Roberto Moretti's Blog

Auteursrechten - Een zinloze discussie

2012-01-11T13:51:00.000-08:00

Er zijn vele discussies over het auteursrecht gevoerd waar ik aan heb mogen deelnemen. Ik merk aan mensen dat naarmate ze meer in contact komen met een van de grote internetculturen, dat ze meer aan de kant van de Piratenpartij staan. Ze weten immers dat in de internetculturen veel meer creativiteit te vinden is dan in de mainstream entertainmentplatformen. En dat allemaal zonder dat in de internetculturen het auteursrecht naleven. Hoe kan een cultuur rijk zijn, zonder dat men er grof geld aan verdient?

Het probleem zit hem al in de vraag die ik net stelde. Cultuur bestaat al sindsdat de mens een beschaving heeft. Zelfs voordat er beschaving was. Vanaf het moment dat de mens een stuk houtskool over een rotswand kon wrijven, of klei kon boetseren, kunnen wij sporen van de menselijke cultuur herontdekken. Pas veel later deed de mensheid de stap terug te denken dat deze activiteit er een was die zijn merites economisch moest verantwoorden.

Ondertussen heeft de copyright industrie en lobby zijn mond vol met termen als "Hoe kan de artiest overleven als men alles gratis kan downloaden?". Dit gebruiken ze om allerlei burgerrechtenschendingen erdoorheen te duwen. Tot nu toe vaak met succes. De discussies gaan dan vaak over hoe de artiest financieel kan overleven in een wereld waar alles gratis gedownload kan worden.

In mijn ogen is dit een discussie over een punt waar de feiten keer op keer zijn bewezen. Ten eerste is het downloaden over de afgelopen jaren enorm toegenomen, waardoor het zou moeten zijn dat er bijna geen muziek en films gemaakt worden. Het tegendeel is echter waar. De platenlabels en filmindustrie boeken recordwinsten, en er wordt meer muziek dan ooit te voren gemaakt. En dan hebben we het niet eens over de sectoren die buiten de mainstream entertainment vallen, zoals Creative Commons muziek en dergelijke. Dus dat downloaden de muziek en filmindustrie kapot maakt, is al in meerdere onafhankelijke onderzoeken als onzin en drogreden aangetoond. Deze onderzoeken worden zelfs onderbouwd door de cijfers van de muziek en filmindustrie, in het kort de copyrightindustrie, waardoor de copyright industrie eigenlijk nog meer wind uit de zeilen genomen zou moeten worden.

Toch blijft de copyrightindustrie meer terrein winnen. Dat komt doordat ze het geld wat jij ze geeft door hun spullen te kopen, grotendeels inzetten om politici en beleidsmakers te overtuigen van hun foutieve standpunten. Dus eigenlijk betaal jij deze bedrijven om jouw burgerrechten af te pakken, indirect. En als je het niet gelooft? Zoek dan maar verdragen en wetten op zoals ACTA (Anti Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) en SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) en de bedrijven die deze wetten steunen. Dan zul je erachter komen dat de bedrijven die erachter staan precies dezelfde bedrijven zijn die de films maken die je in de bioscoop ziet en waarvan je de DVD's koopt. Dat het dezelfde bedrijven zijn die de muziek die je op de radio hoort en waarvan je de albums koopt. Door deze producten te kopen (muziekalbums, bioscoopkaartjes, films op dvd en bluray), steun je eigenlijk de teloorgang van de westerse democratie.

Maar stel dat downloaden écht schadelijk zou zijn de platenlabels en filmproducenten, en de mainstream producenten echt kapot eraan zouden gaan. Zou je dan je fundamentele burgerrechten zoals de vrijheid van meningsuiting en het briefgeheim opgeven om het auteursrecht te handhaven? Het ACTA verdrag, dat waarschijnlijk binnenkort ondertekend wordt door de Europese lidstaten, zal wel veroorzaken dat minimaal op internet deze burgerrechten geschonden zullen worden. De kans is ook groot dat het 'echte leven' in gevaar komt.

Hoe kan dit? Dit is simpel. ACTA maakt het mogelijk voor iedere partij om zelfs uitingen of bepaald taalgebruik copyrighted te maken. [citation needed] Als iemand dan dit zonder toestemming gebruikt, kan die persoon in de gevangenis terecht komen. [citation needed] Dit is in feite censuur, en kan gebruikt worden om zelfs overheidskritische websites en dergelijke te blokkeren. Hier komt het veel door de Piratenpartijen gebruikte 'glijdende schaal' argument ter sprake. De Piratenpartijen stellen dat als er eenmaal censuur infrastructuur is, die na verloop van tijd bijna altijd misbruikt gaat worden. En dan is de weg naar een totalitaire staat zeer klein.

Daarom wil ik ook iedereen adviseren om eens het internet op te gaan. Iets te lezen over verdragen zoals ACTA en wetten zoals SOPA. En vervolgens kijken welke partijen zich hiertegen inzetten. Er zijn verschillende wegen. Organisaties zoals Bits of Freedom en La Quadrature Du Net proberen via voorlichting en wetgevers aan te spreken te voorkomen dat het bovengenoemde gebeurt. En organisaties zoals de Piratenpartijen proberen het corrupte systeem zelf te enteren, en van binnenuit de ziektes genezen. Beide methodieken kunnen potentieel werken.

Dus als je vrijheid en burgerrechten boven de woekerwinsten van een paar grote multinationals zet, dan raad ik je aan om BoF, LQDN, de Piratenpartijen of dergelijke organisaties te steunen! Zij zijn een van de weinigen die deze tenondergang van vrijheid kunnen voorkomen.

My opinion about the 4th box

2012-01-01T11:03:00.000-08:00

Hey there,

I recently translated an article from Rick Falkvinge into the Dutch Language. I have written the translation, because I was kind of struck by this article. I would like to explain my opinion on it in this blog post.

Firstly, I think many of the facts told in that article are correct. The balance of power is sliding out of balance. But my personal opinion is, that the more it gets out of balance, the harder the other side will fight to regain the balance. That was in essence what I think he meant with the Pirate Parties trying to make the 2nd box working again.

There will always be power struggle, and there will always be one side at a certain time on the winning side. The balance might slide to one side, and then to another. Still, we must remain watchful of the events, because once the balance slides beyond a certain threshold, it slides out of control. Permanently. This is what in my opinion Rick has been trying to warn us from.

Of course, in regards to emotions, people sometimes go beyond what their rational mind may be thinking. This happens often, and is a factor which also shouldn't be neglected. At the time I read the article, I was shocked, and believed firmly in what it said. While many things may still be true, I am now of an opinion that the balance will eventually be regained, as long as we remain watchful and come into action if the balance of power is at the verge of sliding out of control. And at the moment, it's slowly continuing to slide towards a certain side, with only slow signs of slowing down.

But... There's hope. SOPA was delayed, and this might be a major sign that the sliding of the balance of power to the Copyright Lobby's side might be stopping. I encourage our civil rights activists to continue pressing the congress to refuse the law, so the politicians are aware that they must listen to everyone, not just one group. As long as the balance is kept, I'm not the one who will undertake any drastic actions.

That's all I wanted to say.

Moeten we ons echt voorbereiden op de '4e doos'?

2011-12-16T15:40:00.000-08:00

4thbox

Dit is een vertaling van het gelinkde artikel geschreven door Rick Falkvinge

Terwijl ik keek hoe de duivelse wetten genaamd SOPA, PIPA en NDAA de DMCA en Patriot Act opvolgen in de Verenigde Staten, realiseer ik me dat de ergst denkbare situatie voor burgerrechten zich begint te vormen.

Het interne doel van de Piratenpartij is voor lange tijd al dat het onze taak is om te voorkomen dat Europa in totalitair fascisme vervalt. De V.S. is verloren; het is al voorbij het punt waarna je niet meer terug kan. Onze taak is om te voorkomen dat Europa trouw de V.S. volgt, en dus de sterke connecties op tijd te verbreken. Het was 5 jaren geleden al waarschijnlijk, en is nu schrikbarend duidelijk.

