Major problems with current universities:

• Change happens 1 death at a time
• TENURE is broken: 6 years = tenure and then there is little to no incentive to keep learning
• imparting sacred knowledge
• gate keepers

Old school professors:

• lecture with notes
• drinking from a fire hose
• 1 to many

New professors:

• experience designer: guiding the students through interactive systems
• Project manager: set goals and timelines (Brian: teach them to be PM’s)
• Curator: helping students build the skills to search through the mounds of info online
• Resource Allocator: Direct students to others for more information
• Life Coach: Activating the students to take ownership
• Validate: act as an emissary to the community promoting student and helping students find their connections in the community
• Learner: listens to and learn from students (Rowe’s addition)

Ideas to improve the system:

• Encourage team teachers
• De-privilege institutional knowledge
• reward failure (trying and improving is more important then getting the right answer)
• Get rid of departments (? i am not sure i am board with this one)
• Teach students to ask and answer questions
• Contribute to the open commons! (more important the publishing in closed journals)
• Hire people who get these ideas

Here is the talks description:

MIT, Yale, Stanford, and others put lectures online. Chris Anderson argues all university lectures should be free. From Academic Earth to TED, it’s free. So what is the value-add of a university education? What models of higher education will survive? How will universities leverage the social web to reinvent themselves?

PRESENTERS

Glenn Platt

Peg Faimon

This event is free to attend, open to students and the public and being held at Mary Gates Hall room 251 from 3:00pm to 4:30pm west coast time.  Here is more information from  

On February 25th, 2010, our first WiresideChat kicks off with a live webcast of a talk by Lawrence Lessig. Professor Lessig will deliver a talk on fair use and politics in online video from Harvard Law School in Cambridge, MA. Come in person, or tune in to a live webcast at http://openvideoalliance.org/lessig.

In conjunction with the Cambridge event, the Open Video Alliance is hosting live webcast screenings in cities around the world. Many of these screenings will be followed by special presentations. In New York, check out a curation by the ReMixed Media Festival. In Los Angeles, take part in a Critical Commons workshop. If you’re in the San Francisco Bay Area, check out a live audiovisual demonstration by Eclectic Method at Stanford Law School. For more details, or to host your own event, visit http://openvideoalliance.org/lessig.

Lessig’s talk will explore copyright in a digital age, and the importance of a doctrine like fair use. Fair use allows limited use of copyrighted material without requiring permission from the rights holders, and is essential for commentary, criticism, news reporting, remix, research, teaching and scholarship with video. As a medium, online video will be most powerful when it is fluid, like a conversation. Like the rest of the internet, online video must be designed to encourage creative expression and political participation, not just passive consumption.

If you have questions about attending please feel free to email Brian <at> BrianRowe.org .

“In a world of digital network media, copyright policy isn’t just about how to incentivise the product ion of a certain type of artistic commodity. It’s about what level of control we are going to permit to be exercised over our social realities. Social realities that are now inevitably permeated by pop culture. I think it is important that we keep these two different types of public goods in mind. If we are only focused on how to maximize the supply of one, I think we risk suppressing this different and richer and even is some ways maybe even more important one.” – Julian Sanchez on remix culture

Links for more info:
Flagpole Sitta Vimeo Video
Law Suit with Vimeo over Lip Dubs
Lessig @ TED
Cross posted from FfIP found at Bottom-up thx Timothy

Noticing notice: a large-scale experiment on the timing of software license agreements

Abstract:

Spyware is an increasing problem. Interestingly, many programs carrying spyware honestly disclose the activities of the software, but users install the software anyway. We report on a study of software installation to assess the effectiveness of different notices for helping people make better decisions on which software to install. Our study of 222 users showed that providing a short summary notice, in addition to the End User License Agreement (EULA), before the installation reduced the number of software installations significantly. We also found that providing the short summary notice after installation led to a significant number of uninstalls. However, even with the short notices, many users installed the program and later expressed regret for doing so. These results, along with a detailed analysis of installation, regret, and survey data about user behaviors informs our recommendations to policymakers and designers for assessing the “adequacy” of consent in the context of software that exhibits behaviors associated with spyware.

