Miguel Caetano › Comments

"Locking in Europe and the United States to “old” intellectual property regimes is the one “killer argument” against including an IP chapter in the upcoming Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), according to Bernd Hugenholtz, director of the Institute for Information Law (IViR) at the University of Brussels. Hugenholtz spoke at a workshop on “What Role for Intellectual Property Rights in the TTIP?,” organised by Marietje Schaake, member of the European Parliament for the Liberal Group. Questions also were raised during the meeting about the lack of transparency of free trade negotiations." - Miguel Caetano from Bookmarklet

"Georgia Institute of Technology has announced a partnership with Udacity to offer an online Masters Degree in Computer Science for $7,000, down 80% from the existing cost of $40,000 for the on-campus, instructor led program. Suddenly, masters programs around the country will have to compete with Georgia Tech‘s $7,000 program, and that won’t be easy or fast in coming." - Miguel Caetano from Bookmarklet

"In the wake of the AP scandal, in which federal investigators obtained the phone records of journalists using only a subpoena, four lawmakers have introduced legislation in the House that would prevent federal agencies from seizing any phone records without a court order. Currently, the Telephone Records Act allows the feds to demand phone records from service providers by using only an administrative subpoena to obtain basic subscriber information. Basic subscriber information can include a customer’s name, address, credit card number, and phone records." - Miguel Caetano from Bookmarklet

"I see the DPLA as an encouraging example of our emerging digital civil society. Libraries in their familiar form represent community centers of knowledge, havens for voracious readers, on-ramps to broadband, and accessible hubs staffed by expert researchers there to help you. In the U.S., they rely on tax revenue and philanthropic resources and are often governed and managed by a robust mix of citizen volunteers, professional experts, and public servants. They physically embody the democratic ideals of inclusion, pluralism, participation, and progress. The digital form evolves from these same ideals, yet must work within a digital economic frame that is distinct from its analog predecessor. Digital materials raise deep questions about ownership, permanence, and access. In its approach to each of these questions, the DPLA is on the frontier of what building a digital civil society will require. Like The Mozilla Foundation, Creative Commons, and WikiMedia, the DPLA is a non-profit... more... - Miguel Caetano from Bookmarklet

"I’m writing to you today to explain what's happening with the new ACTA: the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). TPP has been around since the Bush administration, but recently the pace has picked up, with governments saying they want to get the agreement signed and done by the end of this year. Global activism can stop TPP, but preventing the endless merry-go-round of new IP treaties means tackling the problem at its roots. I'd like to describe what we're doing on both those fronts, and how you can help. But first, I'd like you to meet this gentleman:" - Miguel Caetano from Bookmarklet

"O que um cidadão pode perguntar ao seu governo? Aos seus tribunais? E às câmaras municipais, assembleias legislativas, ao Congresso Nacional? De acordo com a Lei de Acesso à Informação, temos o direito de saber sobre praticamente toda a atividade do poder público. O princípio básico da lei é de que toda informação produzida pelo poder público deve ser realmente acessível, e que o sigilo é uma exceção. Na vida real, contudo, como mostra o caso de Victor, o caminho para obter respostas é tortuoso." - Miguel Caetano from Bookmarklet

"At the top of the tower, there is no liberation from work. There is just more work – the only difference is that you might now enjoy it (life is too exciting for sleep). For these CEOs, work is closer to an addiction than something they are forced to do. In a provisional formulation, we might want to posit a new way of construing class antagonism. There are now two classes: those addicted to work, and those forced to work. But this isn’t quite accurate. Whether we are working for our employers (who pay us) or for Mark Zuckerberg (who doesn’t), most of us find ourselves compulsively gripped by the imperatives of communicative capitalism (to check email, to update our statuses). This mode of work makes Sisyphus’s interminable labours seem quaint; at least, Sisyphus was condemned to perform the same task over and over again. Semio-capitalism is more like confronting the mythical hydra: cut off one head and three more grow in its place, the more emails we answer, the more we receive in return." - Miguel Caetano from Bookmarklet

"With the latest cuts announced by the Lisbon government, the Portuguese mainstream media seem to be gradually moving into a more critical assessment of austerity-based policies. Yet given the escalation of those policies, it is worth considering how some of their underlying assumptions came to gain such prominence. The confluence of official rhetoric, punditry and international media discourse has had a particularly strong impact in the climate of crisis that is today prevalent in Portugal." - Miguel Caetano from Bookmarklet

