UK UK Newswire Archive
Policing Operations: Football on Saturday
13-03-2013 08:55
Fans starting gathering in the Market Square, Nottingham.
Later in the day, three Wolves fans were arrested. One after a flare was set off inside the ground. Two other arrests were for public order offences.
First incidents occured when around 300 Wolves fans gathered in the Weatherspoons pub in Old Market Square ahead of the match. Outside, a few smoke bombs were thrown and there was much pushing and shoving with the large police presence there. They were eventually escorted south towards the ground.
People in a section of the crowd looked a bit familiar to me .... as did their occasional half-hearted chants of E .... E ... EDL etc (NOT the English Disco Lovers it seemed).
I got the impression that some didn't like being photographed much, giving the expected gestures. A thunderflash landing close nearby.
Oh ..... and the result was apparently - Nottingham Forest 3 Wolves 1
But who the fuck cares ...... !!
Amnesty International Launches Online Campaign for the Angola 3's Albert Woodfox
12-03-2013 19:10
Richard Stallman on Copyright vs. Community
12-03-2013 18:55
Richard Stallman, a key figure in the free software movement (GNU project, Free Software Foundation) and pioneer of copyleft, gave a talk on Copyright vs Community in the Age of Computer Networks at the University of Nottingham yesterday evening. Stallman argued that copyright, a concept developed during the age of the printing press, has taken on oppressive qualities in the digital age, where it restricts the freedom of the public to share and can be used as a form of censorship.
Stallman started by stating that most software available today subjugates the user because it cannot be understood or modified by users. He advocates “escaping from injustice” by only using free software, whose source code is public and can be freely copied and modified by the user community.
Stallman began by exploring the origins of copyright with the dawn of the printing press. The printing press brought economies of scale into the reproduction of written works, allowing mass reproduction of works for the first time. It also centralised reproduction of text. Copyright, was instituted as a form of censorship by Queen Mary of England who used it to suppress the publishing of works by those who opposed her Catholic faith. It required state permission for a perpetual monopoly on the right to publish a text.
Copyright allowed for ownership of a work by the author and was intended to encourage writing by allowing the author to profit from it, whilst bringing benefit to the public in the form of a greater choice of books to read. At this stage only publishers were restricted.
However, in the present era, copyright is used to protect the rights of publishers and restrict the public. Computer networks facilitate the copying and transmission of information. The subsequent panic amongst publishers about their profits falling has resulted in draconian laws against sharing information, enforced by invasion of the homes, computers and connections of the general public.
Copyright has been greatly extended in duration. During Queen Anne's time it was granted for 14-28 years. Now major corporations such as Disney have “bought” laws extended copyright for as much as 100 years after the death of the author.
In addition, the breadth of what is copyrightable has increased to the point where Stallman says we live in a “pay per view society”, where certain companies are “perverting technology and using it against us”. For example, Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology, which was first introduced in DVDs and is now present in a much more advanced form in BluRay discs. The encrypted formats used are termed “digital handcuffs” by Stallman who urged the audience not to use BluRays or Netflicks, an encrypted movie screening service, for these companies attacks on the freedom of the user.
Stallman went into a tangent at this point to attack the idea of “free” trade, which he sees as a cover for the transfer of power from the public to corporations and an attack on democracy. He cited examples of free trade treaties being used to allow multinational companies to sue countries for introducing health laws to protect their citizens against those companies' products. The WTO, he said, “exists to kill people on behalf of companies”.
We then moved on to the music industry and the egregious example of Sony, whose “corrupt discs” used a system to attack the user's computer and restrict access to the disc, much like a computer virus. To add insult to injury, the system stole free software that had been licensed under a GNU license to do so. Sony was never prosecuted for these felonies, although they were sued by users. Again, there is a similarly restricted streaming service: Spotify. “Out, out damn Spotify” said Stallman who is also promoting a consumer boycott of Sony. These are technologies that put the user in a state of dependence, rather than empowering the user.