Nathaniel S. Good, Jens Grossklags, Deirdre K. Mulligan, Joseph A. Konstan

What Can Behavioral Economics Teach Us About Privacy? PDF

By AlessandroAcquisti and Jens Grossklags. In Alessandro Acquisti, Sabrina De Capitani di Vimercati, Stefanos Gritzalis, Costas Lambrinoudakis (eds)

Abstract:

Privacy decision making can be surprising or even appear contradictory: we feel entitled to protection of information about our- selves that we do not control, yet willingly trade away the same in- formation for small rewards; we worry about privacy invasions of little significance, yet overlook those that may cause significant damages. Di- chotomies between attitudes and behaviors, inconsistencies in discount- ing future costs or rewards, and other systematic behavioral biases have long been studied in the psychology and behavioral economics litera- tures. In this paper we draw from those literatures to discuss the role of uncertainty, ambiguity, and behavioral biases in privacy decision making.

The Cost of Reading Privacy Policies PDF by Aleecia M. McDonald and Lorrie Faith Cranor,

Abstract:

Companies collect personally identifiable information that website visitors are not always comfortable sharing. One proposed remedy is to use economics rather than legislation to address privacy risks by creating a market place for privacy where website visitors would choose to accept or reject offers for small payments in exchange for loss of privacy. The notion of micropayments for privacy has not been realized in practice, perhaps because advertisers might be willing to pay a penny per name and IP address, yet few people would sell their contact information for only a penny.1 In this paper we contend that the time to read privacy policies is, in and of itself, a form of payment. Instead of receiving payments to reveal information, website visitors must pay with their time to research policies in order to retain their privacy. We pose the question: if website users were to read the privacy policy for each site they visit just once a year, what would their time be worth?
Studies show privacy policies are hard to read, read infrequently, and do not support rational decision making. We calculated the average time to read privacy policies in two ways. First, we used a list of the 75 most popular websites and assumed an average reading rate of 250 words per minute to find an average reading time of 10 minutes per policy. Second, we conducted an online study of 212 participants to measure time to skim online privacy policies and respond to simple comprehension questions. We used data from Nielsen/Net Ratings to estimate the number of unique websites the average Internet user visits annually with a lower bound of 119 sites. We estimated the total number of Americans online based on Pew Internet & American Life data and Census data. Finally, we estimated the value of time as 25% of average hourly salary for leisure and twice wages for time at work. We present a range of values, and found the national opportunity cost for just the time to read policies is on the order of $781 billion. Additional time for comparing policies between multiple sites in order to make informed decisions about privacy brings the social cost well above the market for online advertising. Given that web users also have some value for their privacy on top of the time it takes to read policies, this suggests that under the current self-regulation framework, targeted online advertising may have negative social utility.

Thanks PK for the great references.

YOUTUBE TOS

4. General Use of the Website—Permissions and Restrictions

YouTube hereby grants you permission to access and use the Website as set forth in these Terms of Service, provided that:

1. You agree not to distribute in any medium any part of the Website, including but not limited to User Submissions (defined below), without YouTube’s prior written authorization.
2. You agree not to alter or modify any part of the Website, including but not limited to YouTube’s Embeddable Player or any of its related technologies.
3. You agree not to access User Submissions (defined below) or YouTube Content through any technology or means other than the video playback pages of the Website itself, the YouTube Embeddable Player, or other explicitly authorized means YouTube may designate.
4. You agree not to use the Website, including the YouTube Embeddable Player for any commercial use, without the prior written authorization of YouTube. Prohibited commercial uses include any of the following actions taken without YouTube’s express approval:
   • sale of access to the Website or its related services (such as the Embeddable Player) on another website;
   • use of the Website or its related services (such as the Embeddable Player), for the primary purpose of gaining advertising or subscription revenue;
   • the sale of advertising, on the YouTube website or any third-party website, targeted to the content of specific User Submissions or YouTube content;
   • and any use of the Website or its related services (such as the Embeddable player) that YouTube finds, in its sole discretion, to use YouTube’s resources or User Submissions with the effect of competing with or displacing the market for YouTube, YouTube content, or its User Submissions. (For more information about prohibited commercial uses, see our FAQ.)
5. Prohibited commercial uses do not include:
   • uploading an original video to YouTube, or maintaining an original channel on YouTube, to promote your business or artistic enterprise;
   • using the Embeddable Player to show YouTube videos on an ad-enabled blog or website, provided the primary purpose of using the Embeddable Player is not to gain advertising revenue or compete with YouTube;
   • any use that YouTube expressly authorizes in writing.