"Para Tim Berners-Lee, caso aprove a nova lei, o Brasil desempenhará papel de liderança no mundo, estabelecendo regras claras para o uso da internet" - Miguel Caetano from Bookmarklet

"When Ken Loach launched an appeal to discuss founding a new party to the left of Labour in March, it sparked a wave of enthusiasm. Within a few weeks, more than 8,000 people signed up and around 100 local groups were established across the country." - Miguel Caetano from Bookmarklet

"In its quest to identify the owner of a file-sharing site, Dutch anti-piracy group BREIN pressured one of the largest banks in the Netherlands to hand over his or her personal details. In a decision this morning the Amsterdam Court said that while BREIN has a responsibility to enforce copyright on behalf of its members, the bank has a greater responsibility to protect its customers’ privacy." - Miguel Caetano from Bookmarklet

"Over the past few days, .SE has made the headlines as a result of a blog entry by our CEO in which he explains why he believes it is the wrong path to take to issue a lawsuit against a top-level domain administer – in this case .SE – for the purpose of removing a service from the Internet." - Miguel Caetano from Bookmarklet

"Começaram no dia 27 de abril debates abertos sobre Democracia e Dívida[1] desenvolvidos no espaço público, para que as pessoas não fiquem confinadas ao que se diz nos media, em regra, superficial ou enganador. Todas as formas de mobilização popular contra o sufoco que se vive a título da dívida são necessárias porque a dívida serve também para uma brutal campanha contra os direitos da população e na qual se inclui uma verdadeira vontade de tornar residual a democracia. Nesse sentido, decidimos desenvolver, por escrito, o que vem sendo dito na praça pública." - Miguel Caetano from Bookmarklet

"Today, a group of 20 of the world’s preeminent experts1 in computer and network security released a report warning that an FBI proposal to modify Internet services to make them wiretap friendly would open major security holes, and that criminals would easily circumvent the wiretap capability that would have to be built in." - Miguel Caetano

"Grounded in the question of who influences repertoire decisions and to what extent, this thesis presents a predominately empirical analysis of how films are brought to the Norwegian cinema screens. With the underlying goal of accounting for why and how Hollywood’s movies are able to retain their dominant position in the country, it focuses on the distributors as the decisive link between producers and exhibitors. The starting point is an exploration of film’s historical commercial developments which present Hollywood’s film industry and the conditions of the Norwegian market. Through a detailed analysis of current selection of movies at the cinemas, the extent of Hollywood’s domination is accounted for and related to the workings of the distribution companies. In addition, other factors to influence the repertoire are looked at, including the cinemas themselves and trade organisation Film & Kino, as well as national and supranational subsidy programmes to promote cultural diversity.... more... - Miguel Caetano

"O Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística - IBGE divulga, com a presente publicação, os principais indicadores sobre o acesso à Internet e posse de telefone móvel celular para uso pessoal, obtidos a partir das informações da Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios - PNAD 2011. A disponibilidade de dados para os anos de 2005, 2008 e 2009 propicia a comparação longitudinal desses indicadores. Este tema foi investigado através da PNAD 2005 e 2008 em forma de suplemento. A partir de 2009, passou a integrar o corpo básico da pesquisa. Com os resultados desta pesquisa, o IBGE dá continuidade à investigação de informações que contribuem para o conhecimento de aspectos das Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação - TIC relacionados com o seu uso pelas pessoas. Os dados oriundos desta pesquisa sobre acesso à Internet e posse de telefone móvel celular para uso pessoal são de interesse de toda a sociedade e, especificamente, dos segmentos envolvidos na produção, prestação de... more... - Miguel Caetano

