lix blog

Support PRGuitarMan to preserve Free Culture!
Read more

Nyan Cat

E-mail, dated 21st January 2012, to Richard Stallman, Cory Doctorow and Lawrence Lessig.

Dearest Richard, Lawrence & Cory

Tonight I am writing you in relation to my concerns on the recent activities around SOPA & PIPA.
The U.S. senate postponed PIPA, whereas SOPA goes back to the “drawing board”[0]. For the record: Neither the U.S. senate[1], nor the European Union[2] said “No” to the Acts, but only postponed the “decision”.

Let me introduce my concern with the following topic.
Today I received an invitation by the CCC[3] head quartier, calling for an extraordinary general meeting to discuss the expulsion of Daniel Domscheit-Berg (Daniel Domscheit-Berg aka “The Architect of Wikileaks” and founder of Openleaks[4]). You might have heard and remember, that Daniel, after not having been correctly informed by the board, decided to quit Wikileaks and found his proper project, which he, during the development process, intended to get reviewed and signed with some sort of “official seal” by the hackers of the CCC.
It might just have been an unfortunate move, as many protagonists were surprised by the reaction of the CCC and his enthousiasm.
So today the largest, and most powerful hacker society in Europe, calls for a meeting to discuss possible changes in the regulations of the Club, to legally allow expulsions of this sort. Actually I am very happy, that the CCC, with its “very german” way to sort out such “issues”, is calling for a discussion. But, – and as you might guess from my wording, – I am indeed very much worried.
After I met Julian & Daniel in person at the 25C3[5] and felt much respect towards their honorable efforts, this story has since taken the worst way, such a commitment can take. – Poor Bradley Manning…

Meanwhile (today as well) the best friend of my mother is calling me to ask, if I could tell her if it’s a good idea to buy an iPad, while Apple launches its EBook service with the following restrictions.
quote
(ii) if your Work is provided for a fee (including as part of any subscription-based product or service), you may only distribute the Work through Apple and such distribution is subject to the following limitations and conditions: (a) you will be required to enter into a separate written agreement with Apple (or an Apple affiliate or subsidiary) before any commercial distribution of your Work may take place; and (b) Apple may determine for any reason and in its sole discretion not to select your Work for distribution.
unquote

Well, yeah! – All this sort of crap is boring, I know. Information wants to be free[6]. And the Nyan Cats[7], “For the LULZ[8]” and whatever Laser Canon DDOS script by Anonymous are not bringing the matters further as well.
While most (h)activists are busy taking down websites of right wing parties or governments, they are, in the other hand, busy with some sort of “trench warfare” fighting GNU vs. BSD, CC vs. Public Domain etc. – Briefly, busy with themselves…

Last October, Richard was giving a talk[9] at the ETHZ (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich), explicitly explaining the 4 freedoms of Free Software. While the ETHZ, as the highest ranked academic institute in Switzerland, supplies the technical grey mass of the tomorrows technology companies, I was personally shocked how it comes, that Information Technology students in 2011 are still not aware of this fundamental knowledge.
In December, Cory held an epic talk in Zurich about the politics of copyright[10], while his presence was abused by one of the hosts (at least this was my personal impression), a person who is on the board of the federal cultural department of Switzerland, who has never ever published anything under GFDL or CC license, to promote herself and underlining her “governmental assignment” and commitment to freedom. (There are so many others who deserve the position of representing freedom in Switzerland and host people like Cory.) While only a minority of the audience in Zurich has fundamentally understood, what Cory is talking about, he was later presenting his concept of post-copyright-war in the talk “the coming war on general computatiion”[11] at the 28th Chaos Communication Congress (28C3)[12], where he found himself in an audience of educated supporters only. (I well remember, when Lawrence gave his talk at the 23C3[13] I was sitting with my GNU costume[14] in one of the first rows ).

Getting back to the subject, let me add that I am writing this e-mail out of a deep concern, which I personally understand as an interconnection of issues which, in the core, are interrelated.
Grown up in Kathmandu, Nepal and living in one of the wealthiest countries, scarce of natural resources but hosting the two largest banks (each of the producing 3 times the GDP) and hosting the head offices of large oil corporations and the weapon industry, I have ever since struggled finding partners to discuss concerns regarding global economy and did only find mental peace in books by Naomi Klein[15] (The Shock Doctrine), André Gorz[16] and Slavoj Žižek.
Even during a project for the European Commission, working as a researcher in Technology Assesment for the project ETICA[17] (Ethical Issues of Emerging ICT Applications), I understood, that within a research project of the EU, the regulations and directives over free/open standards (ODT)[18] are not applied in the research process.