   (For more information about what constitutes a prohibited commercial use, see our FAQ.)

6. If you use the YouTube Embeddable Player on your website, you must include a prominent link back to the YouTube website on the pages containing the Embeddable Player and you may not modify, build upon, or block any portion of the Embeddable Player in any way.
7. If you use the YouTube Uploader, you agree that it may automatically download and install updates from time to time from YouTube. These updates are designed to improve, enhance and further develop the Uploader and may take the form of bug fixes, enhanced functions, new software modules and completely new versions. You agree to receive such updates (and permit YouTube to deliver these to you) as part of your use of the Uploader.
8. You agree not to use or launch any automated system, including without limitation, “robots,” “spiders,” or “offline readers,” that accesses the Website in a manner that sends more request messages to the YouTube servers in a given period of time than a human can reasonably produce in the same period by using a conventional on-line web browser. Notwithstanding the foregoing, YouTube grants the operators of public search engines permission to use spiders to copy materials from the site for the sole purpose of and solely to the extent necessary for creating publicly available searchable indices of the materials, but not caches or archives of such materials. YouTube reserves the right to revoke these exceptions either generally or in specific cases. You agree not to collect or harvest any personally identifiable information, including account names, from the Website, nor to use the communication systems provided by the Website (e.g. comments, email) for any commercial solicitation purposes. You agree not to solicit, for commercial purposes, any users of the Website with respect to their User Submissions.
9. In your use of the website, you will otherwise comply with the terms and conditions of these Terms of Service, YouTube Community Guidelines, and all applicable local, national, and international laws and regulations.
10. YouTube reserves the right to discontinue any aspect of the YouTube Website at any time.

5. Your Use of Content on the Site

In addition to the general restrictions above, the following restrictions and conditions apply specifically to your use of content on the YouTube Website.

1. The content on the YouTube Website, except all User Submissions (as defined below), including without limitation, the text, software, scripts, graphics, photos, sounds, music, videos, interactive features and the like (“Content”) and the trademarks, service marks and logos contained therein (“Marks”), are owned by or licensed to YouTube, subject to copyright and other intellectual property rights under the law. Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only and may not be downloaded, copied, reproduced, distributed, transmitted, broadcast, displayed, sold, licensed, or otherwise exploited for any other purposes whatsoever without the prior written consent of the respective owners. YouTube reserves all rights not expressly granted in and to the Website and the Content.
2. You may access User Submissions for your information and personal use solely as intended through the provided functionality of the YouTube Website. You shall not copy or download any User Submission unless you see a “download” or similar link displayed by YouTube on the YouTube Website for that User Submission.
3. User Comments are made available to you for your information and personal use solely as intended through the normal functionality of the YouTube Website. User Comments are made available “as is”, and may not be used, copied, reproduced, distributed, transmitted, broadcast, displayed, sold, licensed, downloaded, or otherwise exploited in any manner not intended by the normal functionality of the YouTube Website or otherwise as prohibited under this Agreement.
4. You may access YouTube Content, User Submissions and other content only as permitted under this Agreement. YouTube reserves all rights not expressly granted in and to the YouTube Content and the YouTube Website.
5. You agree to not engage in the use, copying, or distribution of any of the Content other than expressly permitted herein, including any use, copying, or distribution of User Submissions of third parties obtained through the Website for any commercial purposes.
6. You agree not to circumvent, disable or otherwise interfere with security-related features of the YouTube Website or features that prevent or restrict use or copying of any Content or enforce limitations on use of the YouTube Website or the Content therein.
7. You understand that when using the YouTube Website, you will be exposed to User Submissions from a variety of sources, and that YouTube is not responsible for the accuracy, usefulness, safety, or intellectual property rights of or relating to such User Submissions. You further understand and acknowledge that you may be exposed to User Submissions that are inaccurate, offensive, indecent, or objectionable, and you agree to waive, and hereby do waive, any legal or equitable rights or remedies you have or may have against YouTube with respect thereto, and agree to indemnify and hold YouTube, its Owners/Operators, affiliates, and/or licensors, harmless to the fullest extent allowed by law regarding all matters related to your use of the site.

