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Jerry Brito

Articles by Jerry Brito

Jerry Brito is a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and director of its Technology Policy Program. His research interests include telecom and spectrum policy, government transparency, and intellectual property.

Tim Lee on net neutrality, spectrum policy, and software patents

by Jerry Brito on September 6, 2010 • View Comments

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 Episode 34: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Timothy B. Lee, PhD candidate in computer science at Princeton University and fellow at Princeton’s Center for Information Technology Policy, discusses a variety of issues. Lee parses new net neutrality nuances, addressing recent debate over prioritization of internet services. He also discusses wireless spectrum policy, comparing and contrasting a strict property rights model to a commons one. Lee concludes by weighing in on potential software patent reform, referencing Paul Allen’s wide-ranging patent-infringement lawsuits and the Oracle-Google tiff over Java patents.

Danny Sullivan on search neutrality

by Jerry Brito on August 30, 2010 • View Comments

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 Episode 33: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Danny Sullivan, an expert on the internet search industry and editor-in-chief of Search Engine Land, discusses search neutrality. He explains the concept of search neutrality and discusses a recent New York Times editorial suggesting Google’s search algorithm should be subject to government oversight or regulation. Sullivan points out flaws inherent to the notion of search neutrality and discusses competition in the search engine industry. He also imagines what it might take to topple Google from its perch atop internet search.

Kevin King on federalism, internet gambling, and geolocation

by Jerry Brito on August 23, 2010 • View Comments

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 Episode 32: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Kevin King, a recent law school graduate now clerking for a federal court of appeals, discusses his recent paper, Geolocation and Federalism on the Internet: Cutting Internet Gambling’s Gordian Knot. In his paper King uses the online gambling industry to examine conflict between federalism and the internet — the borderless nature of the internet eschews traditional models of state jurisdiction. He discusses previous attempts to regulate online gambling, conflict between internet gambling providers and the Kentucky horse betting sector, Congress’ current online gambling bill, and a solution that utilizes geolocation technology.

Peter Sunde on Flattr

by Jerry Brito on August 16, 2010 • View Comments

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 Episode 31: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Peter Sunde, co-founder of BitTorrent tracker The Pirate Bay and creator of Flattr, a new online social micropayments system, discusses Flattr. Sunde explains the Flattr concept, how it differs from previous micropayment platforms, and why it’s more meaningful than the Facebook “like” button. He also briefly discusses progress of the Pirate Bay case.

Birgitta Jónsdóttir on the Icelandic Modern Media Initiative

by Jerry Brito on August 9, 2010 • View Comments

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 Episode 30: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Birgitta Jónsdóttir, Member of the Icelandic Parliament for the Movement party, and one of the chief sponsors of the Icelandic Modern Media Initiative, discusses the initiative. She explains how it was crafted, who it would protect and how, and Wikileaks’ influence on it. Jónsdóttir specifically discusses the proposal’s impact on journalists, sources, whistleblowers, libel tourism, superinjunctions, freedom of information, prior restraint, and government transparency. She also talks about the inspiration behind the initiative, which stems partly from her background as a writer and activist, and her path to the Icelandic Parliament.

Gilbert Wondracek on the economics of online porn

by Jerry Brito on August 2, 2010 • View Comments

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 Episode 29: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Gilbert Wondracek, research fellow at the International Secure Systems Lab and postdoctoral fellow at the Vienna University of Technology, discusses his research on the online porn industry. He addresses various economic roles of online porn providers and the industry’s connections to malware and cybercrime. Wondracek also explains how he investigated the industry, how he set up adult websites to assess user vulnerabilities and examine traffic, what he learned, and how he got approval for the project.

Perry Chen on Kickstarter

by Jerry Brito on July 26, 2010 • View Comments

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 Episode 28: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Perry Chen, co-founder and CEO of Kickstarter, an online platform for funding creative projects, discusses the enterprise. Chen talks about the inspiration behind Kickstarter and its business model, how project creators convince backers (not investors) to fund them, funding success rates, and the most interesting projects funded so far.

Catherine White on the Noisy Idiot Dilemma

by Jerry Brito on July 12, 2010 • View Comments

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 Episode 27: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Catherine White, graduate student at New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications Program, where she is researching productive participatory discussion, talks about her thesis on the Noisy Idiot Dilemma. White explains the dilemma — how to foster productive online conversation when certain speakers exhibit noisy, unproductive, or unhelpful behavior — and discusses her research on various online forums, weblog comments, effects of humor, anonymity, and empathy online, and characteristics of elastic, oily conversation.

Eric Frank on Flat World Knowledge

by Jerry Brito on July 5, 2010 • View Comments

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 Episode 26: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Eric Frank, Co-Founder and President of Flat World Knowledge, the leading publisher of commercial, openly licensed college textbooks, discusses the company and its business model, which he compares to that of Red Hat. In the podcast Frank addresses moral hazards of the traditional college textbook publishing model, the company’s genesis, products and services it offers, how it makes money, and why it appeals to students, professors, and authors.

Tim Stevens on cyberwar

by Jerry Brito on June 28, 2010 • View Comments

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 Episode 25: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tim Stevens, PhD candidate in the Dept. of War Studies, King’s College London, where he researches the politics of cybersecurity and cyberwarfare, and regular contributor to The Guardian, Forbes’ cybersecurity blog The Firewall, and Current Intelligence discusses cyberwar. Stevens talks about the current cybersecurity climate; nuances between cyberespionage, cybercrime, and cyberwar; the balance between roles of government and private sector; and differences in cybersecurity attitudes in the U.K. and the U.S.

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