Stefan Merten | 7 Feb 2011 17:57
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[ox-en] WikiLeaks and peer production?

Hi list!

I wonder whether it is possible to draw a connection between WikiLeaks
and peer production as we understand it here.

At first glance there seems to be hardly a connection. But may be some
of you have other ideas?

						Grüße

						Stefan
Alistair Davidson | 8 Feb 2011 15:18
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Re: [ox-en] WikiLeaks and peer production?

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Hi,

I wrote on this recently:

http://www.libertyandsolidarity.org/node/104

I think the link is found in the changed political economy of information.

Alistair

On Mon, Feb 7, 2011 at 4:57 PM, Stefan Merten <smerten@...> wrote:

> Hi list!
>
> I wonder whether it is possible to draw a connection between WikiLeaks
> and peer production as we understand it here.
>
> At first glance there seems to be hardly a connection. But may be some
> of you have other ideas?
>
>
>                                                Grüße
>
>                                                Stefan
>

[2 text/html]
(Continue reading)

Stefan Meretz | 8 Feb 2011 21:38
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Re: [ox-en] WikiLeaks and peer production?

On 2011-02-07 17:57, Stefan Merten wrote:
> I wonder whether it is possible to draw a connection between
> WikiLeaks and peer production as we understand it here.
> 
> At first glance there seems to be hardly a connection. But may be
> some of you have other ideas?

In my view *Leaks _is_ peer-production: They produce transparency of 
governmental or private secrets, they act in peer mode, they are fed by 
contributions and not by exchange, selbstentfaltung (self-directed 
passion) is the individual driver.

One might say that *Leaks is only operating in reaction to the old 
system, however, from a more general point of view *Leaks is offering an 
information distribution infrastructure which may play a role in a free 
society too.

Ciao,
Stefan 

--

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Mathieu ONeil | 8 Feb 2011 21:56
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Re: [ox-en] WikiLeaks and peer production?

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I have not read the previously referred to article yet, so just reacting to what StefanMz is saying below:
from what I know WL started out with the idea that anyone could contribute (i.e. evaluate the leaks) but
they found that unworkable and previous to the vetting deal with the NYT, Guardian etc they had some
inhouse "experts" who evaluated. In other words their inner functions are 100% opaque (they have their
reasons I guess), including their financial dealings - for example the guy from Cryptome (Young?) who is a
uber-vociferous critic of WL, raised the question of the deal with the newspapers: does it cover
expenses, legal fees etc? No-one knows. So while they may be producing transparency externally the same
cannot be said for their inner operations.
cheers,
Mathieu

----- Original Message -----
From: Stefan Meretz <stefan@...>
Date: Tuesday, February 8, 2011 9:39 pm
Subject: Re: [ox-en] WikiLeaks and peer production?
To: list-en@...

> On 2011-02-07 17:57, Stefan Merten wrote:
> > I wonder whether it is possible to draw a connection between
> > WikiLeaks and peer production as we understand it here.
> > 
> > At first glance there seems to be hardly a connection. But may be
> > some of you have other ideas?
> 
> In my view *Leaks _is_ peer-production: They produce 
> transparency of 
> governmental or private secrets, they act in peer mode, they are 
(Continue reading)

Stefan Meretz | 8 Feb 2011 22:48
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Re: [ox-en] WikiLeaks and peer production?

On 2011-02-08 21:56, Mathieu ONeil wrote:
> (...) raised the question of the deal
> with the newspapers: does it cover expenses, legal fees etc? No-one
> knows. So while they may be producing transparency externally the
> same cannot be said for their inner operations.

Concerning WikiLeaks that's true and commonly criticized. We will see if 
OpenLeaks will do better. Is every free software project transparent in 
this regard (serious question, I don't know)?

Does this change the character of being peer-production?

Ciao,
Stefan

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Mathieu ONeil | 9 Feb 2011 00:19
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Re: [ox-en] WikiLeaks and peer production?

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> Does this change the character of being peer-production?

Apart from the money/governance angle it is not clear to me how they actually operate - how democratically
or openly decisions are taken, apart from the fact that the reason openleaks forked off was because
"Schmitt" contested the autocracry of the WL founder - see the Wired-leaked IRC chat logs etc.
cheers,
Mathieu

----- Original Message -----
From: Stefan Meretz <stefan@...>
Date: Tuesday, February 8, 2011 10:49 pm
Subject: Re: [ox-en] WikiLeaks and peer production?
To: list-en@...

> On 2011-02-08 21:56, Mathieu ONeil wrote:
> > (...) raised the question of the deal
> > with the newspapers: does it cover expenses, legal fees etc? 
> No-one
> > knows. So while they may be producing transparency externally the
> > same cannot be said for their inner operations.
> 
> Concerning WikiLeaks that's true and commonly criticized. We 
> will see if 
> OpenLeaks will do better. Is every free software project 
> transparent in 
> this regard (serious question, I don't know)?
> 
(Continue reading)

Alistair Davidson | 9 Feb 2011 03:24
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Re: [ox-en] WikiLeaks and peer production?