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YOUTUBE Community_Guidelines

Don’t Cross the Line

Here are some common-sense rules that will help you steer clear of trouble:

• YouTube is not for pornography or sexually explicit content. If this describes your video, even if it’s a video of yourself, don’t post it on YouTube. Also, be advised that we work closely with law enforcement and we report child exploitation. Please read our Safety Center and stay safe on YouTube.
• Don’t post videos showing bad stuff like animal abuse, drug abuse, under-age drinking and smoking, or bomb making.
• Graphic or gratuitous violence is not allowed. If your video shows someone being physically hurt, attacked, or humiliated, don’t post it.
• YouTube is not a shock site. Don’t post gross-out videos of accidents, dead bodies or similar things intended to shock or disgust.
• Respect copyright. Only upload videos that you made or that you are authorized to use. This means don’t upload videos you didn’t make, or use content in your videos that someone else owns the copyright to, such as music tracks, snippets of copyrighted programs, or videos made by other users, without necessary authorizations. Read our Copyright Tips for more information.
• We encourage free speech and defend everyone’s right to express unpopular points of view. But we don’t permit hate speech (speech which attacks or demeans a group based on race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, gender, age, veteran status, and sexual orientation/gender identity).
• Things like predatory behavior, stalking, threats, harassment, intimidation, invading privacy, revealing other people’s personal information, and inciting others to commit violent acts or to violate the Terms of Use are taken very seriously. Anyone caught doing these things may be permanently banned from YouTube.
• Everyone hates spam. Don’t create misleading descriptions, tags, titles or thumbnails in order to increase views. It’s not okay to post large amounts of untargeted, unwanted or repetitive content, including comments and private messages.

Please take these rules seriously and take them to heart. Don’t try to look for loopholes or try to lawyer your way around the guidelines—just understand them and try to respect the spirit in which they were created. If you’d like more details, check out our Community Guideline Tips.

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Second Life TOS

1.3 Content available in the Service may be provided by users of the Service, rather than by Linden Lab. Linden Lab and other parties have rights in their respective content, which you agree to respect.

You acknowledge that: (i) by using the Service you may have access to graphics, sound effects, music, video, audio, computer programs, animation, text and other creative output (collectively, “Content”), and (ii) Content may be provided under license by independent content providers, including contributions from other users of the Service (all such independent content providers, “Content Providers”). Linden Lab does not pre-screen Content.

You acknowledge that Linden Lab and other Content Providers have rights in their respective Content under copyright and other applicable laws and treaty provisions, and that except as described in this Agreement, such rights are not licensed or otherwise transferred by mere use of the Service. You accept full responsibility and liability for your use of any Content in violation of any such rights. You agree that your creation of Content is not in any way based upon any expectation of compensation from Linden Lab.

Certain of the fonts in the Meta family of copyrighted typefaces are used in Second Life under license from FSI FontShop International. You acknowledge that you may not copy any Meta font that is included in the Viewer and that you may use any such Meta font solely to the extent necessary to use the Linden Software in Second Life and that you will not use such Meta fonts for any other purpose whatsoever.

