civil

Text editing blues

Like bad tasting medicine editing is an aweful process which is only done because of its obvious benefits. Its terrifying the amount of errors that can be spotted at this late stage. Today I even found an incomplete sentence… it simply tapered off like someone losing a chain of thought.

This is the begining up until the research question. Not sure about it though…

This work begins with the thesis that there is a strong relationship between the regulation of technology and the Internet based participatory democracy. In other words, the attempts to regulate technology have an impact upon the citizenâ??s participation in democracy. This work will show what this relationship is and its effect on democratic participation.
Taking its starting points from the recent theoretical developments in regulation, disruptive technology and role of ICT in participatory democracy, this work is the application of three theoretical discussions. These theoretical discussions are used in the empirical exploration of six areas: virus writing and dissemination, civil disobedience in online environments, privacy and the role of spyware, the re-interpretation of property in online environments, software as infrastructure and finally state censorship of online information. The purpose of these studies is to explore the effects of these socio-technical innovations upon the core democratic values of Participation, Communication, Integrity, Property, Access and Autonomy. The overall research question for this thesis is therefore:
What are the effects of technology regulation on the Internet-based participatory democracy?

To connect to an earlier ongoing discussion about the text: The book is now 257 pages long and 99 479 words long. Do you think that word can handle going over 100 000 words or will it simply melt…

Posted on by mklang

Political Use of Trees

Using trees to form part of a political protest has almost been synonymous with the green movement. Protesters have hugged or chained themselves to trees to prevent them from being sawn down. Protesters have staged sit-ins in them to demonstrate their point. Part of the Swedish protest movement was staged around some Elm trees in a park in central Stockholm (Kungstrådgården). The Elm Battle (12-13 May 1971) was part of a civil disobedience act. To prevent the building of a entrance to a subway station activists (amongst other things) climbed up into the trees. The planned station entrance was moved.

In central Göteborg today this tree has been painted with the text â??think about the homelessâ?? this is not the first tree to sport this text. When the text on an earlier tree began to fade the notice appeared on this tree instead.

Most groups unable to make their voices heard in traditional media have turned to the Internet to attempt to publicise their cause. This protest is about homeless people and by using the tree as a mediun the message also manages to underscore the lack of technology and basic infrastructure homelessness entails.

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The Laptop Ban

Recently there has been a growing discussion online about students use of laptops during lectures. This discussion began when a law professor banned the use of laptops during her lectures. The directive seems innocent enough:

Beginning on Tuesday, March 14, the use of laptop computers and other similar devices will not be allowed during Civil Procedure class session. Please be sure to bring with you…paper and pen or pencil for taking notes.

The University made it clear that it was the professors decision (my earlier post here). In the resulting furore one student even threatened to leave (“If we continue without laptops, I’m out of here. I’m gone” USA Today). This seems a bit melodramatic for one course but it is interesting to see how the university will continue to react.
These discussions are particularly interesting as the faculty where I am based has provided laptops and wifi for all the students and there are constant discussions on the students ability to handle this technology particularly in relation to the lecture scenario but even in relation to the need to read offscreen material.

Of course this problem is not unique.

In post Collision Detection writes:

I’d argue that it [Laptops & Wifi] also provides some healthy competition for the professors; too many of them read off brittle, yellowing, decades-old lecture notes and never engage their classes. They’re losing the Darwinian battle for attention for good reasons, and it’s time to cull the herd.

and in a post entitled “The First Thing We Do, Let’s Kill All The Laptops” Plastic writes that “Several schools are considering giving their professors the authority to switch off wireless access.”

This is a tough one. I agree that there is a real need for university lecturers to improve their material and presentation skills – some are really terrible. But there must be a way of improving the lectures without providing more diversions? There is no way a lecturer can compete with online material. But will the cost of improving the lecturer’s skills be the students failure to complete their eductation?

My students have a choice to listen or learn in some other way. But if they use their time with their laptops rather than listening to lectures or actually reading the material is it my fault that they fail their exams? The camel has been taken to the water-hole but but refuses to drink. At the same time I still believe that I have a responsibility to teach – which involves students learning.

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Censorship Swedish Style

As I have reported earlier the Danish Muhammad Caricatures scandal led the Swedish foreign office to close down a website which carried the cartoons.

The scandal is growing so its time for an update. Previously the Foreign Minister, Laila Freivalds, claimed that the actions were carried out by a civil servant acting on his own initiative. This has now changed when she admits that she had knowledge of what the Civil Servant was going to do. The act may even have been carried out under the Foreign Ministers initiative.

Much of the “defence” (moral & political not legal) seems to be that the Foreign Ministry did not (and cannot) order the closing of a website. The Foreign Ministry simply contacted the Internet Service Provider (ISP) and informed them that one of their customers (a right wing party) had copies of the cartoons.

The difference, according to the Foreign Minister, is one of coercion and recommendation. While this difference does exist it is interesting to note that the recommendations made by a private individual, an interest group and the office of the Swedish Foreign Minister will be treated differently. The Foreign Minister (or indeed any Minister) knows this and therefore the act of recommendation cannot be one of simple recommendation.

Additionally the Foreign Ministry (or indeed any other Ministry) does not have the mandate to call up private citizens to make recommendations in matters of freedom of the press and speech.

Naturally the ISP has it in its power to tell the Office of the Foreign Minister to sod off. Politely or impolitely. But it comes as no surprise that a small ISP in a cut throat market is not going to risk publicity or political, social or legal reactions on the part of an unsavory customer worth (in the best case) less than 300 USD per annum.
The conclusion? Internet censorship whether in China or in Sweden works.

