Following the defence last Monday (a week already!) I have:
â?¦ a list of stuff that I want to do
â?¦ a list of stuff that I need to do
â?¦ a list of stuff which would be good to do
â?¦ a list of stuff that others want me to do
So what is needed is some serious prioritizing. The focus of my work life has been to reach the point that I reached last Monday. So now that I have reached it â?? what nextâ?¦
We carried out a final anti-DRM protest in Göteborg today. We stood outside the AIPPI Congress and handed out flyers. There were less people who took the flyers but on the other hand we had interesting conversations with those who stopped to talk. It was a nice way to spend the morning – even if it was a bit chilly…
ah, hubris, enjoy it while it lasts. The innocence of the fresh PhD made it possible for me to post copies of my thesis to each of the new Ministers announced today. First off – I am curious if an action like this will have any effect at all, whatsoever. Also if there is a reaction then what will it be?
I have always lacked the ability to take myself really seriously so this action today was done with a sense of curiosity and humour.
Anyway the new Minister of Justice is Beatrice Ask – my guess is that I will have lots to write about as soon as she gets started in her new position. This latter sentiment may be seen as looking at the bright side…
As you may have known yesterday was the international day to protest against DRM. For more information see http://drm.info. Despite the fact that I defended my PhD and partied until two. I pulled myself out of bed at 6am to get dressed in yellow overalls and demonstrate outside Chalmers University at 7.30. At about 9.30 stopped handing out leaflets and took a well deserved break.
This did not mean that we were done for the day. Oh no. At 11.30 we gathered at the center of town to continue our demonstrations until 1pm. The results? We handed out well over a thousand leaflets, we were interviewed by two newspapers and my headache never left me for a moment.
It was a brilliant way to celebrate my new life as Dr. Klang. This is the first time I wrote Dr. Klang! Feels kind of strange, but nice…
I passed my PhD on Monday. The day was amazing. The defence began at 2pm so up until then I was running around like a headless chicken fixing things and attempting to keep my nerves in place. I had decided to have U2â??s â??Sunday Bloody Sundayâ?? as a theme song so in my head the lyrics were rolling around until I stepped up on the podium:
And the battles just begun
Theres many lost, but tell me who has won
The trench is dug within our hearts
And mothers, children, brothers, sisters torn apart
Anyway the defence began with the opponent explaining that he liked my work. This was great but I knew that there was a big BUT just waiting to come along. It did. We had some interesting and lively question and answer sessions. I think that I managed to get my points across. The good part was that I was so wrapped up in the discussion that I really enjoyed myself. I did not notice that we had gone on for more than two hours. The examination board then placed their questions which gave some more discussion.
In action at the Disputatio
Then it was over. The committee went off to discuss my fate. I was surrounded by friends and family wishing me well and, in what felt like a short while, the committee came out and notified me that their verdict was unanimous. I passed. I was a PhD.
The party continued until the early hoursâ?¦
Thanks to everyone who was there – both virtually and in person. What a great day it has been.
I have defended my PhD and passed.
After much wine and good company I am now diving into bed. Tomorrow I arise early (as a newly minted dr) and go forth to protest against DRM wearing special yellow protective clothing.
07.30-10 at Chalmers main entrance
11.30-13.00 at Kopparmärra.
I am tired and have just passed my PhD, but I will be there. Why aren’t you?
So it’s all happening tomorrow. I defend my thesis. Not only will I be the placed under scrutiny and stress – but I will also be wearing a suit! For those of you who may want to read the thesis it’s over here.
If you don’t feel like reading it you can get the main arguments & counter-arguments by attending the defence tomorrow in Göteborg (again more info here).
If you cannot attend then you can catch me presenting my thesis at Humlab in Umeå. The presentation has been streamed and is online here.
Here are some “promotional” pictures…
I would love to blog the defence but for natural reasons I will be unable to participate in this way. My focus will be on listening, interpretating and meeting my opponents questions.
If anyone (maybe you Kalle?) wants to bring a laptop I can arrange a guest account to the wireless and a password to this blog too… Otherwise you shall all have to be patient.
Not really too nervous yet. I think I am in deep denial…
GPL Violations wins case against D-Link. D-Link had argued that the GPL was not legally binding.
On September 6, 2006 the district court issued its judgement, confirming the claims by gpl-violations.org, specifically its rights on the subject-matter source code, the violation of the GNU GPL by D-Link, the validity of the GPL under German law, and D-Links obligation to reimburse gpl-violations.org for legal expenses, test purchase and cost of re-engineering. Only the amount of the legal expenses was considered too high by some insignificant amount of 300 EUR. Therefore, this decision marks a clear-cut victory for gpl-violations.org. D-Link may file an appeal against the judgement.
(Via Cyberlaw)
In an earlier post (What is wrong with DRM?) I wrote that Microsoft’s new Zune wrapped all content in DRM mechanisms. This was based on this announcement. Apparently this is wrong. Only content which has DRM mechanisms attached is wrapped with the Zune DRM limitation. This means that the Zune does not interfere with the CC anti-DRM clause. Sorry about that Microsoft.
However this does not go against the arguments in the post. The use of DRM has the effect of both limiting legal uses of content and of narrowing our understanding of what is permissable – we move slowly to a society where the default concept is that everything innovative must be illegal…