1.5 Second Life offers an exchange, called LindeX, for the trading of Linden Dollars, which uses the terms “buy” and “sell” to indicate the transfer of license rights to use Linden Dollars. Use and regulation of LindeX is at Linden Lab’s sole discretion.

The Service currently includes a component called “Currency Exchange” or “LindeX,” which refers to an aspect of the Service through which Linden Lab administers transactions among users for the purchase and sale of the licensed right to use Currency. Notwithstanding any other language or context to the contrary, as used in this Agreement and throughout the Service in the context of Currency transfer: (a) the term “sell” means “to transfer for consideration to another user the licensed right to use Currency in accordance with the Terms of Service,” (b) the term “buy” means “to receive for consideration from another user the licensed right to use Currency in accordance with the Terms of Service,” (c) the terms “buyer,” “seller”, “sale” and “purchase” and similar terms have corresponding meanings to the root terms “buy” and “sell,” (d) “sell order” and similar terms mean a request from a user to Linden Lab to list Currency for sale on the Currency Exchange at a requested sale price, and (e) “buy order” and similar terms mean a request from a user for Linden Lab to match open sale listings with a requested purchase price and facilitate completion of the sale of Currency.

You agree and acknowledge that Linden Lab may deny any sell order or buy order individually or with respect to general volume or price limitations set by Linden Lab for any reason. Linden Lab may limit sellers or buyers to any group of users at any time. Linden Lab may halt, suspend, discontinue, or reverse any Currency Exchange transaction (whether proposed, pending or past) in cases of actual or suspected fraud, violations of other laws or regulations, or deliberate disruptions to or interference with the Service.

2.2 You must be 13 years of age or older to access Second Life; minors over the age of 13 are only permitted in a separate area, which adults are generally prohibited from using. Linden Lab cannot absolutely control whether minors or adults gain unauthorized access to the Service.

You must be at least 13 years of age to participate in the Service. Users under the age of 18 are prohibited from accessing the Service other than in the area designated by Linden Lab for use by users from 13 through 17 years of age (the “Teen Area”). Users age 18 and older are prohibited from accessing the Teen Area. Any user age 18 and older who gains unauthorized access to the Teen Area is in breach of this Agreement and may face immediate termination of any or all Accounts held by such user for any area of the Service. If you reside in a jurisdiction where the age of majority is greater than 18 years old, you are prohibited from accessing the Service until you have reached such age of majority.

By accepting this agreement in connection with an Account outside the Teen Area, you represent that you are an adult 18 years of age or older. By accepting this agreement in connection with an Account for use in the Teen Area, you represent that (i) you are at least 13 years of age and less than 18 years of age; (ii) you have read and accept this Agreement; (iii) your parent or legal guardian has consented to you having an Account for use of the Teen Area and participating in the Service, and to providing your personal information for your Account; and (iv) your parent or legal guardian has read and accepted this Agreement.

Linden Lab cannot absolutely control whether minors gain access to the Service other than the Teen Area, and makes no representation that users outside the Teen Area are not minors. Linden Lab cannot absolutely control whether adults gain access to the Teen Area of the Service, and makes no representation that users inside the Teen Area are not adults. Adult employees, contractors and partners of Linden Lab regularly conduct their work in the Teen Area. Linden Lab cannot ensure that other users or any non-employee of Linden Lab will not provide Content or access to Content that parents or guardians may find inappropriate or that any user may find objectionable.

2.3 You need to use an account name in Second Life which is not misleading, offensive or infringing. You must select and keep secure your account password.

You must choose an account name to identify yourself to Linden Lab staff (your “Account Name”), which will also serve as the name for the graphical representation of your body in the Service (such representation, an “Avatar”). You may not select as your Account Name the name of another person to the extent that could cause deception or confusion; a name which violates any trademark right, copyright, or other proprietary right; a name which may mislead other users to believe you to be an employee of Linden Lab; or a name which Linden Lab deems in its discretion to be vulgar or otherwise offensive. Linden Lab reserves the right to delete or change any Account Name for any reason or no reason. You are fully responsible for all activities conducted through your Account or under your Account Name.

