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Unrelated things: GPL conference & Filesharing

Some unrelated things which I put together in one post because I have been away from my blog until today (without any serious side effects).

Yesterday I was in Stockholm at the Swedish Parliament to discuss filesharing. No â?? not in the chamber! It was an enjoyable, open and interesting discussion â?? thanks for inviting me.

I also found out yesterday that the date for my thesis defence has been finalised. Once again travel plans of others had forced changes but now the date is set (for the last time! I hope.) So I will defend on October 2nd.

In addition to this I have been invited to join a panel at The 3rd International GPLv3 Conference: CCCB, Barcelona, Spain, June 22nd & 23rd. This is going to be very interesting.

I seem to have accidently forgotten (Freud who?)
to return my visitors badge…

Posted on by mklang

blogg against torture

Yesterday (June, 12) the American Medical Association took an important ethical policy decision against medical participation in interrogations “Physicians must not conduct, directly participate in, or monitor an interrogation with an intent to intervene, because this undermines the physicianâ??s role as healer.â??
The UN has declared that the 26th June is the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture – what are we going to do about it?
There is no single face of torture. Unfortunately there happens to be several examples of the cruelty and heartlessness of men (no gender bias intended). Examples include the statement by Rear-Admiral Harris about the three suicides of prisoners under his responsibility was â??â?¦not an act of desperation, but an act of asymmetrical warfareâ?¦â?? or the comment of Nick Harvey when faced with the news that after WWII British troops had starved prisoners and tortured them with equipment taken from Gestapo prisons, says â??Itâ??s too late for anyone to be held personally responsible, or held politically to accountâ?¦â??

Ok so issues such as time, energy and emotional baggage tend to get in the way of a more active support. There is however a way of supporting without much effort. This is not a trivialisation – on the contrary it is the promotion of information to raise awareness. Not to let uncomfortable information slip into oblivion.

The group known as Torture Awareness Month has a blogrole going. By going to http://blogagainsttorture.blogspot.com/ and do two things:

All you need to do to join is (1) promise to do a blog post about torture in the month of June, (2) link to Torture Awareness Month somewhere your blog. Do both of these things, and we will link to you from our blogrolls.

Donâ??t forget to go to Torture Awareness Month to learn more about what is, and can be done, to raise awareness against torture. But don’t stop there. The information about torture, its causes, effects and how to work against it.

Some background…

The United Nations has declared the 26 June to be International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. The UN position against torture is based primarily on article 5 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states, â??no one shall be subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishmentâ??

This is further qualified by the 1984 Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and the sentiments are echoed in conventions such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which adds that: â??No one shall be subjected without his [or her] free consent to medical or scientific experimentation.â??

Posted on by mklang

Suicidal War

Admiral Harris of the infamous Guantanamo prison commented the three suicides:

They are smart, they are creative, they are committed,” Admiral Harris said. “They have no regard for life, neither ours nor their own. I believe this was not an act of desperation, but an act of asymmetrical warfare waged against us.

Three prisoners took their own lives. This may be a comment upon the way in which they are being treated. The jailer on the other hand views their actions as part of a planned attack against his country.

I dont know what to say when I read/hear such madness. But I can quote the genius Blackadder:

He’s mad! He’s mad. He’s madder than Mad Jack McMad, the winner of this year’s Mr Madman competition.

Posted on by mklang

Demonstrations

In the raid on The Pirate Bay (TPB) the police also took computer equipment unrelated organisations depended on and therefore seriously limiting their power/ability to communicate. The raid has caused a great deal of speculation on the real purpose and goal. Questions such as whether the acts of the prosecutor and police were ordered by the Ministry of Justice. Or if the whole raid was actually carried out to appease the White House who in turn is attempting to appease the film and music lobby groups.

Anyway today (Saturday, June 3) there will be demonstrations in Stockholm and Göteborg. So if you are there go out and demonstrate.

Göteborg
Place: Gustav Adolfs torg
Time: 16.30
Organisers: The Pirate Party, Green Youth, Young Left & Liberal Youth

Stockholm
Place: Mynttorget
Time:15.00
Organisers: Piratbyrån. The Pirate Party, Green Youth, Young Left & Liberal Youth

Posted on by mklang

Ten Important Stories

Concerned that some issues continue not to receive sustained media attention or slip off the radar screen, the United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI) has unveiled a new list of “Ten Stories the World Should Hear More About.”

