I did not buy roses yesterday. It was not because of gender equality, the environmental damage and nor was it due to the maltreatment of floral workers in Kenya. But it should have been.
Flower workers in Kenya have to survive chemicals, sexual harassment and wages so low they can barely by water.
Georg at Freedom Bits writes about the proposed copyright for culinaric art – thats food to you and me…
German star-cook Heinz Beck of the restaurant “La Pergola” in Rome asks to introduce a copyright on cooking recipes. His argument is based on cooking also being a creative form of art.
Now Giorgio Assuma considers “culinaric art a serious issue” and asks for a EU directive to introduce a kind of cookyright. One can only marvel at the horrors of a European Cookyright Directive.
Not for the first time I have become irritated with the press. Yesterday was another example.
The picture is of a Swedish tabloid headline. It reads: 300 000 in Sweden. The sneak test that exposes if your workmate is a psychopath. 20 quick questions.
I realise that one should not dignify the tabloids with the dignity of the press. As common knowledge dictates – they are not “real” newspapers. However they do fall under the freedom of the press protections. I realise that this is a dangerous road to tread but with great freedom comes great responsibility. Should the tabliods be allowed to publish anything without fear of reprisal? Why should their position be so unthreatened if all they do is this (and worse).
Henrik & jag gästbloggade på centerpartisten Johan Linander med rubriken Disney, upphovsrätt & dig.
Här är texten:
Disneys framgång bygger, i grunden, på en uråldrig tradition. Man tar en berättelse som de flesta har hört talas om, man omvandlar den (i Disneys fall till tecknad film) och sprider den till andra. Se bara på Askungen, Robin Hood, Törnrosa och Peter Pan. Genom deras återberättande har Disneys ikoner blivit en del av oss.
När en okänd svensk tecknare, Charlie Christenssen, ville göra detsamma tog han Disneys ikon och förvandlade honom till Arne Anka. Christenssen tolkade, bearbetade och spred en ny anka. Disney agerade snabbt och brutalt för att försvara deras Anka. Hade Christenssen inte orkat så hade Arne försvunnit som så många andra före honom. För att veta hur Christenssen lyckades rekommenderar vi att ni köper samlingsvolymen om Arne Anka, alternativt kan ni höra av er till oss, så berättar vi.
SÃ¥dana problem har länge varit nÃ¥gon annans problem. Större delen av befolkningen har inte möjlighet att skapa nÃ¥got som kan reta storföretag som Disney. Men som alla ni som läser detta vet â?? tekniken förändrar och skapar möjligheter. Vi och vÃ¥ra barn har nu möjlighet att ta det som finns omkring oss, tolka det och sprida det till en ringa kostnad. Vi kan som aldrig förr vara delaktiga i att tolka vÃ¥r egen samtid. Men nu när vi har möjligt att vara med rent tekniskt och ekonomiskt â?? har vi det rent juridiskt? Christenssen â??besegradeâ?? Disney, men kommer du att orka ta risken, ta striden?
Disney visar oss mycket. De lär våra barn och underhåller oss. Men bakom allt detta finns ett stort problem med vår upphovsrätt. Det handlar om att det inte finns någon möjlighet för den som vill ta en del av sin samtid och kommentera den. I striden mellan Kalle & Arne stod rätten att teckna en anka. Tack vare teknologi finns fler människor som kan skapa och sprida.
Borde inte lagen omfatta möjligheter för alla att kommentera sin egen samtid?
Mathias Klang är bitr. forskare på Göteborgs Universitet samt
projektledare för Creative Commons Sverige.Henrik Sandklef är programmerare samt styrelsemedlem för Free Software Foundation Europe.
This is an interesting development which can make lots of analysts hair turn grey. What does it mean? What would happen if you combine Google with a linux distro?
Google is preparing its own distribution of Linux for the desktop, in a possible bid to take on Microsoft in its core business – desktop software.
A version of the increasingly popular Ubuntu desktop Linux distribution, based on Debian and the Gnome desktop, it is known internally as ‘Goobuntu’.
via The Register
Or maybe its all a smokescreen to stop everyone from talking about Goole & China.