At the time your Account is opened, you must select a password. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password and are responsible for any harm resulting from your disclosure, or authorizing the disclosure of, your password or from use by any person of your password to gain access to your Account or Account Name. At no time should you respond to an online request for a password other than in connection with the log-on process to the Service. Your disclosure of your password to any other person is entirely at your own risk.

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WORLD OF WARCRAFT^®

TERMS OF USE AGREEMENT
Last Updated July 29, 2008

YOU SHOULD CAREFULLY READ THE FOLLOWING WORLD OF WARCRAFT TERMS OF USE AGREEMENT (THE “TERMS OF USE” OR “AGREEMENT”). IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH ALL OF THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT, YOU MUST CLICK “REJECT.” IF YOU REJECT THIS AGREEMENT WITHIN THIRTY (30) DAYS AFTER FIRST PURCHASING A LICENSE TO THE WORLD OF WARCRAFT SOFTWARE, YOU MAY CALL (800)757-7707 TO REQUEST A FULL REFUND OF THE PURCHASE PRICE. ONCE YOU AGREE TO THE TERMS OF USE AND THE END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT, YOU WILL NO LONGER BE ELIGIBLE FOR A REFUND.

Welcome to Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.’s (“Blizzard”) “World of Warcraft^®” (the “Game”). The Game includes two components: (a) the software program along with any accompanying materials or documentation (collectively, the “Game Client”), and (b) Blizzard’s proprietary World of Warcraft online service (the “Service”). Your use of the Service is subject to the Terms of Use and the End User License Agreement (the “EULA“), incorporated herein by this reference, both of which you must accept before you can use the Game Client or the Service.

1. Grant of a Limited License to Use the Service

   Subject to your agreement to and continuing compliance with the Terms of Use agreement, you may use the Service solely for your own non-commercial entertainment purposes by accessing it with an authorized, unmodified Game Client. You may not use the Service for any other purpose, or in connection with any other software.

2. Additional License Limitations.

   The license granted to you in Section 1 is subject to the limitations set forth in Sections 1 and 2 (collectively, the “License Limitations”). Any use of the Service or the Game Client in violation of the License Limitations will be regarded as an infringement of Blizzard’s copyrights in and to the Game. You agree that you will not, under any circumstances:

   A. use cheats, automation software (bots), hacks, mods or any other unauthorized third-party software designed to modify the World of Warcraft experience;

   B. exploit the Game or any of its parts, including without limitation the Service, for any commercial purpose, including without limitation (a) use at a cyber cafe, computer gaming center or any other location-based site without the express written consent of Blizzard; (b) for gathering in-game currency, items or resources for sale outside the Game; or (c) performing in-game services in exchange for payment outside the Game, e.g., power-leveling;

   C. use any unauthorized third-party software that intercepts, “mines”, or otherwise collects information from or through the Game or the Service, including without limitation any software that reads areas of RAM used by the Game to store information about a character or the game environment; provided, however, that Blizzard may, at its sole and absolute discretion, allow the use of certain third party user interfaces;

   D. modify or cause to be modified any files that are a part of the Game Client or the Service in any way not expressly authorized by Blizzard;

   E. host, provide or develop matchmaking services for the Game or the Service, or intercept, emulate or redirect the communication protocols used by Blizzard in any way, for any purpose, including without limitation unauthorized play over the internet, network play, or as part of content aggregation networks;

   F. facilitate, create or maintain any unauthorized connection to the Game or the Service, including without limitation (a) any connection to any unauthorized server that emulates, or attempts to emulate, the Service; and (b) any connection using programs or tools not expressly approved by Blizzard; or

   G. disrupt or assist in the disruption of (i) any computer used to support the Service (each a “Server”); or (ii) any other player’s Game experience. ANY ATTEMPT BY YOU TO DISRUPT THE SERVICE OR UNDERMINE THE LEGITIMATE OPERATION OF THE GAME CLIENT MAY BE A VIOLATION OF CRIMINAL AND CIVIL LAWS. You agree that you will not violate any applicable law or regulation in connection with your use of the Game Client or the Service.

