August 14th, 2008 | by zittrain | published in Future of the Internet, iphone | 7 Comments
It’s been clear from the start that information appliances like the iPhone, tethered to their vendors, would have a kill switch — that’s just a subset of the vendor’s (in the case, Apple’s) ability to reprogram any aspect of the phone from a distance at any time. In a world of third party apps, that […]
July 29th, 2008 | by zittrain | published in Facebook, Future of the Internet, Web 2.0 platforms | 1 Comment
The NYT is blogging that Facebook has removed Scrabulous. Trying to get there through Facebook shows: Scrabulous is disabled for US and Canadian users until further notice. If you would like to stay informed about developments in this matter, please click here. The app is apparently doing IP geolocation to see whom to turn away; […]
July 28th, 2008 | by zittrain | published in Book, Future of the Internet, Generativity, iphone | 2 Comments
One of the more contestable claims of the FOI book is that tethered information appliances like the iPhone, that either block outside apps or subject them to much more gatekeeping by the platform vendor, will not only complement the more open PC, but overtake it — that PCs themselves will become appliancized. Already there’s talk […]
July 27th, 2008 | by zittrain | published in Facebook, Future of the Internet, Generativity, Web 2.0 platforms | 2 Comments
In 2006, two guys from India came up with Scrabulous, a Scrabble-like game that took off only after it was transformed from a standalone Web site into a Facebook app. Hasbro, holder of the Scrabble trademark in North America, noticed, as did Mattel, holder of rights elsewhere, and asked them to take it down. They […]
July 26th, 2008 | by zittrain | published in Book, Facebook, Future of the Internet, Generativity, iphone, Web 2.0 platforms | 3 Comments
Macworld is reporting that some iPhone application developers are having a difficult time adjusting to having to distribute their software only through Apple. They’re apparently too afraid to go on the record (!), but: As developers update their applications — including bug fixes — it can take up to a week for a new version […]
July 26th, 2008 | by zittrain | published in Future of the Internet, iphone | 1 Comment
The Free Software Foundation’s Defective by Design project highlights objections to technologies that enforce limitations on the uses of the content they carry. This weekend they’re encouraging people to book time with an Apple “genius” — one of the in-store sales + tech support people who usually spend the day answering questions about iPod capacities […]
July 18th, 2008 | by bballou | published in Future of the Internet | 4 Comments
New legislation being considered in Congress would prevent US companies from aiding the censorship and surveillance operations of repressive foreign governments. The Global Online Freedom Act (GOFA), sponsored by Chris Smith (R-NJ), would track foreign Internet monitoring and blocking efforts under a new Office of Global Internet Freedom and would prevent US tech firms from […]
July 16th, 2008 | by bballou | published in Facebook, Future of the Internet | 1 Comment
A new study by Future Source Consulting reports that 1/3 of US residents have copied a DVD in the past six months. This number, high as it is, might not be surprising. What is surprising is how little action the television and film industries (at least in comparison to the recording industry) have taken in […]
July 14th, 2008 | by bballou | published in Future of the Internet | 12 Comments
Larry Lessig’s generous review of the Future of the Internet makes an interesting point: “Whether a single event, or a coordinated event, whether intentional, or accidental, it is simply a matter of time before a catastrophic network event happens. And when it happens — think of it as a kind of i9/11 event, but the […]
July 14th, 2008 | by zittrain | published in Book, Future of the Internet, Generativity | 2 Comments
Techcrunch is reporting that Facebook has poached Elliot Schrage from Google as its new VP of Communications and Public Policy, and that one of Elliot’s jobs will be to manage the Facebook development platform, where outsiders can write code to run on Facebook — from the bitten-by-a-vampire app to Scrabulous. Techcrunch speculates that this reflects […]