PIJNLIJK ARTIKEL

Dit artikel kostte mij 24 uren om te schrijven, na een week van diep nadenken. Gewoonlijk kost het me 30 tot 45 minuten om een artikel te schrijven, zodra ik weet wat ik wil zeggen. Het probleem hier is niet dat ik niet weet wat ik wil zeggen, maar dat ik juist teveel wou zeggen. En ik wist niet hoe ver ik durfde te gaan. Uiteindelijk heb ik besloten om me niet in te houden, maar om mijn gedachten open en bloot te leggen. Er is een goed gezegde over dit onderwerp, gebruikt door velen: Vrijheid wordt verdedigd met 4 dozen: Zeep, Stembus, Rechtsgang en munitie. Gebruik het in die volgorde.

Gezien dat dit naar het Nederlands vertaald is, zal ik moeten uitleggen wat de Amerikaanse woordspeling hier is. Deze woordspeling viel echter niet goed naar het Nederlands te vertalen. Deze '4 dozen' zijn niet gelijk duidelijk voor iemand die niet Engels als moedertaal heeft en buiten de Amerikaanse cultuur zit.

Zeepkist: Een doos waarop je op de straat op staat, terwijl je je verhaal probeert je verhaal kwijt te kunnen bij het publiek. Lees: protesteren.
Stembus: Vrije verkiezingen. Als de wetten en de volksvertegenwoordigers niet in het belang van het volk handelen, vervang ze.
Rechtsgang: Als geen volksvertegenwoordigers in het belang van het volk handelen, dan is het juridisch systeem de laatste verdediging, omdat het wetten die tegen de grondwet in zijn kan blokkeren.
Munitiedoos: Als het hele systeem zo corrupt is, dat het hopeloos is, en het is niet mogelijk om de wetten via de bovenste 3 dozen te veranderen, dan is er alleen nog een optie over.

We zijn op dit moment al aanbeland bij de 3e doos, en die begint zelfs barsten te vertonen. De Piratenpartijen zijn bezig om de 2e weer werkend te krijgen, minstens in Europa. Het is een gigantisch karwei, maar het is mogelijk. De feiten wijzen daarop. Jammer genoeg zijn de machtshebbers een cultuur aan het kweken waar feiten en educatie gezien worden als geneuzel.

Beleid is contra-wetenschap geworden, en wordt voornamelijk gedreven door 4 belangengroepen, die elk niet willen dat feiten hun ideologie-religie beïnvloeden. De lessen geleerd tijdens de Verlichting worden steeds en steeds meer een obstakel. Informatie wordt gezien als iets gevaarlijks, terwijl het wordt verspreidt in een tempo wat nooit vantevoren is gezien. Misschien wordt het daarom als gevaarlijk gezien.

“Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart, he dreams himself your master.”

– Commissioner Pravin Lal

Er zijn 4 belangrijke groepen die deze ontwikkeling stimuleren. Elk draagt op haar eigen manier bij, maar samen maken ze de perfecte storm om het schip van de vrijheid te doen kapseizen.

Technisch onwetende politici: Beleidvormers en mensen die besluiten maken die niet alleen de technische implicaties van hun beslissingen begrijpen, en zelfs trots zijn dat ze de infrastructuur van de samenleving niet begrijpen: Alsof ze dat als beneden hun niveau zien. Ze proberen ook een wit voetje te halen bij de andere 3 groepen door ze een dienst te bewijzen. Ondertussen pogen ze ook de weinige collega's die de gevolgen wel begrijpen te kleineren.
De Copyright Industrie: Deze industrie dreigt overbodig te worden door de kern van burgerrechten gecombineerd met hedendaagse technologie. Omdat technologie niet meer teruggedraaid kan worden, wordt het andere gesloopt.
Veiligheids Profiteurs: Een zeer klein groepje maken recordwinsten door onze burgerrechten kapot te maken. Kijk bijvoorbeeld aan de nieuwste scannertechnologie op vliegvelden bijv; die is er tenslotte gekomen om terrorisme te lijf te gaan. Het is hetzelfde type mensen dat oorlogen verzint om winst te maken. "Wie geeft erom als een paar honderdduizend mensen sterven." Namen zoals 'Halliburton' en 'Blackwater Security'.
Een mengelmoes van anti-vrijheidsfundamentalisten: Er is geen tekort aan mensen die ervan dromen om jou te vertellen hoe je moet leven. Het maakt niet uit als ze jouw vrijheid willen inperken of de waarden van het Christendom, Islam, Socialisme of enig andere externe levenswijze die zogenaamd alle antwoorden bevat; ze zijn allemaal één en hetzelfde. Het ergste type zijn diegenen die zeggen het "Voor de kinderen te doen", zoals ECPAT..

Als deze samenkomen, zijn deze de perfecte mix om wetten en beleid te maken die niet voor het publiek zijn, maar tegen het publiek terwijl ze alleen maar zeer kleine specifieke belangen behartigen. Deze wetten hebben geen problemen ermee om al onze vrijheden weg te nemen, van het recht op privacy en vrijheid, tot het recht van vrijheid van meningsuiting (Copyright Industrie), tot zelfs het recht van leven (Veiligheids Profiteurs). Voor dit is het nodig om een omgeving te maken die zeer vijandig is tegenover feiten en onafhankelijk onderzoek. Dit is al gedaan (lees: copyright industrie, en losstaand daarvan, 'terrorisme').

Een voorbeeld kan zijn dat je wetten structureert om te voorkomen dat mensen in herhaling vallen, of een ergere misdaad plegen. Hoe zwaarder het misdrijf, des te hoger de straf. Na herhaling, zal de straf nog hoger zijn. Een voorbeeld hiervan is dat Moord een veel hogere straf krijgt dan overval. En gecombineerd nog een hogere straf dan een van beide. Dit valt onder criminologie.

Recentelijk heeft de V.S. al de wetenschap hierover genegeerd, en heeft met 86 voor tegen 13 tegen gestemd voor een wet dat elk willekeurig persoon oneindig vastgezet kan worden, of zelfs geëxecuteerd, zonder een aanklacht. 86 tegen 13! Dat is wat ik bedoel met dat de V.S. al verloren zijn. Wat heeft het voor nut om zich aan de wetten te houden, wanneer, zelfs als je er goed aan houdt, je in de gevangenis gegooid en geëxecuteerd kan worden. Zelfs als er geen showproces is? Ik heb er gisteren over getweet, en noemde zelfs de '4e doos'.

Daarnaast, de vage term 'terrorist' wordt nu zelfs langzamerhand toegekend aan protesterende mensen en dissidenten. Mensen die niet met het establishment het eens zijn. De wet die recentelijk in de V.S. is aangenomen, geldt alleen voor terroristen. En tegelijkertijd worden protestacties zoals Occupy Wallstreet gecategoriseerd als 'lage-niveau terroristen'. Er is geen rare gedachtegang nodig om te zien waar dit naartoe gaat, zelfs terwijl veel mensen duidelijk beïnvloed zijn door ongeloof -- Puur weigeren om de gebeurtenissen te zien die recht voor hun ogen gebeuren. Zoals ik zei, de V.S. gaat een paar duistere decennia tegenmoet.

Laat mij een voorbeeld geven om de ernstigheid van deze situatie te schetsen. Wanneer wetten zoals deze in werking zijn, en een paar mensen zijn verdwenen. Als je dan een paar politiemensen achter jou aan ziet komen, is het logisch om ze vanaf een afstand te vermoorden. Er zal niks ernstigers gebeuren dan al te gebeuren stond, en het vergroot je kansen om te overleven en vrijheid te hebben. En mensen zullen snel samen gaan werken om dat precies te doen. Op dat moment worden wetten irrelevant; vindingrijkheid en intelligentie bepalen letterlijk of je leeft of sterft.

