Space strategy games

It's been once again a long time since my most recent blogpost.

That also immediately brings me to the topic of this one: It's often said that it has been a long time since any decent AAA space RTS gaming title has been released save for Distant Worlds: Shadows.

Now, a bit of backstory. I started playing the first games when I was a 6 years old kid. I can recall that the first bunch of games I played around that time were Civilization 2, Transport Tycoon Deluxe, Rollercoaster Tycoon, Space Empires 2, Stars! and Imperium Galactica. Not long after, Homeworld, Far Gate, Enemy Nations and several others were added to that list. Looking back, I am still surprised that the language (English) was no barrier for me to play those games. And I spent many hours on those games, often causing annoyance at my parents (should be unsurprising for most of us).

Now, those games may have looked simple, and some were based on fairly simple mechanics. But those mechanics, even if very simple, interacted in such a way that it made the game incredibly deep and/or versatile. Now, the last space-based games before the time I call the 'Dark age of space gaming' which I consider members of the same category as many classics are put in, such as MOO2, Stars! and Space Empires are Homeworld 2 and Haegemonia. To show you why, here are some videos:

Here above is homeworld 2. Not an unknown sight for many people who have played RTS games. While it looked graphically less appealing when compared to its direct competitor, which was released a year earlier, it did have awesome storytelling (like Homeworld). It was the very good story and fairly versatile gameplay which drew me into this game. And has been a game usually played during lanparties for me. The storytelling is the main thing its direct competitor lacks.

This is a Haegemonia video of the vanilla game. The game has been changed in many ways by its expansions, not to mention big mods. Compare homeworld's singleplayer gameplay with Haegemonia below here:

Now, I think both games have their qualities. Homeworld's battles are usually a smaller scale, but not less intense. I do have to say that mainly the voice is done better in Homeworld. In terms of gameplay, I don't consider any of them the best. Comparing them would be like comparing apples and pears. All you can say is that they're different. But the taste of one can not be universally said to be better than the other. Same with here. They each appeal to a different preference about gameplay.

Now, both games also have had good multiplayer communities. Also, to show each game's capabilities and qualities, I will pick videos with modded games. Homeworld's community far bigger than Haeg's, so more footage of Homeworld is to be found on youtube. So for haeg I blatantly have to pick one of my own videos, but here goes:

Now, once again, I consider not any of them superior to the other. They are both vastly different than eachother. What I do want to show is the quality of these games, their longevity, their immersion, etc.

Now, fast forward a few years. Focus has been mostly on RPG's and shooters for a few years. Also, quite some studios switched over to casual gaming. Deep strategy game releases haven't been seen except for Paradox's Europa Universalis and Hearts of Iron on one side and on the other Civilization 4. But suddenly, 3 games shock the gaming market each in their own way. And instead of showing some text, I would rather show you:

This game is one which brought back a "Blast from the past". It made the gaming world once again shake on its very foundations. Big scale, deep RTS gaming with a good graphical touch. An overal well done game has not been seen since above mentioned games in the AAA market. I also consider it the last one in the AAA market currently. It shook the foundations of the gaming market, because it showed what PC's were capable of. What good gameplay really was and should be. And that all of it can be done with some very nice graphics. It in one blow immediately nullified years of propaganda by console manufacturers. RTS's on consoles were from now on considered taboo on many gaming communities, and not just by a sizable group of gamers.

Another game which can be considered a blast from the past. Also, it is one of the few (or only) spacesims having been developed continiously since the golden age of space gaming, which ended roughly after Homeworld 2 and Nexus TJI. This game is also worth mentioning. It was a commercially quite successful space-based game. Also, it had very deep gameplay. It brought space games from being a market niche back into the view of the mainstream. It also has an upcoming successor, named X Rebirth. Be sure to check that one out if you liked this video!

Many will disagree with me putting this one in this list. It wasn't the best game made around that time. By far not. It was also not that visible. But it did change a lot. Many didn't notice, but it started a change in developers. It showed that a complex game doesn't have to be complicated. And that space games do still have a big appeal. So despite it's problems, it provided some qualities which caused things to change later.

Many consider the Dark age of space gaming to be ending by now. Some old blasts from the past returning now (X Rebirth, Star Citizen, Elite Dangerous) and some spinoffs being made (example being Planetary Annihilation) being a clear sign of it. But the signs were there earlier. The end of an era always comes with turmoil, forcing people to rethink. Kickstarter did change a lot, but did not start this end of a lack of good space games. Neither did people like David Braben or Chris Roberts. One must look to times before that. The 3 games mentioned above were signing the coming of an end of an era. But like the printing press and similarly the internet, it takes time for its effects to truly start to change things.

