Author: Ed Felten
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Finding and Fixing Errors in Google's Book Catalog
There was a fascinating exchange about errors in Google’s book catalog over at the Language Log recently. We rarely see such an open and constructive discussion of errors in large data sets, so this is an unusual opportunity to learn about how errors arise and what can be done about them. The exchange started with…
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Subpoenas and Search Warrants as Security Threats
When I teach computer security, one of the first lessons is on the need to have a clear threat model, that is, a clearly defined statement of which harms you are trying to prevent, and what assumptions you are making about the capabilities and motivation of the adversaries who are trying to cause those harms.…
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Steve Schultze to Join CITP as Associate Director
I’m thrilled to announce that Steve Schultze will be joining the Center for Information Technology Policy at Princeton, as our new Associate Director, starting September 15. We know Steve well, having followed his work as a fellow at the Berkman Center at Harvard, not to mention his collaboration with us on RECAP. Steve embodies the…
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AP's DRM Announcement: Much Ado About Nothing
Last week the Associated Press announced it would be developing some kind of online news registry to control use of news content. From AP’s press release: The registry will employ a microformat for news developed by AP and which was endorsed two weeks ago by the Media Standards Trust, a London-based nonprofit research and development…
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What Economic Forces Drive Cloud Computing?
You know a technology trend is all-pervasive when you see New York Times op-eds about it — and this week saw the first Times op-ed about cloud computing, by Jonathan Zittrain. I hope to address JZ’s argument another day. Today I want to talk about a more basic issue: why we’re moving toward the cloud.…
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Lessons from Amazon's 1984 Moment
Amazon got some well-deserved criticism for yanking copies of Orwell’s 1984 from customers’ Kindles last week. Let me spare you the copycat criticism of Amazon — and the obvious 1984-themed jokes — and jump right to the most interesting question: What does this incident teach us? Human error was clearly part of the problem. Somebody…
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If You're Going to Track Me, Please Use Cookies
Web cookies have a bad name. People often complain — with good reason — about sites using cookies to track them. Today I want to say a few words in favor of tracking cookies. [Technical background: An HTTP “cookie” is a small string of text. When your web browser gets a file from a site,…
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CITP Announces 2009-10 Visitors
Today, I’m pleased to announce CITP’s visitors for the upcoming academic year. Deven R. Desai, Visiting Fellow: Deven is an Associate Professor of Law at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law, and a permanent blogger at Concurring Opinions. Professor Desai’s scholarship centers on intellectual property, information theory, and Internet-related law. He plans to work on…
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U.S. Objects to China's Mandatory Green Dam Censorware
Yesterday, the U.S. Commerce Secretary and Trade Representative sent a letter to China’s government, objecting to China’s order, effective July 1, to require that all new PCs sold in China have preinstalled the Green Dam Youth Escort censorware program. Here’s today’s New York Times: Chinese officials have said that the filtering software, known as Green…
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My Testimony on Behavioral Advertising: Post-Mortem
On Thursday I testified at a House hearing about online behavioral advertising. (I also submitted written testimony.) The hearing started at 10:00am, gaveled to order by Congressman Rush, chair of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection. He was flanked by Congressman Boucher, chair of the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet ,…