The concept of Freedom of a Free Society seems to remain an Outopos[19] (Utopia), in which freedom fighters are kept busy with their own concerns and discussions.
Over 6 years I have continuously tried to bring and teach the concept of Free Software to an African University[20], giving my partners and fellows all the necessary freedom to continue and bring the project further themselves, while Nicolas Negroponte got corrupted by M$ and the global public nurtured by the disinformative news of a 100$ laptop. – I understood that western NGO’s are driven by exploitation and self-deception, as well as the “recepients” in under-developed countries, who have been tought how to globally represent the neo-imperialist begging culture. The only way for me to continue my commitment to fight at the roots of global exploitation would be in the role of Colonel Kurtz[21].
Last year I tried to enlighten the hacker society at the 27C3[22] with the subject of artistic freedom in Classical Music, which is, as Richard beautifully explains in his statement[23], a very similar concern of musicians and composers, as well as software developpers and authors. – Well, it just has been percieved as “the most beautiful talk ever” (at the Chaos Communication Congress’) and is remembered as a nice music concert, while the fundamental message is being lost.
The last years I have been working with many musicians, film directors and artists who all comprehend and share such views, but when they get an offer by Deutsche Grammophon, Sony Classical Music or whatever big corp. they collapse (e.g. —————-ZENSORED———–) and, in many cases, only perform due to a regular Cocaine consumption ———ZENSORED——, as well as ——–ZENSORED——— at my presentation of “The Concert” at the 27C3).
With ———ZENSORED—–, who is a big shot in Music Management in Europe, managing ———————–ZENSORED——————— etc., I am trying to take the discussion to a level which could bring some significant paradign shift in licenseing music and the rights on music performances. – Total fail! This guy is busy gathering money to feed his family and assure that his kids rise in a decent environment.

So for whose rights are we actually fighting for, if we don’t have the artists, authors and curators on our sides, as they are being kept busy feeding the economy? Economy constantly pulls us back into the mud of self-deception.
For a person who has something to share and something to give, these are tough days…

I think we need a concept to corrupt the system with its own rules. Just like Richard when he copyrighted Freedom by introducing the GPL. A law that excludes the possibility for governments to take away out information, our know-how, our knwoledge.
What if we introduced a “meta-internet”, where everyone that accesses it needs to sign an agreement that as soon as he is entering into this area of unconditional freedom, in which his personality disolves and everyone is part of the whole, he looses the right to claim for any right.

I am tired to continuously fight for things that are so evident and fundamental. I am sad to see that politicians today are not representing respectful positions, but act in interests of corrupt corporations and lobbies.
Is it true that nowadays we need to activate a majority of the global blogosphere, while hundreds of thousands of kids outrage because they can’ t copy-paste their homework because wikipedia is blacked-out, to bring a handful of senators to just postpone a vote on an act that is totally lapse…? – WTF!

The most feasible way out I can see today is to accelerate the self-extermination of humankind, for the sake of a healthy planet.

Yours, Alex

[0] http://yro.slashdot.org/story/12/01/20/209210/sopa-goes-back-to-the-drawing-board-pipa-postponed
[1] http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2012/01/sopa-bill-sent-back-to-the-drawing-board-in-wake-of-internet-protests.html
[2] http://politics.slashdot.org/story/12/01/20/0259218/eu-to-sign-acta-later-this-month
[3] http://ccc.de/
[4] http://openleaks.org/
[5] http://events.ccc.de/congress/2008/Fahrplan/events/2916.en.html
[6] … as in freedom, not beer
[7] http://blog.lix.cc/2011/06/06/nyan-cat/
[8] http://lix.cc/img/lulz.jpg
[9] http://blog.lix.cc/2011/10/18/richard-stallmans-talk-at-ethz/
[10] http://blog.lix.cc/2011/12/08/recording-the-politics-of-copyright-and-the-new-cultural-economy/
[11] http://events.ccc.de/congress/2011/Fahrplan/events/4848.en.html
[12] http://events.ccc.de/congress/2011
[13] http://events.ccc.de/congress/2006/Fahrplan/events/1760.en.html
[14] http://boingboing.net/2006/09/04/gnu-costume-for-free.html
[15] http://www.naomiklein.org
[16] http://www.bookzilla.de/shop/action/productDetails/11426123/andre_gorz_critique_of_economic_reason_1844676676.html?aUrl=90006951
[17] http://etica-project.eu/
[18] http://www.eionet.europa.eu/software/opendocument
[19] Greek for “no place”
[20] http://blog.lix.cc/malawi/about/
[21] http://blog.lix.cc/2011/07/21/bloody-niggers/
[22] http://events.ccc.de/congress/2010/Fahrplan/events/4201.en.html
[23] http://lix.cc/video/PatentAbsurdityStallman.ogv
[24] ———ZENSORED—–
[25] ———ZENSORED—–
[26] ———ZENSORED—–
[27] ———ZENSORED—–
[28] ———ZENSORED—–
[29] ———ZENSORED—–
— Lx // 0x18F80934 “so long and thanks for all the fish”

… this letter lacks a question. – There is none. There is reason only!

(see english translation below)
… schade! Die Zeit kann man nun auch nicht mehr lesen. Die Desinformation hält nun auch bei dem Blatt Einzug. Der Copy-Paste Journalismus scheint der einzig noch ökonomisch gehbare Weg. Das Gute daran ist, dass man damit auf sein eigenes Denken angewiesen ist, wenn man nicht total verblöden will.