There are 2 games I'd like to mention as true first signs of a coming new age. Both games were not received that well, but both games did deliver on their promise and were improved upon after release.

Distant Worlds. A game which made the gaming market once again shake on its foundations. While the game is not very popular or well known, it did change and still is changing the market. And will still change it for years to come. Why? It has thrown MOO2 off the golden throne of best 4X games when Legends was released. It has received much complaints initially from reviewers, while also having many qualities. But the developer continued to improve it, resulting in several editions, including Return of the Shakturi, Legends and more recently Shadows. Development is still ongoing on it.

For all its problems during release, this title also changed things. It was released quite close to Legends of Pegasus. Both games were shed into the same corner at release. I must say, that at release time this was correct. But the path after it was radically different. Both games had their qualities, even while the majority of them was unfinished or buggy. Legends of Pegasus was abandoned by its publisher, so the developer could not finish or fix it. Sword of the Stars 2 on the other hand did get funding to let the developers fix and finish the game. While not being done yet, Sots 2 is a very enjoyable game now. While still being considered rubbish by the majority of the gaming community, I do consider this a quality title after having played it for an extended time during last summer. And for that, I can only give credit both to Kerberos (the developer) and Paradox (the publisher).

The mentioned games here signalled a change. A change, which was at its core not a change at all. This may sound contradictory, but it isn't. Space games have always had quite a big fan community. If you try to give proof that this isn't the case, I do want you to look at the subscriber amounts of EVE Online for instance. If space games had fallen out of favor at the public, then EVE would have surely suffered. But if it suffered at all, it has been due to decisions from the developers.

For quite some years, I have seen many big publishers dumb down many games. Most AAA games have been quite much dumbed down. It is a shame to see such things happening. But the economic reasons behind them are quite understandable. And as big corporations, they do have to make profit and satisfy shareholders. Which in turn requires large amounts of sales. It is false though that good sales are impossible when you make deep strategy games, especially scifi.

To see good space games being released, I think we are looking and asking in the wrong direction. It won't be AAA publishers and devs. It will instead be a developer which has a dream of a good game and decides to make it. There are plenty of good games out there, just waiting for our scanners to pick them up. And plenty of protostars which are almost going to shine in the gaming universe.

It is the same essence which inspired the developers like Chris Roberts, David Braben and others. And they had their inspiration sources which resulted in them making excellent games. And clearly their games are now doing exactly the same as their inspiration sources did. And you ain't gonna find skilled pioneers in the main trading hubs. You find them in the remote frontiers. In that sense, it isn't any different than exploration in a spacesim.

Signed,
Someone who dreams about the big universe out there.

Dutch Constitution: Bogus?

Hey all,

I recently had discussed on an internal mailing list of the Dutch Pirate Party about the validity of a new cybersecurity bill proposed by Ivo Opstelten. I looked towards the Dutch Constitution and asked myself: Does this bill fit with the guidelines of the Dutch Constitution? The conclusion was simple: It does not. It even violates multiple articles.

This immediately prompted the next question in me: If this is against the Dutch Constitution, how do they still get it into their minds to propose such a preposterous law? I started doing some research. Of course, the first destination is going to the document of the Dutch constitution which the government supplies (you can expect this to be the actual form of it). I had already looked into it earlier, and did find some interesting stuff in there.

First of all, almost every section and article of the constitution is littered with small lines like these:

1. behoudens in de gevallen, bij de wet bepaald.
2. behoudens bij de wet gestelde beperkingen en uitzonderingen.
3. behoudens ieders verantwoordelijkheid volgens de wet.

(source)

What this says, is that every article in the constitution can be limited or overridden by normal laws which are formed under normal parliamtentary procedures (the procedures for the Wetboeken, Law Books, which only require a 51% majority instead of the 67% needed for changes in the constitution). This is because it refers to the Wetboeken to say in which cases these constitution articles are valid. Of course, this is logical, as the wetboeken also describe procedures and how high the punishment should be. So this alone was no reason to assume that the constitution could be violated (it is an open door though, but still there had to be protections).