Tijdens de Arabische Lente, zag je op bijna iedere activistenfoto andere mensen met hun mobieltjes in hun hand. De 'brandstof' voor de revolutie bevatte niet alleen de 'brandstof' zelf, maar ook een instructie om meer 'brandstof te maken'. Dit werd allemaal razendsnel verspreid via internet, en daarom wilt een deel van de gevestigde orde koste wat kost controle hebben over het internet. Het is dezelfde reden waarom wij erom moeten vechten.

Ik geloof dat democratie het pad moet zijn dat zonder discussie gekozen moet worden, zolang er hoop is van vrijheid door democratie. Maar helaas, dat pad is aan het sluiten. En het wordt gesloten door onze volksvertegenwoordigers, namens bepaalde belangenbehartigers. Winst en fundamentalisme. Het pad is nog niet gesloten, maar er zijn vele actoren druk bezig het te sluiten.

Ik ben een blanke volwassen man in Europa. Een hoog opgeleide ondernemer. Zelfs bekroond als een van de beste denkers op de wereld. Ik schud handen met presidenten, kabinetsleden en staatssecrarissen over de hele wereld. Ik heb niks te vrezen als ik gewoon mijn gang ga. Logisch gezien zou ik een van de laatste moeten zijn dat het tot dit zou moeten komen.

Deze gedachte is niet zo huiveringwekkend als het verkeerd is, dan wanneer het correct is: mogelijk heb ik het verkeerd. Vele anderen hebben er waarschijnlijk over nagedacht, maar het niet gezegd. Als dat zo is, dan moet een groot gedeelte van de bevolking van het Westen gekeken hebben naar de Arabische Lente, en ondertussen zich mentaal hebben voorbereid om hetzelfde ook in hun leven te doen.

Sommige mensen denken dat Europa een baken van licht is, maar ook hier werken politici eraan om de V.S. in hun voetsporen te treden naar duisternis. Maar, Europa kan nog altijd gered worden. Activisme kan hier nog altijd een effect hebben, en zo ook politiek werk en protesteren op de straten. We kunnen dit terug draaien. Kunnen, en moeten.

Ik wil absoluut niet naar de situatie gaan die beschreven wordt in dit artikel. Echt niet. Ik vervloek de mensen die dit veroorzaken, en zorgen dat ik zo denk. Maar wanneer ik in deze situatie getrokken word na jaren van protest en hard werk, zal ik eraan aanpassen. Ik zal vechten voor vrijheid op elke manier dat ik kan, en ik zal anderen erbij helpen. Ik ben gegaan van mij mentaal voorbereiden, tot op de daad voorbereiden in het geval dat zaken echt een verkeerde wending nemen.

Het pistool en het doelwit op de foto bovenaan, is niet een gewone willekeurige foto zoals de meeste foto's op deze blog. Deze foto was genomen vanaf mijn bureau, een halve meter vanaf waar ik zit.

Why I support the Pirate Parties

2011-09-25T08:19:00.000-07:00

Why I support the Pirate Partes.

Many people have often asked me the same question in the past: Why do you support the Pirate Parties? I'll explain my reasons for supporting them in this blog post.

About the Pirate Party movement.

The Pirate Party movement is a political movement, which spans over 50 countries at the moment. It's an entirely new ideology, which can't be compared with anything to date. Their approach to problems comes mostly from a mix of civil rights, activism, citizen participation in democracy, fixing the illnesses of the neo-liberal definition of the capitalistic system, humanism and fair politics. They've recently booked a big success in Berlin, winning 9% of the vote. Many of the press are comparing it to the rise of the Greens in the 80's. It is comparable to that, but this will trigger the next change in democracy. Due to the Pirate Parties having a certain insight in things, approach of problems, solutions for issues and atmosphere within the parties themselves, I see them as the first ones really being capable of bringing real change.

Their fight doesn't end once the voting is over. They carry on until all of their desires have been fulfilled. They won't give in to corporate lobbyism, and even inoculate the legislature against certain forms of lobbying. And their solutions don't come from a certain ideology, but they pick the best solution out there. Even if it doesn't come from the Pirate Party itself. That's what I call quality legislature. They use the term infopolicy/infopolitics a lot, and that's fair to use. Their most important asset is information. Which is the most important asset for the 21st century and beyond. They want to give information to the people, which will empower the people. And that's their goal. Give the common people power, so they can monitor the government, instead of the government monitoring them.

Why do I support them?

I have several reasons to support them. Firstly, I think that they're one of the few people actually capable of fixing the broken and corrupt political system. Secondly, they propose real solutions to certain problems, such as bad education quality (or even lack of education!), rising healthcare costs, an economy which is stuttering and breakdown of civil rights and liberties (at the demands of several big multinationals). I think they can fix these problems, and that alone would be already why I would give them my support.

The biggest reason is though, that they can defend humanity against the past. Because they're an international movement, they can unify many countries, and make prejudices of the past disappear. This provides a very good protection against a lesson we learned in the previous century: Don't channel your hate against the system towards a minority in society. We all know what happened after that... And if you don't, ask your grandmother. She can perfectly explain it. I hope I have made my point clear enough.

So all in all, I hope you will know now why I support the Pirate Parties. If you've got questions or anything else to say, you can mail me at raaj (dot) moretti (at) gmail (dot) com

-- Roberto Moretti

Crime of the 'lawful'

2011-04-27T04:47:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,

There has been a scandal recently in The Netherlands. It involves 3 parties: BREIN (a pro-copyright activist/lobbyist group), AlTransa (A hosting company based from Southern America) and Worldstream (A data-center company).

In january, BREIN took servers, belonging to AlTransa, from the data-center belonging to Worldstream. The reason they used was they suspected that a topsite (topsites are used to privately share data) was hosted on the servers. They ordered the servers without a court order. Worldstream handed the servers over without any protest. This on itself is already illegal, since it's basically the same as theft (since BREIN doesn't have any judicial powers). But it doesn't stop with this.

BREIN also didn't want to give the servers back, unless a certain agreement could be made. This agreement included that the hosting company (AlTransa) would give something (money/promises) in return for getting the servers back. This constitutes blackmailing in the most clear form. You thought it was over with the law violations, right? Well, there's more coming.

BREIN also said that they knew the topsite 'Swan' was hosted on the servers. Next to that, they also say that they didn't take a look into the servers' data. How can they know that the site is on there, while they didn't take a look? This can mean 2 things: 1. They're lying. Or, 2. They did take a look, but don't want to say it. The first is best-case scenario. It would mean libel and slander. The second means also a violation of the law. In this case, a violation of privacy. Both can lead to some serious punishments, in relation to the other things.

Well, you think that BREIN would be punished seriously because of this? Think again! BREIN is so much above the law (while they're no different than the default organization, and hold no judicial powers), that they only have to pay a small settlement with AlTransa. By this time, AlTransa is already bankrupt because of this. In return, BREIN gets to destroy the data on several of the servers (effectively erasing any evidence) and gets away with no punishment. This can have serious consequences, as it could basically mean that a competitor (who holds the same rights as BREIN) can easily shut down another smaller competitor.

The strangest of everything? It has not been in the mainstream media, while there's been huge coverage of the case by independent media. It clearly shows how biased the mainstream media is.

I think the main question isn't where this will lead to. The real question is: When will the general public start protesting against these practices (which happen daily around the world). It is only a matter of time before the Pirate Parties get a lot of support.

Hypocrisie van onze Geert

2011-04-13T03:35:00.001-07:00

Hallo allemaal,

ik heb een tijdje de situatie rond Geert Wilders en bedreigingen vanuit zijn aanhangers, en aan zijn aanhangers, in de gaten gehouden. Ik kwam erachter dat Geert Wilders zeer dubbele standaarden heeft.

