February 2012 - change - Mailing Lists

[SPAM] $35 touchscreen tablet launched in India
by Rahul Banerjee 30 Apr '12

30 Apr '12

Sorry for the spam, but I couldn't resist sharing such wonderful news: http://www.seattlepi.com/business/article/India-announces-35-tablet-compute… (Actually, the government is subsidising its price (which would be closer to $50), but it's still pretty amazing that something like this exists at all) -- Rahul

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The State of the World's Children 2012: Children in an Urban World
by Brian DeRenzi 29 Feb '12

29 Feb '12

Forwarding from the child2015 mailing list. The State of the World's Children 2012: Children in an Urban World Many best wishes. This note introduces you, as a valued member of The Communication Initiative network, to a just-released report by one of our Partners, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). "The State of the World's Children 2012: Children in an Urban World" focuses mainly on those children in urban settings all over the world who face a particularly complex set of challenges to their development and the fulfilment of their rights. It covers issues as diverse as sanitation, gangs, and governance, incorporating global trends and focusing on individual, concrete examples of positive practices in specific urban neighbourhoods. It outlines a variety of strategies being used to fulfill the needs and rights of children in these contexts, such as identifying and removing barriers to inclusion, ensuring children's participation, and fostering partnerships and networking. Excerpts from "The State of the World's Children 2012", with an emphasis on communication-related elements, follow. This report and additional online content are available at: http://www.comminit.com/clickthru/58603a073745cfb33c55e8b8e3a68fad?node= For direct access to the report in PDF format: http://www.comminit.com/clickthru/2c7b54549286e290b1f544508f67ac3c?node= For direct access to the executive summary in PDF format: http://www.comminit.com/clickthru/937559a6f80ee9d45219af28448ae6aa?node= === Excerpts from "The State of the World's Children 2012: Children in an Urban World" (UNICEF, February 28 2012): Chapter 1: Children in an Increasingly Urban World (pages 1-12) "...[A] focus on equity is needed - one in which priority is given to the most disadvantaged children, wherever they live. * The first requirement is to improve understanding of the scale and nature of urban poverty and exclusion affecting children. This will entail not only sound statistical work...but also solid research and evaluation of interventions intended to advance the rights of children to survival, health, development, sanitation, education and protection in urban areas. * Second, development solutions must identify and remove the barriers to inclusion that prevent marginalized children and families from using services, expose them to violence and exploitation, and bar them from taking part in decision-making.... * Third, a sharp focus on the particular needs and priorities of children must be maintained in urban planning, infrastructure development, service delivery and broader efforts to reduce poverty and disparity. The international Child-Friendly Cities Initiative provides an example of the type of consideration that must be given children in every facet of urban governance. * Fourth, policy and practice must promote partnership between the urban poor and government at all its levels. Urban initiatives that foster such participation - and in particular those that involve children and young people - report better results not only for children but also for their communities. * Finally, everyone must work together to achieve results for children." Chapter 2: Children's Rights in Urban Settings (pages 13-33) * "One of the core principles of the Convention [on the Rights of the Child] is respect for and consideration of the views of children. The document recognizes children's right to freely express their views in all matters affecting them and insists that these views be given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the children voicing them (Article 12). It further proclaims children's right to freedom of all forms of expression (Article 13). Children are entitled to freedom of thought, conscience and religion (Article 14), to privacy and protection from unlawful attack or interference (Article 16) and to freedom of association and peaceful assembly (Article 15)." * Perspective: "Out of Sight, out of Reach", by Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan, UNICEF Eminent Advocate (page 15) "In a few Arab countries, the fates of disadvantaged urban children are being rewritten....Amman is one of the region's leading child-friendly cities, with over 28,000 students participating in children's municipal councils to prioritize their needs, rights and interests. The results have been impressive: parks, libraries, community spaces, educational support for children who dropped out of school, campaigns against violence and abuse, and information and communication technology centres for the deaf. Yet for Arab children - for all children - to thrive, nations have to work together." * Focus on: Mapping Urban Disparities to Secure Child Rights (pages 26-27) "Gathering accessible, accurate and disaggregated data is an essential step in the process of recognizing and improving the situation of children in urban areas. Innovative visual representations of information can help identify gaps, prompting action from local decision-makers....Today's computer technology makes it possible to compile simple interactive maps and correlations to show complex information traditionally displayed in columns and tables." Chapter 3: Urban Challenges (pages 34-47) * "While child labour is too often premature, exploitative, dangerous and abusive, it is important to recognize that, especially for older children, appropriate work can make a significant contribution to development by building self-esteem, teaching skills and helping children cope with poverty. The Convention on the Rights of the Child recognizes that children should have increasing autonomy, in line with their evolving capacities." * "...there is growing recognition of the role children have in helping