I dedicate this picture to the Office of the Foreign Minister for not knowing

the difference between influence and coercion.

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26 Days

Today the deleting and the writing almost cancelled each other out. Previous counts have only recorded changes in the 100s of words but today the change is +40 words (exact number). The total today is 83 829 words or 170 pages.

Photo Hans Runesson (1985)

The photo above was taken at a neo-Nazi demonstration in the Swedish town of Växjo in 1985. The woman could not contain her anger any more and ran out among the neo-Nazi demonstrators and hit one of them with her handbag. Her act is a true example of civil courage.
The topic of the day was online civil disobedience. Part of the focus was on the online discussion between the Electrohippies and the Cult of the Dead Cow which took place in 2000. The Electrohippies wrote Client-side Distributed Denial-of-Service: Valid campaign tactic or terrorist act? to which Oxblood Ruffin wrote the Response of the Cult of the Dead Cow.

Posted on by mklang

27 days

The snow has turned to rain so its all mushy wet snow and cold water. The result of the days work is +900 words and its 27 days until the grand hand-in. The focus of my work today was writing a short theoretical section on privacy to introduce the chapter on the relation between spyware and integrity. The thesis is now 170 pages long.

The recommended text of the day is “The Right to Privacy” written by Warren & Brandeis in 1890. They argue that there should be a right to privacy and that such a right can be understood to exist out of the legal principles of their time. The motive for writing this article is usually their anger at the Saturday Evening Gazette reporting of one of Warren’s daughters. One of the best quotes include

“Gossip is no longer the resource of the idle and of the vicious, but has become a trade, which is pursued with industry as well as effrontery. To satisfy a prurient taste the details of sexual relations are spread broadcast in the columns of the daily papers.”

“The intensity and complexity of life, attendant upon advancing civilization, have rendered necessary some retreat from the worldâ?¦”

Somehow this all seems very modern. The part about intensity and complexity of modern life seems almost strange considering it was written over 100 years ago.

One of the reasons why the article came about is the development of technology. The Kodak camera above was a radical development in photographic technology which enabled the photographer to become mobile and therefore allowed pictures to be taken with the fantastic portable technology. In addition to this the new technology meant that the motive did not have to remain immobile in a studio.

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Minister of (in)Justice – part 2

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 påtänkta lagstiftningen ger staten kraftigt utökade möjligheter att övervaka medborgarna. Tillämpningsområdet är ytterst brett och möjligheterna till ett rättssäkert förfarande minimala. Både Säpo och polisen skulle ges laglig rätt att kontinuerligt avlyssna miljöer som de finner intressanta. Varken någon lag­överträdelse 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.

handcuffs

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.

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Minister of (in)Justice: Bodström

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.

DN – Ledare – En justitieminister utan principer

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Grafitti as Social commentary

Grafitti is a difficult topic. I dislike it when trams and buses are vandalised and filled with repetitive tags and I am not impressed by any sloppy, messy and defacing uses of a can of spraypaint. However this doesnt mean that I dislike everything I see. Some of the work out there falls into a category of its own. I am particulary fond of social commentary. Where there is a large communicative process. The difference? Well tags are simply the marking of turf in the same way as a dog would pee on a lamppost. Important to the dogs in the area perhaps, but not really a communication to anyone else. Social grafitti partakes, and asks others to partake, in a social discourse. One of the best examples of this I have found is the work of Banksy, who makes grafitti a form of social commentary.

“Imagine a city where grafitti wasn’t illegal, a city where everybody could draw whatever they liked. Where every street was awash with a million colours and little phrases. Where standing at a bus stop was never boring. A city that felt like a living breathing thing which belonged to everybody, not just the estate agents and the barons of big business. Image a city like that and stop leaning against the wall – its wet.” Take a look at examples of his outdoor collection here. I particularly like his work on the Israeli/Palistine wall which can be seen here. His work can also be seen in Retort Magazine – Where you can see a picture of Mujahidin Mona Lisa. More of Banksy’s work can be found in his books Existencilism (2002) and Wall and Piece (2005)


existencilism Wall and Piece
Books by Banksy

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Another interesting example of interesting grafitti is done by a lesser, but more local anonymous hand holding the spray-can. I came across this wall while working in a nearby town. I would not really have bothered with it much since it is simply the words “Civil Disobedience” (in Swedish) sprayed on the wall of a concrete underpass. The thing that makes this interesting is that the writer asking for (demanding?) disobedience corrects his own sign to conform to spelling.

civil olydnad
On a wall in Uddevalla (Now repainted)

If its disobedience you want – then why bother correcting the direction of the N? Is this actually more than simple tagging? Has the hand that sprayed thought about what it was doing? Is the changing of the N actually a subtle communication by the artist on the ways in which even disobedience is ruled by conventions? This work was trivial but with the changing of the N it becomes a subtle form of communication on the nature of laws, rules and social conventions. All this in two words on a concrete wall that never previously inspired me to think. Dont tell me that grafitti isnt important.

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Doubts over biometric passports

“Biometric passports alone will not be enough to counter terrorism threats, a leading expert has warned.

Barry Kefauver of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) told a conference in London that new so-called e-passports need to be linked to databases held by police and other agencies.”
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What so did anyone think that this would solve the problem? The 9/11 terrorists didnt try to hide their identity. Even if they had biometric passports – they would still have carried out the deed.

BBC NEWS | Technology | Doubts over biometric passports

Posted on by mklang