leyton.org

The Guardian has an article by Richard Stallman on the threat posed by the European Patent legislation. A campaign website also exists giving guidance on how this issue can be raised with MEP’s.

This is a big issue in Information Technology, and if you’re not familiar with the subject, it’s worth a read to demonstrate the risks that are posed by this flawed legislation.

(Thanks to Ben for the link)

I’m shocked to read that a lecturer at Universitat Politècnica de València has been fired for trying to speak about, and defend, P2p networks (See also /. and boingboing).

There’s an internet brouhaha developing around this that I’m sure will garner a lot more attention to the university in question, and the recording industry tactics in general (which are fundamentally flawed) than they would like.

This is shocking because P2P is a general term, used for a variety of things beyond mere piracy, and that an educational establishment should be so badly cowed by the music/recording artists industries paranoia. Sure, there are illegal uses of P2P, but there’s so much more than can and is achieved. Surely that’s what the lecturer was doing before was stomped on in such a misguided way.

NB. OK, he resigned when asked to do so, because of the pressure that was being placed on the department. Whilst it’s technically not the same as being given marching orders, I’m not sure there’s much difference if you’re on the receiving end of “everybody else could loose their jobs if you don’t resign” remarks.