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diff --git a/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/digital-inclusion-in-freedom.html b/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/digital-inclusion-in-freedom.html index c7078d0..3f78ea9 100644 --- a/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/digital-inclusion-in-freedom.html +++ b/talermerchantdemos/blog/articles/en/digital-inclusion-in-freedom.html @@ -42,14 +42,14 @@ to resist them, collectively and individually.</p> <p>Digital surveillance systems are spreading. The UK uses computers with cameras to track all car travel. China plans to identify and -photograph everyone that uses an Internet cafe.<a name="tex2html1" +photograph everyone that uses an Internet cafe.<a id="tex2html1" href="#foot100"><sup>1</sup></a></p> <p>Cell phones are Big Brother's tools. Some can be activated by remote command to listen to the user's conversations without giving -any sign of listening, by the police<a name="tex2html3" +any sign of listening, by the police<a id="tex2html3" href="#foot101"><sup>2</sup></a> and by unauthorized -individuals.<a name="tex2html5" href="#foot102"><sup>3</sup></a> Users +individuals.<a id="tex2html5" href="#foot102"><sup>3</sup></a> Users are unable to stop this because the software in the phone is not free/libre, thus not under the users' control.</p> @@ -82,19 +82,19 @@ political opposition as “terrorists,” and using supposed “anti-terror” laws to infiltrate and sabotage their activities, threatens democracy everywhere. For instance, the US Joint Terrorism Task Force infiltrated a wide range of political -opposition groups.<a name="tex2html7" +opposition groups.<a id="tex2html7" href="#foot103"><sup>4</sup></a></p> <p>False accusations of “terrorism” are standard practice for suppressing political opposition. In the US, protesters who smashed windows at the 2008 Republican National Convention were -charged with “terrorism.”<a name="tex2html9" +charged with “terrorism.”<a id="tex2html9" href="#foot104"><sup>5</sup></a> More recently, Iran described protesters demanding a new election as -“terrorists.”<a name="tex2html11" +“terrorists.”<a id="tex2html11" href="#foot105"><sup>6</sup></a> The generals who ruled most of South America in the 1970s offered precisely that justification for their -systematic murder of dissidents.<a name="tex2html13" +systematic murder of dissidents.<a id="tex2html13" href="#foot20"><sup>7</sup></a></p> <p>A free society does not guarantee anonymity in what you do outside @@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ fight surveillance even if it is established while we have no particular secrets to keep.</p> <p>The UK car travel surveillance system has already been used against -political dissidents.<a name="tex2html14" +political dissidents.<a id="tex2html14" href="#foot106"><sup>8</sup></a></p> <h3 id="censorship">CENSORSHIP</h3> @@ -131,22 +131,22 @@ do likewise, but has met strong resistance, so instead it has forbidden links to a long list of URLs. Electronic Frontiers Australia was forced, under threat of fines of AUD 11,000 per day, to remove a link to an anti-abortion political web -site.<a name="tex2html16" href="#foot107"><sup>9</sup></a> Denmark's +site.<a id="tex2html16" href="#foot107"><sup>9</sup></a> Denmark's secret list of forbidden URLs was leaked and posted on Wikileaks; that -page is now on Australia's banned list.<a name="tex2html18" +page is now on Australia's banned list.<a id="tex2html18" href="#foot108"><sup>10</sup></a> Germany is on the verge of launching -Internet censorship.<a name="tex2html20" +Internet censorship.<a id="tex2html20" href="#foot109"><sup>11</sup></a></p> <p>Censorship of the contents of web sites is also a threat. India just announced a broad plan of censorship that would effectively -abolish freedom of the press on the Internet.<a name="tex2html22" +abolish freedom of the press on the Internet.<a id="tex2html22" href="#foot110"><sup>12</sup></a></p> <p>Some European countries censor particular political views on the Internet. In the United States, people have been imprisoned as “terrorists” for running a web site which discussed -actions taken against experiments on animals.<a name="tex2html24" +actions taken against experiments on animals.<a id="tex2html24" href="#foot28"><sup>13</sup></a></p> <p>Another common excuse for censorship is the claim that @@ -156,7 +156,7 @@ Fiction revolted me, and I will try never to see such a thing again. But that does not justify censoring it; no matter how obscene a work may be, censorship is more so. A variant of this excuse is “protecting children,” which plays to the exaggerated and -mostly misplaced fears of parents.