Tuesday, March 25, 2003

Lessig: open code from berkman. Jon Zittrain of Harvard Law School has been doing some good work developing useful and interesting courseware, which the Berkman Center offers for free. If you're interested in helping provide feedback, check out his post to cyberprof. 5:15:04 PM    comment []

Provincial German town drops Microsoft for Linux (AP) The open-source software can be freely copied by the more than 400 new Linux users employed by Schwaebisch Hall, which is encouraging them to copy the software on their work computers for home use. . . . By year's end, Schwaebisch Hall, working with Nuremberg-based SuSE and IBM Germany, will have switched all 300 desktop computers and 15 servers recording tax payments, business licenses and library checkout records. Mayor Hermann-Joseph Pelgrim says the key driver is money: We expect to save a six-figure sum. ... Our employees are proud to be helping with the consolidation of the city budget. City officials say it costs $88 to equip each desktop PC with open-source software, compared to $480 for new editions of the equivalents from Microsoft, by far the dominant producer of proprietary desktop software. 1:23:54 PM    comment []

Madonna taps fans for MP3 release. For the first time, the pop singer's music goes out digitally to her legion of Net fans--and with the move, the Material Girl breaks a little new online ground for major artists. [CNET News.com] 5:59:03 AM    comment []

Data Expert Is Cautious About Misuse Of Information. Gilman Louie, who runs a venture capital firm founded by the Central Intelligence Agency, warned of the danger of amassing a large, unified database that would be available to government investigators. By Steve Lohr. [New York Times: Business] 5:58:01 AM    comment []

A Readers' Guide to the War. With U.S. forces running into unexpectedly strong resistance, here are a couple of guideposts to monitor progress of the war. By Nicholas D. Kristof. [New York Times: Opinion] 5:56:57 AM    comment []

"What will this nation be in years to come?". A historian foresees a United States that crushes opposition around the world and tolerates little dissent at home. [Salon.com] 5:54:48 AM    comment []

Andrew Bayer Is Dreaming of China and talking about the top 500 alternative songs of all time, as well as noting that filchyboy is back to using counter tricks on Salon Blogs. 5:53:14 AM    comment []

Groups Lose Challenge to Government's Broader Use of Wiretaps. An effort by a coalition of civil liberties groups to challenge the government's use of expanded surveillance authority under a post-Sept. 11 statute failed. By Linda Greenhouse. [New York Times: Business] 5:49:23 AM    comment []