One of the main, and most scary, problems is that Part III of the bill says that YOU have to prove that you don't have the key or the original plain text, otherwise they can imprison you for up to two years.
As is correctly pointed out on the STAND web site (links in previous comments) this is in direct breech of the European Human Rights Act that the UK will sign to in October. In particular, this is a reversal of the burden of proof, i.e. you are no longer guilty until proven innocent. Not only that, but you cannot logically prove your innocence, and you are forced to self-incriminate. So much for the right to silence. Oh, I forgot, we lost that in the UK a few years ago.
However, just because this law won't stand up in court does not mean we should not complain to our MPs right now. I'm going to dust off my pen and paper like another poster suggested. Then maybe one day the establishment will stop trying to pass such rediculous legislation.
If the worst comes to the worst and editorial control is lost (not that I'm saying it will) the Slash code is always available. Someone can set up SlashNot, and the community can leave VA high and dry. No problem. Or am I missing something?
Nice site, but why is the font size hard coded to 10 points or so?
Not everyone wants to be able to see an entire HOWTO without having to scroll. If I try to enlarge the fonts in my browser to save myself a little eye strain, absolutely nothing happens.
Come on, don't fall into the form-over-content trap! It's great content after all....
It wouldn't be that surprising. There are many very complex connections, out there, with these mega-corps. There is simply no way to be sure you ARE boycotting them. Anything you spend can wind up in the pockets of a dozen major corps.
But don't let that be an excuse for not acting. If you give up now then they have already won.
You can break up mega-corps. I work for a multinational Pharmacuticals/Agrochemicals corporation. The Agrochemicals business is being de-merged almost certainly because of the bad publicity it is gaining in Europe from its involvement with genetically modified crops. This has effected the share price, so the corporate machine has moved to solve the problem.
And that is the important point; all corporations react to defend their share price. Anything that hits the share price will force them to act. If you refuse to trade their stock and buy their products (those that you know of) then you are helping (in however small a way) to chip away at their power.
Just because your contribution is small does not make it less valid. Has open source coding taught us nothing? Maybe I'll just stop submitting bug fixes now....
What we currently refer to as open source software is the product of an improving network infrastructure, i.e. the ability to cheaply and quickly diseminate code and fixes, and to communicate with other developers.
If open source is a logical progression from closed, then of course it would have emerged in the end, not because of some Microsoft-like hate figure to rally against, but because it is just a good way of doing things.
The "OSS" movement shouldn't define itself in terms of Microsoft, it should just worry about making the best software it can.
Slashdot Mirror
One of the main, and most scary, problems is that Part III of the bill says that YOU have to prove that you don't have the key or the original plain text, otherwise they can imprison you for up to two years.
As is correctly pointed out on the STAND web site (links in previous comments) this is in direct breech of the European Human Rights Act that the UK will sign to in October. In particular, this is a reversal of the burden of proof, i.e. you are no longer guilty until proven innocent. Not only that, but you cannot logically prove your innocence, and you are forced to self-incriminate. So much for the right to silence. Oh, I forgot, we lost that in the UK a few years ago.
However, just because this law won't stand up in court does not mean we should not complain to our MPs right now. I'm going to dust off my pen and paper like another poster suggested. Then maybe one day the establishment will stop trying to pass such rediculous legislation.
If the worst comes to the worst and editorial control is lost (not that I'm saying it will) the Slash code is always available. Someone can set up SlashNot, and the community can leave VA high and dry. No problem. Or am I missing something?
Okay, so this only seems to effect the front page, but it was enough to put me off initially.
Nice site, but why is the font size hard coded to 10 points or so?
Not everyone wants to be able to see an entire HOWTO without having to scroll. If I try to enlarge the fonts in my browser to save myself a little eye strain, absolutely nothing happens.
Come on, don't fall into the form-over-content trap! It's great content after all....
So, tell me, how's life at Searle/Monsanto?
Sorry, I wouldn't know, as I don't work there!
Keep guessing! :)
It wouldn't be that surprising. There are many very complex connections, out there, with these mega-corps. There is simply no way to be sure you ARE boycotting them. Anything you spend can wind up in the pockets of a dozen major corps.
But don't let that be an excuse for not acting. If you give up now then they have already won.
You can break up mega-corps. I work for a multinational Pharmacuticals/Agrochemicals corporation. The Agrochemicals business is being de-merged almost certainly because of the bad publicity it is gaining in Europe from its involvement with genetically modified crops. This has effected the share price, so the corporate machine has moved to solve the problem.
And that is the important point; all corporations react to defend their share price. Anything that hits the share price will force them to act. If you refuse to trade their stock and buy their products (those that you know of) then you are helping (in however small a way) to chip away at their power.
Just because your contribution is small does not make it less valid. Has open source coding taught us nothing? Maybe I'll just stop submitting bug fixes now....
What we currently refer to as open source software is the product of an improving network infrastructure, i.e. the ability to cheaply and quickly diseminate code and fixes, and to communicate with other developers.
If open source is a logical progression from closed, then of course it would have emerged in the end, not because of some Microsoft-like hate figure to rally against, but because it is just a good way of doing things.
The "OSS" movement shouldn't define itself in terms of Microsoft, it should just worry about making the best software it can.