themselves and their communities to be safe. In the Philippines, for example, school children made a video of the risks in their community and presented it to the local authorities. This resulted in dialogue between adults and children, the planting of trees to reduce the risk of landslides, and the relocation of a school to facilities built to minimize vulnerability to flood damage....Indeed, inclusive approaches often prove to be highly effective in solving all sorts of problems." Chapter 4: Towards Cities Fit for Children (pages 48-65) * "'Bottom-up' approaches are prevalent in many cities. Civil society organizations and community institutions - including, among others, houses of worship - are often closest to the issues of greatest importance to the most excluded communities. These issues may include water and sanitation, housing, health, education and childcare. In urban settings lacking effective formal Means of participatory decision-making, community organizations can enable citizens, including young people, to express their concerns. The challenge is to align the efforts of groups that work to alleviate the plight of the urban poor with those that focus on protecting the rights of the most vulnerable children." * "In some cities, young slum residents are involved in surveying, documenting and mapping their urban surroundings, generating essential information for both their communities and municipal authorities. Such initiatives have helped build partnerships with official agencies in ways that enable young people to play a part in influencing the planning, finance and management of urban infrastructure. Children's community mapping has proved successful in pinpointing local needs and resources in places as diverse as Kolkata, India; Nairobi, Kenya; Karachi, Pakistan; and Cape Town, South Africa. Participatory approaches are not without their challenges. It may be difficult to ensure that the most marginalized children are adequately represented, and careful planning is needed to ensure that participation is not tokenistic." * Focus on: Urban HEART - Measuring and Responding to Health Inequity (pages 52-53) "The Urban Health Equity Assessment and Response Tool (Urban HEART) helps urban policymakers, communities and other stakeholders better understand the local socio-economic factors that influence health outcomes. The tool is based on three essential elements: [i] Sound evidence...[ii] Intersectoral action for health: building relationships beyond the health sector in order to influence a broad range of health determinants... [iii] Community participation: involving community members in all aspects of the process, from planning, designing and implementing interventions to helping ensure that these efforts are learned from and sustained beyond the initial phase." * Perspective: "Trafficked Children in Our Cities: Protecting the Exploited in the Americas", by Ricky Martin, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador (page 54) "I was moved to join the fight against trafficking when I visited India in 2002. In 2006 I launched Llama y Vive (Call and Live), a campaign that established and promoted prevention and victim-protection hotlines....Effective anti-trafficking laws must be passed in conjunction with work done by local protection offices. In order to do this, we urgently need governments, non-governmental organizations and multilateral agencies to work in concert to raise awareness, implement holistic training and guidance programmes for enforcement agencies and build effective systems to protect children and prosecute and punish perpetrators. Finally...[w]e must endeavour to create a safe environment that allows survivors to come forward despite the inherent difficulties." * Focus on: The Child-Friendly: Cities Initiative - Fifteen years of trailblazing Work (page 56) "The Child-Friendly Cities Initiative (CFCI) - launched by UNICEF and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) in 1996...taps into the wider acceptance of community participation in decision-making to promote local accountability for children's rights. The International Secretariat of CFCI has identified nine principal building blocks for local administrations aiming to become 'child-friendly'..." * Focus on: Upgrading Informal Settlements in Jeddah (pages 64-65) "One way to facilitate children's participation as stakeholders is to ask them to collect information about their surroundings. Again, differing preferences must be considered. Some girls may be reluctant or unable to voice their opinions in a meeting where boys, men or even older women are present, for example. Children and their families can also be included in core planning groups, where those most interested in the development of their area can represent their community and take part in decision-making." Chapter 5: Uniting for Children in an Urban World (pages 66-75) * "This chapter explores five key areas in which action is required if the needs and rights of nearly half of the world's children - namely, those who reside in urban areas - are to be fulfilled. These are: understanding the scale and nature of urban poverty and exclusion; identifying and removing the barriers to inclusion; putting children first within a broader pursuit of equity in urban planning, infrastructure development, governance and service delivery; promoting partnerships between the urban poor and their governments; and ensuring that everyone works together to achieve results for children." === This report and additional online content are available at: http://www.comminit.com/clickthru/58603a073745cfb33c55e8b8e3a68fad?node= For direct access to the report in PDF format: http://www.comminit.com/clickthru/2c7b54549286e290b1f544508f67ac3c?node= For direct access to the executive summary in PDF format: http://www.comminit.com/clickthru/937559a6f80ee9d45219af28448ae6aa?node= For questions or comments on the publication, please contact: Abid Aslam Editor, The State of the World's Children UNICEF 3 UN Plaza New York, NY 10017 United States abaslam(a)unicef.org Please note: Permission to reproduce any part of this publication is required. Contact: Division of Communication, UNICEF 3 United Nations Plaza New York, NY 10017 United States Tel: 212 326 7434 nyhqdoc.permit(a)unicef.org

