When I was flying into Vancouver (YVR) to visit Jake Daynes leader of the Pirate Party of Canada, but I was checking my bags (all my stuff for when I move) to Seattle. I got a phone call yesterday from my mom telling me that my bags were not in Seattle, I called around and found out that they accidentally sent my bags all the way through to Vancouver (whoops, sent your bag to the wrong country :P ). This was no problem, I didn’t pay for my checked bags and I appreciate what Alaska Air does for me, so meh not a huge problem.

I go up to the counter and ask for my bags so I can ship them back and they tell me where to go, and when I get there I am greeted by this huge Canadian official (did not know what department he was at the time), and I was thinking to myself “they sent the most intimidating guy in Canada to get me… uh oh” and he tells me in a stern voice “We have some questions for you before we give you your bags” — Ack the thought of ‘some questions’ was enough to make my butt pucker up. I was confused by assured myself this was all normal, considering I didn’t do anything wrong, the airline just shipped my bag to the wrong country — obviously they told them that and all would be fine.

After passing through 3 different security clearance doors, we got to this back room area (thats actually a lie to make it sound more scary, I did pass through 3 security doors but in the end I wound up right next to the exit of customs), however, there was like 5 customs agents standing around my stupidly coloured bags (Quick Note: Everytime I move, I decorate my two tubs in different ways… so there are faces drawn on it, the names of the places I have moved to, etc). After I got to them, another (slightly smaller but still intimidating) officer (who identified himself as Customs and Immigration) asked me to show “BOTH” of my passports.

“Sorry officer, I only have one passport.” I admit to him.

“You are a dual citizen, no? United States and Canada?” Clearly not accepting that I only have one.

I laughed (whoops?) and said, “I am a citizen of Canada by birth, but I don’t have documentation of it — Just wondering, how do you know that I claim dual citizenship, I have never declared it officially?”

“I looked up your Wikipedia page, you claim to be a citizen of both the United States AND Canada” he admits to me. (later on I tell him that I was flattered that he looked up my wikipedia page, and that I was happy someone reads it). To which he responded that was his job. lol.

I was finally released to go, yet they had taken my passport from me! So I asked for it back and they were telling me to check my pockets. Finally an officer who seemed genuinely interested in the pirate party when I started taking about that (hell they were already questioning my digital rights activist stuff… might as well bring a legitimate political party into the mix), had exclaimed that he saw one of the guys take it to the back room.

He told me I can go, butg next time have more documentation. Seriously? I had none because I fly standby I told him that. Do I need to carry a memiour of my life that is certified daily?? I showed him everything I had.

I had to wait another 10 minutes while they checked out my passport (which is sadly beat up looking). I felt very out f place not knowing my rights… I was going to film it for my protection… but I decided against it. I now have an even greater appreciation for those in the United States who are detained… and do not understand the situation they are in.

At first my heart was broken, how could you betray me like this? Had I not given everything I am to you? Did I not stand by your side, even when it was not the popular thing to do? Now in these days when I need you most — you fail me. I am ashamed that I was ever even yours. You make that communist, Green, look appealing.

There was once a time when you cared about all your friends more than your corporate bosses, but now it seems as though when push comes to shove you would support them over me, and all your other friends. I want to go on my computer and feel free, and not be worried about people reading my email without my prior consent. I want to be able to use the products I buy, for personal use, how I see fit. I want my teacher to be able to have the resources available to her, with expanded fair use protections.

There was a time when you would fight for those things with me, you would tell that RIAA to go to hell, that you would see that their longline fishing for file sharers is frivolous and treats good people as criminals.

However, Libertarian, I realized after seeing how close you have been getting to Republican, I had, in fact, been getting close to my friend EFF and we see eye to eye on everything… then these guys who came in wearing these patches over their eye calling themselves the Pirates came along and represented themselves as a political wing of what EFF did. I was intrigued, but also cautious — I mean these Pirates, they must steal from people and only want to take take take without giving back! However, it wasn’t true! They were just given the name pirates by big bad Media, even though they don’t even steal stuff — they just support fair use and reform of copyright. Furthermore, they told me that they wanted to insure that peoples privacy is not invaded and explained to me things like the passport that I was given, can actually be used to track me do to scary RFID tags! Why didn’t you tell me this? I don’t even know if you fought for me on this issue, but certainly you didn’t sent out warnings to all of your friends telling them the risk!

My pirate friends also explained to me the advantages of supporting free and open source software. At first this sounded like something that only communists would support, but after evaluating it more closely, people still are able to make a profit on what they make AND it supports education… I love education… so Libertarian, why haven’t you been telling your friends to support this, so we can move away from big government and big business.