Recentelijk zat een PVV-aanhanger de dochter van Femke Halsema te bedreigen. Dit is veel in het nieuws geweest, mede doordat Femke ervoor naar de rechter was gestapt. Geert Wilders zei niets over deze kwestie, zelfs geen distantiëring. Hij had op zijn minst kunnen zeggen dat hij het afwijst, of dat hij er afstand van neemt. Dit is een zeer grove fout van hem, want wie zwijgt stemt toe (zegt men). Maar de fouten hielden hierbij niet op.

Wilders bleef klagen over bedreigingen aan zijn adres, en bleef vragen om hardere acties tegen zijn bedreigers. Dit is een dubbele standaard, want hij vindt het niet erg als zijn 'tegenstanders' bedreigd worden, maar als hij bedreigd wordt, schreeuwt hij gelijk moord en brand. Daarnaast eist hij steeds van anderen of die zich distantiëren van de bedreigingen. Misschien moet hij dat zelf ook eens doen?

Het wordt tijd dat we eens door onze 'woede' heen kijken, en leren te begrijpen dat we iedereen in het land nodig hebben. Tenslotte, oma weet waarom de huidige situatie met Geert Wilders zeer gevaarlijk is.

Het Piratenwiel

2011-03-29T09:58:00.000-07:00

Dit is een vertaling van het volgende stukje tekst van Rick Falkvinge.

Dit artikel vat de ideologie van de Piratenpartijen en bewegingen samen. Deze ideologie is nog altijd volop in ontwikkeling, en kan nog altijd aangepast worden! De as van de ideologie is humanisme, maar het is niet 100% humanisme. Het is ook niet liberalisme, socialisme of conservatisme of zoals alle andere voormalige ideologieën. Dit artikel vat ieder deel van de Piratenideologie samen.

Humanisme - de as. Iedereen heeft dezelfde rechten, ongeacht welke afkomst diegene heeft. Iedereen heeft vrijheid om te geloven waar diegene in wilt geloven, zij het religieus, opvattingen of politiek: Iedereen zal gelijk behandeld worden. Iedereen heeft het recht op toegang, gebruik en verrijking van cultuur en kennis. De samenleving en overheid zal niet vooroordelen over iemand hebben.

Privacy. Het recht van ieder individu om privacy te hebben. Dit recht spreidt zich uit over 6 gebieden: briefgeheim, het recht om niet gevolgd te worden, het recht van privacy op eigen grond, lichaam, identiteit en data. Deze zijn allen onschendbaar, en mogen alleen gebroken worden als het individu wordt verdacht van een misdaad. In dat geval mag het alleen proportioneel gebroken worden.

Transparantie. Ieder individu heeft het recht om te onderzoeken hoe de overheid de macht gebruikt die de overheid is gegeven door het volk. De overheid mag niet iets vooraf vragen, zoals identiteit of geld. Iedere burger heeft het recht om volksvertegenwoordigers verantwoordelijk te houden voor hun acties, en de volksvertegenwoordigers mogen dit niet tegen houden.

Cultuur. Iedereen zal het recht hebben om cultuur te maken, en mag daarbij van alle reeds bestaande cultuur gebruik maken. Hiervoor is geen toestemming nodig. Iedereen heeft het recht om cultuur te delen, gebruikmakend van alle bestaande technologieën daarvoor. Iedereen heeft altijd het recht om cultuur op te halen, gebruiken, remixen, publiceren, uitvoeren en om erin deel te nemen.

Kennis. Iedereen heeft het recht om kennis te gebruiken, her te gebruiken en erop voort te bouwen. Niemand heeft het recht om te voorkomen dat iemand kennis verwerft. Resultaten van publiekelijk gesubsidieerd onderzoek vallen in het publieke domein. Journalistiek is niet meer een beroep, maar een activiteit: We hangen af van mensen die delen wat ze zien.

'Swarm Economy'. Mensen hebben niet meer dezelfde baan voor heel hun leven. Ze hebben meestal meerdere banen, waarvan sommige betaald en andere onbetaald. Men wisselt regelmatig van baan. Een probleem is dat vrijwilligerswerk in de huidige economie niet als productie wordt gezien. De samenleving moet op dit gebied aanpassen, en dus ook vrijwilligerswerk als waardevol werk zien.

Diversiteit. Polyculturen in ieder deel van de samenleving zijn zeer belangrijk. Ten eerste voorkomt het culturele en ideologische inteelt. Ten tweede voegt het een zeer belangrijke beschermingslaag tegen machtsmisbruik toe. Ten derde is diversiteit niet alleen nodig in de bevolking, maar ook in de technische aspecten van de samenleving (om bijv. monopolistische structuren tegen te gaan).

Kwaliteit van ons werk. We zijn trots op de kwaliteit voor ons werk. Iedere wet moet nodig, effectief en proportioneel zijn. Wanneer het hier niet aan voldoet, dient het verwijderd te worden. Wanneer een andere wetgeving onze doelen beter uitvoert, dan zullen we die moeten gebruiken in plaats van de huidige. Politieke prestige is schadelijk. Wetgeving is om te regeren, niet om symbolen mee af te geven. Daarom dus ook geen symboolwetgeving.

Pragmatisme. We zetten hoge doelen, en weten dat we die niet gelijk zullen halen. De weg naar de samenleving volgens onze idealen zit vol met tussenstapjes, en we moeten kunnen leven in ieder van die. Als we naar een tussenstap gaan, betekent het dat we niet ons doel opgeven, maar dat we nog steeds richting het doel bewegen.

Bij deze de vertaling. Als er aanmerkingen zijn, je kunt me bereiken op roberto.moretti apenstaartje piratenpartij punt nl.

The latest scam by the copyright industry?

2011-03-28T03:34:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!

It's been a while since my most recent blogpost. This blog post will be about one of the latest scams of the copyright industry. This scam (Dutch article) came to light in Belgium.

The scam is about forcing logistics companies (who use trucks to haul stuff around) to pay for the time spent listening towards the radio inside the trucks. This is done, because the truck cabin is a so called 'workspace'. It is indeed a workspace, but there's a real fraudulent nature behind this scam.

The fraudulent nature is that the music was already paid for twice! First off, the rights on the album were paid. Then, the radio station had to pay the broadcast rights. And now thirdly, the logistics company has to pay for the rights to listen to the radio. Could this mean that in the future, anyone who listens a radio needs to pay rights to listen to the radio?!

These fraudulent practices shouldn't be allowed, ever! It's time people get to know the real fraudulent nature of the copyright industry. They don't act on behalf of the authors and artists they say to support, but only on behalf of their shareholders' demand for excessive wealth. That's why I vote for the Pirate Party! It's time we abolish these dinosaurs of the 20th century, and move into the 21st century!

The wrong government of The Netherlands

2011-01-21T03:49:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone,

I wanted to blog about some recent developments in The Netherlands. It is internationally known that The Netherlands are a quite strong ally of the US. Recently, they've been exceeding limits what most people accept in that.

It started with 9/11. The Netherlands cooperated with the US government like an US pet. They handed out information about Dutch citizens, like bank transactions, travel information, criminal records, and more. This has all been made possible by parties like the CDA, VVD and later on the PVV. These right wing parties (extremist right wing in the case of the PVV), give in to US demands, without getting things back for the Dutch people. I see them as traitors of The Netherlands.

Also, the people of The Netherlands are kept in the dark about all of this. It's important information which we need to judge our government well, but the media has largely been trying to cover things up. In the case of wikileaks, they gave a US-favoring spin towards it. Even the recent releases about the acts of the current and past government members towards several people are given a spin sometimes.

The acts of past and recent government members are despicable. They asked the US to illegally murder people, to put allies in the government under pressure (and even giving advice how to do so!), and so on. Even the prime minister (Balkenende) even asked the US to put the vice prime minister under serious pressure!

