch announcing that Facebook, Google and Plaxo are joining the DataPortability Workgroup
Duncan had been hinting at something big on Twitter, and what can I say, he was right: “I don’t joke when I say that the post I’ve written changes the entire game.”
DataPortability, and particularly being […]
The OLPC Laptop’s Interface Translated For Adults
A neat preview of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) user interface Aquatic Sugar, as well as an explanation of how it works:
(More about the One Laptop Per Child project? Click here for my posts on the topic.)
(Thanks for the hint, H.!)
One Laptop Per Child Project Launches Social Media Campaign
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a huge fan of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative, which aims at giving kids in developing countries a rugged laptop so they get easier access to educational material and so they get a chance to bridge the digital gap on their own.
If you’d like to support the […]
Facebook Beacon is Serious Breach of Trust
Facebook recently introduced Facebook Beacon, a new technique for businesses and website operators to “enable your customers to share the actions they take on your website with their Facebook friends.”
Beacon can be installed by simply adding a few lines of code:
Simply determine which user actions you would like publish to Facebook (…) Facebook Beacon […]
Ze Frank on Privacy
The godfather of podcasting Ze Frank is back, this time on blip.tv. Here’s his take on privacy:
Well put. Talking of which, the German Bundestag has passed legislation for massive data retention. Why not join the class-action lawsuit against the data retention law?
Good to have you back, Ze!
How Creative Commons Can Interact With Commerce
Over the last couple of years, Creative Commons licenses have become pretty widely adopted in the non-commercial field. (You’ll find a great number of blogs and podcasts under a non-commercial Creative Commons license.)
But what about commercial use? Are Creative Commons licenses the natural enemy of commercially used contents? By no means, quite the contrary. Here’s […]
Open Source Hardware: Buglabs to ship in Q4
Tired of your bricked iPhone? You’re not alone. (Ok, to be fair, iPhones aren’t even being shipped in Germany yet, I think. But anyway.)
There’s at least two new projects that are open sourcing not just their software, but also their hardware: They’re specifically designed for hackability. How awesome is that?
First, there’s OpenMoko, an open source […]
Opening the Social Graph
Lately the web has been buzzing with talk about the Social Graph (or Social Network Portability, as others prefer to call it).
The basic question? Who owns your social network, and how can you move it back and forth between different services and applications? (You should be the only one with complete control over your […]
The Internet without Net Neutrality
Net Neutrality - the principle that all websites are created equal, and are treated equally by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) - has been the basis for the free development of the web since, well, pretty much the creation of the web. But many ISPs have been attacking net neutrality: For if they charge extra for […]
A Bill of Rights for Users of the Social Web
There has been a discussion going for quite awhile about the way many social networks try to lock in their users by trapping their data.
So here comes a neat manifesto: Joseph Smarr, Marc Canter, Robert Scoble, and Michael Arrington drafted a Bill of Rights for Users of the Social Web.
We publicly assert that all […]
Yahoo & MSN side with Chinese government, against their users
Oops, they did it again: Yahoo and MSN signed a blogging ’self-discipline’ pact in China:
US Internet giants Yahoo and MSN confirmed Friday they had signed a code of conduct for their blogging operations in China that committed them to protecting the interests of the Chinese state.
So what exactly does that mean?
Yahoo, Microsoft’s MSN and other […]
All agree: It’s time for social networks to open up
You’re probably one more than one social networking site, right? How many: three, four? Ten? Be it as it may, you’re very likely to know the pain it is to move between networks, manually syncing (or not) your connections and social networks, re-inviting your friends and colleagues to come along.
Today, Wired’s web services section […]
The geek / non-geek split in your social network (and why old media feel so stale)*
Recently I’ve noticed again a certain, shall we say: split in my everyday life, which I’m sure some of you are familiar with. It’s a number of related splits, really.
And no, I’m not talking about the kind of work/free time aka day/night split most people feel in their offices at times. Rather, I’m talking about […]
My name is Peter Bihr. I live in Berlin, Germany. As a freelancer, I consult on web strategies, communities, blogging and social media. In this weblog, I jot down random thoughts, ideas and news. Hopefully, you'll find some are interesting for you, too. 