This is why, Libertarian, I think its time for us to go our separate ways, you can take what you need… all I want are my freedoms. This isn’t against you, but clearly you and I are going separate ways. I am still like you… I actually think I am more Libertarian than you are. Maybe one day we will see each other, or I will catch your name in the paper and give a silent cheer — and at that time we can re-evaluate our relationship.

Love always,
Travis McCrea
…argh.
(PS: Thank you Sarah White for this idea!)

God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions,it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. …And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right asto the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed fromtime to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.

Has it got so bad that its time to overthrow the government, and setup a new regime? Probably not. However, lets create a checklist for “Thomas Jefferson’s Criteria for Revolution”:

• Been at least 20 years since last revolution.
• Citizens can no longer keep track of the governments actions.
• Citizens warn government by holding protests.

Check, Check, and Check. Well its a good thing this isn’t 234 years ago, otherwise I feel that Americans would have taken to the streets to fight back for our freedoms. The citizens who founded this country would not have settled for the “Patriot Act”, if they were aware of its implications, they surely would be against “ACTA”, and of course the DMCA which likes to trample on their rights as well.

The United States Federal Government has failed the people, and it has now become to corrupt for repair. The time for a revolution is coming, because its our right, and our duty to take over control of our government and give the powers of state back to the people. We shall have a more parliamentary style of congress, and there shall be NO time when the president can step on our rights for “national security”, or “general welfare”. Its our rights to have and no one can take them away from us.

Thomas Jefferson would be considered a terrorist today, but he was a patriot. Revolutionaries, activists, and outspoken groups are not “terrorists”, they are Americans, who are mad that their country has been corrupt and they want to take it back. They are patriots.

June 28, 2010

Add our voice to those who disagree with a recent summary judgment ruling in the court case between Viacom and YouTube.

We believe that the district court’s dangerously expansive reading of the liability immunity provisions of the DMCA upsets the careful balance struck within the law and is bad public policy.  It will actually discourage service providers from taking steps to minimize the illegal exchange of copyrighted works on their sites.  As the White House recently noted in its strategic plan to combat intellectual property theft (http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/06/22/releasing-joint-strategic-plan-combat-intellectual-property-theft) it is essential for service providers and intermediaries generally to work collaboratively with content owners to seek practical and efficient solutions to address infringement.  We need businesses to be more proactive in addressing infringement, not less.  We expect the Court of Appeals will better understand the balance Congress struck when it enacted the DMCA.

Cary Sherman

Yes, they are upset that Content Providers do not have to pre-filter content. Apparently, it is WAAAY too much work for them to send a sound / video sample to YouTube and have them automatically go through their entire video archive and remove content (even though the work constitutes fair use in many cases). Whats more is that YouTubes approach is not even a viable option for most start-up web sites, which kills growth of our industry.

What type of free internet is it, when you have to have a million dollars to start up a website? The RIAA does not care about the people, the future, or even the artists they represent, they just care about the money. This is their right, I fight for things that benefit me too (a free and open culture would be best for my life, and my children’s when I have them)… But people need to be aware that their motivations are financial.

If you care about the future, you will support a free internet without unreasonable limitations.

After 9/11 and various world events that both led up to it, and have taken place in the 10 years after the tragedy. The United States has made subtle strides to make it seem as though people who are protecting their rights, and protecting their privacy are actually doing something wrong. They use terms such as “Patriot Act” to make people feel that it is clearly something that is good for the nation. However, they kill the rights that allow us to be patriots, it allows groups to be investigated simply for exercising their first amendment rights as “Domestic Terrorists”.

However, its not just civil defense that is being corrupted to attempt to destroy our rights. Our taxes are going to bail out major corporations who do not even know how to spend their money wisely. We rob from the successful companies of America, and we give to the corrupt corporations who are “too large to fail”, companies who have already failed and we are just dragging along their dead weight. Furthermore, they support the old broken business models of the movie and recording industries, ignoring how critical sharing, and expression was to the growth of these industries. Music has been around since the beginning of mankind, industry is a recent expansion. Artists will keep recording, and keep making music because they love it. People will keep giving them money, and keep buying their merchandise, and going to concerts, because they support the artists. Removing the corporate overhead to this will only increase profits for artists, and allow Americans to share ideas, and express themselves without having to worry about unjust lawsuits.

Standing up for your rights is not only a good thing to do, its patriotic. Encrypt your private files, buy non-DRM movies and music, support the creative commons, and speak out against the wrongs in America. Decent is what has made our country great, it is what our country was founded on, not fear, or sheep doing what they are told.

