Content or communications? Let the supreme court decide!

Well it might not go that far, but the Guardian Technology blog has highlighted how the spat between Viacom and YouTube is resonant of the "increasing conflict between those seeking to protect copyright and advocates of the internet as an open communications medium. Mike Masnick, a copyright expert on TechDirt, said media companies still thought of the internet as a content platform, whereas internet companies saw it as a communications medium."

Aren't we all mashing our approaches as well as our applications these days? Apparently not. Will all this case law, or out of court settlements maintain a happy equilibrium? Maybe - I guess it depends on how much we collectively value ownership.

2 articles on social networking in the Independent

A little help from your virtual friends: Social networking moves on
It could be said that social networking is no real good. Sure, it's fun to post pictures of yourself on Facebook, but aside from the odd meeting of friends who have lost touch, there's little tangible social gain.
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/features/a-little-help-from-your-virtual-friends-social-networking-moves-on-781399.html


Facebook can ruin your life. And so can MySpace, Bebo...
In the judicial backwater of a New Jersey federal court, a case is being heard that nominally affects two families but should also make millions of Britons think twice about something they do every day: put highly personal information on Facebook, MySpace or Bebo.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/facebook-can-ruin-your-life-and-so-can-myspace-bebo-780521.html


Any thoughts??

nick

Power of Facebook affects law

Power of Facebook affects law
Internet law professor Michael Geist looks at how Facebook has the power to affect legislation.

Read More...

Powered by ScribeFire.

It Pays to Listen to the Radio

The Performing Rights Society (PRS) has once again extended the arm of copyright law to warn users listening to radio at work. The warning was issued to staff at a company in Norfolk where a member of staff listened to the music played over the radio at work. The company was asked to purchase a licence for their radio even though only one person listened to it. More on this news story which would interest copyright and other staff at institutions can be accessed at http://new.edp24.co.uk/content/news/storyrss.aspx?brand=EDPOnline&category=News&tBrand=EDPOnline&tCategory=News&itemid=NOED18%20Dec%202007%2021%3A10%3A08%3A150


[Jisc Legal newsletter 12/07]

Powered by ScribeFire.

Facebook faces UK data probe Why can't we delete accounts?

Facebook is facing investigation by UK data protection watchdogs after a complaint from a British user who tried, and failed, to delete his account.

Facebook accounts can be "deactivated" but not actually deleted. Your profile remains in the Facebook servers but cannot be accessed by anyone else.

Read More...

Legal Warning to Abusive Bloggers

The Directors of Sheffield Wednesday Football Club have won a high court ruling against a website to reveal the identity of anonymous bloggers who made serious allegations of greed and dishonesty against the club's chairman, directors and shareholders. Indeed exposing the identity of those who post defamatory comments on a website has become a growth area for lawyers. FE and HE institutions are cautiously reminded of the legal sanctions that may well be imposed in relation to defamatory content posted on their websites.

Read More...

Excerpt taken from JISC Legal newsletter October 2007.

Pirate Website Shut Down

One of the world's leading pirate film websites has been closed and a man arrested following raids by Gloucestershire Police. The website was providing links to illegal film content that had been recorded by camcorders at the cinema. The links provided access to illegal material hosted by other websites.
FE and HE institutions should be aware of the legal risks associated with video piracy and their need to adopt an anti-piracy policy. Read More...

Excerpt taken from JISC Legal newsletter October 2007.

Scrabulous anyone?

I'm in my sick-bed reading the Guardian and happening upon this article on Facebook. I heard a 50-something businessman chuntering on about social networking without a shred of understanding on 5Live business a few weeks ago.

The section that most caught my attention was:
"Cary Cooper, a professor of organisational psychology and health at Lancaster University, said that managers should be realistic. "Britain has some of the longest working hours in the developed world. Employers have created this culture. It is natural for people to have to use work computers for organising their personal life." Social networking has boomed over the past 12 months. Facebook alone now has more than 5 million regular users in the UK."

Perhaps this is just the meshing of work and social life. Or simply that "life" cannot be demarcated between personal, work and other. The technologies that empower each area of a life would support that. However, we still have that JISC evidence that suggests students do not want academic life impinging upon social networking...

Social networkers warned of risk

Facebook
Users are being warned not to post personal details on their profiles
A quarter of the 11 million Britons who use social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook may be leaving themselves open to identity fraud.

Read more...

The great Blackboard Facebook mash-up: part two

The European Network and Information Security Agency has produced an interesting position paper on social networking. Some of the key issues in this particular paper focus upon the following issues.

