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Yes, another posting from me about the Digital Economy Bill. As I keep saying, this bill is about more than just disconnection. Clause 43 sounds fair enough – putting “orphan works” where the copyright owner can’t be found into the public domain sounds a good thing. But it has been badly constructed, presumably with input from lobbyists with skewed interests.
It will have the side effect of making all photographs public domain unless they are painfully obviously marked with the photographer’s identity. When you write to your MP, ignore disconnection (it will just make them toss your letter); complain about clause 43, about the threat to open WiFi and about the apparently corrupt avoidance of democratic process. Oh, and write today, we’re running out of time.
And sadly this is not an April Fools prank.
In other news:
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As you may have heard on the Ubuntu UK Podcast, I’ve confirmed I’ll be attending – I’ll be opening the day on Saturday with a discussion on digital liberty, the threats it faces and the actions geeks can take.
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Get them while they’re hot!
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Finally found the origin from which the saying “The Greatest Enemy Of Freedom Is A Happy Slave” is derived. I’ll add attribution on the slide where I cite it.
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The countryside has always been gorgeous, but this means we now officially live a 15 minute drive from a national park from SW all the way round to ENE.
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“when we start talking about business models, what matters is not how a vendor generates incremental revenue but how you generate incremental value.” — All of the value a business derives from open source software arises from the freedoms it delivers. When access to those freedoms is prevented, you have a plain, vanilla ISV. Heed Gartner for once!
Filed under: Digital Economy Bill, Links |