"O Inquérito à Utilização de Tecnologias da Informação e da Comunicação pelas Famílias 2012 foi realizado pelo Instituto Nacional de Estatística com a colaboração da ex-UMIC – Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento, IP. Trata-se de um inquérito que se enquadra no desenvolvimento das estatísticas da Sociedade da Informação, realizado anualmente e que segue as recomendações metodológicas do Eurostat. Este inquérito recolhe informação sobre o acesso àsTIC pelos agregados familiares privados (designados por famílias no corpo do destaque) e sobre a utilização destas tecnologias pelos indivíduos.O inquérito é aplicado a agregados familiares compostos por pelo menos uma pessoa entre os 16 e os 74 anos de idade, residente em alojamentos familiares de residência principal. Nestes são entrevistados pessoas com idade entre 16 e 74 anos. A recolha de informação para a faixa etária dos 10 aos 15 anos é efectuada de dois em dois anos. A recolha de informação foi realizada por meio de entrevista... more... - Miguel Caetano

"ados do IBGE, vindos da última PNAD [a pesquisa nacional por amostra de domicílio] mostram que a unidade da federação onde o acesso à internet cresceu menos, entre 2005 e 2011, foi o distrito federal, quase exatos 100%. e não podia ser muito mais, pois em 2005 41,1% das pessoas já  estavam na rede, lá. se bem que o IBGE considera “em rede” quem usou a internet nos últimos 3 meses. não é bem isso que “estar em rede” quer dizer, mas esta é a definição, e vamos com ela. a evolução dos estados e do distrito federal está no gráfico abaixo. compare." - Miguel Caetano from Bookmarklet

"Mas das crises nasce sempre qualquer coisa. É que com o atual endividamento dos autarquias e o fim da campanha eleitoral no próximo mês de setembro, já é possível anunciar o fim dos concertos com entrada livre pagos pelas câmara municipais. O que é que isto pode trazer de bom? O aparecimento, quase 40 anos depois do 25 de abril, de uma nova classe: a dos produtores de espetáculos. Se alguns agentes, sobretudo os mais dependentes das autarquias, já estão a  sair do mercado - como o Agente já havia noticiado - há uma nova hipótese para todos os que se dedicarem à produção de concertos com artistas portugueses. O calendário será diverso do das festas populares, a rede de cine-teatros poderá ter uma mais eficaz utilização e os artistas e bandas portugueses poderão fazer carreiras mais condignas. É pouco? O Agente Infiltrado acha que não; mas é o que há." - Miguel Caetano from Bookmarklet

"Follow the discussions on how data protection laws can be improved in order to keep us safe from the risks of the internet." - Miguel Caetano from Bookmarklet

"Oh my. That’s quite a list. I’ll attempt to be brief, relative to the works themselves, but this will be one of the longer posts I’ve written so far. On the other hand, it also promises, I hope, to be one of the more focused and interested. I want here to identify some of the key points of the idea of the Gift as I have received them and as I will use them in my work." - Miguel Caetano from Bookmarklet

"O Diário de Notícias publicou hoje uma reportagem sobre a coadoção por casais homossexuais. Paula e Marlene consideram que ambas são mães de Simão de seis meses, concebido graças ao esperma doado por um amigo. Esperam que hoje o Parlamento lhes reconheça esse direito" - Miguel Caetano from Bookmarklet

"The music industry is facing the development of online P2P networks, direct download services and other forms of digital piracy, while at the same time the format and promotion of pre-recorded music are undergoing major transformations with the advent of MP3 and new forms of collective promotion, particularly through online communities and social networks. The chapter is organized as follows. First, I analyze how digital piracy and digital music distribution are changing the demand for pre-recorded music. Next, I review new business models and give perspectives on how cloud services will challenge existing offers. I conclude the chapter and discusses the policy implications of digital music distribution." - Miguel Caetano from Bookmarklet

"Digital Rights Management (DRM) has been widely viewed by the music industry as an effective strategy for reducing digital piracy. DRM systems aim to prevent unauthorized copying and reduce the overall rate of piracy. Therefore, the recent move towards offering DRM-free music by some major online music sellers appears paradoxical. In this paper, the authors propose a model that conceptualizes and estimates the concept of hardcore piracy in an attempt to resolve this apparent paradox. The model results, based on two large empirical studies and one validation exercise with a large sample of over 2000 college students, indicate that the music industry can benefit from removing DRM because such a strategy has the potential to convert some pirates into paying consumers. In addition, a DRM-free environment enhances both consumer and producer welfare by increasing the demand for legitimate products as well as consumers’ WTP for these products. The authors also find that producers could... more... - Miguel Caetano