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Is this essential, though? Linux lacks formal democracy, but remains
democratic in character due to the political economy - the communal nature
of the output (eg the ability to fork and patch prevents non-consensual
rule). And as we all know formal democracy can disguise tyranny. The
emergence of other leaks sites suggests that in the medium-term, something
similar will be true of these, and the ability of members to leave the
organisation at will suggests that those who remain must be okay with what's
going on. A project manager or editor is not a dictator.

The one real harm WikiLeaks could do to the working class is refuse to
publish a beneficial leak. I don't think they are likely to do so, but the
emergence of a few more sites should hedge against that becoming a problem.

On Tue, Feb 8, 2011 at 11:19 PM, Mathieu ONeil <mathieu.oneil@...>wrote:

> [Converted from multipart/alternative]
>
> [1 text/plain]
> > Does this change the character of being peer-production?
>
> Apart from the money/governance angle it is not clear to me how they
> actually operate - how democratically or openly decisions are taken, apart
> from the fact that the reason openleaks forked off was because "Schmitt"
> contested the autocracry of the WL founder - see the Wired-leaked IRC chat
> logs etc.
> cheers,
> Mathieu
(Continue reading)

Stefan Meretz | 10 Feb 2011 22:54
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[ox-en] Fwd: [Commoning] OKCon 2011: Call for Participation

Betreff: [Commoning] OKCon 2011: Call for Participation
Datum: 2011-02-10, 16:20:42
Von: Daniel Dietrich <daniel.dietrich@...>
An: Commoning List <commoning@...>

Dear all,

the following is a Call for Participation for the Open Knowledge 
Conference (OKCon) 2011. 

	• where: Kalkscheune Berlin, Germany
	• when: 30th June & 1st July, 2011
	• call for participation: http://okcon.org/2011/cfp/
	• submission: please see submission details below
	• registration: http://okcon2011.eventbrite.com/
	• hashtag: #okcon2011

We are looking fwd for your participation! Would be great to meet you at 
OKCon 2011 in Berlin. 

Please get in touch with us at okcon@... if you want to 
participate, have any questions or suggestions.

Best regards
Daniel

(PS: Sorry for cross-posting)

--
Daniel Dietrich
(Continue reading)

Tere Vadén | 14 Feb 2011 09:28
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Re: [ox-en] WikiLeaks and peer production?

This is very interesting and seems to be more general. Often the leaders 
and in-groups of the free culture movement (thanks Alistair for the 
wikileaks/marx essay! I just translated it into Finnish) are less than 
transparent and less than ideally democratic (one thinks of Stallman, 
Wales, Assange, even Torvalds to an extent; can you name Linus' 
lieutenants?). This is, up to a point, sad for the individuals 
concerned, especially when compounded by fame & potentially fortune. 
However, as Alistair points out, on the level of the community or the 
movement the poison is diluted if not completely removed by the 
possibility of forking. (In some cases the personalities and in-groups 
do have considerable pull and forking is not a realistic option.)

Scott Lash has described (in the Critique of Information and other 
places) how the disorganisational nature of hacker communities nurtures 
or even necessitates charismatic leadership. Organisational, 
institutional leadership would be too rigid and without a foundation; 
therefore charismatic leadership is all there is. Maybe we have here 
another fortunate side-effect of post-scarcity: like free-riders, 
narcissistic leaders are not anymore a problem. They may even be an 
asset, because they get people involved.

On 2/9/11 4:24 AM, Alistair Davidson wrote:
> [Converted from multipart/alternative]
>
> [1 text/plain]
> Is this essential, though? Linux lacks formal democracy, but remains
> democratic in character due to the political economy - the communal nature
> of the output (eg the ability to fork and patch prevents non-consensual
> rule). And as we all know formal democracy can disguise tyranny. The
> emergence of other leaks sites suggests that in the medium-term, something
(Continue reading)

Alistair Davidson | 14 Feb 2011 15:51
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Re: [ox-en] WikiLeaks and peer production?

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On Mon, Feb 14, 2011 at 8:28 AM, Tere Vadén <tere.vaden@...> wrote:

> Scott Lash has described (in the Critique of Information and other places)
> how the disorganisational nature of hacker communities nurtures or even
> necessitates charismatic leadership. Organisational, institutional
> leadership would be too rigid and without a foundation; therefore
> charismatic leadership is all there is. Maybe we have here another fortunate
> side-effect of post-scarcity: like free-riders, narcissistic leaders are not
> anymore a problem. They may even be an asset, because they get people
> involved.

Hmm, this sounds rather like the situation under primitive communism!

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Gmane