<a name="tex2html25" +mostly misplaced fears of parents.<a id="tex2html25" href="#foot111"><sup>14</sup></a></p> <p>Censorship is nothing new. What is new is the ease and @@ -166,7 +166,7 @@ in 1960 achieved effective censorship by cutting its population off from the world, but that held back the country's development, which was painful for the regime as well as for the population. Today China uses digital technology to achieve effective political censorship -without cutting itself off in other ways.<a name="tex2html27" +without cutting itself off in other ways.<a id="tex2html27" href="#foot112"><sup>15</sup></a></p> <h3 id="control">SOFTWARE YOU CAN'T CONTROL</h3> @@ -178,7 +178,7 @@ means it must be <em>free software</em>, which I here call freedom, not price.</p> <p>A program is free/libre if it gives the user these four essential -freedoms:<a name="tex2html29" href="#foot113"><sup>16</sup></a></p> +freedoms:<a id="tex2html29" href="#foot113"><sup>16</sup></a></p> <ul> <li>0. Freedom to run the program as you wish.</li> @@ -202,7 +202,7 @@ divided and helpless. Avoiding this injustice and giving users control over their computing requires the four freedoms. Freedoms 0 and 1 give you control over your own computing, and freedom 3 enables users to work together to jointly control their computing, while -freedom 2 means users are not kept divided.<a name="tex2html31" +freedom 2 means users are not kept divided.<a id="tex2html31" href="#foot114"><sup>17</sup></a></p> <p>Many argue that free/libre software is impossible on theoretical @@ -221,13 +221,13 @@ facts.</p> <p>We know that free software can be developed because so much of it exists. There are thousands of useful free -programs,<a name="tex2html34" href="#foot115"><sup>18</sup></a> and -millions of users<a name="tex2html36" +programs,<a id="tex2html34" href="#foot115"><sup>18</sup></a> and +millions of users<a id="tex2html36" href="#foot116"><sup>19</sup></a> run the -GNU/Linux<a name="tex2html38" +GNU/Linux<a id="tex2html38" href="#foot117"><sup>20</sup></a>operating system. Thousands of programmers write useful free software as -volunteers.<a name="tex2html40" href="#foot118"><sup>21</sup></a> +volunteers.<a id="tex2html40" href="#foot118"><sup>21</sup></a> Companies such as Red Hat, IBM, Oracle, and Google pay programmers to write free software. I do not know even approximately how many paid free software developers there are; studying the question would be @@ -245,13 +245,13 @@ believe that “reputable” developers will not use their power to mistreat you. The fact is that they do.</p> <p>Microsoft Windows has features to spy on the -user,<a name="tex2html43" href="#foot119"><sup>22</sup></a> Digital +user,<a id="tex2html43" href="#foot119"><sup>22</sup></a> Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) features designed to stop the user from -making full use of his own files,<a name="tex2html45" +making full use of his own files,<a id="tex2html45" href="#foot120"><sup>23</sup></a> and an all-purpose back door with which Microsoft can forcibly change the software in any way at any -time.<a name="tex2html47" href="#foot121"><sup>24</sup></a> Microsoft -can alter any software, not just its own.<a name="tex2html49" +time.<a id="tex2html47" href="#foot121"><sup>24</sup></a> Microsoft +can alter any software, not just its own.<a id="tex2html49" href="#foot122"><sup>25</sup></a> Cell phones tied to particular phone networks may give the network a similar back door. MacOS also has DRM features designed to restrict the user.</p> @@ -278,14 +278,14 @@ video in VC-1 format, whose specifications are available only under nondisclosure agreement from the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers. (As of 2016 RAI seems to have shifted to a non-secret format.) Ironically, the SMPTE states this in a Word file, -which is not suitable to cite as a reference.<a name="tex2html51" +which is not suitable to cite as a reference.<a id="tex2html51" href="#foot123"><sup>26</sup></a> This standard has been partly decoded through reverse engineering.</p> <p>Most music distribution on the Internet uses the patented MP3 -format<a name="tex2html82" href="#foot137"><sup>42</sup></a>, and most +format<a id="tex2html82" href="#foot137"><sup>42</sup></a>, and most video uses patented MPEG-4 formats such as DIVX and H.264. VC-1 is -also patented.<a name="tex2html53" href="#foot124"><sup>27</sup></a> +also patented.