• Who do you trust? We share our data very easily in social networking sites like Bebo and Facebook. Do we really know how information is being used and who is accessing it? Do we really know how our information is being shared? Or how it is being stored?
• The impact of secondary data. How transparent social networking sites in their management and monitoring of your data? Who gets to see this data? Who gets to see how many times you have accessed a particular friend's profile? Who gets to see your individual transactions in the form of links that you have made on a particular social networking site? A key recommendation of the paper is that the European Union should look at the data protection issues surrounding secondary data on social networking sites.
• With the economic value of social networking sites rising, how do we know which advertisers and which marketers are targeting, which specific cohorts of users.
• How do we control the digital dossiers which are held about us by third parties? How do we maintain control of our own identity? How do we prevent profile squatting and reputation slander? How do we prevent threatening behaviour, like stalking and bullying?
  
• We are seeing an increase in Web services mash-ups, akin to that between Blackboard and Class Top. These mash-ups may also include face recognition, with the platform of data being held about a person, and being used to track interactions. this can also lead to information-leakage from within particular trust networks.
  
• An individual's control of their own data. For instance, how do we know, when we have deleted our own personal data from a site like Facebook the interactions or comments that we have made with other people's profiles are also deleted?
• Spam, viruses and worms can all be scripted, and can all lead to unsolicited problems for users.

It is critical that users are educated, in order that they understand the possible threats to their data. For instance, students should not give details about the courses that they are attending, and the times of their lectures to people, whose interests they cannot validate.

Perhaps as important is the fact that social networking sites are social. They involve networks of individuals. As such, where access is granted to a network by a particular individual, that network needs to be assured that it interests are being secured and maintained. The key to this are trust and the appropriate management of data. therefore, educational awareness raising must be encouraged by institutions.

This paper is a highly important addition to the growing evaluation of social networking sites. institutions need to take account of its recommendations and look to develop appropriate policies and awareness raising activities with both staff and students. Partnership with a range of central services, and student unions is critical.

Blackboard-Facebook mash-up

So there is a Bb-Facebook mash-up available from ClassTop, called CourseFeed. ClassTop declare that the Facebook app enables students to "Browse your courses, post messages to the class, share notes – all without ever leaving Facebook. CourseFeed also alerts you when your professor posts announcements, tests, or content to Blackboard®. And you’ll get alerts when classmates post to the course wall and share notes." [http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=5243732877&b&ref=pd]

On the Facebook wall for this application one Ian Stiles notes that "The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is designed to protect students, not deny them the right to share educational information for certain benefits."

Whilst on the surface this may have the appearances of a killer-app, mashing-up institutional and non-institutional spaces, there are two issues that come to mind. Firstly, do students want this type of mash-up or would they rather a clear distinction between "work" or "College" and their social spaces? Secondly, the ClassTop Privacy policy raises questions.

1. Our Turnitin UK mash-up with Blackboard is licensed and is thereby governed by a strict commercial and legally-binding contract. This covers and safeguards the use of personal data, denoting that whilst iParadigms in the US is the data processor, our University is the data owner. The ClassTop Privacy Policy is very clear that it intends to collect "personal information" and that "When you register with CourseFeed and sign-in to our services, you are not anonymous to us." Moreover, they collect data so that they can offer "personalised features", which include advertising.
   
2. They also state that "When you update information, we usually keep a back-up copy of the prior version for a reasonable period of time to enable reversion to the prior version". There is no indication of what reasonable means, or for whom they need to revert this information.
3. "You post content on the site at your own risk." Clearly we can track interactions on Blackboard but not on this Facebook app. The validity of those interactions and their nature, alongside the verification of other users who may be able to see and use that information, including course content that is the IPR of the institution or a third-party, is a huge issue.
4. They are up-front about tracking usage of the site by individual users, and link this to advertising and anonymous reporting.
5. ClassTop intimate that "By providing CourseFeed with login information to courses on your school's learning management system, such as Blackboard(r), you grant CourseFeed permission to notify your classmates of availability of CourseFeed on Facebook and retrieve all course related information and content such as but not limited to files, folders, assignments, announcements, personal contact information, course roster information, grades, and calendar entries for the purpose of displaying and notifying you and classmates of online course activity through the CourseFeed interface and/or email." This appears to threaten the integrity of other classmate's data, and the institution's content. Whilst they note that "We recognize the sensitive nature of course related information and content and will maintain the same level of privacy and separation currently implemented by your school's learning management system. For example, just like in your current learning management system only you will be able to see your grades", do students have the right to share data that isn't their ow? Shouldn't ClassTop have an agreement to safeguard IPR, copyright and personal data with the institution?
6. Finally. the policy talks about allowing ClassTop staff to come into contact with user's personal data to facilitate their work, and that they have safeguards to protect information. However, other than basic information about a secure server and a firewall, the policy is silent on what these safeguards actually are.

