Annoyances

Politics of Regulation – Violent games

The EU met yesterday to discuss the regulation of violent computer games to minors. This follows situations such as the German guman who last year shot several people before taking his life at a secondary school.

A European Union Commissioner, taking advantage of the shootings last year, has called for stricter regulations in the video game industry. A motion introduced last month calls for legislators to â??put in place all necessary measures to ban the sale of particularly violent and cruel video games.â?? (From Lawbean)

The impact of violent games, films and magazines on people (in particular impressionable minors) is questionable. Researchers have found results both to support and to deny any serious impact. The main problem is that no real study can be undertaken to ensure reliable data.

A research method would be to take two groups of children and allow one full access to violence while the other group was fed with “better” material. The drawback with this method is that it would (if true) require the creation of a group of disturbed people.

The next drawback is that the interpretation of the results would also be under question. Are the children being affected by the violence in the games or simply by the long use of computers and/or television?  Would long term exposure for long periods to peaceful activities (flower arrangement?) not lead to an equally a-social development?

This is not to say that I find the regulation of violent computer games to be a wrong goal. I just dislike bad science and the misuse of “scientific data” for political goals.

Posted on by mklang

Technology doesn't lie

Via Bruce Schneier I read an article from the BBC about the growth of car cloning in the UK. This is basically when someone mimics the number plate of another car to avoid being fined for speeding or avoiding the congestion charges.

What struck me was the interesting part of the story

Tony Bullock’s car was cloned even though his plates were not physically stolen, and he was threatened with prosecution after “his” car was repeatedly caught speeding in Leicester.

He said: “It was horrendous. You are guilty until you can prove you’re not. It’s the first time that I’ve thought that English law is on its head.”

Here is the problem. Technology does not lie and unfortunately, we tend to believe, that technology is infallible.

The problem is that the technology in question does not take into account that the license plate may be cloned and therefore the socio-technical system (i.e. the stakeholders involved in the system) need to be aware that the technology may create false positives.

Unfortunately in this case an unfair burden of proof is placed on the clone victim to prove that neither she/he nor her/his car were involved in the illegal activities.

Naturally the most powerful actors in this scenario is the legal system which for some reason prefers to believe in the convenient fiction that the technology is correct.

Posted on by mklang

Stop the SPY Act

This is an important anti-spyware campaign from the EFF:

The SPY Act is supposed to help stop spyware, deceptive adware, and other malicious software, but it is unlikely to do any good and could actually make things worse. If enacted, it would block lawsuits similar to the one EFF brought against Sony-BMG for infecting customers’ computers with privacy-invasive copy protection. Don’t let badware makers off the hook — tell Congress to go back to the drawing board and draft a more sensible law.

Both the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice have said that they already have the authority they need to go after badware vendors, and this bill doesn’t add any funds or significant tools for federal enforcement.

At the same time, the bill would stunt states’ enforcement, preempting most of their stricter badware laws. For acts covered by the bill, state statutes (including consumer protection laws) wouldn’t be available to consumers themselves as grounds for a lawsuit. And it leaves enforcement exclusively in the hands of federal bureaucrats, specifically barring private citizens and organizations like EFF working on their behalf from using the new law to fight back in the courts.

This is a terrible move. If Congress is serious about enacting tough laws against deceptive and malicious programs, it should create incentives that would encourage private citizens to pursue the bad guys. The federal government and state attorneys general can’t possibly take on the entire job alone.

Congress should also focus on protecting anti-badware tool companies from harassing lawsuits brought by spyware and adware vendors. After all, badware removal programs are doing far more to protect your computer than the federal government ever will. Unfortunately, this bill does nothing to help sustain these helpful tools.

The SPY Act has already passed the House, but with your help we can make the Senate understand that they need to do better.

More info:

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Posted on by mklang

DNA & Racial Profiling

The Register reports that by 2010 (only three more years) half of all British black males will be included in the police DNA database.

Government figures show there are 244,695 black British males on the DNA database, said the Libdems in a statement today. Using government estimates that there will be 4.5 million people on the DNA database in three years, official predictions of population growth and ethnicity, the Libdems have predicted that there will be 288,652 black males on the database.

That’s 51.9 per cent of black males and 68 per cent of black males of an “arrestable age”.

There is, already, 45 per cent of the black British male population on the DNA database, according to the Libdem numbers.

The fact that the technology is neutral (a questionable assertion at best) does not mean that the effects of the uses of technology will be fair and equitable.

Posted on by mklang

Digital Sharecropping

George Lucas is joining the Web 2.0 bandwagon and allowing fans to create mashups of Star Wars. Wow, what a guy? Impressed? Happy? Don’t be!!!

â??Star Warsâ?? fans can connect with the Force in ways theyâ??ve only imagined beginning May 25, when StarWars.com launches a completely redesigned website that empowers fans to â??mash-upâ?? their homemade videos with hundreds of scenes from â??Star Warsâ?? movies; watch hundreds of fan-made â??Star Warsâ?? videos; and interact with â??Star Warsâ?? enthusiasts from around the world like never before.

With an innovative, interactive site that allows users to navigate to multiple â??Star Warsâ?? worlds, a new video focus, and groundbreaking â??Web 2.0â?? features â?? including a unique online multi-media mixing platform from Eyespot â?? the new StarWars.com will unveil its redesigned website on May 25 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the â??Star Warsâ?? Saga.