<a id="tex2html53" href="#foot124"><sup>27</sup></a> Any software patent directly attacks every user's freedom to use her computer. Use of patented data formats is comparable to mandating that people use officially approved scribes rather than do their own @@ -401,7 +401,7 @@ ever, forbidding the act of sharing.</p> any length they can get away with to wage the War on Sharing. In the US, the record companies' legal arm (the RIAA) regularly sues teenagers for hundreds of thousands of dollars, and one sharer was -fined almost two million.<a name="tex2html56" +fined almost two million.<a id="tex2html56" href="#foot125"><sup>28</sup></a> The French government recently passed a law (HADOPI) to abolish the principle of due process of law, by punishing Internet users with disconnection on the mere accusation @@ -410,7 +410,7 @@ were empowered to make such accusations; thus, this law meant to abolish Liberté, Egalité, and Fraternité with one blow. <span class="gnun-split"></span>The law was rejected as unconstitutional by the Constitutional -Council.<a name="tex2html58" href="#foot126"><sup>29</sup></a> (It was +Council.<a id="tex2html58" href="#foot126"><sup>29</sup></a> (It was subsequently changed, introducing a sham trial, to make it acceptable.) A similar law in New Zealand was withdrawn this year after public protests. The European Parliament recently voted against imposing @@ -424,7 +424,7 @@ engaged in negotiating the “Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement.” The negotiations are secret, but Canada reluctantly published a list of suggestions it received from private parties, and HADOPI-style punishment without trial was one of -them.<a name="tex2html60" href="#foot127"><sup>30</sup></a> The +them.<a id="tex2html60" href="#foot127"><sup>30</sup></a> The suggestion is likely to have come from the copyright lobby, which has great influence in the US government and others, so the danger is not negligible. European officials may seek to use this treaty to @@ -439,9 +439,9 @@ it is. They call sharing “piracy,” equating helping your neighbor with attacking a ship.</p> <p>Public anger over these measures is growing, but it is held back by -propaganda. Terms such as “piracy,”<a name="tex2html62" +propaganda. Terms such as “piracy,”<a id="tex2html62" href="#foot128"><sup>31</sup></a> “protecting authors” and -“intellectual property,”<a name="tex2html64" +“intellectual property,”<a id="tex2html64" href="#foot129"><sup>32</sup></a> and claims that reading, viewing or listening to anything without paying is “theft,” have convinced many readers that their rights and interests do not count. @@ -462,10 +462,10 @@ wish to read a book, listen to a song, or watch a video. They could make people's copies disappear on a planned schedule. They could even make copies unreadable at will, if they have all-purpose back-doors such as found in Windows, or special features for the -purpose.<a name="tex2html66" href="#foot130"><sup>33</sup></a></p> +purpose.<a id="tex2html66" href="#foot130"><sup>33</sup></a></p> <p>Designing products and media to restrict the user is called Digital -Restrictions Management, or DRM.<a name="tex2html68" +Restrictions Management, or DRM.<a id="tex2html68" href="#foot66"><sup>34</sup></a> Its purpose is an injustice: to deny computer users what would otherwise be their legal rights in using their copies of published works. Its method is a second injustice, @@ -525,17 +525,17 @@ not justify these means. Fortunately, it does not require them either. Public sharing of copies tends to call attention to obscure or niche works: when Monty Python put its video files on the net for download, its sales increased by a factor of over -200.<a name="tex2html69" href="#foot131"><sup>35</sup></a> Meanwhile, +200.<a id="tex2html69" href="#foot131"><sup>35</sup></a> Meanwhile, digital technology also offers new ways to support the arts.</p> <h4 id="donations">Donations</h4> <p>The singer Jane Siberry offers her music for -download through her own web site, called <a name="tex2html71" +download through her own web site, called <a id="tex2html71" href="http://janesiberry.com">janesiberry.com</a> in 2010, allowing people to pay whatever amount they wish. The average price paid per song was earlier reported to be more than the $.99 that the major -record companies charge.<a name="tex2html72" +record companies charge.<a id="tex2html72" href="#foot132"><sup>36</sup></a></p> <p>Bestsellers also can still do well without stopping people from @@ -545,13 +545,13 @@ copies. Radiohead made millions in 2007 by inviting fans to copy an album and pay what they wished, while it was also shared on the Internet. In 2008, Nine Inch Nails released an album with permission to share copies and made 750,000 dollars in a few -days.