Some days, a certainty of paranoia appears. Like a cold ghost from nowhere. It is a conspiracy of soulless, joyless fools, hell-bent on sucking the joy out of life. Wearing favourite socks is not armour enough from their clammy hands. Irrespective of the amount of struggle all that is left is the vague feeling of helplessness and hopelessness.
Like a fly bouncing ineffectively against the glass windowpane growing ever more tired, while life slowly evaporates.
Amnesty is one of those organisations which you know you should support more than you already do. They have also moved into the digital domain and are supporting all kinds of online expression. In an attempt to prevent online censorship they launched their irrepressible campaign.
Part of irrepressible is a technical solution that breaks censored texts into small pieces and maintains them online. Read more about how to help here.
If you cannot do more then at least sign their petition:
I believe the Internet should be a force for political freedom, not repression. People have the right to seek and receive information and to express their peaceful beliefs online without fear or interference.
I call on governments to stop the unwarranted restriction of freedom of expression on the Internet â?? and on companies to stop helping them do it.
Amnesty International will also be present at the Internet Governance Forum in Athens next week. Again they will be â??â?¦stressing the importance of protecting free expression and privacy onlineâ??
Read their press release here.
Organised people plan ahead. They have pension schemes and stock portfolios. Itâ??s all very grown up. Its one of those things you know you should do â?? but somehow you donâ??t. When the topic comes up in conversation there is always someone who has prepared and planned while the rest fall ominously silent.
I wish I planned ahead, I wish I could find the interest to consider life in twenty, forty and maybe sixty (but that might be pushing itâ?¦) years. The only share I have is framed and hanging on my wall.
This Svensk-Dansk-Ryska Telefon Aktiebolaget was founded on November 14, 1901 in order to establish Ericsson in the Russian market and to provide telephony services. The original certificate was a copper engraving bearing the Swedish, Russian and Danish coats of arms and an Ericsson telephone. In 1917 all assets were sold to The Russian Telephone Company but following the revolution the telephone company was nationalized and the money was never paid.
Among the founders of the company were Henrik Cedergren, Wilhelm Montelius (Chairman of Telefon AB L M Ericsson 1905-1916), Knut A Wallenberg, Marcus Wallenberg Sr., Den Danske Landmandsbank and Stockholms Allmänna Telefon Aktiebolag. Other well-known founders were Arvid Lindman (Swedenâ??s Prime Minister 1906-1911 and 1928-1930), and Princess Marie of Denmark (related to the Tsar family).
Did the owners of these shares talk loudly of how they had planned their future? Did the people who were forced to listen become embarrassed and silent?
Denmark has taken up the fight against the freedom of Internet traffic. In a recent court decision (in Danish here) the court has decided that the Internet Service Provider must prevent users carrying out illegal activities.
The background is the controversial Russian site AllOfMp3.com (more info about background controversies on wikipedia). The Russian company claims to follow Russian law while the IFPI claim that they have not paid for any western labels. In addition to this the music is not protected by DRM and can be freely transferred to others.
The Danish court has found that since the music is downloaded is actually copied onto the ISPâ??s equipment then they are guilty of copyright violation. The court has not seen this as aiding someone elseâ??s copyright violation but find that the ISP is directly responsible for carrying out the actions.
ISP liability for the actions of their customers has a long background and basically takes three positions. The ISP is totally innocent in the same way as the post-office is innocent of a blackmail letter it delivers. The ISP is guilty since without their equipment the crime could never have taken place. And thirdly the more complex: it depends. This last case must answer questions such as:
Did the ISP have knowledge of the actions?
Did the ISP take actions to prevent it?
Would it be possible (technically, economically, politically) to take action?
The result of this is that the ISP has been protected by its own strategic ignorance.
But now the Danish court argues that the ISP is not contributing or aiding crime (which in itself is a questionable stance as the questions above indicate) but is guilty of the crime itself.
The court writes
â??Retten finder … at ogsÃ¥ den flyktige og tilfældige fiksering af musikværket i form av elektroniske signaler, som foretages i de forskellige routers under datapakkernes transmission via internettet, er omfattet af ophovsretslovens § 2.â??