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Position for Data Scientist
by Peter Speyer 27 Feb '12

27 Feb '12

Hi Change team, We have a great open position for a data visualization expert to work as Data Scientist<http://www.healthmetricsandevaluation.org/about-ihme/job-posting/data-scien…> at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME)<healthmetricsandevaluation.org>. IHME is an independent global health research center at the University of Washington that provides rigorous and comparable measurement of the world's most important health problems. We are looking for a highly motivated individual to create innovative and engaging ways to visually explore and interact with our research results. Visualizations will be used to present data on IHME's website and in mobile applications, for presentations and events, as well as internally for exploration and validation of preliminary and final analysis results. The Data Scientist will be responsible for design, development, testing, and user support of visualizations; he or she will combine a deep understanding of audience needs with substantial knowledge of innovative ways to visualize data and making data interactive. You should be passionate about how to make data useful, engaging and fun. The Data Scientist will report to the Director of Data Development. Details on the IHME website<http://www.healthmetricsandevaluation.org/about-ihme/job-posting/data-scien…>. Feel free to contact me directly if you have any questions. Cheers, Peter Peter Speyer | Director of Data Development Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation | University of Washington Tel +1 206 897 2864 | Cell +1 206 388 9186 | Skype peterspeyer | @peterspeyer<http://twitter.com/#!/PeterSpeyer> speyer(a)uw.edu<speyer(a)u.washington.edu> | http://ghdx.org<http://ghdx.org/> | http://healthmetricsandevaluation.org<http://healthmetricsandevaluation.org/>

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Fwd: Hesperian launches Digital Commons!!
by Tapan Parikh 27 Feb '12

