politics

Are we losing the right to dissent?

Most of us have been in the position where we wanted to ask a stupid question â?? but did not ask it for fear of being seen to be stupid. We practice the noble art of silence. That this is common can be seen when someone else asks the stupid question and immediately a group of people in the audience gratefully acknowledge the importance of the question. Fear of standing out from the group is a powerful force of censorship.

The main problem with consensus is that anyone who disagrees is in the unfortunate position of being abnormal. The group is the norm â?? therefore disagreement with the group is abnormal. This is why censorship is dangerous. It creates the impression that anyone with a dissenting voice is abnormal. Fear of being considered outside the group leads most people to conform with the group and practice self-censorship â?? which in turn reinforces the illusion of consensus and the oddity of the dissenter.

Therefore to ensure that social discussions are not limited or quashed voicing dissent is important since it may encourage others to think and participate. Naturally the object of criticism would prefer not to be criticised and may work to prevent the voicing of criticism. This is, in most cases, not taken to extremes. But in the recent years the limitation of dissent has become a legitimate form of government activity.

Since government has a legitimate interesting in protecting all citizens it can be forced to prevent the actions of some citizens to ensure the safety of all. But this principle is being perverted. By identifying themselves as the nation, politicians are beginning to protect themselves from open criticism. Through the use of the extended public defence argument politicians now argue that it is wrong to criticise them since they are acting in the best interests of the nation.

In 2003 Stephen Downs was arrested for wearing a T-shirt with the text â??Give Peace a Chanceâ??.

In 2004 Nicole and Jeff Rank were removed from the event at the West Virginia Capitol in handcuffs after revealing T-shirts with President Bushâ??s name crossed out on the front. Nicole Rankâ??s shirt had the words â??Love America, Hate Bushâ?? on the back and Jeff Rankâ??s said â??Regime change starts at home.â??

In 2005 Charlotte Denis was arrested for wearing a T-shirt with the text â??Bollocks to Blairâ??.

In 2006 Cindy Sheehan was arrested for wearing a T-shirt with the text â??2,245 Dead. How many more?â??

In 2006 Mike Ferner was arrested for drinking coffee while wearing a T-shirt with the text â??Veterans for Peaceâ??.

Another example is the UK law that prevents ANY demonstrations within a mile radius of parliament. This has led demonstrators to meet and conduct an extremely civilised form of protest â?? a tea party at the Winston Churchill statue. On occasion police arrest these demonstrators.

Posted on by mklang

Does Bodström dream of high-tech hammers?

The Swedish Minister of Justice Thomas Bodström can without a doubt be placed among the European Ministerâ??s most hostile to civil liberties (older posts about this here & here & here). Besides blogging about it (along with many others) Henrik Sandklef and I wrote a debate article concerning this mans naïve faith in technological solutions to crime. It was published in the newspaper (in Swedish) and the Minister replied â?? well sort ofâ?¦he never actually met our arguments on civil rights violations, but claimed that the police needed tools to do their job (in Swedish).

Yesterday the Chairman of the Swedish Police Union, Björn Ericson, wrote in a debate article (in Swedish) that despite the Ministerâ??s claims that the police force has increased by 1500 policemen the actual numbers show that the number of policemen have decreased by almost 700 since 1997. Ericson wonders whether the 1500 policemen are all working deep undercover since nobody besides the Minister seems to know where they are.

Besides the politics (it is, after all, an election year), Ericson brings up a vital point in his article. Who will watch the tapes, analyse the data and read the log files? Much of the current wisdom concerning police enforcement deals with the importance of visibility. Policemen on the streets. It is not only important that the police patrol but also that they be seen to be patrolling.

Technology costs. The cost of building and maintaining a high-tech police force will create higher costs for the police. This will mean that they will have to make budget choices. Either be visible or spend money on technology. Our Minister has shown his inclination lies in the dream of a technological future â?? but what is missing in this dream?

Implementing the high-tech surveillance society will entail making choices. Simple choices with far reaching effects. The Bodström vision entails moving the police from all types of prevention and focus them on the cure. In the long run prevention is more cost efficient than cure. All the high-tech in the world cannot, will not, prevent crime. The only aspect of use is that high-tech may provide proof in the ensuing court case. And this can only be achieved through the trampling of civil liberties and therefore must only be used as little as possible.

The choices the police are being forced to make will therefore change their purpose. They will not be about the prevention of crime but rather the police will become the servants of the courts, the errand boys of the prosecutor. Despite their handcuffs, handguns and truncheons their primary work will be the collection of data for analysis. This is not unworthy work but it does not prevent the bulk of most crimes.