As it was said on a certain news outlet: "Politics are all about trust. When you can't trust your own government members any more, the government comes to an end and a new one needs to be formed after elections.". It's good to know that certain former government members could stand up to the extreme pressure put on them by the US. These people, like Wouter Bos, kept their own opinions, even when under alot of pressure. That's also why we were allowed to have new elections.

These elections seem to have been manipulated into a certain direction though. It has been proven that the CDA (Balkenende/Verhagen's party, currently in power)) went to the US and said "If you get us into power, we will make sure that The Netherlands remains a strong ally". There are even rumors that the VVD (currently mostly in power, next to the CDA and PVV) did this too. If this proves to be true, I would like to say that the elections have been 'rigged' then through the media.

Also, the deals which The Netherlands maintains with the US, are even so unfair that even the Chinese are more fair (and that means alot!). Dutch citizens can be extradited towards the US, even when the US has nothing more but a claim (so even no proof!). They even have a law which allows them to bring back US citizens with violence when they are arrested or imprisoned in The Netherlands!

It seems clear to me that the past and current Dutch governments are traitors of The Netherlands. They even are destroying the whole educational system now! This is really outrageous!

What is it to be a Dutch citizens, to feel Dutch? Should we feel like US pets, or should we take up our own direction? It should stop right now. The government should care again about it's people, and place their own people which empower them as a first priority. That's why I vote for the Dutch Pirate Party, since they place the people as first priority. Will you vote for them too?

Minecraft as useful tool - take 2

2011-01-06T04:22:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone,

I had posted earlier about why Minecraft is useful for teambuilding. I will expand on this and explain more things about the background.

Games are not toys
Many people are sceptical about using games in a useful way. Games are generally seen as toys, and nothing more. This is mostly seen this way by people who have never played any real educational or teamwork games. They're free to have that opinion, since we're always free to have our opinions.

I have a different opinion. In my eyes, games can be great tools, especially since they're interactive. Not every game is suited for serious purposes though. Still, there are many which are. One of the games which seems like a simple toy, but isn't when used correctly, is Minecraft. I used this way to make a teambuilding environment, which is cheaper and more effective than most teambuilding methods used by corporations.

Several reasons why Minecraft is better than conventional teambuilding
Let me explain this: Minecraft currently costs €15,- per person. Looking up the cheapest teambuilding places in my country, that price is around €20,- to €30,-. That's 25% to 50% cheaper than the cheapest normal teambuilding methods. Even then, it's likely even cheaper, since these conventional teambuilding methods can only be used once. Minecraft can be used infinitely when purchased, in contrary to the conventional teambuilding methods (which include doing various tasks in real life together for an afternoon).

Even if we leave the Minecraft is cheaper argument out of the discussion, you still have several other things to look into. Minecraft is a so called 'Creative Game'. This means that you get dropped in a 'sandbox' (a game which never ends, with no clear goal) and you can let your fantasy and imagination flow freely. This creates a very relaxed environment. Coupled with working together on massive buildings, this makes for very clear positive interaction between the members.

But not only is there clear interaction between members... There's also the advantage that people don't have to travel to a certain place to meet, which also saves on time, cost and effort. Also, Minecraft is a quite 'easy' game in means of controls. The only buttons which you mostly use, are the mouse buttons, the movement keys and the inventory key. Next to an easy-to-use interface, the game also requires hardly any prior knowledge. You need to learn some things about Minecraft though once you play it. It is also available for most platforms, which makes it also not bound with a certain operating system, for instance windows. All this makes Minecraft very accessible.

Rounding stuff up
I think that it is clear now why Minecraft is a very useful tool for teambuilding. I've been pioneering teambuilding in Minecraft together with some others. But many people don't know that they're also pioneers in it. Virtually everyone who has played on an online server, and worked together with people, has been doing this. Many friendships have been created, and many more will be created in Minecraft.

Thanks for reading!

Roberto

Begun the internet wars have

2010-12-07T03:15:00.000-08:00

Link to tweet

Welcome to this blogpost! I'm going to tell today about some recent developments. Recently, the internet is becoming an ever more hostile place. First, we'll take a trip back into history.

Back to the future
For many of us (including me), a situation like we currently have in the world has only been described in history books. It was a period of fear against certain population groups, increased violence around the world, and more. This caused the free world to collapse more and more into oppression. This has also been described in the movie V for Vendetta.

Many people don't ever want this to happen, but lets take a look what is happening currently...

The current situation
We currently have alot of violence in the world, alot of fear and hatred against certain minority groups and more. This has allowed the rulers to draw attention away from less-popular measures. This isn't exactly new. What is new though, is that we recently had a period of very extensive liberties, caused by the internet. This has learned groups of people to really form free opinions.

This has endangered certain groups with power, and they have been moving against the internet for some time now. They just needed a reason to start to move against it in public. There have been 3 reasons recently which they have used:
1. Terrorism.
2. Illicit forms of filesharing.
3. Wikileaks.

We'll have a look at what's happening now.

What's happening now
- Currently, governments and certain corporations are slowly making more and more civil rights breaches.
- Civil rights also get gradually eroded.
- Fear and hate is stimulated throughout western countries through various means and entities.
- Outlets for free speech and activism are attacked through various means (bad publicity, DDoS, etc) in increasing intensity.

There's more happening, which I don't know at the moment.

Well, rounding stuff up, this is basically what I wanted to tell.

I would advise everyone to form their own opinions about this, and act accordingly.

Cheers,
Roberto

PS: Expect more about this soon!

Using games as a way to foster cooperation

2010-11-09T03:59:00.001-08:00

Hello everyone,

it's been a while since my most recent blog post. This time, I want to tell you about a way to foster cooperation in teams (and outside teams) in a quite unique way.

Introduction

The original project had been set up to serve as a way to foster friendships. The tool which was used? A game called Minecraft.

Minecraft is a very accessible game, which can be played both in casual and hardcore ways. In the game, there are no set goals. You can mine resources, process them into tools and construction materials, and build stuff with those materials. As you can see in the previous 2 links, there have quite alot of things been built in Minecraft so far.

Seeing the relaxed atmosphere this game generally has, I thought that it could be used for fostering friendship. I discovered later on, that this game can be used for many more constructive things.

I will firstly explain the history, and later on how it works.

The first steps

My first inspiration from this project came from a certain server of a big community.

Together with some friends, we started exploring the concept on our own server. Quickly, we discovered that it was a very excellent way. Unfortunately, after a few weeks, the server got griefed (sometimes purposefully) and large areas of the landscape were destroyed.

After this, I started thinking of making this concept really work.

Getting concrete details

The first quest was to look for anti griefing tools. These were quickly found. This was all tested on a private server hosted by Mick 'Micknator' van Rhee, a good friend of me. There, we laid the advanced framework for later stages.

This includes some big structures, finalizing the concept (mostly done by me) and seeking a place for hosting. Eventually, all of these things were done.

The last thing needed was a thorough test of the concept in a real situation. This was achieved at the beginning of November.

Finalizing the concept

The concept was practically fully finalized. It only needed a real test. This was done on the server hosted by the Piratenpartij (which is a continuation of the server hosted by Micknator, with some improvements). The concept was finally tested, and completed successfully by me (Roberto 'Robske' Moretti), a person who goes by the name of 'Squarc' on Minecraft, and last but not least, Remon 'Knudde95' Engels.

The server can be found at minecraft.piratenpartij.nl!

The project fostered friendships indeed, together with providing with further minor adjustments to the plan. I will now explain the 2 ways of how you can run these projects.

The centralized method

The centralized method is way to simulate real project groups with a project leader. The team consists of one or more project leaders, together with at least as many 'workers'. The task of the project leader(s) is to coordinate the project. They have all the blueprints of the object to build. They may not give the workers these blueprints directly. Instead, they must communicate the blueprints verbally or with sketches of parts of the blueprint towards the workers. Each worker is responsible for his part of the blueprint. The project leaders monitor the entire project.

