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Lessig on the World Social Forum
Raindance writes "Lawrence Lessig has a great article up on Technology Review about the World Social Forum held this past January in Brazil. In addition to telling an engaging story, it covers topics ranging from GNU and DRM to Brazil's interesting stance on the rights of foreign copyright holders, and is a good introduction to the permission culture/remix culture debate. It also makes me want to live in Brazil."
I'd like to second this, but also point out that American techies in Brazil make QUITE a bit more than "$100 a month", and can feel pretty safe if they stay out of the ghettos and politics.
A few weeks ago Larry Lessig gave a great talk along with Jeff Tweedy at the New York Public Library. In it Lessig talks a lot about Brazil and how they are totally nuts about open source, and how it isn't only overweight nerds with ponytails who are into it (his words, not mine). Definitely worth watching, there is some great new material that wasn't in his book Free Culture or anywhere else that I know of.
http://www.geocities.com/email_theguy/newportweb/
If you agree with what Lessig says in this article (and it's about as uncontrovercial yet insightful as you can get, typical of Lessig), then the best way to honor it is to pass it along to family and friends (and maybe politicians) to read. I've been a fan of Lessig's for a while, and this is an excellent short summary of the issues involved, not from a technical level or an RMS-hippie-fist-raised standpoint, but from a very clear, calm, easily-approachable angle.
It's not about software. It's about culture. It's about the fabric of our lives (and I don't mean cotton).
And if the US is not careful, it will be about our marginalization as a country of any importance in the information sector. We'll have made it illegal for Americans to create or have culture. That's very sad, particularly as I am an American.
Spread the word. Then go read Lessig's book "Free Culture" (dead-tree or free electronic format). Excellent read.
--GrouchoMarx
Card-carrying member of the EFF, FSF, and ACLU. Are you?
You should do some research on the situation in Venezuela before accusing someone of being an enemy of freedom. Let's just remeber the fact that Mr. Chavez got back from a "coup d'etat" because of the peoples support. Besides, the ones accusing him of authoritarism (not that I think he's perfect, in fact I also think he should handle the situation in a different manner) are the ones that held the power before him. Best regards to everyone.
There is a response to this article by a Professor of Law from the University of Chicago (who holds a more moderate view about this -but nevertheless agrees to some of Lessigs view) here
i am glad to have been of assistance. although i find it hard to believe you would keep reading slashdot of all places... case in point the grandparent to this comment was at one point +4 insightful :)
The hilarious part is that this is of all things because slashdot's moderation system works, both making the site easier to read and making it more likely that making worthwhile comments will result in people actually reading your post. In theory slashdot's moderation is controlled by an elite few while kuro5hin's is open and democratic; in practice the opposite is true because slashdot's random-selection system ensures that moderation is truly collaborative and balanced, while kuro5hin's moderation voting is entirely controlled by one or two small cadres of allied users who vote in blocs and drown out the opinions of the average users, who tend to vote only for a minority of comments.
The S/N ratio here may still be only a third of what it is on k5, but since there's three times as much content this comes out to about the same thing... as long as you don't look inside politics.slashdot (ugh)
His wording may have been poor. In a prior life I had several mission trips to central and south america, and on more than one occassion heard similar sentiments from a native female about her own country's males. I personally have had much more success romantically with foreign women, and subsequently have been responsible for helping perpetuate the generalization that american women are spoiled brats. The generalization that he speaks of sounds to me like it might have originated from a Brazilian to begin with.
Marie Claire Insults Guam
The women of Guam have denounced an article in the international women's fashion magazine, Marie Claire, which stated that Guam women may not marry as virgins and that a man travels the island "deflowering" future brides. The article appeared in the December issue of the magazine and was under the caption title: "Jobs your boyfriend wants".
Lt. Gov. Madeleine Bordallo described the article as disgusting. "It was written in ignorance and I think we have to do something about it," she said.
The Colonised Chamoru Coalition called on Guamanian organizations nationwide to join in protest and boycott the magazine. It has also asked business houses to cease carrying the magazine in their shelves.
Coalition members are seeking legal assistance to determine what action can be taken against Marie Claire.
Funny...I'm brazilian, and today I see in TV about this: "The woman capital" http://bomdiabrasil.globo.com/Jornalismo/BDBR/0,,3 682-p-13062005,00.html
Recife: http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recife
when I submitted this story back on the 6th, it was rejected. You should read Lessig but note that in the same issue of TR, there is a rebuttal of sorts to Mr. Lessig's interpretation authored by Richard Epstein.
SLASHDOT: news for people who can't concentrate on work or have no life at all and got tired of yelling back at the TV.