Well, I thought I might have a look what the responsibility for the Dutch lawmakers are (1st and 2nd chamber). Often, it is described that the 2nd chamber (2e kamer) actually sets up the laws, and the 1st chamber (1e kamer) has to check if these laws are in line with the constitution and things like that. So I decided to look into that. We are looking now at this section for that. Actually, there's nothing there which says the responsibilities are at all. This entire section and the related section actually say that both chambers act as the lawmaking force. The regering (which resides in the 2nd chamber, a small subsection of that) are the ones who run the actual government. So together with a separated judicial system, this arranges the trias politica (which this constitution is based on).

Well, I wondered: Why does everyone say that the 1st chamber checks if laws passed in the 2nd chamber are in check with the constitution or other guidelines? I tried to find an article about it myself in the constitution, but couldn't find any. If anyone can tell me where I can find this, then I will take back my claims about there being no protection of the constitution in the lawmaking area of power.

Well, then there's the judicial part of the trias politica. In most modern democracies, there's some sort of legal organisation which checks if a law or action of the government or any other entity in the country is in line with the constitution. Well, the following line might shock most people:

De rechter treedt niet in de beoordeling van de grondwettigheid van wetten en verdragen. (source)

Well, this actually puts up an interesting contradiction. Earlier in the constitution it is said that no treaty (verdrag) may break any law. But what if one does? You can't hold the lawmaking and governing areas of power liable, and the judicial system can't do anything about it. In fact, it can not only do something against constitution-breaking treaties, but if the government decides to break the constitution, there's no checks built in against that. So I have come down to a very simple conclusion.

If the government would ever decide to break the constitution (which is already been done maybe, and most likely underway now with this proposal by Ivo Opstelten from the VVD), there's nothing the citizens can do against it. At least, save for 2 things:
First, they can try to depose the government. This would of course involve violence, and I don't want that to happen. So this option is a no-go.
Secondly, you can try to change the opinion of the lawmakers in such a direction, that they will fix this up. They can, because one of the very few pieces of the constitution being valid, is that it needs a 67% majority to change the constitution.

So yes, the constitution is worth a lot if a government is acting ethically correct. But if any fictional person would ever gain enough power to get 51% of the 2nd chamber to support him or his party (which is the usual case in any democracy), and would have the desire to seize power for himself (or for a select club of people), he can't be stopped by any law according to our constitution. So what I would like to propose is to make the lawmakers aware of this serious problem, or at least try to make the public aware of this serious problem in one of the most critical parts of the Dutch government.

PS: If anyone can point me to official pieces of the law, disproving my claim that the government is not held in check by the constitution, please inform me by a comment on this blog post.

PS2: I'm still shocked by the conclusion which I've drawn in this blog post. So please, if anyone can prove me wrong, do it! I don't want this thing I've concluded here to be true. I really hope I overlooked something.

Ridiculousness and congratulations

Hey all,

It's been a long time since my most recent blogpost. I was past week at a debate on the radio. There were 3 parties present there. The Party for Animals (PvdD), the Labour Party (PVDA) and the conservatives (VVD). I was very surprised about a thing, but could also understand it. That's what I wanted to write about.

There was a debate about the economic crisis. It was surprising to see how much things the PVDA en VVD were saying which were completely out of place. Or even not true. There's a very big lack of understanding about the source of the crisis at the major political parties, or even most parties. PVDA and VVD were saying "We should invest in startups. We should invest in providing more jobs.". This is in my opinion only partially correct. Creating new jobs and investing in startups only works if the jobs and startups even stay (alive). And with the current economic model, that's not possible.

Besides from Pirate viewpoints like patents, copyright and education, there's more. And only one party in the debate hinted into that direction: The PvdD. They said that Earth's resources are limited. This is very true, and it isn't only logical that this has implications for the economy, but is critical to understand the current economic crisis. We're nearing the limits of the resources on Earth, and that will have a serious impact on the economy.

So after the debate, I told the candidate for the PvdD that I thought that he was the only one drawing the correct conclusions about the crisis. I also told him that I appreciated it that at least one party could draw the correct conclusions about it and saying that out loud on a live radio show. I don't agree with all the PvdD's viewpoints, but this one was very correct. I told him that if the Pirate Party would get into parliament, they would surely get support for this.

Now, why do I understand that the VVD and PVDA were basically talking shit? That's a good question, but simply said: They have been doing this for years. And they're grinded so much into using arguments which are not based on facts (which are clearly out there!), that basically all which comes out of their mouths currently is nonsense. Only one thing I could agree on with those 2 parties: You can't turn your backs on Europe. You have to work together, in order to be competitive in the world. Clearly enough, there was only one thing which was correct which they could say in 45 minutes. So big thumbs up towards PvdD!

That's kinda my rant and all I wanted to say.

