Virtual Friendship and the New Narcissism

http://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/virtual-friendship-and-the-new-narcissism

.

Piracy or not, the topic is hot

Note: This text presents my standpoint on piracy made by combining Internet articles and my thoughts.

People have always "copied". However, in the past valuable objects were mostly physical and it was uneconomical or, when carried out on a large scale, stoppable using patent or copyright law. This has fundamentally changed with the Internet and associated technologies, as valuable digital content can be copied at little cost and distributed on an unprecedented scale.

Some libertarians, including McElroy, Palmer, Lepage, and Stephan Kinsella, argue that copyright is invalid because, unlike physical property, intellectual property is not scarce and is a legal fiction created by the state.

Infringing on copyright, unlike theft, does not deprive the victim of the original item, and so enforcement of copyright law constitutes aggression on the part of the state. One of the founders of Piratbyrån Rasmus Fleischer argues that copyright law simply seems unable to cope with the Internet, and hence is obsolete. He believes that the Internet, and particularly Web 2.0 have brought about the uncertain status of the very idea of "copying" itself. He argues that in an attempt to rein in Web 2.0, copyright law in the 21st century is increasingly concerned with criminalizing entire technologies.

Freedom of knowledge

Groups such as Hipatia advance anti-copyright arguments in the name of "freedom of knowledge" and argue that knowledge should be "shared in solidarity". Such groups may perceive "freedom of knowledge" as a right, and/or as fundamental in realizing the right to education, which is an internationally recognized human right, as well as the right to a free culture and the right to free communication. They believe that current copyright law hinders the realization of these rights in today's knowledge societies relying on new technological means of communication.

They see copyright law as preventing or slowing human progress, and I sincerely agree with this. Current copyright system needs to be brought into line with reality and the needs of society. Hipatia believes that this would "provide the ethical principles which allow the individual to spread his/her knowledge, to help him/herself, to help his/her community and the whole world, with the aim of making society ever more free, more equal, more sustainable, and with greater solidarity."

Authorship and creativity

Lawrence Liang, founder of the Alternative Law Forum, argues that current copyright is based on a too narrow definition of "author", which is assumed to be clear and undisputed. The concept of "author" naturalised a process of knowledge production where the emphasis on individual contribution and individual ownership takes precedence over the concept of "community knowledge". Relying on the concept of the author, copyright is based on the assumption that without an intellectual property rights regime, authors would have no incentive to further create, and that artists cannot produce new works without an economic incentive.

Liang points out that people produce works purely for personal satisfaction (Open Source projects), or even for respect and recognition from peers (Mozilla foundation). He argues that the 19th Century saw the prolific authorship of literary works in the absence of meaningful copyright that benefited the author. In fact, copyright protection usually benefited the publisher, and rarely the author.

Siva Vaidhyanathan (born 1966) is a cultural historian and media scholar, and is currently a professor of Media Studies and Law at the University of Virginia. Vaidhyanathan is a frequent contributor on media and cultural issues in various periodicals including The Chronicle of Higher Education, New York Times Magazine, The Nation, MSNBC.com, and Salon.com. He is a fellow of the New York Institute for the Humanities and the Institute for the Future of the Book. He is also the author of the book called "Copyrights and Copywrongs: The Rise of Intellectual Property and How It Threatens Creativity" in which he explains his views on copyright, intellectual property and creativity.

Brazilian bestselling author Paulo Coelho has embraced free sharing online. Coelho supports The Pirate Bay and offered to be a witness in the 2009 trial. He accounts much of his growing sales to his work shared on the Internet and comments that "a person who does not share is not only selfish, but bitter and alone."

The Law and Morality

Some would say "Piracy is Breaking the Law". So was the Boston Tea Party. So are the protests in Iran. Many things are illegal, that doesn't make them wrong or even immoral. Using this argument as a blanket explanation why "music pirates" are wrong will only incense them. Most people who cite this claim are completely unaware of the RIAA's very existence, much less its purpose and goals. People who listen to pirated music don't feel guilty when they press play, and they certainly don't lose any sleep over what they've done simply because it happens to be illegal. They know that RIAA's claims that downloading a pirated song is equal to stealing a car (a really nice car, at $80,000 per song) are ridiculous, and they know that their own Internet Service Providers don't even agree with the claim either.