This way of simulating projects works the best for companies or for teams with a clear leadership. The more decentralized organizations have a different way of approaching these things.

The decentralized method

This method is quite exact the opposite of the centralized method. In this method, the blueprints are available to everyone (if there are blueprints!). At the same time, everyone is worker and project leader at the same time. It's the entire team's responsibility to make the project successful. This makes for a very organic way of getting the project finished. It can also make it so that worlds really evolve (as they do on most Minecraft servers).

This way of carrying out the project works the best for organizations with no clear leadership. They train people in taking responsibility.

The advantages of fostering cooperation this way

Both ways of doing projects in Minecraft have similar advantages. I will list these here:

- It is a relaxed environment: There's hardly any stress, hardly any pressure. This makes people more motivated to work on these projects. Together with that, the results are visible in very early stages (Oh this thing is very huge!).
- It's easily accessible: Minecraft doesn't require much learning. You can already construct wonderful things after your first day!
- Big structures do amaze people: If your team has built a big structure (as was the case with the Venator), it will not only surprise your team members if you make it public, but also the entire world! This can be an extra motivation for the team members to cooperate.
- Can promote your organization: Projects like done on the Dutch Pirate Party server, can promote your organization very well. Especially if the world is public.
- Minecraft worlds can communicate messages: You can easily build messages into worlds, sometimes explicit (texts on signs) or implicit (for the case of the Dutch Pirate Party server, it was that content owned by others can easily be replicated by others).
- Minecraft can relax: You can use Minecraft as a way to get your team members relaxed and ready to keep working hard on your project!

Rounding stuff up

This was it for today. I want to thank everyone for reading this article! If you have comments about this article, or want to do suggestions, you can contact me here.

Cheers,
Roberto Moretti

MAFIAA?

2010-10-13T01:30:00.001-07:00

Are copyright organisations, with the media giants who support them, the protectors of the artists? Or are they the destroyers of the media?

This is a question which has gone through many peoples' minds the past 15 years. We'll firstly go back to the origins of the copyright law...

In the time before the internet, producing and distributing media was an expensive business. You had to produce the media itself (which was expensive, and still is in certain areas), then produce books/discs/tapes/papers and distribute those to the shops. You also had to advertise the product, which is still expensive today (using conventional methods). All in all, it was an expensive business.

To protect their business, the authors urged for copyright laws already in the 19th century. In the 20th century, copyright laws were finally enacted and strengthened. Firstly, works were protected. Later on, copyright organisations were established by the media industry (which was now a large industry). These copyright organisations pursued stronger copyright laws, to protect the media industry. This led to things like rent seeking.

Once the media industry was mature, and dominated by several giant corporations, the conditions for artists went downwards. The giants decided who would become famous, and who didn't. Still, producing media was expensive, so it was a legitimate reason.

Then came the internet. At first, people saw it as a niche thing. It wasn't worth investing into. This changed when the internet became mainstream during 2000-2010. Many people discovered the power of youtube, filesharing and other things. An entire generation has grown up with these things by now. It's deeply embedded into their culture.

Still, the media industry didn't want to adapt. Yes, there are things like spotify & iTunes, but these are still largely dependent of the large media corporations. Independent media groups and artists, who had trouble before the rise of the internet, could now easily make themselves known to the public. This was a thorn in the eyes of the large media corporations. Their monopoly was broken.

Their answer to losing their monopoly? An even harsher reaction to the people and small artists than before. They even resorted to acts which are on the border of what is allowed within the law, possibly even crossing that border!

This has caused much anger at the masses on the internet. Many organisations have risen up to combat the war being waged by the large media industries. Some do it by the democratic ways (Pirate Parties), some through lobbying, publicity and advising (Bits of Freedom, La Quadrature Du Net, Electronic Frontier Foundation, etc.) and some resort to activism, sometimes in a more harmful way than the other (Anonymous).

This might lead to the downfall of the large media industries, but it isn't too late yet. If they manage to adapt to the realities of the information society, they might still have a chance. Currently, the media giants abuse both the consumers and the artists. It's time that they use more ethical and fair ways to achieve their profits.

The strongest will not survive. It will be the most adaptive to change who will survive. - Darwin.

About the author:
Roberto Moretti is a Dutch IT student, blogger, activist and is active at the Dutch Pirate Party. He blogs often about copyright-related subjects.

Many thanks go to Samir Allioui for writing a blog here and here (in Dutch) which has been the main inspiration for this blog post.

This blog post is licensed under the Creative Commons license. Sharing and using parts of this blog is allowed, as long as you give credit to the original author (Roberto Moretti). Images taken from deviantart. Please keep the filenames, in order to give credits to the original artists.

The dangers

2010-10-12T06:47:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone,

this is a follow-up on the blogpost 'The Time is now'. I talked about COICA and related things. The EFF reported a few weeks ago that COICA is delayed.

The danger isn't over yet. ACTA has entered the very final stages of negotiation. The last negotiation round ended, and it will be reviewed now. Once it has been reviewed, countries who want to sign it can sign it.

ACTA has been toned down in harsh voice, but it doesn't make it less dangerous. The treaty is filled with vague descriptions of several things. This leaves it open to the interpretation of outsiders, which will likely benefit the rightsholders.

La Quadrature Du Net reports that ACTA is still a very dangerous treaty. I agree with their conclusions. Also, if they manage to tone it now down a bit, and get it forced through, it can be altered later on by the ACTA board. This can still bring in things like '3-strikes' clauses and things like that.

Even if COICA and ACTA get forced through, downloading can't be stopped most likely. It has become too deeply imprinted in an entire generation of people, to be removed. This will be a serious issue for the media-giants, but artists can also benefit from it. Several artists, who use bittorent and similar technologies to spread their works, have benefitted greatly from alternative business models.

These new business models, and the power which the internet gives to the consumers, is a major thorn in the eye for the media giants. This is the entire reason why they're lobbying for harsher copyright laws. What this will lead to, I don't know, but we will see.

Stay tuned!
Roberto Moretti

A new way of sharing torrents

2010-10-07T15:19:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

A friend's computer got a 'cold' sometime ago. It gave me an idea.

Torrent sharing sites are often attacked and shut down by MPAA/RIAA/etc.

To circumvent torrentsites altogether, I combined the way how they spread msn viruses with torrents. This way, you can easily share on almost any site, without anyone noticing it's a torrent file unless they got the instructions.

It works this way:
1. You make your torrent file (or use the one you want to share) and encapsulate it in a .rar/.zip/.7z. Try to make it as small as possible.
2. You pick a random image which you want to use, it must be .png or .jpg.
3. You mix the files with the command prompt (type cmd in start). Browse to the folder containing both the archive and image: copy /b *imagename.extension* + *zip//rar/7zfilename.extension* *filename.imagefileextension*
4. You throw the image which you've created on a image sharing or FTP site. Some sites block hidden data in images.
4a. Check if the file works by doing steps 5-8.
5. Someone downloads the file.
6. The downloader with the instructions (posted on a forum or included in the image) changes the image file extension to the archive extension.
7. Open it with the appropriate archive opener (IE: 7zip/winrar/etc, no winzip!)
8. Torrent on!

I discussed this in an IRC chat, and tested it with several people, it works.

You can do step 5-8 with the image below, which is an innocent Creative Commons file:

http://www.star-apocalypse.info/Files/Images/embeddedpiratepartylogo.jpg

Change it to .rar.

------

How do you like it?

Copy me happy,
Roberto

----notes from Ernesto (torrentfreak.com)----

It seems this technique has been used before, see here: Article on torrentfreak.com

The time is now

2010-10-01T05:13:00.001-07:00

Hey all,

I wanted to write something about the recent developments in real life and the internet here.

