Have you signed the “Petition for guaranteed public access to publicly-funded research results”? No? Well there is still time. The purpose of the petition is to register support for free and open access to European research and for the recommendations proposed in the EU’s ‘Study on the Economic and Technical Evolution of the Scientific Publication Markets of Europe‘.
Read more about the petition and sign it here. Over 18000 have already signed but there is always room for more.
Sitting at the airport waiting for my flight to Belgium and I found an open network. My mac asked me nicely if I wanted to join a network which I recognised as the pay per surf that the airport charges – I declined. Then I saw a network which I had never heard of, joined and presto! I am online.
Finding a sweet spot in business areas is kind of like finding a four-leaf clover – much too rare.
I’m early so I have a bit of a wait but I am looking forward to leaving the eternally raining city of Göteborg to see something new. The city of Namur seems to be an old and beautiful medieval city so I shall hopefully have some time to do some sightseeing. I shall definitely go an visit the citadelle.
Apparently Namur and Sweden have a connection through Blanche of Namur. Apparently Magnus II Eriksson, king of Sweden and Norway, met her in the summer of 1334 while on his way for a holiday in France (looking for a wife). Two years later they married in Stockholm and Blanche was crowned queen of Norway, Sweden and Scania.
The things you learn on the web…
For a long time the dominant player in the personal computer market has been Microsoft. This has created a de facto standard among users who have come to expect and tolerate certain technological standards (and flaws) from their computers. One of the results of this dominance, among computer users, is the usersâ?? ability to praise diversity in principle but expect conformity from their computers.
If we all use the same tools we will produce the same limited range of products. Naturally there is a great variation within these products but still it is a freedom with limitations. One example of this is our perception of learning â?? at many (most?) universities today, when we say the word lecture most students and teachers think powerpoint. Therefore education becomes bullet-point lists. (more on powerpoint/eductation here: Do you hand out your handouts?).
But there is a technological resistance. Not to Microsoft. But a resistance to the current software ownership models which make it impossible (legally and sometimes technically) for users to
Run their software for any purpose
Study and adapt software to their needs
Redistribute, so others can be helped by such adaptions
Release improvements to the benefit of all
These four points are collectively known as the Four Freedoms and form the fundamental philosophy of the Free Software Foundation. The FSF works to provide software that fulfills such conditions.
Now many users argue that they are not competent to make changes to their software and therefore do not see the purpose of caring about such goals. This is a shortsighted outlook. The Four Freedoms grant others the ability to make changes. As non-techies all we have to do is reap the rewards of their labour. But without the freedom for them to make changes â?? we would have no rewards to reap.
Examples of Free Software are too numerous to list. But here are a few: Gnu/Linux operating system (comes in many different versions for example Ubuntu), Firefox (an internet browser), Thunderbird (an email client), GIMP (picture editing tool), Open Office (Office package with all you need), WordPress (the software that drives this blog) and much, much moreâ?¦
The software is free (fulfills the four freedoms) and is available at no cost. This is technology AS resistance.
The BBC must be seen as being among the avant garde of television today. Not too long ago they opened up their archives under licenses similar to Creative Commons licenses (Look at the Creative Archive License Group). In doing this they were ahead of their time.
Now they have decided to make â??hundredsâ?? of episodes of BBC programmes via bittorrent.
By doing this the BBC once again show that they â??getâ?? technology. While in Sweden the term file-sharing is becoming synonymous with illegal action the BBCâ??s deal with Azareus shows that they can recognize a superior distribution system when they see one.
The new deal means that users of the software will be able to download high-quality versions of BBC programmes, including Red Dwarf, Doctor Who and the League of Gentleman. Classic series such as Fawlty Towers will also be available through a BBC “channel”. BBC News
Naturally the BBC is not into giving away these top titles (you didnâ??t think it would be that good â?? did you?) No, the titles will be protected by digital rights management software to prevent the programmes being traded illegally on the internet.
The BBC might carry the nickname Auntie Beeb but all I can say is that I wish my Swedish public service relatives were as creative.
(via Boing Boing)
The Free Software Foundation has launched a new campaign called BadVista (www.badvista.org). The campaign has two gaols (1) to expose the harms inflicted on computer users by the new Microsoft Windows Vista and (2) to promote free software alternatives that respect users’ security and privacy rights.