Stallman's next target was ebooks, in particular the Amazon “Swindle”. Ebooks are an attack on anonymity because no one can buy them with cash so Amazon and other book companies know exactly who is reading which books. They take away the freedom of lending books to others, giving books to charity shops, etc. If you read ebooks on the Swindle, all of your books are the property of Amazon! Amazon has deleted all copies of a particular book via a backdoor in its software – appropriately it was George Orwell's 1984. Very unreassuringly they said they would never do it again unless ordered to do so by the state. Stallman suggested that this was a modern version of book burning and could allow for books to be banned with ease.
Perhaps the most bizarre story was the case of an injunction taken out by Harry Potter author, J.K.Rowling, and her publishers, to prevent unknown Canadian readers from reading one of her books before the release date!
Throughout the section on books, Stallman made repeated references to the fact that in the UK you can be convicted of a crime simply based on the books that you possess, in reference to the Terrorism Act. This made me wonder whether he was referring to the Nottingham Two, a student and staff member from the University of Nottingham who were held in police custody for 6 days wrongly accused of being terrorists, based on their possession of a book available in the University's own library. Perhaps we should be boycotting future talks at the University of Nottingham as a result?
Media and publishing companies have “organised in a conspiracy to take away our freedom” in a “war on sharing” and Stallman says we need to organise to take it back.
Then Stallman went on to propose his own system to replace copyright and give freedom back to the people. Copyright, he said, should be much shorter and proposed 10 years from the date of publication. This is needed to protect free software against appropriation by profit-making companies. He proposed three categories of works with different protections for each:
Works for practical jobs – should all be free because users should have control over their lives
Points of view or descriptions of experiences – modification should be restricted but sharing for non-commercial purposes must be legal
Works of art and entertainment – 10 years of protection against modification but sharing should be allowed
In addition, all peer to peer sharing should be legal and remixing of works, which is different to modification, should be allowed.
Stallman offered various solutions to ensure that there was adequate incentive for films, music, etc to continue being made, such as state-administered distribution of monies based on popularity and voluntary donations from users who could afford it, although he was clear that such donations should not become subject to moralistic discourse.
Although the 2 hour talk was rather long and at times a little disjointed, Stallman packed it with fresh ideas, great soundbites and wry observations. When it comes to technology and rights, Stallman isn't afraid to think outside the box and come up with solutions to genuninely benefit "the people". My only disappointment was Stallman's persistent faith in "good" government. He seems to be one of those idealists who still believe that the US Constitution and Bill of Rights can be a beacon of freedom, despite all evidence to the contrary. Stallman only seems to be offended by the practices of some companies and his vision of freedom includes a form of defanged capitalism, although it was unclear to me what would stop these 'nice' companies from turning into their 'evil' predecessors. Stallman seems to have no deeper critique of the underlying logics of the state and capitalism, seeming to have faith in some kind of social democracy to deliver 'power to the people'.
There were also a few awkward moments where Stallman came to an uncritical defence of porn (including porn involving 17 year old girls), suggesting that his idea of what constitutes freedom might be rooted in his own experience as a male of a certain age and class background. How different subjective experiences of what constitutes freedom would be resolved in Stallman's future is not something that he touched on. But perhaps I'm being unfair - Stallman is primarily a theorist of technology and rights, not a political philosopher.
These criticisms aside, Stallman's talk was a much needed challenge to the corporatised world of copyright and a call to arms for those of us who believe in the public's freedom to access, copy and modify works without fear of stigmatisation or repression. You can find out more about his philosophy and campaigns at the links below.
UG#623 - Waking Up And Smelling The Kool-Aid (Finance Capital & Dictatorship)
12-03-2013 12:59
Cardiff Bedroom Tax Meeting
12-03-2013 00:37
Anti-Bedroom Tax Meeting, Thursday 14 March at 7 pmTair Pluen, Cardiff City Centre
Native squatter refuses to cooperate in court after mansion eviction
11-03-2013 22:57
Counter Terror Tuesdays: Call the US Embassy in London
11-03-2013 22:19
They say Terror Tuesdays. We say Counter Terror Tuesdays.
