No real new projects. New ideas, yes, but I'm still working on them.
= What do you think of the debate about copyright on the Web? What practical suggestions do you have?
That's a very big subject.
First there are the copyright and reproduction rights of big companies. These are relatively well supported legally, either through internal legal means or by hiring specialized companies.
There's no doubt the "dematerialization" of information, brought about by the Internet and digitization, makes it easier to undermine intellectual property in various ways.
The danger is real for small producers/distributors of "original" content, who don't have the means to monitor the theft of their products, or to take legal action to ensure their rights are respected.
But all this is the "official" part — cases of plagiarism that can be found in "rematerialized" works. There is perhaps a more insidious form of plagiarism, which is the theft of ideas, concepts, formulas, etc., with no mention of their origin. It's hard to "prove" such plagiarism because it is not just a matter of "copy and paste". But it's another aspect of the issue which is often obscured in the debate.
What's the solution? We need a system where you can register free of charge an article, book or piece of music with an international organization that can take legal action against plagiarism. This wouldn't solve all the problems, but would at least establish a basic structure and, who knows, might deter the thieves.
= How do you see the growth of a multilingual Web? What practical suggestions do you have?
We passed the milestone this summer. Now more than half the users of the Internet live outside the United States. Next year more than half of all users will be non English-speaking, compared with only 5% five years ago. Isn't that great?