2006 is the third year that the “top” ten unreported stories have been presented. If you are like me then you have probably never heard of this list or many of the stories. Read them and help publish them. So how can this happen? Well if the mainstream media doesn’t cover it then it should be blogged…

Liberia: Development challenges top agenda as the nation recovers from years of civil strife

Lost in migration: Asylum seekers face challenges amid efforts to stem flows of illegal migrants

DR of Congo: As the country moves boldly towards historic vote, humanitarian concerns continue to demand attention

Nepal’s hidden tragedy: Children caught in the conflict

Somalia: Security vacuum compounding effects of drought

Protracted refugee situations: Millions caught in limbo, with no solutions in sight

South Asian earthquake: Relief effort saves lives, stems losses, but reconstruction tasks loom large

Behind bars, beyond justice: An untold story of children in conflict with the law

From water wars to bridges of cooperation: Exploring the peace-building potential of a shared resource

Côte d’Ivoire: A strike away from igniting violence amidst a faltering peace process

Posted on by mklang

Did you miss it too?

Today (May, 25) was international towel day. The day is celebrated for being 42 days after the anniversary of Douglas Adams death. To commemorate the day and to remember Douglas – carry a towel…
I missed it – again…

Why towel day? Shame on you for displaying such ignorance. But in the aid of your further education:

A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitch hiker can have. Partly it has great practical value – you can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a mini raft down the slow heavy river Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or to avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (a mindboggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you – daft as a bush, but very ravenous); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.

More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitch hiker) discovers that a hitch hiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitch hiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitch hiker might accidentally have “lost”. What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with.

Towel Day 2006 – Innsbruck

So long and thanks for all the fish, Douglas…

Posted on by mklang

Mixing metaphors or postmodern celebrations

Yesterday was Valborgmässoafton a date celebrated in memory of the princes Walpurgis later Saint Valborg who helped bring christendom to the Germans. Later her cult became particularly associated with lighting fires to ward of witchcraft (which actually is a pagan practice which predates her).

The celebration I attended yesterday was a postmodern version. The pagan fire was actually set alight by people dressed as witches, announced by marching drums, playing samba rhythms which was then followed by a band playing Swedish music with a country flavour. Most people have no idea of why the fires are lighted or who Valborg was but this does not stop the celbration from being considered a very important date in the calender.
But at least it was a good fire – despite the rain.

Posted on by mklang

Declaration on Great Apes – Spain

The Declaration on Great Apes consists of three main points:

  1. The Right to Life
  2. The Protection of Individual Liberty
  3. The Prohibition of Torture

The Spanish Socialist Party are introducing a parliamentary bill to reflect this declaration:

The Spanish Socialist Party will introduce a bill in the Congress of Deputies calling for â??the immediate inclusion of (simians) in the category of persons, and that they be given the moral and legal protection that currently are only enjoyed by human beings.â?? The PSOEâ??s justification is that humans share 98.4% of our genes with chimpanzees, 97.7% with gorillas, and 96.4% with orangutans.

The party will announce its Great Ape Project at a press conference tomorrow. An organization with the same name is seeking a UN declaration on simian rights which would defend ape interests â??the same as those of minors and the mentally handicapped of our species.â??

According to the Project, â??Today only members of the species Homo sapiens are considered part of the community of equals. The chimpanzee, the gorilla, and the orangutan are our speciesâ??s closest relatives. They possess sufficient mental faculties and emotional life to justify their inclusion in the community of equals.” (Spain Herald)

Rights for the Great Apes is not a joke and the Spanish Socialist party is to be applauded for their efforts. Dvorsky writes:

No one is suggesting that humans and apes are equal in terms of cognitive, linguistic or physical proclivities. I donâ??t think the Spanish politicians who are pushing for the bill believe that apes should qualify for the next vote, or that apes should be counted in Spainâ??s next census. (via IEET)

The way in which we treat animals as raw materials is sickening. Arguing for animal rights to a wider public involves being treated as a bit naive (if not simple). But begin by reading Tom Regan – The case for animal rights & Peter Singer – Animal Liberation and it becomes more obvious that the treatment of animals cannot be morally defended.

Wikipedia has a good introduction to the topic of animal rights with a bibliography.

Posted on by mklang

Election poster

Sweden is moving steadily towards a general election. The Social Democrat Minister of Justice has during this last term been busy diminishing human rights by increasing the rights of the state to eavsdrop. This is a nice spoof poster. The Social Democrats have election posters showing people with the tagline “I build Sweden” The text under the minister is “I bug Sweden”

Posted on by mklang

Banksy’s latest is a comment on the deregulation of state industries. In this graphic case it is an image of the change from the old to the modern British Telecom (BT). This is portrayed by a bleeding old style phone box in Soho (London)

A BT spokesman said: “This is a stunning visual comment on BT’s transformation from an old-fashioned telecommunications company into a modern communications services provider.” (BBC)

What the BT spokesman failed to mention is the reduction of universal service when follows in the wake of any deregulation. The transformation of a public service company into a modern industry player is not always something to be proud of. The mutilatd phone box has unfortunately already been removed.

Larger image on Banksy’s site.

Posted on by mklang