Call the US Embassy in London every Tuesday.
Protest Obama's Tuesday meetings where he chooses new targets from his 'kill list' of men, women and children.
Poisoned Flag: US Sailors Nuked by Fukushima
11-03-2013 21:39
Sailors tell a harrowing tale - exposed to radiation from Fukushima, over a period of 2 months, as close as 1 mile from shore. They were not told of the accident until weeks later, were never properly tested for exposure, received no preventative treatment, and even now get no medical help from the Navy. The pair are amongmore than 100 U.S. sailors suing TEPCO, the Japanese nuclear plant operator.
The Hibakusha: the Ethical Case for Independence
11-03-2013 20:55
By Douglas Stuart Wilson There are almost as many reasons for the independence of Scotland as people in favour of the idea. Over the last few months, James Kelman, Alasdair [...]
get involved! - Come to the Stop G8 Network Meeting in London
11-03-2013 20:55
StopG8 is organising a week of action, including workshops, gigs and cultural events in June. There is also a major day of action on Tuesday 11 June, 'J11 – Carnival against Capitalism'. There's lots to do and we need more people to get involved.Hate meetings?! No problem, we want people to come and take on jobs, you don't have to sit around in big groups discussing things. The next national meeting will be in London on 6th and 7th April (venue tba, see network23.org/stopg8/), we'll arrange the agenda so you can come along and get involved without spending hours in meetings.
Activist risks jail,pledges not to answer questions if stopped under Terror laws
11-03-2013 12:46
Tom Woodhead, who is currently being held by Israeli immigration authorities has pledged not to answer questions if British authorities attempt to misuse the Terrorism Act 2000 when he is deported to the UK.Orwellian Secret Courts in the UK: Britain on the Brink of Tyranny
11-03-2013 12:13
Judicial trials to be held in secretBy Global Research News
Global Research, March 10, 2013
Law and Justice, Police State & Civil Rights 114 64 7
453
Britain is on the brink of tyranny.
The Justice and Security Bill, if it becomes law, will enable judicial trials to be held in secret, and it will even be illegal to tell anyone about them. The bill has now gone through all stages in the House of Commons, and will now go to the House of Lords for consideration. In other words, it’s nearly there (
http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2012-13/justiceandsecurity.html). The Skegness Standard supports fascism
11-03-2013 08:55
The BNP has recently announced that its Lincolnshire Coastal Branch, organised by Grimsby’s Robert Ashton, will be holding another day of action in Skegness next weekend. The BNP will be meeting from 11.30am on Sat 16th March, with the intention of marching to the Heath Road halal abattoir. Last time they met at The Victoria, 23 Wainfleet Road. We don’t imagine they will have moved far but you can call them on 07714009285 to find out. They are even taking the party’s Lie Lorry for a spin around the streets – let’s hope that there are no low bridges in Skegness! Party activists will, once again, be crying crocodile tears and pretending to care about animal rights but in reality they are more interested in persecuting Muslims.
Interestingly, local paper The Skegness Standard seems to be propping them up, giving the fascists “ground breaking” advertising space for their demo. Readers may remember that after the last BNP demo in January, the Standard gave the BNP a totally uncritical front page article, which will undoubtedly have been a boost for them. Either the people running the paper are totally naive or are sympathetic to the fascists.
We have written to the Standard’s editor, Philip Murray, asking him why his publication is giving support to the fascist BNP. We ask that anti-fascists contact Mr Murrary to find out why his publication is promoting a party led by a holocaust denier that has a racist and authoritarian ideology:
Skegness Standard
Unit 22
The Hildreds
Skegness
PE25 3NU
Editor – Philip Murray
Telephone: 01754 897120 Fax: 01754 610987
Email: philip.murray@jpress.co.uk
NF & KKK lynched black people in effigy in Swansea
11-03-2013 04:00
e day Hassanat Aliyu and her daughters deported late Saturday night
11-03-2013 01:11
‘My children do not know where they are, we can’t stay in Nigeria. Why has the British government treated us like this?’ Hassanat speaking from Nigeria.
