Securing Internet Freedom is a short thirty-page essay by Milton Mueller that I received at Fifi 2008.

1. The Dream
Mueller begins by killing off the dream of the Internet as a free and utopic device. He believes that the list of infringements to our freedoms is getting too long defend ourselves from: “For every innovation, there is an impostor…and we cannot escape it because it is invading our pockets through our mobile telephones.” “As long as we cling to that fallacy we will lose what is worth keeping about the original dream,” says Mueller.  Therefore, we need to redefine what we mean by “Internet freedom”. (13)

2. Rights
“The relationships between privacy, security and freedom are double-edged”, explains Mueller. An excess or lack of privacy or security can sacrifice our freedoms. Mueller concludes that “One cannot talk sensibly, much less scientifically, about privacy and security on the Internet without grounding the discussion in a commitment to clearly defined individual rights.” Therefore, we need to begin with a discussion of individual rights so that we can avoid messy inconsistencies where the law attempts to justify rights based on whim or group circumstance. More to the point: freedom needs to come first.

3. Order
Mueller contrasts the writings of Lawrence Lessig and Friedrich Hayek to exemplify how we might begin to discuss the laws and institutions necessary for building freedom on the web.  Lessig’s “code is law” implies the hierarchical influence of information technology over the user, or as Mueller has paraphrased: “code and law express the power of some people over others”. Hayek, on the other hand, uses the example of language and patterns of grammar to exhibit that these “rules and conventions are constraints”, while at the same time the rules of language enable freedom. Mueller sides with Hayek’s model and adds that the code of TCP/IP was law in Hayek’s sense of the laws of language, and not Lessig’s hierarchical law.

4. Institutions
Institutionalism is Mueller’s social science approach in his research that refers not to the organizations, but to the rules and roles of individual actors. Here he addresses two major problem issues: (1) the problem of nation-state vs. global governance and (2) the responsibility ofISPs. Mueller also questions the ISPs

I’ll nonsequentially (is that the right word?) update this list from time to time as I find more examples.  Feel free to add suggestions in the comments.

1. Cop seen on video knocking over bicyclist has been indicted

The following is thanks to BoingBoing.net:

No wonder police officers sometimes confiscate and destroy the cameras of people who videotape them committing illegal acts — the officers occasionally end up having to pay for their crimes, just like civilian law breakers do.

Remember the video I posted of a Critical Mass bicyclist who got knocked over by NYPD officer Patrick Pogan? Fox News reports that Pogan’s been indicted and must report to the Manhattan prosecutor’s office next week.

Police said Long was obstructing traffic and deliberately steered his bicycle into an officer. Charges were dismissed.A video of the body-check that knocked Long over was posted on YouTube and has been viewed more than 1.6 million times.

Pogan has been stripped of his badge and gun and been assigned to desk duty.

As Radley Balko says, “If not for the video, the guy on the bicycle would probably still be facing charges.”

There is only one proper answer to that question. If you ask a white person, what percentage of African Americans Should be Living in Your Neighborhood? The answer is 100%. If people are going to be non-discriminatory they aren’t paying any attention to it, and the answer is 100%. - George Akerlof on Thomas Schelling’s 1971 “Models of Segregation” research in which Schelling demonstrates that even a small preference for one’s neighbors (75%, 90%) leads to total segregation.

*personally I think the answer “it doesn’t matter” would be an acceptable answer as well

Schelling, Strategy, Industrial Organization - Explanation starts at 18:47