The Reality: Trials

The Pirate Bay trial is a joint criminal and civil prosecution in Sweden of four individuals charged for promoting the copyright infringement of others with the torrent tracking website The Pirate Bay. The criminal charges were supported by a consortium of intellectual rights holders led by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), who filed individual civil compensation claims against the owners of The Pirate Bay.

After the appeal, Fredrik Neij was sentenced to 10 months, Peter Sunde to 8 months, and Carl Lundstrom to 4 months in prison. The total fine for the three defendants was 46 million Kronor ($7.05 million).

Was this an appropriate sentence? Let's imagine the following scenario:

Part 1:

There are 10 houses in the neighborhood with three computers in each household, dad's, mom's and one for the kid(s). By default, all the computers in the house are connected to the same network to be able to share one Internet connection. Being connected to the same network, all computers are also able to share content from their computers, like documents, pictures etc.

Part 2:

Mom buys a CD. She copies a CD on her computer into mp3 format with legal, free and easily available software so that she could transfer the songs to her mp3 player in the car. Daughter likes her mom's music, so she copies mom's mp3's and puts them on her mp3 player too. Who is breaking the law and supposed to go to jail? Mom? Daughter? Nobody? Everybody?

Part 3:

Daughter's best friend from next door comes over one evening. Mom, daughter and friend are enjoying some wine and listening to the new music they just got. Neighbor girl likes it and asks if she can get it from them. Will mom or daughter be the one to tell her "No, go to the store and buy a CD"?

Part 4:

I live in the 5th house in the neighborhood. One day I call everybody over and tell them that I can connect all of our 10 houses in one network so that we can all play games, collaborate on projects and talk to each other without using the Internet connection. All is legal, technology is available and I have the knowledge to do it. Everybody agree and I build the network. We set the network sharing options and we start enjoying our nice little community. Now, as we all know, the whole point of any network is sharing files and folders. All the files in a shared folder is visible and accessible to everybody on the network. What happens if in one or more of those folders we have music, movies and pdf books, all obtained legally by their owners? Will everybody turn their heads away from something that is so naturally right in front of them, ignore the cumulative content and knowledge stored on 30 computers just so they don't break some law?

Based on the aforementioned trial, if anyone copied anything over that network that I have built, I would have to go to jail and pay a couple of million dollars in fine. For stealing what? For harming who? Artists? Actors? Directors?

As an IT expert with almost two decades of experience with networking technologies and communication, I believe that if the industry had spent more time devising a payments solution for the digital age instead of suing customers, it could have come up with a way to adapt to the new era instead of "losing a war" to piracy. The development of technology made our views of ownership, theft and crime transcend to a completely new level. Today everything is so easily accessible; it is just there. Products became Content. Content is either available or not. Anti-piracy agencies must redefine their mind set based on the current environment.

Finally, I believe that no matter whether you think I'm right or wrong, the fact is that the industry itself, the government or law enforcement cannot cope with piracy.

To conclude, I highly recommend for everybody to "steal" and watch:

Steal This Film (One)

Steal This Film (Two)
.

The Moose

"The moose is the largest animal of the deer family. It is best known for its large head and antlers.  

Moose are called elk in Europe. Moose live in Canada, Alaska, and the Rocky Mountain region of the United States. They are also found in the northern forests of Europe and Asia. They like to be near rivers, ponds, and lakes."


I ate his heart for dinner.

 

F*ck skimmed milk. I'd rather die fat.

I will find her

I look at her and I want her to be mother of my children, but I haven't even spoken a word with her. Isn't that the maximum of superficiality that you can get? Or is it something else?

Believe me when I say I don't have thoughts about her kind; I have had feelings for her kind during all my years. It was always in me, beyond the control of my consciousness.

I want her, a woman like her. That's what I have always wanted. But I don't know how to communicate with her kind. How to know what she is looking for? Am I good enough? Can I ever be good enough? Can someone like her love someone like me? How can I ask for perfection if I am not perfect? Am I sentenced to eternal want, without an end? If so, why?

I know these questions have been heard before, but I still care to ask them.

Why would all these feelings I have just go to nothing?

I would like to have an answer please.
.

Living a life

You build a cage based on your sense of the truth and your sense of the aspects of the character that need to tell the story. If you've done your job right, which I've had varying degrees of success doing at different times in my life, then you're able to function very freely within that cage.

-- Sean Penn

Last semester at Sheridan College

Ok, long time no manual post.
And I see things have changed around here. I will have to get used to this...