So there are big issues here for the management and security of institutional and personal data and content. As the interface between institutional and non-institutional technologies blurs it throws these issues into stark relief, and HEIs will need to develop their own technological and human procedures to safeguard the integrity of their own information.

Burnout: key messages

What an interesing article about humanity that Steve Mac has posted this morning. In particular the article picksup on theimpact of technologies on DL tutors, but it has resonance for us all in environments that are "always on" and where the expectations of those who cannot look you in the eye and connect with you may be out-of-step with what you can deliver.

The article focuses upon:
1) emotional exhaustion;
2) depersonalization; and
3) personal accomplishment.

It goes on to highlight that institutional managers must:
"1. Consult with online faculty on matters directly impacting their learning environment (i.e., curriculum development);
2. Provide adequate resources to support online instructors (i.e., technology support resources);
3. Provide detailed job descriptions and faculty expectations to reduce role ambiguity;
4. Create and maintain clear lines of communication between online faculty and administrators by providing
performance feedback;
5. Facilitate professional development activities (i.e., mentoring, advanced training using online technology); and
6. Reduce teaching load and number of students per online course."

Given the impact of new technologies and approaches these human issues have a real resonance for staff.

Burnout

An issue that is of importance, especially if online learning is not given due respect and consideration in any faculty or institution delivery strategy

Exploring burnout among university online instructors: An initial investigation

Facebook is UK's biggest networking site

Facebook has overtaken MySpace as the UK's most popular social networking site.

Despite privacy concerns over the personal information of its members, around 6.5 million people in Britain visited the site during August - up 541 per cent since last December.

Read More...

"It's like watching someone else's firework display"

A nice piece on the BBC website today about "stealing" other people's Wi-Fi. What does this say about social spaces and networking, co-operation and individualism? We see legal and moral issues around technology trailing both technological advances and usage-and-custom. Usage-and-custom being impacted by institutionalised norms is one of the really interesting debates over Web 2.0. It gets me thinking about control and the connections between real and virtual spaces. Does locking down Wi-Fi smack of enclosure? Should we really be encouraging more Wi-Fi commons?

Free Beer

I had a great two weeks in Cornwall - lots of sun, walking, cycling, reading, and ale. Now on the latter point you should check out the St Austell Brewery's Free Beer link-up with Tate St Ives. This is a real Web 2.0 approach to beer, and a pint of version 3.2 of their Free Beer is really rather nice. Not too flowery [man I hate flowery, hoppy ale], with just enough bite at the sides of the mouth. As the St Austell Brewery website declares:

"The recipe and branding of FREE BEER is published under a Creative Commons license (Attribution-ShareAlike2.5). This gives permission for anyone to use the recipe or create a derivative to brew their own FREE BEER and to use the design and branding."

Things I like:

1. the Creative Commons license for this beer;
2. its link-up between a brewery and a Gallery - a nice and unusual partnership.

Things I dislike - the Brewery web site declares in its legal page:

"No links to this site may be included in any other web site without St Austell Brewery's express written authorisation."

I can't be bothered writing to them so I can't give you the Brewery link, but you can always Google.

Man faces cyber-bullying felonies

Amanda Brunzell, 23, said she is living in fear because of the actions of a man. It is a case that shows the power of the Internet and tests a relatively new law.



Read More...

Testing the limits of forum bashing: two law students sue over personal attacks

Two law school students filed a lawsuit against the administrator of a web site and 28 of the site's users last week for psychological and economic injury. The two plaintiffs, anonymously listed as Doe I and Doe II, are female students at Yale Law School and claim that the users of a third-party law school message board have consistently and regularly made such disparaging remarks about their characters that it has cost them not only their emotional wellbeing, but internships and jobs. And despite repeated requests to remove the offensive posts, the site's administrators continually refused to do so.



Read More...

Second Life "land" dispute moves offline to federal courtroom

Second Life "land" dispute moves offline to federal courtroom

By Jacqui Cheng | Published: June 03, 2007 - 11:24PM CT

A virtual land dispute in Second Life will be resolved in federal court after a judge's ruling.



Read more...

Lecturer Fired for Blogging

Apologies for putting seemingly negative stuff about Web 2.0 stuff. I'm certainly very positive about it, and think that after the initial teething troubles, Web 2.0 will proliferate - I also think that the pathfinder project will help somewhat with the teething stages.



Story from THES regarding a recent dismissal of an academic for blogging!