Recently, alot of pro-copyright organisations started fighting copyright infringement more actively. As some of you may have read, this lead to a modern witchhunt against pirates and like-minded people.

This didn't end with just fighting them in the courts, but even resorting to more criminal ways. Things like hacking, blackmailing, harassing and bribery has happened. This has caused much anger at the already angry public. While the mainstream media may try to keep the issues revolving around this silent, the general public can't deny the dangers any more. The internet has turned into a battlefield, and soon it will also get to real life. Anyone who tries to ignore the facts will be left in the dark eventually.

As posted in an earlier blog post, I talked about the attacks on copyright organisations by the 'anon' group (many news articles state 4chan is behind it, but it isn't true. 4chan is merely one of the recruiting areas for anon). This is escalating, indirectly causing damage to over 8000 sites.

While it's likely that the mainstream media are going to try to create negative publicity about 4chan and anon, it's actually one of the groups which fights for civil liberties (although possibly in a childish way). The impact has been great, and it might become more serious over time. While the attacks keep going on, the copyright industry has been working on a counterattack for some time. The ramnifications of this counterattack could be greater than the attacks by anon.

The internet is currently the backbone of most of the communication going on in the (western) world. The internet is currently still free, but that is at great stake. The counterattack by the copyright organisations, named COICA (Combating Online Infringements and Counterfeits Act) will change the internet as we know it today forever. It will not only cause the internet to be controlled by the US Government, but it also increases the corporation's control over the internet.

If the free internet would disappear, the freedom of press would be gone too. And with this, most of the non-biased information sources will be gone. This is not only a serious threat for the internet, but also for the democratic process itself. Since what will provide us with truth, when the only 'truth' we will know comes from one single source? This is why the general public can't ignore the situation any more.

Besides 4chan, there are several other groups which fight the current developments. These organisations include the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Pirate Parties International and several other groups spread around the globe. In my eyes, it is critical that we support and vote for these groups, if we want to reach a true democracy.

Also, research in several countries concluded that piracy is good for prosperity and economy. The same goes for free flow of knowledge and information. This has been the prime source of inspiration for these organisations. These groups generally defend civil rights and prosperity of the entire society the best. Many current political parties fail to address the current situation, which isn't smart at all. Developments will currently continue. The question will be: Will the general public wake up in time to prevent a totalitarian world?

It's time to take action now, so feel free to spread this story and tell the people about this! Defend your civil rights, take action now!

Copy me happy,
Roberto Moretti

Broken Liberties - The silent war on the general public

2010-09-22T14:27:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,

it's war. Maybe not in real life, but there's war on the internet. What started as a minor protest by pro-piracy groups against the actions of the media giants, has turned into a massive exchange of digital attacks, even flowing into the real life world.

Some background information
Conflict has been brewing for more than a decade by now. It started with a protest by the media industry against video and audio casette copying. This copying was made equal to theft. This eventually moved on to the internet, where copying bits of data (which represent Intellectual Property) was made equal to theft by the same organisations.

Before we continue, lets look up theft in the dictionary. In basically all dictionaries, it says something like this: "Theft - Taking away property which belongs to someone.". Do you take something away by copying? No. Do you steal property with copying? You don't too.

Next reason from the media giants to fight piracy: "They would lose profits due to piracy, which they would have made without piracy." Hmmmm, what profits were lost? Got any proof? Ah I see, you haven't. That's with all these things like "we're losing profits". And if it's about movies or music making losses, that's always because of hollywood accounting or similar schemes. These schemes make the real creator (the artist) earn hardly any money from their creations, even if they're highly profitable. Why should we even buy the media then?

To make matters worse, the media industry has been criminalizing the consumers with increasingly aggressivity. And in earlier times (5-15 years ago), that wasn't even without a 'good' reason! Back then, hardly anyone was pirating on a large scale. The anti piracy outfits were starting a massive public campaign back then when the internet started to become very popular among the common people. This lead to alot of people finding out about piracy, and starting to use it.

To tell a funny story: A family member of mine was unreasonable to talk about regarding IP (Intellectual Property) and such things. He regarded any form of open source and piracy as heavy criminals. If you find piracy questionable, ok, I can agree. But Open Source? Just because it's free to share doesn't make it criminal. Proves how old-fashioned some people can think.

Lets go on. Basically, this entire criminalizing of the public has created alot of hate against the media giants by alot of people who check on the independent news sources on the internet (which virtually contains the only independent news sources). This hate led to small protests like propaganda in the past. Also, the media industry has been 'purchasing'/bribing new laws, like 'pornographic internet filters' and heavier IP laws. The latest results of these actions are the ACTA treaty and the Gallo Report. The protests kept going at the steady pace it had always been going in. Still, it was a fire waiting to explode. And explode it did.

Opening of the war
What triggered the so called explosion? Well, that's something which I'm gonna explain now.

In september, several torrent sites (including The Pirate Bay) became victim of DDoS attacks (denial of service). This upset the filesharing and general internet community alot. But, the culprit could only be guessed, until... The indian firm, AiPlex, confessed they were behind the attacks, and that they were paid by the RIAA and MPAA. This infuriated the internet community, especially the younger generations.

Within a matter of days, huge attacks (involving thousands, if not millions, of people) were staged upon several websites, including the AiPlex, RIAA and MPAA. All those websites suffered downtime, as reported by Panda Security.

It didn't stop with this. Several hours later, the digital attacks were being exchanged by hackers from both sides. Both sides suffered damage, but fortunately no one has been killed yet. It isn't possible, since this war isn't going on in real life, or is it?

What's really going on
There's something going on behind the background. This war isn't about piracy, but about power. Modern-day piracy is power of the masses, and the internet currently also is power of the masses. The internet is also a very big communication method, soon to be the biggest (if not the biggest already). Any powerful entity wants to control this. If you look at all the anti-piracy laws being bought/bribed/lobbied (whatever you call it) by the media industry, all of them can also be used at people who just have a non-matching opinion.

Haven't we seen this before? Ah yes, I remember. It were some troubled times in a certain country in Europe in the 1930's. Dangerous it was, and it needed alot of power to be pulled down.

Currently, in all european countries, there's been alot of media coverage of extremist right groups. In The Netherlands, we have our own person for this matter, called Geert Wilders. I think it isn't anything coincidental that people like him get so much media coverage. It's not only because they have radical views, but also because they're likely to grant the large corporations more power. And this is exactly what the media industry wants.

The developments currently happening are leading towards corporate-controlled police states, where any differently-thinking person gets ruined for the rest of his/her life. It's already what we were seeing in the USA, with the anti-piracy lawsuits in the past.

A side note: I don't condemn any corporation. Any corporation which operates within the boundaries of the law has right to exist. Corporations which buy laws by bribing/lobbying operate outside the law in my eyes, and therefore have no right to exist.

But before these police states are a reality, we need to act. The protests, in the form of propaganda and pirate parties, were just the beginning. Now the real war has started, it's not about just piracy. It's about the freedom of speech. Since if the media giants get the internet under their control, they have all media under control. And this is something VERY dangerous. We have seen this before, and we fought it in the past with a huge army. Then right after, we promised it would never happen any more. And now? It's starting to happen again, and the only people acting are far in the minority. The reason? Hardly anyone knows about this war, which is far more dangerous than any muslim or terrorist threat.

I've been gathering links of articles about these issues for some time now. While some are clearly pointing towards one side, I've posted the most neutral ones below here:
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/09/4chan-tries-to-change-life-outside-the-basement-via-ddos-attacks.ars
http://tweakers.net/nieuws/69751/websites-van-riaa-gaan-plat-door-gerichte-ddos-aanvallen.html (dutch)
http://tweakers.net/nieuws/69815/justitie-geeft-geen-openheid-over-internetfilter-kinderporno.html (dutch)
http://tweakers.net/nieuws/69801/europees-parlement-neemt-antipiraterijrapport-aan.html (dutch)
http://torrentfreak.com/european-parliament-votes-on-controversial-anti-piracy-report-100921/ (maybe not so neutral, still posting it for you)
http://torrentfreak.com/copyright-trolls-not-just-for-patents-anymore-100920/ (same goes for this)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Njuo1puB1lg (an intresting explaination how you can make profit and have piracy at the same time)
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/04/acta-is-here.ars/ (some insightful information on ACTA)

Just do some searches with your favorite search engines, and you'll find alot of results about these issues.

