“We see things as we are, not as they are…” Isaac Asmiov
I found this quote in this article:BBC NEWS | World | Africa | Ken Wiwa: ‘Committed to remembering’ about Ken Wiwa, written by his son.
As Milan Kundera wrote, ‘The struggle of humanity against power, is the struggle of memory against forgetting.
Very poignant today for more than the 10th anniversary of Ken Wiwa’s death (he was executed by the Nigerian government for protesting against oil companies devasting the Niger delta).
Still, Grokster has turned out to be the kind of friend that assures the worst enemies. Among those enemies is a Supremely false distinciton between creativity and technology. I don’t know how we’re going to unf**k this one, but I’m sure it will take a very long time. And that tech can’t do it alone.
The most worrying point I have seen is one made by Cory Doctorow:
…what today’s decision will kill is American innovation. Chinese and European firms can get funding and ship products based on plans that don’t have to comply with this decision’s fuzzy test, while their American counterparts will need to convince everyone from their bankers to the courts that they’ve taken all measures to avoid inducing infringement. This is good news if you’re an American corporate lawyer but not if you’re an inventor creating a new way to enjoy content.
Its not that I don’t support European firms (or Chinese ones for that matter) however innovation breeds innovation. Anything that could slow this down is bad news.
Marc Canter isn’t too happy either:
This totally effects the fuure of DLAs (digital lifestyle aggregators.) I want to store my music, video and photos - the content I BOUGHT and access it from anywhere I go.
We want to provide the tools to do that.
We’ll ask all our users to agree to terms which say “I understand that the copyrights laws forbid me from illegally distributing content I haven’t paid for.”
But we sure as hell will protect our fair use rights!
So to what limits can our customers ’share’ the music they’ve legally purchased?
That’s the question.
Legal and political arguments are all interwoven in this decision, not to mention aspects of the right to intellectual property versus the commons.
I wonder if this decision will ultimately affect blogging and user created content?
I stand corrected - from the BBC’s election blog, Mark Mardell informs me I am being lazy with my suggestion that the election is boring.
We have a PM used to being the golden boy, tarnished by an unpopular war, used to treating his party with disdain, finding he needs them and making a deal with his rival.
We have an opposition party still struggling to find its way back to power, energised by a new and clever campaign making immigration an election issue for the first time in 20 years.
We have a third party taking votes from the ruling party, threatening uncertain results all over the country.
The political situation isn’t boring. And while I’m not one of those who thinks the electorate will be enthused if you go over housing policy in great detail, there are enough policy difference to capture interest. What’s boring ?
Good points. Although I know where I stand on the issues I do find it relatively interesting that there appears to be little discussion about the election in my circles - except my father in law telling me how he had great delight in baiting the Labour canvasser who rang him up, over Pensions…
I’ve only been visisted by one candidate but as I know and support him its not really that valid. Not one of the other candidates have been around and I doubt they will now. Strange thing is despite this being a national election you are voting for a local representative and yet I couldn’t even begin to tell you what the main issues are locally. (I could guess but I don’t have a feel from others). Despite Aldershot being a target seat for the Lib Dems, I don’t expect anything too exciting to happen here but if the Tory vote collapses (highly unlikely) then anything it could.
I wonder how the average soldier feels about the Iraq war?
BBC NEWS | Politics | Kennedy looks to election gains
One of my favourite Politics A level questions was “The SDP / Liberal alliance (as it then was before merger into the Liberal democrats) have broken the mould of British Politics.” Discuss.
The standard answer (at least in the late 80s) was a slightly depressing they tried hard but “No”. Even recent elections despite showing the willingness of the average British voter to move away from two party politics, the frmework though warped does still seem to exist however can it continue? Perhaps Charles Kennedy’s speech will see the Liberal Democrats provide a truely effective third force that could win power, although I suspect that this will not be possible at this next general election.
What is certainly the case is that multi-party politics will be a reality. I certainly believe that more choice is better as long as there is not too much choice given the way the political system works in the UK. Push to far away from single party government or two party political system and things will break.
Despite my former professor (now Lord) Norton’s desire to see change by evolution, I think revolution (though not in a chaotic way) may be necessary.
The Ourhouse Weblog: Hutton and faith in authority
Johnny raises some very valid points about Hutton and the culture of deference to authority, particularly judges that the vast majority of people have in the UK.
Any organisation that seeks to undertake actions in secret will generate theories of motives and inappropriate actions. However even organisations which attempt secrecy are gradually being undermined by people who ae willing to ‘leak’ and as John’s article suggests the networked world where connections and channels of communication are not controllable in the industrial world view sense. We live in complexity; adversarial systems cannot achieve justice or useful solutions, they merely implement a old and maybe outdated system of law & politics.
Responsiblity for this lies with everyone. We as a country, a society must consider that structurally what we have now is failing to reflect what we need in a post-modern age. Its essentially bankrupt but relying on the apathy of its creditors to make changes.