Under the Banner “Download History” the BBC has opened up parts of its archives. In addition to this it also allows users to be creative with the material.
“For the first time in its history BBC News is opening its archives to the UK public for a trial period. You can download nearly 80 news reports covering iconic events of the past 50 years.”
The material is released under a Creative Archive License which basically states: Non-commercial use, Share -Alike, Attribution, No Endorsement and No derogatory use. The archives therefore allow you to take the footage of the Berlin Wall coming down and set it to your own music – very, very cool.
However, my enthusiasm for this was dampened considerably when I found that the BBC really meant within the UK. If you are outside the UK – you will have to pay (?) In addition to this the share-alike clause explains:
“You are welcome to download the clips, watch them, and use them to create something unique. This is a pilot and we want to understand your creative needs. We’d like to see your productions and showcase some of the most interesting ones we receive.”
Does this include the UK limitation? Then how? According to the BBC share alike clause it is ok for anyone within the UK to take a clip and share it with me (outside the UK). Very annoying in a world were borders are usually not important.
Sweden has never had a Minister of Justice who has managed to push through so much legislation hostile to civil liberties in such a short space of time as the minister we have today: Thomas Bodström. Here are some of the highlights
Dagens Nyheter 22 December 2005.
Phone tapping – Secret surveillance with hidden microphones will be permissable for a long list of crimes (not only the present day murder, manslaughter and armed robbery. This is despite the fact that investigators have been unable to show whether these devices are efficient police tools.
Data retention – Sweden has stood on the forefront demanding that the EU implement data retention. The EU have now approved rules (BBC report) that will force ISP’s and other telecommunication companies to retain data for at least six months. This data includes the time, date and locations of both mobile and landline calls (as well as whether or not they were answered) along with logs of internet activity and email.
Hemlig telefonavlyssning. En regeringsutredning vill ge Säkerhetspolisen utökade möjligheter till hemlig teleavlyssning. Den ska ske även i “preventivt syfte”, alltsÃ¥ innan ett brott har begÃ¥tts. Enligt förslaget ska ocksÃ¥ den öppna polisen ges utökade möjligheter att registrera svenskarnas telefonsamtal, vilket Advokatsamfundets generalsekreterare Anne Ramberg kallar för “ett paradigmskifte i svensk tvÃ¥ngsmedelshantering”.
Den pÃ¥tänkta lagstiftningen ger staten kraftigt utökade möjligheter att övervaka medborgarna. TillämpningsomrÃ¥det är ytterst brett och möjligheterna till ett rättssäkert förfarande minimala. BÃ¥de Säpo och polisen skulle ges laglig rätt att kontinuerligt avlyssna miljöer som de finner intressanta. Varken nÃ¥gon lagÂöverträdelse eller konkret misstanke krävs.
Försvarets underrättelseverksamhet. En departementspromemoria föreslår att den traditionella signalspaningen ska utvidgas till att omfatta all trådbunden trafik som passerar Sveriges gränser. Försvaret ska alltså inte som i dag bara kunna övervaka etern, utan också telefonsamtal, e-post, fax och dylikt som strömmar genom landet naturligtvis utan domstolsprövning. Förslaget innebär ett genombrott för övervakningsstaten, särskilt om det kombineras med tankarna på att försvaret även ska hantera vissa polisiära uppgifter.
Secret Data Surveillance – A proposal has been put forward that will allow the police (with a court order) can enter and insert software to eavesdrop on individuals computers.
These are just a few of the ideas which have been pushed through on the ministers initiative or suggestion. There are many more examples of tough stances against civil liberties – all done to fight crime or terrorism.
Sweden is no longer the country fighting for rights and liberties but it is using the ghost of terrorism to frighten and bully through oppressive legislation. Leadership by fear. In addition to this the approach has been to argue that oppressive legislation actually improves civil liberties. In a comment on the recent data retention decision a fellow party official stated that data retention protects civil liberties. Swedish quote here – “Jag är tacksam och glad att vi fÃ¥r en gemensam lagstiftning för hela Europa. Det här är ocksÃ¥ garantin för att integriteten och de mänskliga rättigheterna inte Ã¥sidosätts, säger Inger Segelström, s”.