Technology such as that of bugging (phones and computers), DNA databases and surveillance cameras are all tools. Tools work well to resolve certain problems. With the right tools people became efficient â?? a large part of human development can be studied in the development of certain tools (fire, bronze axes, steam engines, silicon chipsâ?¦) but with the wrong tools the work becomes difficult, if not impossible. Of course you can bang in a nail with a screwdriver â?? but at a cost.

Most violent crimes (Terrorism, Saturday-night brawling, violence and abuse at home) will not be prevented by buying technology. The 9/11 terrorists used their own names â?? it would not have mattered to them if they had been asked to donate DNA. Putting more, and better trained, police on the streets â?? does have an effect on crime.

More patrolling policemen would not have prevented 9/11 â?? there is no way to prevent the determined. More patrolling police will not prevent abuse in homes. This takes an even more costly prevention â?? education and social welfare. But it is a better preventative cure for most other crimes. In addition to this it does not violate the civil rights of law-abiding people in the hope of catching the criminal.

There is a saying: When the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. Thomas Bodström is busying buying the dream of the big high-tech hammer and no matter how many different problems people attempt to explain to him with this approach all he can see is nails â?? and he cannot wait to pound us down.

Posted on by mklang

Brainstorming: The Politics of File Sharing

Its election year in Sweden and most parties are therefore working hard to show that they have the right stuff. Among the new problems the traditional parties have to face this year also offers up some new surprises like the rise of new political parties. In Sweden since the last election we have seen the rise of both a Feminist Party and a Pirate Party in addition to the attempt of The June List (a Swedish cross-party alliance in the EU Parliament) to become more active in national politics.

One of the issues which has been pushed into the forefront of the political debate is what the position should be on file-sharing.

I have been asked by an established political party to visit them and talk about Copyright, File Sharing, Creative Commons and associated issues. This spans a whole range of items from the technical to the philosophical.

So now I am calling for input â?? instead of just saying the politicians donâ??t get it, participate and help me by brainstorming around the topic: What every politician should understand about filesharing!

Add your comments in Swedish or English…

Posted on by mklang

DNA Databases

The BBC writes that 519 requests from law enforcement agencies to extract data from the UK DNA database have been granted since 2004. No requests have been denied. The BBC writes about the database:

It emerged in January that 24,000 under-18s never cautioned, charged or convicted are on the database, which was established in 1995.

Sweden has been actively moving towards the implementation of a DNA database with the law professor Madeleine Leijonhufvud and the Minister of Justice Tomas Bodström acting main propaganda exponent with simplistic arguments in the national newspapers. Henrik Sandklef and I wrote a debate article (in Swedish) countering some of these arguments.

The short version of my beef against, is firstly that DNA databases is that they re-inforce the idea of technological infallability while being as error prone as any information system. Secondly they will be abused.

As this BBC article shows they have been done in the UK – there is no reason to expect that the same abuse will not occur in other countries.

A very good book on the role of DNA in the criminal justice system is Lazar’s DNA and the Criminal Justice System: The Technology of Justice.

(via Battleangel)

Posted on by mklang

Politics in Games

Violence and ideologies in games have long been under discussion. On the one side computer game advocates argue that computer games are not the cause of violence while others claim that computer games are harmful. The truth is never as simple as either side would like to claim.

Americas Army is the official US army game and was developed by the US army (beginning in 1999) the goal is to allow players to develop into specialist â??Green Beretâ?? soldiers. The website contains information about US army recruitment centres.

Afkar Media is producing â??al-Qurayshâ??, a real time strategy game that tells the story of the first 100 years of Islam from the viewpoint of four different nations – Bedouins, Arabs, Persians, and Romans. The planned release date is September. Afkar Media hopes the game will help to reverse negative connotations of Islam in the west and evoke new pride among young Muslims. (Christian Science Monitor).

Last year Afkar Media launched the game Under Seige, which was inspired by actual Hizbollah missions. An earlier game on the same theme is Special Force. They write on their website:

â??The game â??Special Forceâ?? is based upon reality, meaning that the game is based on events that took place in a land called Lebanon. Lebanon was invaded by â??Israelâ?? in 1978 & 1982, and was forced to withdrawâ?¦we decided to produce a game that will be educational for our future generations and for all freedom lovers of this worldâ?¦â??

Games such as these are criticised for simply reversing stereotypes while their supporters claim to redress the balance in a genre dominated by western forces defeating Arabs.

Does Civilisation create a â??beat-them-upâ?? â??winner-take-allâ?? view of history? Do Counterstrike and Vice City lead to conflict? And then what do the Sims tell us about ourselves and which values do they re-inforce?