A few years ago, the copyright issues didn't bother me much. I thought that it wouldn't affect real life, and remain on the internet. That has changed 2 years ago, when more and more information got leaked on ACTA. ACTA has serious impacts on democracy, in a negative way. It might be the beginning of the end of democracy, unless we act. After all, if we act, they're just digging their own grave. And I hope we will act.

What can you do? Firstly, have a look at those links, read them entirely (at least, the english ones) and make up your own mind. If you agree with the tone set in this blog post, feel free to join the fight and vote for the pirate parties (or other parties which are pro-piracy, generally left-wing or liberal parties) and let other people know about what's going on. If you don't agree, that's your own right. It's still a democracy after all.

Cheers,
Roberto

Broken Liberties?

2010-09-15T05:00:00.001-07:00

Hey all,

recently, the Dutch minister for Justice has enacted a law which breaks the Trias Politica. This law was enacted due to the seemingly abuse of the possibilities of the internet by criminals and civilians. Criminals abuse it by sharing information, communication about illicit things, etc. Civilians would have abused it by obtaining classified information, which damages other indiduals and organisations.

The law makes it possible to block 'illegal' and 'unwanted' content from the majority of the citizens. This was already possible under current law, but it required the jurisdictional power to verify if it breaks any laws. If it breaks any laws, it will be blocked, if not, it won't.

The current law which has been enacted allows for the government to block sites without intervention from the jurisdictional power. This means that the government can block a site, without the verification fron a judge. This directly breaks the Trias Politica, which is the foundation of all 'true' democracies.

And who says that this will be limited to only criminal sites? With this, the government can virtually block any site which they don't like. The ramnifications of this can be huge. Someone who criticizes the government can be blocked. Someone who leaks classified information (which is important for the general public to know) can be punished and sent to jail. And more...

This is not happening only in The Netherlands, but also in other western countries. A very bad development in my eyes. This will seriously impair liberties throughout the western world, leading to more abuse of the general public.

We should say no to this!

Update 11 september 2010

2010-09-11T13:02:00.001-07:00

Hey all,

it's been some time since my last update, so I'm gonna tell how stuff has been going.

-university-

I've finally gotten word from university that I've finished my foundation course (propedeuse in dutch). This takes alot of worries away, and makes me able to continue university easily. So that's a plus. Also, the class which keeps bothering me has stopped doing so, so that's also a plus.

I'm still unsure about my future though. University says that I'm facing a good future, but I'm just not sure. I'll see about that.

-social life-

Well, there's only one word which can describe how this is going: shitty. I do have friends, but they hardly make time for me, so I'm very bored most of the days. And that isn't good for me. I hope this will improve soon.

-health-

Well, there's also one word which can describe my health: shitty. As some of you may have read on my blog, I'm having certain symptons recently in an increasing intensity and frequency. That caused me to contact several medical specialists, in order to find out what's been wrong. After 3 weeks, it has been discovered what it is. It is due to my extremely high intelligence, that I absorb information too quickly. My mind hasn't got enough time to organize everything, and that makes my mind become too clogged with stuff. This results in the symptons I've been having, which are quick exhaustion (both mental and physical), breakdowns/collapses and a constantly being semi-tired.

The downside of this is, that it can't be cured. I just have to learn to live with it, and that's hard. It blocks me in the things I want to achieve. It's gonna be hard!

-conclusion-

Well, on the overal I'm not feeling well. Although university is going well, 2 other spheres aren't going so well. I will likely have to work on improving my social life soon. Hopefully I will feel better then :)

Cheers

What's wrong?

2010-09-04T08:13:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

recently, my health has been going downwards. I don't know why or what is happening (that is under investigation), but lately I feel extremely tired, even after small chores. A busy morning and afternoon seriously wrecks my ability to think for the the rest of that day.

It's really weird. I've been having this feeling to a lesser extent already since I went to Eindhoven University of Technology, but the past few months it has worsened alot. It's a really constantly tired feeling, sometimes even to extreme forms. But it isn't tiredness like that you want to sleep, but different tiredness. It's kinda hard to explain.

I've heard some people talk that it could be heart-related. I hope it's not. Some other people said that it could have psychological reasons. I just don't know. I'm going to let this get investigated.

Let's hope for the best!

Roberto

University stuff

2010-09-04T03:57:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

university has started again for me. The first week went quite easily. Not many troubles, or did I still have something? Oh yes, my mentor told me that he heard from several people that I wanted to quit university. I don't know where these stories are coming from, but they're pure lies. I did tell some people that I'm worried, but not that I wanted to quit.

Something very weird is going on there, like someone is trying to get me gone from there. I hear more and more negative things about me on university, while I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Well, I hope I will find out in time!

Cheers,
Roberto

Fail in Dutch politics

2010-09-04T02:33:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

as some of you may have read, the coalition talks in The Netherlands have failed (again). They've tried all possible combinations, but still without result. Now the VVD party (who were the winners) will set up a government plan, and see who will follow them.

Basically, it didn't come as a surprise to me. The CDA is too fragile and the PVV has too extreme views. Other combinations are also difficult, due to the promises made to the voters. They had dug themselves too deep in, and now it's trench warfare.

We've been without a real government for 7 months! It's taking far too long! And our neighbours (Belgium) aren't doing well either, being without a government for already 5 months.

Where is this going to? Both countries have had alot of collapsed governments the past 10 years. Even for the smallest things, the government collapses here in The Netherlands. These politicians seem to take it too lightly with promises made to the people, and with promises made to eachother.

What I would suggest is to have new elections, and see what happens. I know one of my most hated political parties (PVV) will get very big then, but if it takes that to have a government, I'll accept it.

The PVV would hurt foreign relations alot. They're kinda the same as the nazi's back in the 30's and 40's. If you compare a speech of Geert Wilders with one from Hitler, you immediately see the similarities. They're good for in the opposition, but not good as a government party. But we'll see.

Cheers,
Roberto

First post

2010-09-03T18:18:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone!

This is the first post on my personal blog. With all new things, a little explaination is required what this is about.

I will blog here about general stuff in my life. This ranges from software projects, to social stuff till just my intrests. Anything which really bothers me will find it's way on here.

Basically, if you're too lazy to read the about me page, don't worry! I'll explain who I am. Many people know me under the names dirtbag/dirtbag007 and robske. These are some nicknames which I generally use on the internet (I use several others less frequently). I'm currently a student, studying Applied Computer Science at Zuyd University of Applied Sciences. Hmmm, sounds like a nerd doesn't it? Well, you can classify me as a nerd, weren't it that I also enjoy skiïng alot. It's one of my most favorite things. What's more enjoyable than going downhill with 70km/h (43mph!) with nothing more between the ground and you than one inch, feeling the wind going past you. Of course, breaking a leg isn't fun, but I've never had that in my life so far (and I hope it stays that way).

Other things I like to do is basically hang out with friends (lanparties, dining out, lasergaming, bowling and several other stuff), doing stuff on my computer computer (recently it's more because I have nothing else to do. I prefer skiïng or doing stuff with friends though), just have nice conversations with people & meeting new people.

I also do some work besides my education and other things which eat my time. I work for DHL Global Mail at the moment, and next to that I do some Freelance programming and translation stuff (English <-> Dutch).

Sorry for making this too long already for the people who are too lazy to read! I will stop already!

Well, basically, expect some more blog posts soon!

Cheers,
Roberto