27 Feb '12

Publishers of Where There Is No Doctor launch “Digital Commons” Hesperian Health Guides, publisher of the landmark book Where There Is No Doctor, is launching a new suite of digital tools designed especially for community health workers and trainers. The Hesperian Digital Commons provides free access to life-saving health information in 26 languages, and empowers communities to become producers of health materials that meet their needs rather than consumers of one-size-fits-all content. Responding to and leveraging the explosion of digital technology – particularly mobile phone technology – even in the world’s most remote areas, the Digital Commons features an interactive Safe Pregnancy and Birth iPhone app in Hesperian’s friendly, accessible style, along with a HealthWiki well-suited for slow or intermittent internet connections. And, after decades of hearing stories of health workers cutting and pasting text from the health guides and tracing illustrations to create posters and flyers, Hesperian has made thousands of line drawings available in a searchable online image library and developed a free on- or off-line layout program. All tools and resources are available through Hesperian’s website: www.hesperian.org/digital-commons/ and the iTunes Apple Store: http://tinyurl.com/6toftv6. -- Zena Herman Project Coordinator | The New Where There Is No Doctor Hesperian Health Guides Knowledge for action. Action for health. 1919 Addison Street- Suite 304, Berkeley, CA 94704 Tel: 510-845-1447 ext. 238 | Fax: 510-845-9141

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Brian Glaister on Cadence Biomedical
by Nicola Dell 27 Feb '12

27 Feb '12

This Thursday at Change Brian Glaister will speak about his research on low cost prosthetics for resource-poor countries, and present the work of his startup Cadence Biomedical and their device to help people with severe disabilities walk. Brian is the President and CEO of Cadence Biomedical which is a Seattle-based startup that offers a wearable medical device to help people with severe disabilities walk. Prior to Cadence, Brian was a Mary Switzer Fellow with the National Institute for Disability and Rehabilitation Research, a Technology Commercialization Fellow with the University of Washington Center for Commercialization, and a Research Assistant at the VA Puget Sound. He has a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Villanova University and a master's degree in Bioengineering from Arizona State University. Some day he may finish his doctorate from the University of Washington. What: Brian Glaister on Cadence Biomedical. Where: The Allen Center, CSE 203. When: Thursday, March 1st at 12 noon.

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Tapan Parikh - What It Means To Represent
by Yaw Anokwa 27 Feb '12

27 Feb '12

Tapan Parikh (Berkeley prof, former UW grad) gave a good talk on the motivations behind his work. It's a great story about how early experiences in rural India manifested in his recent work on IVR forums with Neil Patel. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emQNfA9dihU

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FW: Jobs at Royal Holloway, University of London
by Chris Coward 26 Feb '12

