Topic: Privacy
The very standards and conditions that made the Web a permissive, open environment have come under an attack from an onslaught of legal regulations and the monopolistic aspirations of bandwidth and software providers. Albert Wenger, Managing Partner at Union Square Ventures, takes us on a journey of why the Web has proved successful for us, what made it interesting and open, how the very conditions that helped the Web flourish are under a threat, and what we can do about them.
Can you imagine the U.N. running the internet? The internet has been a Wild West of innovation, fortune-changing, and, yes, job growth, but now regulation steps in, says Daniel Weitzner, Deputy Chief Technology Officer for Internet Policy in the White House. Here, he discusses the global open internet and its relation to governments and public perception. He emphasizes the importance of open access to information on the internet for innovation and job growth, yet this is offset by growing trust issues.
In a relaxed interview, Allan Alasdair gives us his take on geolocation today as the Where 2012 conference opens. Alasdair pursues concepts he set forth in the 2011 Where Conference that addressed Apple's iPhone sensors which now allow near-ubiquitous data sharing. He describes a new tracking system being prototyped at the University of Exeter, where data sets can shed light on how campus facilities can be used and student performance evaluated.
Did you know California's entire research network of educational institutions, kindergarten through college, now empties directly into Amazon's cloud storage system? From data generated by thousands of Web 2.0 companies every second to terabytes of data generated by government at every level; this may be the golden age of data set collection. In this presentation Werner Vogels defines Big Data, examines the challenges that big data creates, and invites everyone to consider the types of innovation necessary to handle them.
In this fiery speech, Christian Bahls speaks out as a voice of reason against the WhiteIT project. WhiteIT is a German initiative that seeks to reduce child pornography on the Internet. Bahls' warning is to look carefully into objectives and goals of the project. His concern is that the initiative is trying to use child pornography as a cover to implement intrusive technologies. In addition, he suggests that the initiative misses the larger problem of preventing child abuse and exploitation.
Dr. Moira Gunn talks with author and Internet policy specialist, Rebecca MacKinnon about her mantra on cyber rights, outlined in her new book, Consent of the Networked: The Worldwide Struggle for Internet Freedom.
"Right now we are in a shooting war between users and the analytics people, except the users aren't armed." Cory Doctorow argues that users and Internet companies are performing a transaction. A transaction where users give personal information in return for use of products or services. The transaction right now is lop-sided and unfair. To balance the transaction, Cory offers some suggestions.
Our long-term interaction with the web will be defined by six trends. These trends will will involve dramatic changes that will make computing more like what we are used to seeing in many of today's movies. Kevin Kelly explains why he believes that soon the internet will beneficially surround us in ways that most users don't imagine today.
The issue of copyright continues to be a major problem over the life of the personal computer. Companies have consistently tried to limit the ability of users to make the most of their machines, using a variety of protection schemes. In his talk at the 28th annual Chaos Communication Congress (28c3), Cory Doctorow reviews the history of the copyright fight and discusses how developers and political organizations will continue to limit the use of the general purpose computer.
Dr. Moira Gunn gets a fresh perspective on the how how digital technology is changing the nature of human self-expression from Jeff Jarvis, author of Public Parts: How Sharing in the Digital Age Improves the Way We Work and Live.
