Useful void: the art of forgetting in the age of ubiquitous computing

Abstract: As humans we have the capacity to remember, and to forget. For millennia remembering was hard, and forgetting easy. By default, we would forget. Digital technology has inverted this. Today, with affordable storage, effortless retrieval and global access remembering has become the default, for us individually and for society as a whole. We store our digital photos irrespective of whether they are good or not - because even choosing which to throw away is too time-consuming, and keep different versions of the documents we work on, just in case we ever need to go back to an earlier one. Google saves every search query, and millions of video surveillance cameras retain our movements. In this article I analyze this shift and link it to technological innovation and information economics. Then I suggest why we may want to worry about the shift, and call for what I term data ecology. In contrast to others I do not call for comprehensive new laws or constitutional adjudication. Instead I propose a simple rule that reinstates the default of forgetting our societies have experienced for millennia, and I show how a combination of law and technology can achieve this shift

Napster's second life? Regulatory dynamics of virtual worlds

Five million registered users and counting - Second Life is the current darling of the media. With its decision to let users build their virtual world and retain intellectual property rights in their creations they broke new ground, then they open-sourced their client software. Soon we may see multiple Second Life-like virtual worlds competing against each other - on what? Should lawmakers care? Should we care

Emergency Communications: The Quest for Interoperability in the United States and Europe

When on September 11, 2001, the Pentagon stood ablaze, responding fire companies from Maryland could not communicate with those from Washington, D.C. and Northern Virginia. Runners had to be used instead, stalling rescue efforts: a powerful reminder that even in the age of digital networks and ubiquitous cell phones, communication interoperability, the ability of public safety personnel to communicate by radio with staff from other agencies, on demand and in real time, remains an elusive goal. As almost 60,000 federal, state and local public safety agencies plan to upgrade their communications systems in the wake of 9/11, this essay takes a hard look at communications interoperability and its implementation, here in the United States and in Europe. Three steps have been seen as requirements for interoperability: inventing the appropriate technology, setting common standards and frequencies, and providing adequate funding. This essay looks at each of these steps in the U.S. and European contexts and analyzes successes and failures, rendering a fuller picture both of the challenges for interoperability and of best practices to meet them. Over the last few years (and surprisingly given the complex political structures) the Europeans have pulled ahead of the U.S. in implementing interoperability, although with determination and the right set of strategies, U.S. policymakers can easily make up lost ground. Enhanced Federal Communications Commission (FCC) leadership in defining frequencies and standards and a clearly formulated and thoroughly executed comprehensive funding strategy, based either on public funds or innovative public-private partnerships, would go a long way toward enabling communications interoperability to take hold. Yet, this essay is not simply about how to overcome obstacles on the path to interoperability. The case of interoperability, its elusiveness in the United States and its successes elsewhere, reveals a deeper, more troubling story - a story not so much of technical hurdles, as of structural and political hurdles, as more of perceived than actual constraints, unduly limiting the nation¹s ability to cope with an important public policy need in these uncertain times. There are no abstract silver bullets to overcome the problem. Instead, policymakers have to look carefully at how well the policy strategy they select is aligned with their means and the policy context. In the United States, interoperability has suffered from strategic misalignment and haphazard implementation. European interoperability policies have fared better, not because of a general advantage in the strategies chosen, but because of a better fit between means and ends. Thus interoperability also provides an intriguing test case, highlighting the transcending importance of strategic alignment, agency innovation, and leadership.

Useful Void: The Art of Forgetting in the Age of Ubiquitous Computing

As humans we have the capacity to remember and to forget. For millennia remembering was hard, and forgetting easy. By default, we would forget. Digital technology has inverted this. Today, with affordable storage, effortless retrieval and global access remembering has become the default, for us individually and for society as a whole. We store our digital photos irrespective of whether they are good or not - because even choosing which to throw away is too time-consuming, and keep different versions of the documents we work on, just in case we ever need to go back to an earlier one. Google saves every search query, and millions of video surveillance cameras retain our movements. In this article I analyze this shift and link it to technological innovation and information economics. Then I suggest why we may want to worry about the shift, and call for what I term data ecology. In contrast to others I do not call for comprehensive new laws or constitutional adjudication. Instead I propose a simple rule that reinstates the default of forgetting our societies have experienced for millennia, and I show how a combination of law and technology can achieve this shift.

Jefferson Rebuffed--The United States and the Future of Internet Governance

Over the last several years, many have called for an internationalization of Internet governance in general, and Internet naming and numbering in particular. The multi-year WSIS process that culminated in November 2005 was intended to create momentum in such direction. The United States has long resisted such internationalization, fearing in particular the growing influence of China and similar nations. In September 2005 the European Union put forward a proposal which would have offered a constitutional moment for Internet governance by suggesting internationalization based on fundamental values of the Internet community. The swift rejection of the proposal by the US was surprising, both from a tactical as well as – in light of its own constitutional history – a substantive viewpoint. In this article we describe the main features of the European proposal and what it might have created. We evaluate four possible arguments explaining US rejection: delegation of power, objective rights, public choice, and de-legitimization of international regimes.