"Four UK hackers have been sentenced for their role in online attacks conducted under the banner of LulzSec. According to security group Sophos and Court News UK, Ryan Cleary, aka "Viral," was sentenced to 32 months in jail but will only serve half his sentence. Jake "Topiary" Davis will serve two years in a young offenders' facility, while Ryan "Kayla" Ackroyd will serve half of a 30-month sentence. Mustafa "Tflow" al-Bassam, who was 16 at the time of his arrest, has had a 20-month sentence suspended for two years and must serve 300 hours of community service. He will be monitored for six months." - Miguel Caetano from Bookmarklet

"In an era of electronic entertainment, the term “home library” increasingly has the word “video” in the middle. But before parents start giving away books to clear shelf space for DVDs, they’ll want to consider the results of a comprehensive new study (PDF). After examining statistics from 27 nations, a group of researchers found the presence of book-lined shelves in the home — and the intellectual environment those volumes reflect — gives children an enormous advantage in school. “Home library size has a very substantial effect on educational attainment, even adjusting for parents’ education, father’s occupational status and other family background characteristics,” reports the study, recently published in the journal Research in Social Stratification and Mobility. “Growing up in a home with 500 books would propel a child 3.2 years further in education, on average, than would growing up in a similar home with few or no books." - Miguel Caetano from Bookmarklet

"Biohackers explores fundamental changes occuring in the circulation and ownership of scientific information. Alessandro Delfanti argues that the combination of the ethos of 20th century science, the hacker movement and the free software movement is producing an open science culture which redefines the relationship between researchers, scientific institutions and commercial companies. Biohackers looks at the emergence of the citizen biology community ‘DIYbio’, the shift to open access by the American biologist Craig Venter and the rebellion of the Italian virologist Ilaria Capua against WHO data-sharing policies. Delfanti argues that these biologists and many others are involved in a transformation of both life sciences and information systems, using open access tools and claiming independence from both academic and corporate institutions." - Miguel Caetano from Bookmarklet

"So, Chibber departs from a crucial aspect of Marxist epistemological and rhetorical protocol—critique—in order to defend Marxism. His very procedure assumes that Marxism exists in a position of exteriority to postcolonial theory. Indeed, it assumes that Marxism exists as a stable and coherent set of epistemological and political positions, positions that can be transformed into propositions that establish the non-identify of Marxism and postcolonial studies. So, postcolonial theory isn’t Marxist, fine—but what is Marxism for Chibber?" - Miguel Caetano from Bookmarklet

"Post-left anarchy is a recent current in anarchist thought that promotes a critique of anarchism's relationship to traditional leftism. Some post-leftists seek to escape the confines of ideology in general also presenting a critique of organizations and morality.[1] Influenced by the work of Max Stirner[1] and by the Marxist Situationist International,[1] post-left anarchy is marked by a focus on social insurrection and a rejection of leftist social organisation.[2] Post-leftists argue that the left, even the revolutionary left, is anachronistic and incapable of creating change. Post-left anarchy offers critiques of radical strategies and tactics which it considers antiquated: the demonstration, class-oriented struggle, focus on tradition, and the inability to escape the confines of history. The book Anarchy in the Age of Dinosaurs, for example, criticizes traditional leftist ideas and classical anarchism while calling for a rejuvenated anarchist movement. The CrimethInc. essay "Your... more... - Miguel Caetano from Bookmarklet

"The gender- and ethnic-based liberation movements in Europe and the United States of the late-1960s/early-1970s took their ideological cues and justifications from these successful anti-colonialist struggles. The rhetoric of Third World national liberation was used constantly, to the point where many African-Americans, some women and other self-identified oppressed groups began to describe themselves as “internal colonies.” Minorities of all kinds had already been identified as subordinate Others by the elites of hierarchical societies; the facile identification of the colonial exploiter and his institutions as the oppressive Other is at the heart of the trouble with Identity Politics. The assigning of blame, responsibility, and guilt to everyone identified as belonging to the category of oppressive Other curtails the possibility of transcending hierarchy and domination; this process merely inverts the values placed on particular classes or groups of people, regardless of their personal complicity in historical or contemporary oppression." - Miguel Caetano from Bookmarklet