UK Technology Newswire Archive
EU Software Patent Plans Shelved Amid Massive Demonstrations
02-09-2003 09:39
On Aug 28th, the European Parliament postponed its vote on the proposed EU Software Patent Directive. The day before, approximately 500 persons had gathered for a rally beside the Parliament in Brussels, accompanied by an online demonstration involving more than 2000 websites. The events in and near the Parliament were reported extensively covered in the media, including tv and radio, all over Europe and beyond. Within a few days, the petition calling the European Parliament to reject software patentability accumulated 50,000 new signatures.al-jazeera website relaunches - but for how long???
01-09-2003 23:10
The Arab satellite station Al-Jazeera launched an English-language Web site yesterday, five months after hackers brought down a temporary site at the height of the Iraq war but how long will it stay up for?GM Food and Crops: What Next?
01-09-2003 21:56
This briefing is an update on what has been happening on genetically modified (GM) food and crops and what is coming up in the near future. This autumn will see a number of key dates, including a report on the Government's public debate, GM Nation, a report on the Farm Scale Evaluations and the next steps in the GM Trade War between the US and Europe.The decisions made over the next few months could have widespread repercussions for our food, farming and environment. Chief amongst these will whether the Government will allow GM crops to be commercially grown in the UK. If they do, the first could be grown as early as spring 2004.
philosophical aspects of software patents
31-08-2003 16:45
The debate on software patentability also addresses old philosophical questions : are computing machines intelligent ? Can we think of making software applications patentable withtout asking what represents these applications for humans and for the european society ? If programmed machines are intelligent, can we patent intelligence ?
Free software websites shut themselves down over EU patent proposals
30-08-2003 13:51
Free Software websites worldwide, but especially those based in Europe, have placed protest notices on their front pages regarding the impending European Parliament decisions on the introduction of software patents by the European Union. The vote, originally scheduled for 10 June 2003, was scheduled to take place on 1 September 2003 but has been delayed for another month due to unprecedented public controversy in the programming community. At the height of the protest, it was reported that about 2700 websites had placed protest notices on their front page. Here is a selection of the notices from the sites of the Free Software world:Demonstrations against EU Software Patents in Belgium
29-08-2003 01:22
http://belgium.indymedia.org/news/2003/08/72158.php
Veggie power
28-08-2003 15:38
Veggie oil, a carbon neutral alternative to petro-chemical diesel.Protests against Software Patents in Europe
26-08-2003 11:38
The Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure is organising a demonstration against software patents in Brussels tomorrow, and an online demo. If software patents become legal in the EU it risks large numbers of run-on-a-shoestring web sites such as Indymedia being required to pay fees to large companies. It would also have implications for wider campaigns on patenting.slashdot carries indymedia-uk RFID Tags protests news
22-08-2003 15:22
slashdot.org takes notice of indymedia-uk news on RFID Tags protests: http://slashdot.org/articles/03/08/22/0327247.shtml?tid=158&tid=99
New video resources for activists
21-08-2003 22:38
Hot of the press (or out of the burner) are a series of copyleft video collections on CD and distributed under the Undercurrents Ruffcuts banner...Music Website Invited to DSEi Arms Fair!
21-08-2003 14:47
In a shocking display of ineptitude it seems that Ammo City, the alternative music entertainment and news website / forum, has been mistakenly invited to the DSEi arms fair!!See text from the site below
http://www.ammocity.com/artman/publish/article_125.shtml Aug 27 Demonstrations against EU Software Patent Plans
20-08-2003 23:36
The Proposal for a software patent directive, which will be submitted to the European Parliament for plenary debate and subsequent decision on September 1st, is giving rise to another wave of protests. Various groups in Belgium and elsewhere are mobilising for a rally in Brussels on August 27th and are calling on web administrators to temporarily block their web sites. This is a repost of a press release here: http://swpat.ffii.org/news/03/demo0819/
Flashmobs update - daily mail, cops, shutdowns, muggings and reading festival
19-08-2003 10:33
Quick roundup of some of the more interesting flashmob news:Help Big Oil! Join Anti-Smoking Crusade.
19-08-2003 00:23
By ignoring Big Oil's tobacco pesticide residues in typical cigarettes...the plant (tobacco) is allowed to take the fall. Other corporate criminals benefit as well. AND...Big Cig, the ostensible target, gets off easy. If you like cannabis prohibition, you'll love the tobacco version.