[ wait, i need to play some music ]

[ my radio (still looking for namechange options for MOWE, better suiting for pronounciation:
Zero Noel - Mes Yeux Fermes ]

Following announcement is not related with previous song.

Donosim novo Pravilo:

Sranje pesma ili pesma koja smori u toku slushanja mog radija mora da se izbrishe sa hard diska i playliste radija.

Ovo Pravilo nadjachava Pravilo albuma, kolekcije i ostalih hrchkovskih pravila.

---

Enforcing a new Rule:

Shitty song or any song that causes smor during listening of my personal radio station must be deleted from the hard drive and the radio's playlist. 
This rule overpowers the Rule of album, collection and other hamster rules.

I am back in Brampton.
Final semester is upon me.
So far, perfect record. Yes, I am saying it loud. Risking to invite the Devil.
Come and give me your best shot, motherfucker !

I have ended 3 trials with RIM fire and did it burn.
Now the final test starts.

White hospital hallway with neon lights glowing in their cold certainty, I am facing a door.
Dark wooden door, reinforced with iron.

Beyond the door is black. Is unknown. Is my next life.

Last semester. Capstone project. Math.
Not to mention Fall and Winter. Snow. Cold and wet.

Ah, Winter in Brampton.
I've got a room with a view on pidgeons cage. Biiig caaage. Landlord is a Pidgeons Master.
But at least I have a window. And a view. That's a change from my usual basementing.

This brought back the flashes of The Tower (my old place in Belgrade).

Room isn't big enough for me and my clothes. And a computer. I will be living out of the suitcase for 4 months at least. Oh, by the way, at this point my life can be contained and transported in 3 cars. I guess that might be one van, but that wasn't checked. 3 cars. Not ideal, but not bad either.

Now, I will have to work out what I'm going to do with 3 car loads worth of life if I am to go somewhere for my Summer Program thingy. One to two months.

And I have to figure out WHERE am I going to be going. And what to do when I get there. Australia is on the list of possible locations, so are Brazil and Argentina.

And I need to calculate if I can afford to spend $400 during Fall right before opening that door and entering into the darkness of the unknown for Ground school at Brampton Airport. It's time to start doing something about those talks of becoming a pilot.

Waiting for my camera lenses to come back from cleaning and then to work on photographer business cards.

I need to work on "works" website. And business cards. Add LinkedIn to the list.


Fishing (highly unlikely this year). Hunters license. Motorcycle license.

PMP cerificate. Maybe even Cisco. I definitelly need to do something about my (vaning) networking knowledge.


And, I need to find a job. A place to live. A girlfriend. No cats this time, Djole is 1 and 0nly for now.

And if all this isn't enough, Manon is calling me. He says that he haz slept long en'uf. He wants to ride again. Hunt. There are places to see and things to do. He wants his share.
And the Boar is hungry...

Manon

Brene Brown: The power of vulnerability | Video on TED.com

Fantastic!

Brene Brown: The power of vulnerability | Video on TED.com

Serbian Ambassadors

These 3 videos say everything that I was trying to express ever since I immigrated to Canada 4 years ago.

Lately, I have been intensively thinking if there was something I can do to help Serbia in any way. I was always the first one to say to those talking about leaving our country for a better life somewhere else that it is easy to pick up and leave, but the true task and quest is to stay and change things in Serbia so that we DO NOT HAVE TO LEAVE.

Ironically, life made it so that I leave too.
Reasons are not important, the fact is that I am here in Canada now. I am finishing college, practicing at the number one Canadian company, I was awarded with a very important scholarship and future looks rather bright. But it's not that simple for me.

Couple of days ago, before I even knew of these videos, I've discussed with my friend Trovach (The Poisoner) all of my ideas about what can be done from "here" to influence life "there". What I've said before while I was back home about fighting to make Serbia a better place I still feel and believe in with all of my body and soul. I really want to do whatever I can to help my country become a better place, if not for me then for all the generations coming after me.

Then I saw these videos and my heart throbbed and my soul cried. But I am happy because I know I am not alone feeling like this and now I have hope that I might be able to find others that do not want to turn their backs to Serbia just because we live here in Canada or anywhere else for that matter, but instead do what's in our power to make things in Serbia better.

I sincerely believe that we can do something, we can make a difference.
I know I will.








Jedna je majka Srbija.

.