26 Feb '12

From: Kleine, Dorothea [mailto:Dorothea.Kleine@rhul.ac.uk] Sent: Sunday, February 26, 2012 9:37 AM To: Unwin, Tim; a.berardi(a)open.ac.uk; Abdullahi Hussein; Abs Dumbuya; Afifa Aza; Alasdair Unwin; Loftus, Alex; Alex Robinson; Aman Grewal; Andrea Goetzke; Chadwick, Andrew; Anna Lowe; Anne Augustine; astrid(a)spidercenter.org; Avril McIntyre; awyeo(a)acm.org; Barnes, David; Betty Ogange; Boubakar Barry; Brasilina Passarelli; caitlin.bentley(a)gmail.com; Cantoni Lorenzo; Christian.Stracke(a)icb.uni-due.de; Cid, Carlos; claude.luttgens(a)hotmail.fr; cmuhoma(a)yahoo.com; Coles-Kemp, Lizzie; David Grimshaw; David Hollow; david.mandiyanike(a)mopipi.ub.bw; dharme(a)shu.ac.uk; Dom Graveson; eclallana(a)ideacorpphil.org; Edward Scotcher; elfneh bariso; Kromidha, Endrit (2009); eric(a)ericbaber.com; Erkki Sutinen; eshercliff(a)worldcomputerexchange.org; f.khan(a)unesco.org; feliciana eduardo; Fionn Murtagh; Harindranath, G; Gavin Dykes; Geraldine De Bastion; gerloff(a)fsfeurope.org; Gibbs, Laura; Godfred Bonnah Nkansah; gudrun.wicander(a)gmail.com; Harsha Liyanage; ict4d.tim(a)ntlworld.com; ilariaamerise(a)libero.it; inovasco(a)zebra.uem.mz; j.gregson(a)ids.ac.uk; j.m.harvey(a)lboro.ac.uk; Cordoba-Pachon, J R; jalwala(a)yahoo.co.uk; jamiesingleton(a)lifelinenetwork.org; jo.tacchi(a)rmit.edu.au; John M Traxler; Johnson, Philip; Jophus Anamuah-Mensah; Joshua Underwood; Joyojeet(a)gmail.com; k.morsink(a)utwente.nl; Karim Toledano; Katrin Verclas; ken.banks(a)kiwanja.net; khalid abu arja; Kim Hyeon-a; Lee, Yenn; Leonard Oloo; Lidia Oshlyansky; Lisa M Cespedes; ljalexander(a)telus.net; Luciano Floridi; Luke Fantaye; King, M; Maria Jose Montero; Maria-Teresa Lepeley; mdmcpalm; Meng, X; mgeldof(a)d-tree.org; Michael Riggs (OEKC); Michelle Selinger; Mukul Srivastava; mzennaro(a)ictp.it; Natalia Grincheva; Niall Winters; P Clint Rogers; p.a.v.hall(a)btinternet.com; Paula Morais; paula(a)spidercenter.org; Peter (NSN - DE/Muenich); Peter Dell'Osa; R.S.Johnson(a)massey.ac.nz; rave.peter(a)gmail.com; rebekka.campbell(a)illumina.co.uk; Rega Isabella; Regina.Valiullina(a)itu.int; Richard Duncombe; Bernardi, Roberta; rose.luckin(a)gmail.com; s.lusignan(a)surrey.ac.uk; shahid.akbar(a)biid.org.bd; Simon, D; Simon Taylor; Simone Sala; Ståle Angen Rye; stuart(a)purpletoucan.com; Sugata Mitra; swatantra gupta; tgrazian(a)dau.unict.it; Nguyen, Thao; Thomas Smyth; Timothy Anderson; Tun, Win; VANESSA FRIAS MARTINEZ; vashkar79(a)hotmail.com; vgathara(a)gmail.com; Visara Urovi; Wang, Weili; Willis, Katie; Xavier Justino Muianga; Xiaolan Fu; Yamandu Ploskonka; Yingqin Zheng; Yutaka Sato; zelmira(a)zelmira.com; Tony Roberts; Poveda, Sammia (2011); Azra Naseem; Madya Dr. Razamin Bt. Ramli; Burris, Andrea (2007); Bentley, Caitlin (2010); David Crespo; Scur, Fernanda (2006); Xu, Man (2006); Kocsev, Marton (2009); Paolo Brunello; Abbasi, Salma (2005); Vallauri, Ugo (2007); Sadeghi, Saeid (2010) Cc: Ilaria Amerise; joemertz(a)cmu.edu; Chris Coward; ann.light(a)gmail.com; s.madon(a)lse.ac.uk; evillan(a)pucp.pe; E.T.Oosterlaken(a)tudelft.nl Subject: Jobs at Royal Holloway, University of London Dear all, the deadlines are approaching fast on the following job opportunities in the Department of Management and the Department of Computer Science - do feel free to distribute in your networks and encourage interested ICT4D colleagues to apply. Many Thanks, Dorothea Professor in Management Information Systems School of Management Royal Holloway, University of London http://jobs.ac.uk/job/ADZ830/ Lecturer in Computer Science https://rhul.engageats.co.uk/ViewVacancy.aspx?enc=mEgrBL4XQK0+ld8aNkwYmG4GZ… Reader/Senior Lecturer in Computer Science https://rhul.engageats.co.uk/ViewVacancy.aspx?enc=mEgrBL4XQK0+ld8aNkwYmFTsW… Professor of Computer Science https://rhul.engageats.co.uk/ViewVacancy.aspx?enc=mEgrBL4XQK0+ld8aNkwYmMiei… Dr Dorothea Kleine Director, MSc Practising Sustainable Development (ICT4D specialism) http://www.gg.rhul.ac.uk/PSD/ICT4D/ at the UNESCO Chair/Centre in ICT4D Department of Geography Royal Holloway, University of London

