Archive for the 'Politics' Category

Help Stop the Bloodshed in the Middle East

Published
by
Ben Balbo
on August 14, 2006
in Politics
. 0 Comments

Right now a tragedy is unfolding in the Middle East. Hundreds of civilians have died in the bombings in Lebanon, Israel and Palestine and the death toll is rising every day.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has called for an immediate ceasefire and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has joined Annan in calling for the deployment of international troops to the Israel-Lebanon border. This is the best proposal yet to stop the violence, but for it to succeed other global leaders need to get behind it immediately.

I have just signed a petition urging regional and global leaders to speak out and support Kofi Annan’s proposal. If people around the world can persuade their governments to unite in demanding a ceasefire, all sides in this conflict will be pressured to stand down. Can you sign the petition too?

http://www.ceasefirecampaign.org

The petition will be sent to key regional and global leaders and publicized in major newspapers in the Middle East, US and Europe. With enough signatures we can help pressure our leaders to stop the violence.

Thanks!

Guilty until proven innocent

Published
by
Ben Balbo
on July 26, 2006
in Politics
. 0 Comments

Via Digg: They called me a child pornographer

If you want to read the full salon.com article and don’t have membership, it’s also been conveniently posted as a Digg comment.

This story is about a family in the USA who went for a camping holiday. They did all the usual things: campfires, fishing, digging holes for toilets. In all, their children probably had a great time, and learnt a lot about nature, including how to care for it.

As usual during the trip, we took several photos. Because I forgot my digital camera, I bought a disposable camera at a gas station on the way to the campground. I took pictures of the kids using sticks to beat on old bottles and cans and logs as musical instruments. I took a few of my youngest daughter, Eliza, then age 3, skinny-dipping in the lake, and my son, Noah, then age 8, swimming in the lake in his underwear, and another of Noah naked, hamming it up while using a long stick to hold his underwear over the fire to dry. Finally, I took a photo of everyone, as was our camping tradition, peeing on the ashes of the fire to put it out for the last time. We also let the kids take photos of their own.

These photos, once developed, would bring this family to its knees and affect them in ways you probably cannot imagine. One of the employees at the place the photos were developed called the police due to the questionable contents in some of the photos. This was probably not a bad thing for him to do. What followed was an onslaught from the police and social services. The family were guilty until proven innocent, and once, finally, the case was closed (with the details kept on record) there was no apology or support.

I strongly recommend you read this article. Some of you might want a box of tissues handy.

Quick - we need to backup the Internet!

Published
by
Ben Balbo
on June 29, 2006
in Hosting and Politics
. 0 Comments

The US Dept of Homeland Security might be given the responsibility of ensuring the Internet doesn’t break. Or something like that.

This article describes how an overseas attacker could send the US into an economic and security crisis, and that someone needs to be responsible for “restart[ing] and restor[ing] the Internet” [John J. Castellani, president of Business Roundtable].

Gosh - I know some people don’t know how the Internet works, but you’d imagine someone would have given the DHS and John J. Castellani a quick lesson before they made a fool of themselves.

Of course, it’s probably not about security, just about economy - the economy of the Government coffers. People hate stealth taxes, so why not disguise it as “yet another counter-terrorism measure”?

For more opinions on this, check out the Digg thread.

Spain legalise copyright infringement!

Published
by
Ben Balbo
on June 28, 2006
in Copyright and Politics
. 0 Comments

Maybe they don’t think so, but as one person commented in the slashdot article, it’s pretty damn close to it!

Essentially, they’re adding a copyright licence in the form of a tax on blank media “including flash memory sticks, blank cd and dvd-rs, even mobile phones and printers”, which will be given to the copyright holder.

I wonder how they know what I’m going to burn on to the CD. If it is copyrighted music, then who gets the royalty? If I’m just backing up my personal files, can I apply for a refund? As making backups for personal use is still legal in Span, will people who have already paid royalties by purchasing the original CD/DVD be able to apply for a refund?

ZeroPaid story via Slashdot article.

Don’t abandon consumer and competition interests

Published
by
Ben Balbo
on June 14, 2006
in Open Source and Politics
. 0 Comments

Long time no post. I’ve just started a new job and have a project on the go, so apologies for being quiet. This is, in my opinion, important though.

Linux Australia Urges the Federal Govt. Not to Abandon Consumer and Competition Interests

Linux Australia, Australia’s peak Free and Open Source Software community group, announced the launch of a petition today calling on the federal government to resist pressure to abandon consumer and competition rights when drafting anti-circumvention laws. New laws are required under the terms of the Free Trade Agreement negotiated between Australia and the United States.

“The treaty doesn’t force us to implement this like the US, where these laws have driven litigation to suppress academic publications, prevent third-party printer cartridge manufacturers, and eliminate competition by Open Source software. But naturally some large business interests are pressing for the same restrictions on legitimate access to digital material here.” said Rusty Russell, Linux Australia’s IP Policy Adviser.

“Consumers should continue to enjoy full use of their legitimately purchased digital material, whether it be playing DVDs, copying CDs onto their iPods, using computer programs of their choice, or playing iTunes-bought songs on non-iPod MP3 players. You’ve paid for it, you use it as you see fit.”

Con Zymaris, a director with the Open Source Industry Association, joined with Russell. “Australian small businesses are world-class at using, deploying and building Open Source software. We must be free to do so without fear of lawsuits from the larger incumbents we compete against.”

Linux Australia President Jon Oxer called for a focus on consumer rights and support. Oxer urged all those who would be affected by the new laws to download a copy of the petition and get as many signatures as possible.

“If we don’t push back now, Australian competition, consumer rights and freedoms will be hamstrung as we enter the digital age.”

The petition and online statement can be found at http://linux.org.au/law.

Rusty Russell can be contacted on 0417 451212.