software

How DRM Becomes Law

Cory Doctorow has written a short must read article on how DRM becomes law in Information Week. I know that there is a lot of stuff out there which is must-read but DRM is really important. It has already reached a point where the regulation of our access and use of technology is controlled not by a transparent process of law and regulation but by the interests and technology of those who manufacture technology.

Imagine if road traffic where regulated by the groups who made asphalt, air-traffic by airplane manufacturers and what you could say on the phone was controlled by the mobile phone companies! Nobody would agree to that. And yet we accept DRM.

By the way, Cory also has the most decorated laptop I have ever seen. I just had to take a picture of it in Dubrovnik.

 

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:

  1. Complete the form below with your information.
  2. Personalize the subject and text of the message on the right with your own words, if you wish.
  3. Click the Send Your Message button to send your letter to these decision makers:
Posted on by mklang

GPLv3 Reminder

Since my blogging habit have become more erratic of late I have forgotten to write about stuff that happens. Sorry about this. One important event is the release of the final draft of the GPLv3.

GPLv3

What follows is a brief period for commenting then the draft will get the final and official form and go live.

More info at: FSF official page or Ciaran’s blog (FSFE).

Thanks to Personal Notes for the reminder…

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

Stallman Fever

According to Computer Sweden Göteborg is gripped by Stallman-fever well it might be a good headline but there is no real fever here. In our offices we are getting the final preparations done as I write the atmosphere is one of calm expectation. But we fully expect to have a great time when the event begins at 5pm.

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

Churches in Second Life

The Swedish state church is planning on establishing a parish in Second Life. Their rationale for doing this is that they want to be where people are and that they have been losing customers. The Swedish church is obviously not the first but it may be the first state church to establish itself in this virtual environment. Sheesh, the progressive church of today, huh.

Why would people go to church in second life if they don’t feel that it’s important enough to visit churches in real life?

(via Humaniorabloggen)

Posted on by mklang

Stallman in Göteborg

This is really cool. Richard Stallman will be giving a lecture in Göteborg in May.

The Free Software Foundation Europe and Göteborg University are pleased to invite you to a lecture with Dr. Richard Stallman:

Free Software and Beyond: Human Rights in the Use of Software and Other Published Works

Dr. Richard Stallman will speak about the goals and philosophy of the Free Software Movement: defending essential freedoms for the users of software. In addition, he will address how the ideas of free software do or don’t extend to other kinds of published works. He will also explain what the Pirate Party must change in its program to avoid unintended negative consequences in the software field.

Dr. Stallman is the founder of the GNU project and president of the Free Software Foundation. He has received an honorary doctorate from the Royal Institute of Technology, the University of Glasgow, Free University of Brussels and Universidad Nacional de Salta. In 1990, he was the receiver of a Macarthur foundation fellowship and has been elected member of the US National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

The lecture will take place at:

University Aula
Göteborg University
Vasaparken
Göteborg, Sweden

May 16th
From 5pm to 8pm

While the lecture is a public event, and we invite you to forward this invitation to whomever you feel might be interested, we kindly request that in order to participate, you register via http://www.rms2007.se/registrering

Posted on by mklang

Bad Attitude

The blog Bad Vista puts a nice perspective on the difference in attitude between free and proprietary software:

As the GPL preamble says:

The licenses for most software and other practical works are designed to take away your freedom to share and change the works. By contrast, the GNU General Public License is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change free software–to make sure the software is free for all its users.

In contrast, a typical Microsoft Vista EULA says:

The software is licensed, not sold. This agreement only gives you some rights to use the software. Microsoft reserves all other rights. Unless applicable law gives you more rights despite this limitation, you may use the software only as expressly permitted in this agreement. In doing so, you must comply with any technical limitations in the software that only allow you to use it in certain ways.

See the difference in attitude?

Posted on by mklang

The Third Draft

The third draft of the GPLv3 has been released. The draft is a result of feedback from various sources (general public, official discussion committees, and two international conferences held in India and Japan). The draft incorporates significant changes since the previous draft (July 2006). This draft is planned to be the penultimate draft prior to the formal release of the official GPLv3.

Changes in this draft include:

* First-time violators can have their license automatically restored if they remedy the problem within thirty days.
* License compatibility terms have been simplified, with the goal of making them easier to understand and administer.
* Manufacturers who include the software in consumer products must also provide installation information for the software along with the source. This change provides more narrow focus for requirements that were proposed in previous drafts.
* New patent requirements have been added to prevent distributors from colluding with patent holders to provide discriminatory protection from patents.

    The draft will be open for comments and discussion for sixty days. Following this the FSF will release a “last call” draft, followed by another thirty days for discussion before the FSF’s board of directors approves the final text of GPL version 3.

    Richard Stallman, president of the FSF and principal author of the GNU GPL, said, “The GPL was designed to ensure that all users of a program receive the four essential freedoms which define free software. These freedoms allow you to run the program as you see fit, study and adapt it for your own purposes, redistribute copies to help your neighbor, and release your improvements to the public. The recent patent agreement between Microsoft and Novell aims to undermine these freedoms. In this draft we have worked hard to prevent such deals from making a mockery of free software.”

    Posted on by mklang