Frustraties rondom verkiezingsstrijd

Beste Lezers,

deze keer in het Nederlands een blogje. Ik heb een frustratie, gezien dat ik al 2 maanden lang campagne probeer te voeren in Limburg voor de Piratenpartij, maar de Gemeente Heerlen lijkt nu de laatste weken ons keihard te negeren. Hoezo? Dat leg ik even uit.

Op 15 juni 2012 stuurde ik een mailtje naar de desbetreffende ambtenaar, om te vragen voor een vergunning om op enkele data in juni, juli en augustus campagne te mogen voeren voor de Piratenpartij. Deze ambtenaar is normaal zeer behulpzaam, maar was nu helaas afwezig, dus ik werd doorgestuurd naar het algemene loket van de Gemeente. Daar kreeg ik op de 21e een antwoord dat de aanvraag was doorgestuurd naar de ambtenaar die erover ging. Ik heb tot nu toe geen verder antwoord ontvangen.

Op 10 juli heb ik nogmaals een mailtje naar de gemeente gestuurd, met de vraag of ze voor 13 juli willen reageren met een definitief antwoord, gezien ik meestal binnen 1 a 2 dagen een antwoord kreeg voorheen. Ik wacht hun antwoord af, maar het frustreert me mateloos. Zou het slordigheid in hun administratie zijn? Waarschijnlijk wel.

Ondertussen zie ik wel in de stad andere partijen campagne voeren. Waarom krijgen zij wel toestemming? En wij niet? Dit maakt mij nogal achterdochtig. Maar ik zal het maar erop gooien dat de gemeente de aanvraag is kwijtgeraakt.

Helaas heeft dit akkefietje wel al flink wat schade aan de campagne van de Piratenpartij in Limburg aangebracht. We hebben al meer dan een maand niet meer campagne kunnen voeren, en dat brengt de kans op winst in Limburg ernstig in gevaar. En als niet alle partijen gelijke kansen krijgen, dan vind ik dat de democratie niet is gewaarborgd. Maar de 13e zal het uitwijzen.

Even afwachten dus!

PS: Na een dringend verzoek heb ik binnen 1 dag antwoord gekregen! Dus toch nog opgelost gelukkig! De behulpzame ambtenaar was weer aanwezig!

Direct attack on democracy in The Netherlands by lobby organisation

Today something troubling occurred in The Netherlands. A lobby organization named BREIN, demanded that a democratic political party would be held on the leash by the same lobby organization, in terms of freedom of expression. In my opinion this is crossing a line. This is not just fighting a dispute. It is actually a disruption of the democratic process. How can a political party voice its opinion, if it may only say what is approved by a lobbyist organization. To make matters worse, in The Netherlands, the election campaigns are heating up. But let's take a step back, and look at the past. Because the lobbyist organization isn't well known for its obedience to the law.

BREIN is perhaps best known for shutting down Dutch eDonkey 2000 link giant ShareConnector^[1] in December 2004. Due to controversy over the legality of links to illegal content, and a lack of quality in the evidence provided by BREIN,^[2] the case has not been put to trial yet. After being offline for two years, ShareConnector reopened in December 2006 but after barely one year; on November 12, 2007, Shareconnector went offline again.

Last Monday the guys from BREIN visited me at home to convince me to close ShareConnector or else they will start a civil proceeding with a claim. Of course, this does not mean I agree with their point of view, it's just that I can't afford taking any risks. As of today, November 12, 2007 I decided to close down. If there is anything new to report, you will be informed. Thank you for all your support and understanding.

How these "visits" happen, is often clearly criminal according to reports which can't be 100% verified. There have been reports (I can't say if these are true, since it's only word of mouth), where BREIN officials would visit a person with babies, and they would say "You better shut down your activities, or the future of that little one over there won't be so nice.". This IS illegal. But I can't confirm or deny these allegations, and I won't take these into account further. What else is there?

After a series of allegations that Usenet community Fill Threads Database (FTD) was acting illegally, the Dutch FTD started a lawsuit against BREIN in May 2009. BREIN president Tim Kuik alleged in a Dutch newspaper that “Although they [FTD] are not carrying illegal content on their servers, what FTD does is simply criminal”. FTD is suing for a retraction of this libelous statement and demands a declaration from the courts that its activities are entirely within the law.

This is not clearly criminal, as BREIN managed to get a verdict from the judge declaring that FTD was acting illegally. What is questionable though, is that BREIN made such charges in front of the mainstream press, without having a verdict. And that's something we'll see in the next thing...