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Fwd: NSDR 2012 Call for Papers
by Gaetano Borriello 26 Feb '12

26 Feb '12

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Lakshminarayanan Subramanian <lakshmi(a)cs.nyu.edu> Date: Sun, Feb 26, 2012 at 1:53 AM Subject: NSDR 2012 Call for Papers To: sig-dev(a)googlegroups.com, tier(a)tier.cs.berkeley.edu, change(a)cs.washington.edu, ict4dev(a)csail.mit.edu, cater-dev(a)cs.nyu.edu Apologies if you get multiple copies. Attached is the CFP of NSDR 2012. Please consider submitting. --Lakshmi *NSDR '12 Call for Papers* 6th USENIX/ACM Workshop on Networked Systems for Developing Regions (NSDR '12) June 15, 2012 Boston, MA *Sponsored by USENIX <http://static.usenix.org/>, the Advanced Computing Systems Association, and ACM* NSDR '12 will take place during USENIX Federated Conferences Week<http://www.usenix.org/events/#fcw12>, June 12–15, 2012. Important Dates - Submissions due: *March 27, 2012, 11:59 p.m. PDT* (firm deadline) - Notification to authors: *April 26, 2012* - Electronic files of final papers due: *May 14, 2012* Workshop Organizers *Program Co-Chairs* Kameswari Chebrolu, *Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay* Brian Noble, *University of Michigan* *Program Committee* Muneeb Ali, *Princeton University* Elizabeth Belding, *University of California, Santa Barbara* Gaetano Borrielo, *University of Washington* Eric Brewer, *University of California, Berkeley* Jay Chen, *NYU Abu Dhabi* Saurabh Panjwani, *Bell Labs, India* Tapan Parikh, *University of California, Berkeley* Bhaskar Raman, *IIT Bombay* Saquib Razak, *Carnegie Mellon Qatar* Aaditeshwar Seth, *IIT Delhi* Sam Shah, *LinkedIN* Lakshmi Subramanian, *NYU* Bill Thies, *Microsoft* Background The 6th USENIX/ACM Workshop on Networked Systems for Developing Regions (NSDR '12) will provide a venue for researchers to propose and discuss ideas concerning the design, implementation, and evaluation of new computing and communications technologies to support the sustainable development of developing regions. NSDR specifically focuses on the technical networking and systems research challenges that arise in the design, implementation, and deployment of new computing solutions appropriate for developing regions. In these settings, conventional solutions are often inappropriate and new research approaches and innovative designs and techniques are often required. NSDR solicits papers that either highlight important networking and systems challenges in this space or describe the deployment and evaluation of novel technologies or applications that address a specific need. Papers, Topics of Interest We encourage the submission of position papers or the results of preliminary work describing interesting, original, previously unpublished ideas or results pertaining to the design, implementation, and/or evaluation of networks and systems for developing regions. Accepted papers will: - Propose new research directions; - Target a specific application; - Inform design and/or deployment; and/or - Generate lively debate at the workshop. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to: - Low-cost wireless connectivity - Intermittent and delay-tolerant systems - Rural network planning - Spectrum management protocols and techniques - Mechanisms for emergency and urgent communications - Location-aware systems - Power-efficient systems - Low-cost computing devices - Mobile systems and applications - Middleware and mechanisms for minimizing energy, latency, and storage (caching, etc.) - Adapting content and applications for local languages - User interfaces for low-literacy populations - Shared access devices and infrastructure, including personalization and privacy concerns - Design and evaluation of applications and in-depth case studies in the areas of public health, microfinance, agriculture, e-governance, education, monitoring, disaster management, etc. Submission Instructions Submissions must be no greater than 6 pages in length (including figures and references) and must follow the USENIX formatting guidelines: 10 point type on 12 point (single-spaced) leading, with the text block being no more than 6.5" wide by 9" deep. Submissions must also follow the formatting guidelines and instructions<http://static.usenix.org/events/nsdr12/cfp/requirements.html>, must be in the form of a PDF file, and must be submitted via the Web form<https://papers.usenix.org/hotcrp/nsdr12/>. Submissions that deviate from these guidelines will be rejected without consideration. Reviews will be *single-blind*: authors' names and affiliations should be included in the submission. Authors of accepted papers are expected to present their papers at the workshop. Simultaneous submission of the same work to multiple venues, submission of previously published work, or plagiarism constitutes dishonesty or fraud. USENIX, like other scientific and technical conferences and journals, prohibits these practices and may take action against authors who have committed them. See the USENIX Conference Submissions Policy<http://www.usenix.org/events/submissionspolicy.html>for details. Questions? Contact your program co-chairs, nsdr12chairs(a)usenix.org, or the USENIX office, submissionspolicy(a)usenix.org. Papers accompanied by nondisclosure agreement forms will not be considered. Accepted submissions will be treated as confidential prior to publication on the USENIX NSDR '12 Web site; rejected submissions will be permanently treated as confidential. All papers will be available online to registered attendees before the workshop. If your accepted paper should not be published prior to the event, please notify production(a)usenix.org. The papers will be available online to everyone beginning on the day of the workshop, June 15, 2012. -- "Have a dream, pursue it!" -- Anonymous

