craig newmark

Craigslist has dropped a provision claiming an exclusive license to users' posts just two weeks after implementing it in a bid to fend off third-parties trying to re-purpose the site's content.

According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Craigslist quietly abandoned the provision, which the EFF said also claimed the exclusive right to "enforce copyrights against anyone copying, republishing, distributing, or preparing derivative works without...consent."

The provision was first spotted about a week ago -- not long after the site sued PadMapper and 3taps for harvesting listings without permission and using them in PadMapper's offerings of … Read more

The Internet Hall of Fame officially kicked off today, inducting big tech names like Vint Cerf, Tim Berners-Lee, Mitchell Baker, and Brewster Kahle. This was the inaugural award ceremony sponsored by the Internet Society to celebrate more than 30 pioneers, innovators, and global connectors of the Web.

"This historic assembly of Internet visionaries, innovators, and leaders represents an extraordinary breadth of vision and work," Internet Society president and CEO Lynn St. Armour said in a statement. "While the inductees have extremely diverse backgrounds and represent many different countries, each individual has an incredible passion for their work.&… Read more

A hundred organizations fighting sex trafficking have joined the chorus of voices asking Craigslist to remove its erotic services section worldwide as the company has in the U.S.

In a letter sent Tuesday (PDF) to Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster and founder Craig Newmark, human rights groups throughout the world thanked the company for bringing down its adult and erotic ads in the U.S. But the groups said that these services, where trafficked children and women are sold for sex, remain open in 250 cities worldwide. And in not making the same improvements globally, the groups told Craigslist that … Read more

The court case between eBay and Craigslist is increasingly beginning to seem as if it was scripted by John Grisham. It's the little guy against the big machine.

Craigslist would like us to dedicate all our sympathy to its cause, as it describes its dealings with the big, bad wolf, aka eBay. Or, as Monday's court session heard, the big, bad she-wolf.

Jim Buckmaster, Craigslist's CEO, told the court that Garrett Price, an eBay executive, had written him an e-mail that waved a large rainbow-colored warning flag, according to a Reuters story.

"He said he needed … Read more

When rich people sue rich people, it often seems that the only possible winners can be rich people.

Which perhaps doesn't engage the emotions of spectators quite as much as, say, when rich people are caught with their plus fours around their ankles.

Still, the current lawsuit between eBay and Craigslist does offer a small window into our own daily lives. You know, the one through which we decide whether we believe what someone is telling us.

This legal spatula is being flipped in Delaware Chancery Court, its essence revolving around how much of Craigslist eBay really owns. Is … Read more

Federal CTO Aneesh Chopra drops by to chat with us about the technology policies of the current U.S. administration. We ask him our own questions as well as some from the audience. Get Chopra's takes on Broadband, health care, Net neutrality, education, and more.

The following is a rundown of the topics covered in this comprehensive interview and the questions asked by the hosts as well as some questions submitted by fans of Buzz Out Loud. Thanks for your participation, … Read more

In the wake of the murder of Craigslist-advertising masseuse Julissa Brisman, and the arrest of Philip Markoff, Craig Newmark and Jim Buckmaster of Craigslist gave interviews Friday to Martin Bashir of ABC's Nightline.

Their attitude was both defiant and a little uncomfortable.

Bashir asked Newmark whether he was a law-abiding citizen of America, to which the Craigslist founder said he was "very consistent" about that.

As the interviewer read out a few Craigslist ads and asked him if he thought they were ads for prostitution, Newmark replied: "Probably." He said that if there are ads … Read more

NEW YORK--"We skipped the paparazzi," Eyebeam director Amanda McDonald Crowley said as she welcomed several hundred people to the digital art center's annual benefit on Tuesday night. "We've got a photo-taking duck."

That requires a little bit of context.

On display at Eyebeam's "Freedom and Creativity"-themed benefit, held at the organization's headquarters in the post-industrial West Chelsea neighborhood, were a number of commissioned artists' and fellows' projects. One of them was Taeyoon Choi's "Camerautomata," literally a robotic duck that skittered about the floor, Roomba-like, taking … Read more

Two random stories struck me as odd today.

The first is Forrester's contention that spending on Web 2.0 will grow 43 percent each year to hit $4.3 billion in 2013. What does this mean? How does one purchase Web 2.0? Tim O'Reilly, who coined the term, has repeated over and over what Web 2.0 is and what it isn't (and recently gave InformationWeek props for getting it right). Forrester seems to be quantifying what it isn't.

It's not blogs and wikis, Forrester. Those may be means to the end, but they'… Read more