Der Lachnummer-Artikel betreffend Rauswurf von Daniel Domscheit-Berg war ja ganz amüsant wobei die Zeitung ja einfach einen Bericht über Nyan Cat mit einem LOL-Cat Daumenkino zum ausschneiden und selber basteln hätte publizieren können. Dies wäre inhaltsreicher gewesen.

Nun wird in der Berichterstattung über Libyen von “Erfolg” gesprochen und was das Deutsche Volk inhaltlich zu beschäftigen scheint ist ob der Aussenminister Westerwelle noch “tragbar” sei und der Zickenkrieg zwischen Rösler und dem Minister wird auch akribisch von der SPD auseinandergenommen und politisch “verwertert”. – Was für ein Niveau! Und wo bitte ist der globalpolitische “Erfolg”, wenn es nicht ein neo-imperialistischer Erfolg der Erdöl-Firmen ist? Glauben die Zeit-Leser wirklich, dass in diesem Krieg in ihrem Interesse für ihre Werte gekämpft wurde? Geschieht er nicht vielmehr im Auftrag der Lobby der Englischen, Deutschen und Französischen Waffen- und Erdöl Industrie, welche über Schweizer Munitionsfirmen und Banken die Geschäfte für diesen Krieg über Saudiarabien und den Oman ausgeführt wurden?

Gibt es nicht doch vielleicht einen Zusammenhang zu Domininique Strauss-Kahn der mit einer fingierten Aktion aus dem Weg geschafft wurde? (Wie es ja übrigens nach dem genau gleichen Muster mit Julian Assange versucht wurde.) Die Zeit wiederum lässt sich zu Zwecken medialer Diskreditierung in den Interessen mächtiger instrumentalisieren und titelt lediglich “Das Recht siegt, die Justiz hat verloren”. – LULZ! Wer soll so eine verzerrte Darstellung glauben? Die Hintergründe werden wir nun wohl auch über Wikileaks nicht mehr erfahren, da dieser angestiftete Verfeindung von Julian Assange und Daniel Domscheit-Berg die möglichen Quellen solcher Berichterstattung nun auch versiegen lässt…

Für die Zeit, jedenfalls was mich betrifft, ist nun Aus-Zeit!

Good night and good luck!

English translation:
Shame! „Die Zeit“ http://zeit.de/ is being undermined as well. The „enriched“ reality has now taken hold of this piece of paper as well. Copy paste journalism seems be the only economical feasible way of processing information left to us. The fringe benefit of this tool, is that we are dependent on our own thinking, if we do not wish to impoverish our minds completely.

The LOL article regarding the discrediting of Daniel Domscheit-Berg was quite amusing to read, though the paper would better have published a report on Nyan Cat including a LOL-Cat DIY flip-book to cut-out and tinker one-self. This would have been much more phun!

And, where may I ask, is the so called “success” in the Libyan crisis, if it is not a neo imperialistic success of the oil drilling companies? http://www.zeit.de/2011/35/01-Libyen-Nato Do the „Die Zeit“ readers really believe that their interests were being fought for? Doesn’t it rather display the lobby of our English (including American), German and French weapon and oil industry, which were utilizing some Swiss ammunition companies and its banks to generate business through this war, being implemented over Saudi Arabia and Oman?

„Die Zeit“ is being misused for purposes of public discrediting, to shift focus of some fraudulent acts taking place along the global chess board. “Righteousness prevails, Justice at loss” . – LULZ! Who believes such a distorted interpretation? The inside details of this case can no longer be found in our « trusty » Wikileaks either, since Julian Assange and Daniel Domscheit instigated misunderstanding has closed-up such leaks of disclosure … For « DIE ZEIT », which concerns my own time, is now time-out!

Good night and good luck!

The current president of the U.S. was dazzling his “fellow citizens” during his election campaign in 2008 with promises about change, making the citizens believe “they can”. Turns out that the holder of the nobel peace prize, which he got just for raising hope and not for his actions, is another hypocrite acting as warlord in the interest of neo-imperial terrorism, causing exploitation, indoctrination without respect to human laws and international agreements. – Just not keeping his promises.

Guantanamo Bay is still not closed, the war in Iraq has not ended, international corporations not held responsible for their financial and ecological disasters, but protected by the administration, the U.S. still have not accepted and ratified the Kyoto Protocol, Osama Bin Laden a hoax, etc. Now he’s the one to invoke the “Patriot Act” (ref.), – what a silly name for a law btw, – against Wikileaks to ensure his misgovernment remains intransparent. Total LULZ! Didn’t he promise he’ll dump this Act once he’s President?

Whether the United States are directed by a Democrat or a Republican, the jankies remain a horde of imperialists, culture destroyers and terrorists. In two weeks these creatures are going to celebrate their 10 years self-deception at “Ground Zero” and zero ground is the average intellectual level this country is being governed upon…

Source