I don’t know what the answer is either however meaningful discussion should now take place on how to move things forward. While evolution is preferable over revolution, it cannot be at the pace of the 19th Century when we are in the 21st…
Brand Activism: Taxpayers or citizens
Over at the Mutualist Manifesto Johnny points to this delightful quote from an article on Citizenship in the Pacific Northwest Inlander:
Taxpayers are just full of anxiety. Citizens seek to participate in a constructive manner. Taxpayers seek always to reduce public life to a balance sheet. Citizens seek ways of broadening and deepening public life. Taxpayers, by definition, live in a private world, and they don’t much like government penetrating that world. The word “taxes” symbolizes that penetration. Citizens seek life in the polis. Citizens live in a world of values, which, when agreed upon, determine how we will live…. The citizen is up to something very different. The citizen is concerned with what urbanist James Kunstler terms “the public realm.” Kunstler defines the public realm as “the connective tissue of our everyday world.
And Johnny’s comment:
This is the kind of awareness that mutualism promotes, a deeper sense of what is to be a citizen, part of the community.
Here, here my friend, here, here.
Take some steps today to connect with your community, whether at work, in your neighbourhood. Understand what’s going on and engage. For my part its the work realm where I could do with engaging more. Don’t let ‘alienation’, that sense of being outside effect you - make a difference and have that conversation, listen and above all act.
BBC NEWS | UK | MoD denies Trafalgar party snub
Lord Nelson led the famous victory in 1805 against French and Spanish fleets.
The First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Alan West, wants to bring together warships from around the world, including French and Spanish vessels, for what would be the centrepiece of the bi-centenary celebrations, the Telegraph said.
Other celebrations could feature a parade through Trafalgar Square and the Navy is negotiating with Spain about sending a warship to Cape Trafalgar to lay a wreath and have a gun salute.
A spokesman for the MoD said: “A committee has been set up to look at a number of different ideas and suggestions.
“These celebrations have got to be funded and financial scrutiny is important to ensure that public money is used most effectively.”
This article from the Beeb interested me for a number of reasons:
1) Should we celebrate a battle and loss of life despite its significance?
2) Shouldn’t we have a joint memorial with France and Spain?
3) Money should be spent on better things - but then the MOD have got it anyway…
Trafalgar is a massive part of English history (usually presented as British history but don’t let that fool you) and along with 1066, probably the only story that School children generally remember (strangely both involve death following an eye injury).
I guess the English psyche cannot let go of such ‘victoris’ because as with most English military success it tended to be the plucky outgunned English beating the foreign hoards by intelligence rather than might of numbers or superior equipment.
So rambling about a bit my main point is why do we celebrate military engagement but not other more positive developments on a national level. True tomorrow we have acelebration for England winning the Rugby World Cup, next year will see celebrations for the bicentenntial of rail travel but they always seem to pale into the background when comparing military events.
Perhaps modern / post modern / new Britain needs to look very hard at itself and the way it presents itself nationally and internationally.
a site which is encouraging people to track George Bush during his visit to the UK, with the tag line, ‘George Bush thinks he can escape an angry public… He’s Wrong!’
Interwebnet.org - ‘Footman’ breaches Buckingham security
Help us track George W. Bush across London!
I’ll leave the politics aside for the moment, its amazing how quickly these types of protests can now be up and running and getting out into the public conciousness.
I wonder how effective that this will be in terms of tracking him and in terms of whether as a protest it will have any effect?
On the politics side I have little sympathy for Bush and an effect protest would be useful to see not only to focus Bush’s mind but also to focus the mind of Blair.
BBC NEWS | Technology | UK tests open source waters
An announcement that the UK Government aim to move towards Open source software rather than continue to rely on proprietary products e.g. Microsoft. Watch this (or rather that) space!
BBC NEWS | Business | Can regional assemblies bridge the divide?
Three English regions, the North-East, North-West, and Yorkshire and the Humber will be given a vote on whether they want their own elected assembly.
For deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, regional devolution is the culmination of a long-held political dream.
He wants to replace the unelected quangos currently in charge of regional development with modern, democratically accountable institutions that will give the regions a real voice for the first time.
But for the scheme’s many critics, the new assemblies will amount to little more than expensive talking shops with no real power.
I’m highlighting this article from the Beeb primarily because it is a subject very dear to my heart. So much so because I wrote my degree dissertation on Devolution to the regions of England.
Within the UK, and England in particular are a number of unelected bodies which preside over a wide variety of governmental functions. These can be relatively trivial up to the ecomomically powerful e.g. Regional Development bodies. The idea behind this new intiaitive is to consolidate the powers of these various bodies in an elected assembly at a regional level. A good thing you might think, seeing as the current situation allows for limited if any, accountability for actions and only small amounts of redress.
However one of the big criticisms of this type of devolution of power is that essentially they will be impotent. The key to the success of any Government, wheher nationally or locally is the abiltity to truely influence its surroundings and this is usually accomplished through tax raising powers and the ability to then spend the budget raised. These bodies won’t have that and hence the accusation of being a talking shop and an administrative overhead.
So are they desirable and will they get voted in?
Personally I think they are desirable. Any factor which can increase democracy and perhaps more importantly participation is worth the cost, assuming they do have the power to make a difference. Their power may be limited in the first instance but it does create a precedent and allow for further developments towards regional democracy.
Will they come about? I think the choice of areas like Yorkshire and Humberside will work. There is a distinctive regional identity lacking in such areas as the South East, and a desire to have a say in how things work in their area. It also cuts some of the apron strings from London which they will always view as a good thing. Economic development in Scotland, Ibelieve has been booming since devolution and proponents would hope that a similar effect can happen within these regional areas. I think it can given the right leadership, but then that’s the lottery of a democracy.
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