<a name="tex2html74" href="#foot133"><sup>37</sup></a></p> +days.<a id="tex2html74" href="#foot133"><sup>37</sup></a></p> <p>Even hampered by today's inconvenient methods of sending money to artists, voluntary contributions from fans can support them. Kevin Kelly, former editor of Wired Magazine, estimates the artist need only find approximately 1,000 true fans in order to earn a living from -their support.<a name="tex2html76" +their support.<a id="tex2html76" href="#foot134"><sup>38</sup></a></p> <p>But when computer networks provide an easy anonymous method for @@ -571,7 +571,7 @@ inconvenience, and voluntary support for artists will soar.</p> <p>Another way to support the arts is with tax funds: perhaps with a special tax on blank media or Internet connectivity, or with general -revenue.<a name="tex2html78" href="#foot135"><sup>39</sup></a> If this +revenue.<a id="tex2html78" href="#foot135"><sup>39</sup></a> If this is to succeed in supporting artists, the state should distribute the tax money directly and entirely to them, and make sure it cannot under any pretext be taken from them by publishers such as record companies. @@ -603,10 +603,10 @@ everyone involved. Fortunately it appears not to be necessary to solve this problem, because people already put so much effort into developing free/libre functional works.</p> -<p>Francis Muguet<a name="tex2html80" href="#foot79"><sup>40</sup></a> +<p>Francis Muguet<a id="tex2html80" href="#foot79"><sup>40</sup></a> and I have developed a new proposal called the Mécénat Global (or Global Patronage) which combines the idea of tax-support -and voluntary payments.<a name="tex2html81" +and voluntary payments.<a id="tex2html81" href="#foot136"><sup>41</sup></a> Every Internet subscriber would pay a monthly fee to support certain arts that are shared on the Internet. Each user could optionally divide up to a certain maximum portion of @@ -726,9 +726,9 @@ introduced.</p> <dt id="foot102">… individuals.<a href="#tex2html5"><sup>3</sup></a></dt> <dd>See - <a -href="http://www.newarkspeaks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5379"> -http://www.newarkspeaks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5379</a>. + <!--<a Dead link as of 2021-01-30 +href="http://www.newarkspeaks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5379">--> +http://www.newarkspeaks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5379<!--</a>-->. </dd> <dt id="foot103">… groups<a @@ -770,7 +770,7 @@ http://abcnews.go.com/international/story?id=7891929</a>. href="#tex2html16"><sup>9</sup></a></dt> <dd>See <a - href="http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/302161/watchdog_threatens_online_rights_group_11k_fine?fp=16&fpid=1">http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/302161/watchdog_threatens_online_rights_group_11k_fine?fp=16&fpid=1</a>. + href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190918142631/https://www.computerworld.com.au/article/302161/watchdog_threatens_online_rights_group_11k_fine">https://www.computerworld.com.au/article/302161/watchdog_threatens_online_rights_group_11k_fine</a> (archived). </dd> <dt id="foot108">… list.<a @@ -892,7 +892,7 @@ https://web.archive.org/web/20160313214751/http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/08/ <dd>The standard in machine-readable form is only available to be “leased”; <a - href="http://www.smpte.org/sites/default/files/IndividualLicenseAgreementforSMPTE_EngineeringDocuments.pdf"> + href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160423155515/http://www.smpte.org/sites/default/files/IndividualLicenseAgreementforSMPTE_EngineeringDocuments.pdf"> http://www.smpte.org/sites/default/files/IndividualLicenseAgreementforSMPTE_EngineeringDocuments.pdf</a>. </dd> @@ -1053,7 +1053,7 @@ of this article.</p> There is more detail about copyright years in the GNU Maintainers Information document, www.gnu.org/prep/maintain. --> -<p>Copyright © 2009, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 Richard M. Stallman</p> +<p>Copyright © 2009, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 Richard M. Stallman</p> <p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">Creative @@ -1063,7 +1063,7 @@ Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.</p> <p class="unprintable">Updated: <!-- timestamp start --> -$Date: 2020/10/06 08:25:53 $ +$Date: 2021/01/31 17:25:34 $ <!-- timestamp end --> </p> </div> |