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Alison Powell -- Darknets and super-encryption: The new face of Internet activism?
by Christine Prefontaine 24 Feb '12

24 Feb '12

Must-read post from the brillant and lovely Alison Powell, now based at the London School of Economics. Darknets and super-encryption: The new face of Internet activism?<http://www.alisonpowell.ca/?p=487> February 23, 2012 at 11:06 AM The ‘open’ internet was supposed to give us a worldwide ‘network society’ where our communications would move from being controlled from above through broadcast models, and towards more horizontal ‘mass-self-communication’. The excitement about the use of social media in the Arab Spring and even the furore over Anonymous’ (temporary) disruptions of some minor engines of capitalism suggest that we are still tantalized by the potential that technology appears to bring. At the same time, we become worried about exploits of the networked power of the internet – that come in the form of cybercrime and widespread breach of existing laws and norms like copyright. Increasingly, the negative and disruptive aspects of the ‘open’ internet seem to be getting more attention than the potentially positive ones. Governments are concerned about the rise of cybercrime, the threat of filesharing to industries that depend on the control of intellectual property, and the control of dissenting speech. Along with industries and police, they strengthen intellectual property laws, prosecute and shut down file-sharing servers, track individual activists through social networks, and arrange with Internet Service Providers to block and filter problematic internet content. So now we are in a situation where law, policy, and architecture combine to close down aspects of the ‘open’ internet. This has the paradoxical result of driving underground some of the practices that used to take place out in the open – beginning with some of the more unsavoury actions that happen on the internet, like file-sharing, but also extending to the kind of activism celebrated as an example of the democratic potential of the ‘open’ internet. On one hand the move away from the ‘open’ internet has inspired innovation in technologies like encryption, file-sharing and and community wireless mesh networks, but on the other, it could have longstanding impacts on our communication environment. Yesterday, the Guardian reported<http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/feb/21/pirate-bay-defy-crackdown-…> that Pirate Bay, in an effort to resist a High Court decision that file-sharing sites should be blocked, has moved to a new system for filesharing, using magnet links instead of displaying torrent files on its website. Magnet files are links with no files associated with them, which avoid tracking by containing very little information apart from an indication of the content they are associated with. The attraction of magnet links, according to SoftPedia<http://news.softpedia.com/news/BitTorrent-Magnet-Links-Explained-132536.sht…>, is that they make it easier for file-sharing sites to avoid accusations of wrong-doing in court. Other file-sharers use ‘cyberlocker’ technology where users pay for passwords to third-party file servers (often supported by advertising) where they can leave files they wish to share with others. Unlike torrents, cyberlockers (as well as magnet links) are difficult to monitor. They are also incredibly useful for benign purposes like sharing files between work and home, or collaborating with other people – the popular file storage system Dropbox is a form of cyberlocker. These changes in practice are part of a move where some of the more unsavoury and disruptive products of the ‘open’ internet shift to dark corners where it is more difficult for governments and courts to get a clear picture of what is happening. They may respond by passing laws or enacting policies that attempt to address illegal behavior but in doing so may overreact to actions that are not illegal. For example, the UK’s Serious Organized Crime Agency (SOCA) recently took over a music sharing domain after suspecting its operator of conspiracy to defraud – but not without initially posting a message implying that people who downloaded from the site may have conducted criminal offense. SOCA eventally