[liberationtech] Dave Winer calls for a Web Trust

[Rohan Dixit]

I'm curious about 3.*) It must cost money. *Why does cost imply the "vendor
is not responsible" for the content being published?

It is unclear to me what the improvement is on the actual Wikileaks site/s.
At any rate, the point of control appears to be the DNS system, not which
web domain or type of organization per se hosts the material.

Best,
Rohan


On Mon, Dec 13, 2010 at 5:19 PM, Rebecca MacKinnon <
rebecca.mackinnon at gmail.com> wrote:

> http://scripting.com/stories/2010/12/13/weNeedAWebTrustToPublishAn.html
> A Web Trust to publish and store our creative work
>
> By Dave Winer on Monday, December 13, 2010 at 12:09 PM.
>
> The discussion at this weekend's flash conf<http://personaldemocracy.com/pdfleaks>in NYC on WikiLeaks
> raised <http://scripting.com/stories/2010/12/11/moonMissions.html> the
> question of where we can store our web writing and photos so that they are
> as safe as they possibly can be. Trusting corporations to manage this is
> obviously not a good idea. If this was theoretical before, it's now
> pragmatic, after Amazon cut off WikiLeaks.  [image: Permanent link to this
> item in the archive.]<http://scripting.com/stories/2010/12/13/weNeedAWebTrustToPublishAn.html#p3740>
>
> That suggests that we need a new kind of institution that is is part news
> organization, university, library and foundation -- that acts as a guarantor
> of best-possible freedom from corporate and government limitations. We
> already know some things about this organization, I believe. [image:
> Permanent link to this item in the archive.]<http://scripting.com/stories/2010/12/13/weNeedAWebTrustToPublishAn.html#p3741>
>
> These are just back-of-the-envelope scribbles. Consider this a
> discussion-starter for the next meetup. [image: Permanent link to this
> item in the archive.]<http://scripting.com/stories/2010/12/13/weNeedAWebTrustToPublishAn.html#p3749>
>
> 1. It must be *long-lived*, like a university -- probably with an
> endowment, and a board of trustees, and operations limited to what's
> described below. It can't operate any other kind of business.  [image:
> Permanent link to this item in the archive.]<http://scripting.com/stories/2010/12/13/weNeedAWebTrustToPublishAn.html#p3742>
>
> 2. It must create a least-common-denominator storage system that is
> accessible through HTTP. Everything must be done with *open formats* and
> protocols, meaning all components of its system are replaceable.  [image:
> Permanent link to this item in the archive.]<http://scripting.com/stories/2010/12/13/weNeedAWebTrustToPublishAn.html#p3743>
>
> 3. It must cost money, so the *user is a customer* and is treated as one.
> This also allows the vendor to assume its own independence from the
> interests of the publisher who uses the system. The same way the operator of
> a printing press was not responsible for the words he or she printed on the
> paper. [image: Permanent link to this item in the archive.]<http://scripting.com/stories/2010/12/13/weNeedAWebTrustToPublishAn.html#p3744>
>
> 4. *Simplicity* of the user experience is primary so it can be accessible
> to as many as possible, and so that technical people don't provide yet
> another filter for the free flow of ideas. Factor and re-factor for
> simplicity. [image: Permanent link to this item in the archive.]<http://scripting.com/stories/2010/12/13/weNeedAWebTrustToPublishAn.html#p3746>
>
> 5. The trust must serve the bits exactly as they were published. *No
> advertising*.  [image: Permanent link to this item in the archive.]<http://scripting.com/stories/2010/12/13/weNeedAWebTrustToPublishAn.html#p3750>
>
> That's where I want to pick up the discussion. [image: Permanent link to
> this item in the archive.]<http://scripting.com/stories/2010/12/13/weNeedAWebTrustToPublishAn.html#p9>
>
>
> --
> Rebecca MacKinnon
> Schwartz Senior Fellow, New America Foundation
> Co-founder, GlobalVoicesOnline.org
> Cell: +1-617-939-3493
> E-mail: rebecca.mackinnon at gmail.com
> Blog: http://RConversation.blogs.com
> Twitter: http://twitter.com/rmack
>
>
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