Basically: that the consequences of millisecond that it takes for the music to zoom through the companies routers is, in fact, the creation of a copy of digital music. This is done without the permission of the copyright holder.
Wow! The Danes have really begun something here. First of all you can hardly read, listen or see coherent information while it flies through the router. Since information online is mixed up in many packets and mixed together with other packets and all the little packets can take different routes to their final destination.
IF the Danes were right then I should be able to sue the Danish ISP for copying all my emails which happen to go through Denmark without permission.
Another problem is that the Danish court has ordered this whole problem to be resolved by blocking all traffic from the Russian site. This implementation is both unpoductive and dangerous. It is unproductive since those who want can still download – site blocking is a minor impediment. It is dangerous since it shows a lack of understanding of how the Internet works. Faith in blocking only leads to the false impression that something is being done.
(via Oscar Swartz, Copyriot)
Yesterday in the rainy dark evening I came across this:
Its two shoes sticking out from under a box giving the impression that someone is squished underneath. The sign between the feet reads: get a painkiller that you can trust…
It’s advertising. But is it artful? Or just plain littering? It made me stop and smile and take a photo and write a blog post. But is it art?
Looking for a really cool job? How about working for the Electronic Frontier Foundation in Brussels…
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is looking for a European
staffer to head up our new Brussels office and round out our
international team. This is a new position focused on European
Community level intellectual property and civil liberties policy
initiatives that impact the digital environment. The position will be
part policy analyst, part activist and part educator.
We are looking for a motivated and dynamic European with:
– excellent written and spoken English language skills, and fluency
in another relevant language (preferably French or German or another
major European language);
– well-developed public speaking and social skills, who can talk with
a wide range of audiences including European MEPs and Commission
staff, consumer rights and public interest groups, computer
programmers and media;
-familiarity with current European Community IP and civil liberties
legislative and policy developments;
– a solid understanding of the European Community’s structure, main
fora, decision-making processes and key personnel and committees that
work in the IP and civil liberties arenas;
– strong policy analysis skills;
– a good strategic sense;
– maturity of judgment;
– demonstrated ability to meet deadlines and work with others
remotely; and
– the ability to travel throughout Europe, and to the United States.
EFF is passionate about our mission, and our ideal candidate will be
too. We work on cutting-edge issues in a fun, fast-paced team
environment. Salary and details of benefits package available on
request.
Applicants: please send a cover letter and resume in TXT, RTF, ODT,
DOC, PDF or html format to eurocoordinator@eff.org
Deadline for applications: Rolling, but not later than December 1, 2006.
No, I am not planning to apply. But it would be a really cool challenge…
Today I am in Stockholm for the IIS (Internet Infrastructure Foundation) Internet Days. Two days of presentations concerning issues of interest for the Internet. In addition to this they also present the list of stipends for the projects they will support. This year both Jonas Ã?berg (Free Software education project) and Henrik Sandklef (PGP project) both from FSFE have received money for individual projects. So we are all here in Stockholm to exhibit and present FSFE and they are here to accept their funding â?? Congratulations guys!
The FSFE stand at the IIS Internet Days
My research has been driven by two things. First I am, and want to be, an academic. This makes me interested in theories, methods and attempting to explore and explain the things I see around me. The second part of my driving force is my passion for what I do. I cannot work unless I feel what I do is important and may eventually bring about positive change. With this I do not mean a passion for academia but a passion for the subject matter.
This latter thing something that many people have pointed out during my thesis defence and the presentations I give. I secretly (not any more?) have difficulty with those who see their research as just another job. I donâ??t mean that they do lesser work â?? they do not. But I donâ??t understand where they find the energy to do things without passion.
This leads to the point of my announcement. I know what I want to do with the next part of my career life. I aim to continue working under the umbrella of digital rights and democracy, with a particular focus on the actions and perspectives of users.
As a part of this I have two major projects underway, both in collaboration with smart and exciting people. The first is the development of a base for Free Software research and activity at the IT-University of Göteborg. The second is the development of the Resistance Studies Network at the School of Global Studies. These two are both faculties at the University of Göteborg.
At the FSF I hope to develop my understanding of legal issues and technical limitations. While at the RSN I intend to focus on digital civil disobedience. These are both topics which I had in my thesis â?? so itâ??s more in depth work rather than breaking new ground personally.