3. Eligibility.

   You represent that you are an adult in your country of residence. You agree to these Terms of Use on behalf of yourself and, at your discretion, for one (1) minor child for whom you are a parent or guardian and whom you have authorized to use the account you create on the Service.

4. Ownership.

   All rights and title in and to the Service (including without limitation any user accounts, titles, computer code, themes, objects, characters, character names, stories, dialogue, catch phrases, locations, concepts, artwork, animations, sounds, musical compositions, audio-visual effects, methods of operation, moral rights, any related documentation, “applets” incorporated into the Game Client, transcripts of the chat rooms, character profile information, recordings of games played using the Game Client, and the Game Client and server software) are owned by Blizzard or its licensors. The Game and the Service are protected by United States and international laws, and may contain certain licensed materials in which Blizzard’s licensors may enforce their rights in the event of any violation of this Agreement.

Ownership/Selling of the Account or Virtual Items.

Blizzard does not recognize the transfer of WoW Accounts or Blizzard Accounts (each an “Account”). You may not purchase, sell, gift or trade any Account, or offer to purchase, sell, gift or trade any Account, and any such attempt shall be null and void. Blizzard owns, has licensed, or otherwise has rights to all of the content that appears in the Game. You agree that you have no right or title in or to any such content, including without limitation the virtual goods or currency appearing or originating in the Game, or any other attributes associated with the Account or stored on the Service. Blizzard does not recognize any purported transfers of virtual property executed outside of the Game, or the purported sale, gift or trade in the “real world” of anything that appears or originates in the Game. Accordingly, you may not sell in-game items or currency for “real” money, or exchange those items or currency for value outside of the Game.

TOS Readings WOW YouTube Second Life  edited PDF

Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. After its 10 years serving, Google did change the world in terms of information flow. However, more and more issues come along with its success and domination. Copyright and privacy become everyday news to Google: copyright lawsuit over Digital Book Project in China, privacy lawsuit over Street View in the United States, and also many other cases all over the world. Don’t be evil seems more like a joke, and even Google itself has no definition of evil. While making information accessible globally, Google has no way to control the information consumption, because it is unable to know who is using the information for what purpose: a terrorist can simply use Google Map to get to know the environment of a target. Nevertheless, Google can control the information flow and decide how to use it either for business or for the great good, and even though we all understand our privacy must be offended to some point but we can do nothing about it – because Google is the rule maker. The same reason that we all know the American government should not send armies everywhere, but as they play the world police role, they rule the world.

Google’s leaving China is not because the hackers and censorship. It is hard to believe that such a giant can not handle the attacks, and when Google landed in China, they accepted to offer censored search service. Surprisingly, Google China has increased its market share significantly in the past six months according to the analysis, which suggests that the market is not the main reason either. But (I think) losing the confidence of operating in China is. Look back what happened since 2006:

• The market share increases from 13.2% in 2006 to 32.8% in mid-2009 while the Chinese Internet users increases from 105 million to 338 million.
• In June 2009, Google was asked twice to remove all its porn sites from search results, the news was broadcasted through all major channels including CCTV.
• In December 2009, Google was sued by the Chinese author over illegal web book scan, later hundreds of authors joined to claim Google, and Google lost 125 million dollars.
• In December 2009, Kai-Fu Lee, the founding president of Google China, announced his resignation and started a new career.

Everybody knows China has the largest potential market. But how to run business in China has always been a problem for all the foreign companies. Smart like Google, could not find efficient ways to resolve all kinds of issues, especially localization. Both Chinese laws and culture are so different from the American, the company never fully understood the environment, the government, and the people. Leaving lots of problem unsolved, Google China’s future looks not good at all – more censorship, more competitors, and more lawsuits?

