Just a short note to say how proud I am to have been accepted as a team member of the Free Software Foundation Europe. This is a really, really big deal for me.
war
Fashion rules the blogs
Checking some statistics on Swedish blogs only to find that right now seven out of the top ten blogs are fashion blogs (according to this counter). Now even if we discount the methodology used it is still a scary statistic.
Yes â??scaryâ??.
Even if we try to explain the fact by claiming technological arrogance and superiority. That maybe fashion oriented people visit blogs while many others use rss readers it still does not begin to match the statistic â?? seven out of the ten top blogs are focused on fashion.
Therefore the clothes we wear are more important to the population at large than any other subject or topic. Forget social issues, forget politics, forget technology, forget war, and forget sex. Fashion rules the blogosphere.
We have come a long way from Naomi Klein “No Logo” and the like…
In an attempt to capitalise on this information cartoonist Mattias Adolfsson has turned his blog into a fashion blog for one week only. But be warned â?? fashion isnâ??t what it used to be when Mattias looks at it!
Check out his “Showroom” series of sketches.
Copyright and University Libraries
Today has been another travel day. Up to Stockholm for a day discussing copyright in relation to university libraries. As usual I found the librarians active and concerned about copyright issues. This is only natural since they are forced to be pragmatic about the way in which they react to copyright.
Most of the problems discussed today dealt with archiving. The most common forms of documents, which need to be archived (and are troubled by copyright), are student essays, licentiate theses and PhD theses.
Copyright creates problems in a couple of ways. First off can universities force student works to be archived and if so can they be put online? The same questions apply to the output of teachers and researchers (not always the same thing).
The whole question is complicated by the shifting practices among libraries, university departments and faculties. Actually the universities rarely have power in these issues since the decision making power is on the faculty level. For more on the dilemmas of university copyright see here.
As I mentioned the librarians were pretty cool. From totally ignoring the question of copyright and taking the â??just do itâ?? approach â?? to the more careful approach which is more concerned with the consequences. The lawyers on the other hand tend to be pessimistic and uncooperative. They want to risk nothing, do nothing, for fear of losing. Sometimes I wonder what they think they would lose in a battle? Since the slow disintegration of copyright is losing the war.
An interesting thing was that the librarians were very concerned about the potential malicious side effects of DRM use by publishers.
Art of War (free audiobook)
Sun Tzu’s classic the Art of War is this month’s free audiobook download from Learn Out Loud.
The Art of War is one of the oldest and most famous studies of strategy and has had a huge influence on military planning, business tactics, and beyond. First translated into a European language in 1782 by French Jesuit Jean Joseph Marie Amiot, it had been credited with influencing Napoleon, the German General Staff, and even the planning of Operation Desert Storm. Leaders as diverse as Mao Zedong, Vo Nguyen Giap, and General Douglas MacArthur have claimed to have drawn inspiration from the work. (Wikipedia)
The narrator is Christy Lynn.
This is only free to download during the month of November so do it now or miss the opportunity…
(via The Stingy Scholar)
Denying Censorship
Georg Greve of the Free Software Foundation Europe is present at the Internet Governance Forum in Athens and he posts daily reports. On the second day of the forum the discussions turned to openness â?? a topic which many states that censor Internet traffic may find embarrassing.
So it was natural to expect hostile reactions towards countries which have a well documented history of Internet censorship. One way of dealing with bad news is simply to deny everything which Mr Yang Xiokun of the Chinese mission in Geneva did.
He stated that China has no access restrictions â?? at all.
Here is Georg Greve report of the exchange:
NIK GOWING: Could I — may I ask you a question? How would you define, for those who are not familiar with your government’s policy and the detail of it, what is the principle on restrictions of openness in China?
YANG XIAOKUN:Â We do not have restriction at all.
Lets not forget that China is not alone in censoring the Internet. Organisations like the Reporters without Borders publish a list of â??15 Enemies of the Internetâ?? and many (most? all?) enlightened (?) European/Western countries intimidate, censor or limit access to information through alternative means – but at the same time it is almost impressive to be able to deny everything.
For more information about China and Internet censorship read the Open Net Initiative report on Internet Censorship in China between 2004-2005.
Greenpeace Thrown Out of Mac Expo
Greenpeace rented a space at the London Mac Expo as part of their ongoing â??Green My Appleâ??. The campaign is an awareness campaign to attempt to get technology manufacturers (Apple in particular) to begin seriously considering their environmental impact.
Apparently Greenpeace was thrown out of the Expo for handing out leaflets outside the space they had rented. Naturally they were only thrown out after other exhibitors complained.
Considering Apples image it must really hurt when they have to fight against an organisation like Greenpeace.
(via DailyTech & The Register)
Update:
More claims are appearing that state that Greenpeace intentionally provoked the action:
There then followed a number of complaints about the behaviour of Greenpeace activists from four visitors and five exhibitors, one of which was Apple. Allegedly, Greenpeace attendees were invading other stands for mock photo shoots and replacing other exhibitorsâ?? promotional material with their own.The problem came to a head when one woman complained that they had placed an apple in her childâ??s pram and were taking photographs of him without her permission.
Bob Denton told Macworld: â??I explained to them that I had the right to eject them but that wouldnâ??t happen if they showed reason.â?? However, later in the day, â??two more visitors and two more exhibitors complainedâ?? and he ejected the activists under clause 13 of the terms and conditions that Greenpeace signed.
â??They were determined to create conflict,â?? said Bob Denton (via Macworld)
Expression, not Repression
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.
Danish Courts Discover Internet Censorship
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)
Jewellrey Music Lyrics
Claire B has started a blog called The Mummy’s Bracelet. It based on her research in the area of death and jewellrey so we can look forward to some odd and interesting posts over there. In here premier post she asks her readers to help her come up with music with jewellrey lyrics to “…to create a musical soundtrack for my ongoing PhD project…”
Too right – I think more PhD’s should come with soundtracks.
I cannot think of any music with jewellrey lyrics – my mind goes blank and all I have is Diamonds are for ever (Must read Björn Hallberg’s critique of De Beer’s Blood Diamonds over at Battleangel) and Wagners Ring (which isn’t even about Jewellrey).
Tagging DRM
The Anti-DRM campaign Defective By Design has begun tagging products on Amazon.
The system works on Amazon.com with their system of “tagging” products on its US site. You can look at a product and add a tag that describes it. We have started tagging items that contain DRM (Blu-Ray players, Blu-Ray DVDs, the Zune, the iPod, Amazon Unbox movies etc.) with the “defectivebydesignâ?? tag.
As products get tagged over and over again with a particular tag, that tag surfaces to the top of the list, and displays in larger text in some views. There is also a page for pictures and discussions of the tag. Tag these products and search for similar DRM products to tag now!
All of the international Amazon websites allow customers to review products. Review a DRM product NOW as a way to warn others of the problems they may face because of DRM. Once you have reviewed a product you can post the link as a comment on our site, to encourage other DefectiveByDesign crew members to rate your review. If you see a product review that points out the DRM problems you can also rate that review highly so that others will see it.
Your participation will ensure that thousands of products get tagged and reviewed, and hundreds of thousands of consumers, maybe millions, will be warned about DRM. Nice!
(via Defective by Design)