It is interesting to note that all sides seem to argue that â??the otherâ?? is unfairly portraying them as the evil enemy. The question of political propaganda in games is a large unexplored area. Taylorâ??s â??Munitions of the Mindâ?? is an excellent starting point for those wishing to better understand the history and impact of propaganda from a non-game perspective.

Posted on by mklang

Examination

With the end of spring term we arrive at the wonderful world of examinations and in particular the examination of masters thesisâ??

Lots of students who have finally managed to pull together enough text sit nervously as we attempt to understand what they have learned and why they couldnâ??t write clearly.

Basically there are three groups

Pass â?? this includes everything from the adequate to the overachievers. The latter group are desperate for the highest grade and will question every attempt to criticise what they believe to be the ultimate thesis ever handed in at your department.

Fail â?? a tragic group. Includes those who have worked hard but simply cannot get the grade. Mainly because they cannot write or understand what they read. This group also includes the slackers who feel that by simply handing in numbered pages (preferably with the school logo on each page and lots of diagrams) they deserve not only to pass but also to have national holidays created in memory of them.

Cheats â?? they stole it off the Internet but still feel that somehow due to their superior intellect they will get away with it. They will protest vigorously if caught and explain that everything from world politics to the neighbours cat is to blame. The fact that they are attempting to pass of stolen work as their own does not seem to them to be wrong.

Thankfully this ordeal will soon be overâ?¦

Posted on by mklang

Meatrix II

Its food politics and awareness served up by Sustainable Table in the form of animated flash films. Sustainable Table wants to make consumers aware of the problems with factory farming and to promote sustainable food.
The followup of the brilliant Meatrix movie is out now. Watch the new movie here!

In an age characterized by mechanization, there exists a large gap between our illusions about where food comes from and the stark reality of industrial meat and dairy production. Enter the Meatrix films. The Meatrix II: Revolting is the sequel to the original smash hit, the critically acclaimed exposé of industrial farming, The Meatrix. Simultaneously spoofing the popular Matrix films while educating consumers about the evils of factory farming, The Meatrix brings the concept of sustainability to a wide audience of mainstream consumers. With a growing audience of over 10 million viewers worldwide, translations into over 25 languages, as well as a 2005 Webby Award, the Meatrix has been an incredibly successful tool for raising interest in Sustainable Tableâ??s unique goals and projects. www.themeatrix.com and www.themeatrix2.com

Check out their earlier movie the Grocery Store Wars.

(via Peter Forsberg)

Posted on by mklang

Seeds of Change

A scary issue which I keep meaning to look more at is the politics and technology of food production, treatment, transportation and selling. Here is a very interesting documentary about GM foods from the University of Manitoba

Everyone has heard both the positives and negatives of genetically modified crops, from biotech companies like Monsanto and from environmental and consumer groups like Greenpeace, yet no one has actually heard from those who actually grow the food we eat – the farmers.

The film can be downloaded from the film website.

The film Seeds of Change is a seventy-minute documentary film made by University of Manitoba (U of M) professor Stéphane McLachlan, U of M PhD student Ian Mauro, and independent videographer Jim Sanders, is a balanced yet hard-hitting exposé of the controversy surrounding genetically modified crops and how they have changed the face of agriculture in western Canada.

Posted on by mklang

The sod-off day

Since I am approaching the date for my PhD defence the question of what I intend to do afterwards is being asked more often. I dont really understand the problem – the lists of stuff I want to complete once this project is finished is seemingly endless.

For example today I came across (I know I’m late!) the Creative Commons “Podcasting Legal Guide: Rules for the Revolution” wiki. Its a great idea except for the fact that it is based on US law so simply translating it and adapting it to Swedish conditions would be a worthwhile project.

Since I have a faculty position the US (?) problem of post-PhD tenure chasing is not an issue. While speaking to a colleague in Stockholm yesterday we both agreed that under the Swedish system the PhD defence is the big â??sod-offâ?? day, since once the PhD is accepted the shiny new PhD is no longer dependent upon currying favour among senior faculty.

After PhD you can say â??sod-offâ?? to many of the unpleasant tasks that you have been carrying out due to office politics and political correctness.

Which of course reminds me of a quote from Blackadder III where Backadder has promised to fight a duel for Prince George:

Prince George : Ah Blackadder. It has been a wild afternoon full of strange omens. I dreamt that a large eagle circled the room three times and then got into bed with me and took all the blankets. And then I saw that it wasn’t an eagle at all but a large black snake. And also Duncan’s horses did turn up and eat each other. As usual. Good portents for your duel do you think.
Blackadder : Not very good sir. I’m afraid the duel is off.
Prince George : OFF?
Blackadder : As in sod. I’m not doing it.

Posted on by mklang