The part about Vista which bugs me is that Microsoft is attempting to sell this as something new. But from the users point of view there is nothing really new here. Vista is actually all about control: firstly, Microsoft’s control over users and secondly, the support department’s control over the customers/clients/users. For the cost at which Microsoft is selling it you would think that Vista would flop. But if you believe that you have forgotten about Microsoft’s tradition of marketing by FUD (playing on the Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt of the users).
FSF program administrator John Sullivan writes: “Vista is an upsell masquerading as an upgrade. It is an overall regression when you look at the most important aspect of owning and using a computer: your control over what it does. Obviously MS Windows is already proprietary and very restrictive, and well worth rejecting. But the new ‘features’ in Vista are a Trojan Horse to smuggle in even more restrictions. We’ll be focusing attention on detailing how they work, how to resist them, and why people should care.”
I think that the BadVista campaign will provide interesting reading… for those of you who want to catch up on Vista and its problems here are some related Vista articles
FIN24, Windows Vista: Fact or Fiction, 15 December 2006
eWeek, Vista, why bother?, 14 December 2006
CRN Test Center – CRN, 25 Shortcomings Of Vista , 4 December 2006
I wrote an article which has been published on the Swedish Green Party website Cogito.nu. The article discusses the dangers to democracy posed by digital restrictions management (DRM). In the article I discuss the way in which regulation works by using an example of picking up dog poo. Strange mixture of DRM & dog poo but I think it works. The article is available here (in Swedish).
Tomorrow itâ??s back on the rails again. I am off to Stockholm to meet family and then to do some work early on Monday. The three-hour trip to Stockholm is becoming a very common occurrence lately but I donâ??t mind I enjoy train travel. Also the train has power outlets at all seats and wifi. All this means that I can surf while traveling at 200 km/hour.
On Monday I shall meet with people from Solidaritetshuset (Solidarity House) to discuss how the FSFE can help with their plans for holding seminars and training courses in Free Software and developing an open archive for their material.
The Reporters Without Borders annual â??Enemies of the Internetâ?? report has been released online. The list includes 13 countries and explanations for their inclusion on the list.
The enemies of the Internet are: Belarus, Burma, China, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan & Vietnam.
Taken off from last years list are: Libya, Maldives & Nepal.
Continuing (earlier here and here) on the topic of walls of segregation. Here is more on Ceuta and Melilla.
Unfortunately only available in French and Italian the Migreurop have published The Black Book of Ceuta and Melilla online. The work documents the atrocities being committed under the guise of controlling illegal immigration to the EU via the Spanish north-African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla. The introduction to the publication is available in English here.
Statewatch writes that the book contains… “…analysis, photographs and extensive testimonies from migrants themselves, who are thus given the opportunity to describe their experiences of what EU institutions euphemistically refer to as an ‘integrated system to fight illegal immigration’, which is repeatedly, and annoyingly, considering that migrants have been shot, abandoned to die in the desert, hunted down and detained in inhumane conditions, followed by the phrase while respecting human rights.”
Read also Peio Aierbe’s The “assault” by “sub-Saharan migrants” in the media.
(via Subtopia)
Georg Greve of the Free Software Foundation Europe is present at the Internet Governance Forum in Athens and he posts daily reports. On the second day of the forum the discussions turned to openness â?? a topic which many states that censor Internet traffic may find embarrassing.
So it was natural to expect hostile reactions towards countries which have a well documented history of Internet censorship. One way of dealing with bad news is simply to deny everything which Mr Yang Xiokun of the Chinese mission in Geneva did.
He stated that China has no access restrictions â?? at all.
Here is Georg Greve report of the exchange:
NIK GOWING: Could I — may I ask you a question? How would you define, for those who are not familiar with your government’s policy and the detail of it, what is the principle on restrictions of openness in China?
YANG XIAOKUN:Â We do not have restriction at all.
Lets not forget that China is not alone in censoring the Internet. Organisations like the Reporters without Borders publish a list of â??15 Enemies of the Internetâ?? and many (most? all?) enlightened (?) European/Western countries intimidate, censor or limit access to information through alternative means – but at the same time it is almost impressive to be able to deny everything.
For more information about China and Internet censorship read the Open Net Initiative report on Internet Censorship in China between 2004-2005.