On the other hand, the Chinese government, reacted “companies do business in China must follow the laws of the land”. It sends a clear message: if you want to play in my house, you must follow my rules. Note that the Chinese government is nothing like the ancient anymore, given the position and power of China in the world, the country is no longer afraid of any threats. As a developing country, being stable is one of the principles, which means, the laws like censorship will not change just because of Google or the critics from western countries. Transparency, openness, democracy will eventually be there in China, but it needs time and phases, (I do believe) the government is doing the right thing to protect people. Sadly, the issue now is not only between Google and the Chinese government, the US government is being involved too: Hillary Clinton demands explanation for the Google issue.

Anyway, if Google exits China, that would be the most stupid move ever, it will damage not only itself, but Chinese people and the rapidly growth market. The Chinese government will never compromise. In long-term, it is also a huge loss for the Chinese users. In the following days, keep an eye on Google, the Chinese government, the US government, the Chinese people, and Microsoft/Yahoo/Baidu, lots of interesting things will happen for sure.

To make it more interesting:

• In 2006, Yanhong Li, the founder of Baidu, predicted that Google will entirely lose the Chinese search market. Source (in Chinese).

And one remaining question is, Google said nothing about how the Chinese users should deal with the issue. It hurts if I was using Goolge services in China. So far as I know from lots of Chinese forums, people started to backup their Gmail data.

Footnote: I am a Chinese student study abroad in the US, who knows both the Chinese government and Google well. It stands for personal opinion only.

Originally posted at Sheng’s Tech Blog under All Rights Reserved

Image of unknown origin, will update with credit asap (Rowe). Image China Google (censored!) – 2007 http://www.richswebdesign.com/googlelogos.shtml] Used under fair use

Copyright:
All blog post are default under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License. If you want to use a different license or Reserve All Rights you must note it at the end of your post.

Cross posting:
If you have your own blog feel free to crosspost your assigned post to your personal or professional blog.

Tips on Blogging:

• Add visuals – Visuals draw people to text, they also get you hits from Google image search.
• Make headlines simple and direct, do not hide the ball with a witty headline
• Provide links to related articles from new sources BBC, New York Times ect.
• Make it easy for your reader to educate themselves on the topic with links to wikipedia or other educational sites
• Promote others that are talking about the same topic

Further reading:
Slate Review of Huffington’s guide on how to blog

Offline Alternative:
I am simplifying the offline alternative assingment. For credit you need only post your offline blog post to the email list. We will not be using the forum it creates too many places for people to have to check for class updates.

Comments:
Students that wish to comment to blog posts may either comment online via the blog or via the email list.  If you use the email list make sure to link to the original post or include the post with your comments .  Remember 2 of your 8 participation points must come from written responses.

If you have questions on the blogging assingment please post them to the email list or bring them to class on Tuesday or add them to the comments.

News:
Google China Policy:
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-approach-to-china.html

Question 1: If you were running a competing search tool how would you react to this announcement?
Question 2:  How would your answer change if you were a partner of the GNI?  please revisit GNI’s statement on Freedom of Expression http://www.globalnetworkinitiative.org/principles/index.php#18
&
Privacy http://www.globalnetworkinitiative.org/principles/index.php#19

Other updates:
Week 4  January 28th – we will be having a guest speaker, The Honorable Judge Donald Horowitz, who is also one of the co-authors of this weeks reading.
If you were scheduled to present that day, please come talk to me.  We will likely be moving those reading to February 4th.  More to come on this after I talk to the effected group.

Here is a little on the American Human Rights Court:

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights is an autonomous judicial institution based in the city of San José, Costa Rica. It is part of  Organization of American States (OAS), which serves to uphold and promote basic rights and freedoms in the Americas and is based in Washington DC.  This would be a good topic for people to do further research on for a 5 minute in class presenation along with any of the other regional Human Rights courts.