changed the message, but the implication was that the use of ANY music site could be a criminal offence – which might well limit the number of people who want to use legitimate music-sharing sites, and push the less legitimate ones further underground. Activism too is moving into the dark shadows. One of the consequences of the Arab Spring has been a greater attention by governments to the communications of its citizens – and in parallel greater attention from activists to securing or encrypting their activities. The New America Foundation’s Open Technology Initiative<http://oti.newamerica.net/dashboard> has been working on various prototype technologies meant to help activists avoid blocking, filtering, or internet outages. These include Commotion<http://oti.newamerica.net/commotion_wireless_0>, a project that promises to use networked devices (mobile phones, laptops) as the points of connection in a mesh network that could grow to ‘metro-scale’. Designed to be decentralized and to link devices together in ad-hoc formations when and where required, the project promises to create an alternative network as an when needed. The New York Times reported<http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/12/world/12internet.html?pagewanted=all>on the project, which was supported by US government funds, calling it part of a ‘stealth internet’. My old community wireless networking co-conspirator Sascha Meinrath <http://saschameinrath.com/> is quoted as saying “we’re going to build a separate infrastructure where the technology is impossible to shut down”. Other veterans of community wireless networking have moved away from creating networks that help to share internet access towards networks that are designed for secure communications – especially the FunkFeur wireless networking project <http://www.funkfeuer.at/index.php?id=42&L=1> in Austria, which has started to focus its attention not on providing connectivity but in ensuring security across an alternative network separate from the existing internet. Other projects go even further: ArsTechnica reports<http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2011/11/the-darknet-plan-netroots-a…> on The Darknet Project, another proposal for a worldwide meshed network, and Serval <http://www.servalproject.org/>, a project to create ad-hot wireless mesh networks using regular smartphones. At one level, these projects feel like reinventions of the internet, which a collective burst of imagination framed as a platform for horizontal, networked communications. But now that the centralization and control of that platform is becoming evident, we need something else to imagine. The problem is that in creating darknets and super-encrypted dropboxes, all of the other benefits to speech that the internet has supported can get lost. One open internet, as compared to numerous separate and encrypted darknets, suggests the opportunity for global interconnection and communication. Already, social pressure and the habits of millions of internet users conspire to create ‘echo chambers’ <http://www.alisonpowell.ca/?p=263>online. What remains is a shared imaginary of openness, of a resource to be governed by its users. The rise of super-encryption and darknets suggests that this imagined unitary resource is fracturing. As more of the unsavoury action goes underground, so might the kinds of communication we think of as ‘open’ and democratic. What do we risk when the activists go underground?

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Links from today's discussion
by Nicola Dell 23 Feb '12

23 Feb '12

Here's the link to the Critical Development Forum: http://students.washington.edu/cdfuw/ I want to make it clear that we are not actually involved in the CDF (at least not yet), just participants in a class. The CDF is a lot more organized and so if anyone is interested in these issues I guarantee that their events will be much better than our scattered attempt to lead a discussion today! There are a lot of folks in the global health scene involved, so I think they would love to see more engineers. Also if anyone is interested here's a link to our presentation: https://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0AXvF6tWWIFQUZG02OHhnOF8yY242bnhiaGg Thanks! Dylan

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