Right now both these projects are in the planning phases and will result in lots of work. So I will keep you all informed as it progresses.
It nice to have a plan, so now you knowâ?¦
Oh, and I have a few odd morbid side-projects, not to mention this blog, which I fully intend to persue but they cannot become mainstream to my work…yet.
Say ecosystem* and most of us will think of something delicate and finely balanced. We have been taught to understand that the environment is made up of systems which hang together and that disturbances in one part will created unintended and in our experience sad consequences.
Say Microsoft, Adobe or General Motors and we tend to think of corporate bohemoths hardly the delicate flowers in need of protection, but more often a cause of some destruction within their particular ecosystem.
A letter (pdf here) to the European Commission has recently come to light (it was leaked). The letter shows the extent which the anti-Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) lobby is prepared to go in order to maintain control of their dominant business model for the production of software.
The letter was sent in response to a recent EU report on the role of open-source software in the European economy. The letter warns of against encouraging the FOSS movement. The letter states that the actions taken by the European Commission could “disrupt the entire software eco-system” and the report itself was biased and looked “more like a marketing document than a serious survey”.
The letter comes from The Initiative for Software Choice (ISC). A name which inspires one to think of openness and freedom. Yet the group is a lobby group funded by proprietary software manufacturers – this, in itself, may be seen as a contradiction in terms.
According to Techworld the ISC was created to oppose government efforts to give preference to open-source or open standards-based systems. According to critics such as Bruce Perens, the ISC largely pursues a pro-Microsoft agenda, though the group itself emphasises that it has more than 300 members.
The letter is full of artful uses of language and leaves the unsuspecting reader with an impression that the writer is concerned about the welfare of the European Union and its development. At the same time the message is hammered home – with the subtly of a rhino with a headache – do not change anything. The system works as it is.
Naturally the concerns of the manufacturers of proprietary software should and must be taken into consideration but this letter is a masterful peice of dubbletalk and rhetoric (in the worst way).
Read the letter and LEARN from it.
—
* An ecosystem refers to the collection of components and processes that comprise, and govern the behavior of, some defined subset of the biosphere. The term is generally understood to refer to all biotic and abiotic components, and their interactions with each other, in some defined area, with no conceptual restrictions on how large or small that area can be. To many, ecosystems, like any other system, are governed by the rules of systems science and cybernetics, as applied specifically to collections of organisms and relevant abiotic components. To others, ecosystems are primarily governed by stochastic events, the reactions they provoke on non-living materials and the corresponding responses by organisms. (Wikipedia)
Yesterday President Bush signed the infamous Military Commissions Act of 2006 (fulltext pdf).
In case you have missed this one it is the law that grants the CIA legal right to continue operating torture facilities in undisclosed, foreign countries. It also allows individuals designated as â??enemy combatantsâ?? to be held without habeas corpus.
Habeas Corpus is basically the right that guarantees that the courts should decide whether a person is lawfully imprisoned. By removing this right the CIA now can legally detain people indefinitely without having to seek court permission.
The law also â??establishes military tribunals that would allow some use of evidence obtained by coercionâ?? â?? In the legal systems of most sane countries evidence obtained by torture is not considered good evidence. This is because the point of law is justice. Torture a person long enough and they will admit to anything just to make the torture stop. Only weak-minded incompetent fools can think that the use of torture is a good idea to obtain the truth.
So now the US has reached an all time low. It joins the company terror dictatorships like Stalin’s Soviet Union, Hitler’s Germany, Mao’s China or Pol Pot’s Cambodia where anyone deemed an enemy of the state can be picked up, hidden in a foreign jail, tortured until they admit to anything and then sentenced.
The point is, of course, that this move also removes any legitimate moral standpoint the US might have had. While the bill was being signed, protesters outside the White House shouted, â??Bush is the terroristâ?? and â??Torture is a crimeâ??. Those who refused to move were arrested by police. (Times).
To add a bit of the surreal to the event: the table where the president signed the bill had a notice with the words â??Protecting Americaâ?? written on it. If that were true then you wouldnâ??t need the sign would you?
Land of the free, home of the brave? Not likely. Nice one Georgeâ?¦