Among the most compelling features of the newly redesigned StarWars.com is the incorporation of an online video-editing tool provided by Eyespot. It allows users to add their own video shots to more than 250 scenes and music taken from all six â??Star Warsâ?? films and create their own â??Star Warsâ?? movies to share with others.

Unfortunately the material the creative fans will create will not belong to them but will remain in the hands of George Lucas. The fan-created videos will run along with commercials profits split between Lucasfilm and Eyespot.

The idea of users being drafted, fooled, enticed into doing the work for someone else has been called digital sharecropping by Lessig. This refers to the situation where the work is carried out by poor day laborers while the landowners sit and reap the rewards of another’s creativity.

Read more about this over at the Volokh Conspiracy

Posted on by mklang

Open Source Cinema

Open Source Cinema is a collaborative documentary project to create a feature film about copyright in the digital age.

Several years ago, I began researching the intersection of culture and creativity – exploring how in the digital age, everything we know about copyright has been turned upside down. From mash-ups to filesharing, creation to distribution, everything is in flux.

 

This all came in to sharp relief when I attended the MGM vs Grokster oral argument in 2005. Outside, the music industry and file-sharing supporters alike protested in large numbers. One music industry veteran declared â??music is like a donut. Pay for the donut, you get to eat itâ??. Meanwhile, a 16 kid told me â??I donâ??t think you can own music – its just feelings. How can you own that?â?? So whoâ??s right? Is culture a product? Will the next generation ever settle for anything less than free? Thats what I want to explore in this documentary, which is tentatively titled Basement Tapes.

 

 

For more information about The Film – check out the WikiFilm.

 

For more information about the philosophy of the project, check out the Maninfesto

Posted on by mklang

Law is a Luddite Ass

In Oliver Twist, after being told that the law supposes that a wife acts under the husbands direction Mr Bumble, states:

If the law supposes that,â?? said Mr. Bumble,â?¦ â??the law is a assâ??a idiot. If thatâ??s the eye of the law, the law is a bachelor; and the worst I wish the law is that his eye may be opened by experienceâ??by experience.â??

I don’t think thats it’s necessary for the law (and its representatives) actually need experience personally that which they are passing judgement upon – but a little experience may be a good thing.

Judge Peter Openshaw is trying a case where alleged Islamic radicals have used a website to post “violent Islamist material” unfortunately Judge Openshaw has had to interrupt the questioning of the witnesses to be taught what websites are. Not good, he should have done his homework in advance.

“The trouble is I don’t understand the language. I don’t really understand what a Web site is,” he told a London court during the trial of three men charged under anti-terrorism laws.

Prosecutor Mark Ellison briefly set aside his questioning to explain the terms “Web site” and “forum.” An exchange followed in which the 59-year-old judge acknowledged: “I haven’t quite grasped the concepts.” (yahoo)

Slightly scary…

Posted on by mklang

Digital Waste

Natalie Behring has a photo essay: Inside the Digital Dump on the remains of our technology in the recent issue of Foreign Policy. Behring’s pictures are good and the theme/topic is familiar. Third world nations risking environmental poisoning from the digital hardware we no longer desire or can use.

The images come from the world’s biggest digital dumping ground located in Guiyu, China. Locals work for $2 per day sorting, disassembling, and pulverizing hundreds of tons of digital hardware. The purpose of their work is to get at the valuable gold and copper. Computer waste contains 17 times more gold than gold ore, 40 times more copper than copper ore. But the detritus also leaches chemicals and metals into local water supplies.

Natalie Behring

Call me cynical but I believe that the profits will move out of Guiyu while the environmental damage will remain there.

Posted on by mklang

Academic Language

Every now and then academics revive the discussion on the readability, dissemination and usefulness of research. Most researchers write for a small group of peers. Most of the peers are already aware of what is being done before they actually read the research article. Add to this the depressing thought that only about eight people (this is a commonly cited figure, probably an urban myth) ever read an academic work (research article or phd thesis) and that is counting the reviewers and editor.

All this makes the practice of academic writing seem rather pointless.

PhD Comics by Jorge Cham

Part of the reason for this is that academics tend to become linguistically narcissistic (Oops, sorry – see what I mean). Instead of writing clearly and plainly they fill their pages with complex jargon from within their research field. They then have the arrogance to be annoyed when others have a difficulty reading their texts.

So, now that I have reached this insight (again!) I shall strive to be more clear in my writing (again!)

Posted on by mklang

What Google wants

To many users Google is understood as a neutral tool. A search engine without bias in any form. While Google has never made any such claim their attitudes and appearance do nothing to dispel this common misconception. It is easy to understand how the idea that technology in itself is neither good nor bad and may be seen as neutral comes about. But such an idea fails to take into account that technology is a man-made phenomenon and as such is the result of countless decisions and perceptions of right and wrong. Therefore while the technological thing may be neutral the choices behind its design, manufacture and use are not.

One of the implementations of Google that may be seen as less than neutral is the harvesting of user searches. Google has a long tradition of recording what people search for. This practice is not without its critics but until now Google has been silent about their purpose for harvesting this data. Last week Googleâ??s Global Privacy Counsel Peter Fleischer posted three reasons why Google captures and retains usersâ?? search queries. The reasons fall into three areas:

  1. Improve our services
  2. Maintain security and prevent fraud and abuse
  3. Comply with legal obligations to retain data

This has not passed uncommented. Micheal Zimmer and Seth Finkelstein are both critical to these explanations in two excellent commentaries they explain why Google’s reasons are mainly unsatisfactory and even misguided.

Posted on by mklang