This is straight out of Orwell! Remember: “War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength”. Big Brother would have been proud.
The Swedish Minister of Justice seemed like a nice man. However, he quickly showed that he was not going to worry too much about civil liberties when it came to legislation. Since becoming minister he has systematically been implementing harsher legislation which threatens civil liberties. When the harsher copyright regime was implemented and concerns were raised about the number of young people breaking the law he attempted to calm the fears of the Swedes by saying that the law would not be used against them.
When asked how one should protect ones privacy from overzealeous police investigations, he told the reporter that the best protection was to commit no crime.
Recently when discussing the new legislation to use telephone surveillance and house searches against people who are not suspected of crimes he stated that the reason was that in practice this already happened and therefore it was better that the law followed practice. In other words if the police do not respect the law then it is better to change the law to follow the police practice.
This is taken from Dagens Nyheter 18 October 2005
Thomas Bodströms uttalande i Ekot pÃ¥ tisdagen är märkligt för att komma frÃ¥n en justitieminister. I en kommentar till regeringens planer pÃ¥ att lÃ¥ta polisen använda tvÃ¥ngsmedel som telefonavlyssning och husrannsakan mot personer som inte är misstänka för nÃ¥got begÃ¥nget brott svarade han: “Ja, det är en ny rättsprincip i lagen, dock inte mot hur det har fungerat i praktiken”.
Med andra ord: eftersom det funnits poliser som inte respekterat lagen är det inte en så stor sak att regeringen vill överge den princip som lagen vilat på.
Han hade kunnat hävda att vÃ¥rt samhälle tidigare levt med en dubbelmoral där en sak sagts offentligt och Säkerhetspolisen i praktiken gjort nÃ¥got annat. Han hade kunnat säga att världen vi nu lever i är sÃ¥ farlig att vi mÃ¥ste offra vissa principer. Det hade varit diskutabelt – men Ã¥tminstone ärligt. Att som nu försöka förminska principfrÃ¥gan inger däremot ingen respekt.
Once again odd spam puzzles me. I recently blogged spam about Gouranga. Today it seems to be meaningless inspirational (?) quotes. My question is obvious – why bother spamming people with this. However the answer can only be why not? why blog? why do anything? Anyway here it is:
Subject: The ultimate security is your understanding of reality
If winning isn’t everything, why do they keep score?
When you have an efficient government, you have a dictatorship.
A child is a curly, dimpled lunatic.
And here is the meaning? Well not really a meaning – more an identification of the sources:
The subject is a quote from H. Stanley Judd
The first line is a quote from Vince Lombardi (American Football Coach)
The second line is a quote from Harry Truman (American President)
The third line is a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson (American Poet)
What nothing more exotic?
There have been recent controversies over whether unofficial (offical) CIA flights have being taking place. The purpose of these flights has often been the illegal transportation of undesirables (terrorists) to dention centers (prisons) which have a more lenient view of human rights abuse (allow torture).
The nice thing is that among all the political statements such as no such planes flew or landed here the proof of their existence is provided by the low-tech. In a hobby which is akin to the eccentric train-spotting I have now learnt of the practice of plane-spotting. The activities of the plane spotters has created a minor headache for the politicians wishing to happily claim that the evil planes ever existed.
The Guardian has an interesting article reporting this story:
Paul last saw the Gulfstream V about 18 months ago. He comes down to Glasgow airport’s planespotters’ club most days. He had not seen the plane before so he marked the serial number down in his book. At the time, he did not think there was anything unusual about the Gulfstream being ushered to a stand away from public view, one that could not be seen from the airport terminal or the club’s prime view.
But that flight this week was at the centre of a transatlantic row that saw the prime minister being put on the spot on the floor of the House of Commons and the US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, forced on the defensive during a visit to Europe. The Gulfstream V has been identified as having been used by the CIA for “extraordinary renditions” – abducting terror suspects and taking them to secret prisons around the world where they may be tortured.