On the 1 June 2009 Tim Kuik published an online article claiming BREIN's website was "broken" by hackers performing DDoS attacks. He speculated about a possible connection with the intended court summons against The Pirate Bay. Several independent sources reported the site's deep links were still available (only the frontpage was inaccessible) and as such BREIN's claim of having been attacked was false. Brein responded claiming the attacks had stopped and that the site's year old backup had been used to recover the site. Because the backup was dated, the website was now under construction.
Internet blog Geenstijl purportedly discovered BREIN's server was still fully operational and there had been no attack whatsoever - the complete news archive was still available.^[5][6][7] (A password was later added to BREIN's news archive to prevent further checks on availability.)
On 23 June 2009 The Pirate Bay announced a lawsuit against Tim Kuik on libel charges, claiming The Pirate Bay had nothing to do with the alleged DDoS attack.

What this shows, is that BREIN doesn't refrain from using statements and lies which can cause a competitor (because that's what TPB is, nothing more) to have a bad name in media. This is effectively framing or making libelous statements. But BREIN got away with this, and 2 other things which are not only just questionable, but actually clearly criminal:

BREIN attracted controversy again when several suspicious aspects of their lawsuit against The Pirate Bay and Reservella were revealed, including evidence that documents used to link Fredrik Neij of The Pirate Bay to Reservella were faked.^[10][11] Peter Sunde and the Dutch Pirate Party filed criminal felony charges against both Tim Kuik and BREIN for fraud and forgery.
In January 2011, Dutch anti-piracy outfit BREIN targeted one of the Internet’s largest warez piracy topsites. The site, known as Swan, was taken down by hosting provider WorldStream and without judicial process BREIN seized its servers. The owners of the servers retaliated by seizing them back and may sue BREIN for breach of privacy and property rights as BREIN is a private organization and has no special legal or investigative authority.^[12]

BREIN got away with both of these things. It's really a miracle that they came away with it, since it's clearly a criminal act. I suppose BREIN has good lawyers.

So, going back to the recent state of affairs. The fight started with BREIN forcing the biggest ISP, and a smaller ISP to block access to the TPB for their users. We can debate long over the legal basis of this, but best is to draw your own conclusions. Before the verdict went into effect (feb 2012), many proxies sprang up which offered access to specifically TPB. One of those was the Piratenpartij's proxy, known as tpb.piratenpartij.nl. This proxy wasn't used much for a long time, until BREIN decided to force the Piratenpartij to shut down the specific proxy through an ex-parte court order. In an ex-parte, the Piratenpartij wasn't allowed to voice its concerns, effectively eliminating a fair trial.

In an ex-parte, there should be an urgent case, which also wasn't there. So the legal basis wasn't there, according to several well-known lawyers. Even when the Piratenpartij asked to be heard in court, it was met with laughter. And the most outrageous part? The Piratenpartij was forced to do this, or get a fine of €1.000.000, while the biggest Dutch ISP would get a fine of €250.000. The proportionality of this is entirely missing. The biggest ISP in The Netherlands is a commercial entity which makes millions a month, while the Piratenpartij is a non-profit political party. Even if the Piratenpartij would be forced to pay this fine, it'd take them 163 years to pay this back. Effectively bankrupting the party. This shows how ridiculous the ex-parte was.

The Piratenpartij knew this, and filed a so called "enforcement dispute" (I hope I translate this well, blame google translate if it's wrong), since BREIN was also expanding its demands without consent from a judge. On 17 april, the Piratenpartij got their justice at a judge, and forced BREIN to drop the extra demands. This effectively halted BREIN's advance... temporarily.

Back to today. Today, BREIN and the Piratenpartij had to fight it in the court. It was about the ex-parte, but BREIN added more demands at the last moment. They demanded that the Piratenpartij wouldn't be allowed to talk about anything related to circumventing blockades. How this was formulated, would make it even so everything the Piratenpartij (or any of its members) would say in public and private, had to be checked by BREIN or a lawyer. This effectively kills a political party's free speech. And as I said, matters are only worse because parliamentary elections are coming soon.

The final verdict will be at 10 may. If it should be a negative verdict for the Piratenpartij, it remains to be seen if these elections can be called true democratic elections...

Quotes taken from wikipedia. Licensed under CC-BY-SA.

UPDATE 25-04: BREIN has dropped demands to censor the Piratenpartij, seeing that they went too far (after massive public backlash). The only thing still up for trial is about proxies.

Auteursrechten - Een zinloze discussie

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

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'?

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

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'

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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