I do want to bring your attention to the latest addition to their developer terms and conditions:

3.3.1 — Applications may only use Documented APIs in the manner prescribed by Apple and must not use or call any private APIs. Applications must be originally written in Objective-C, C, C++, or JavaScript as executed by the iPhone OS WebKit engine, and only code written in C, C++, and Objective-C may compile and directly link against the Documented APIs (e.g., Applications that link to Documented APIs through an intermediary translation or compatibility layer or tool are prohibited).

Now, I am not about to get myself sued for libel in saying “Apple is now engaging in anti-trust” but… this is specifically designed to stop companies developing programs to make coding apple apps easier (in particular to block Adobe from making a flash to app converter), and stopping competition. I would hope that Apple is asked to stop this.

Working as an officer for the USPP, is probably one of my favorite accomplishments. Knowing that I am working to make the US a better place. Two weeks ago I was in Portland Maine to help work with the designer of the new site. Today I am meeing with the head of PPWA.

Each area is so unique in how people deal with influences, and its always fun to learn more about each culture.

First you make a file called ircBot.py, or whatever you want to call it.
We have to put the she-bang line, which you should include in all your code.
#!/usr/bin/env python
Now we have to import the modules necessary for the program.
import […]

There are several ways to write an IRC bot in Python, but this one is pretty good.

First you make a file called ircBot.py, or whatever you want to call it.

We have to put the she-bang line, which you should include in all your code.

#!/usr/bin/env python

Now we have to import the modules necessary for the program.

import sys
import socket
import string

Now we have to define some variables that we will use in the code.

First is the IRC network to connect to, in our case it is Freenode.
HOST=”irc.freenode.net”

Now the port for Freenode…
PORT=6667

Here just put the nick you want the bot to have, for me it is nzkBot.
NICK=”nzkBot”

Same thing as above…
IDENT=”nzkBot”

Here is the “real name” the bot will assume when whois’d.
REALNAME=”nzksBot”

And finally, the channel. Keep in mind that this bot is not auth’d, so it wont be able to go into many channels. I just made my own.
CHAN=”#nzkbot”

This is to make sure everything works fine.
readbuffer=””

Now thats done. On to the fun stuff! All the variables are defined, so this doesn’t need much editing.
s=socket.socket( )
s.connect((HOST, PORT))
s.send(”NICK %s\r\n” % NICK)
s.send(”USER %s %s bla :%s\r\n” % (IDENT, HOST, REALNAME))
s.send(”JOIN :%s\r\n” % CHAN)

But here, you can enter the message you want the bot to say. If you want to add more messages, just make more lines as you see here.
s.send(”PRIVMSG %s :%s\r\n” % (CHAN, “What poppin? The popcorn in my kettle, y’all”))
s.send(”PRIVMSG %s :%s\r\n” % (CHAN, “Right?”))

That will be on 2 separate lines.

And finally, the boring part.

while 1:
readbuffer=readbuffer+s.recv(1024)
temp=string.split(readbuffer, “\n”)
readbuffer=temp.pop( )

for line in temp:
line=string.rstrip(line)
line=string.split(line)

if(line[0]==”PING”):
s.send(”PONG %s\r\n” % line[1])

Doesn’t need much explanation. Just makes sure everything is fine and the IRC server can see the bot, hence the PING PONG.

Now, simply run the program and a bot will come into the channel you specified and say something!

Thats all there is to it, good luck!

Heres is the full source code:

#!/usr/bin/env python

if(line[0]=="PING"):
s.send("PONG %s\r\n" % line[1])

I fail to see how either of these points are valid or good at all. We have two extremes trying to fight for why they are right and the other is wrong and unfortunately copyright and patent laws are not that black and white… So lets look at this from a real persons point of view.

The current failed copyright system gives a copyright to its owner for their entire life plus 70 years. Clearly this is not for the benefit of the artist, because the artist will not be able to make any gains off those additional 70 years. Thats why the system is flawed, instead of allowing defunct artists music to be put into the public domain so that more people can learn, grow, and build off of it… the current system discourages respecting the late artist by not allowing there to be education based off their work. These laws are, however, in place for the artist.

Matthew also claims that because of the length of this copyright term that art should be released for free, and I feel that it was more of a creative way of twisting words and facts to gather more supporters for your cause (which is admittedly a noble one). We cannot expect artists to release music and not get paid for them, thats why I suggest copyrights, but on a much smaller scale. An artist has the right to make money, and recoup losses from the production of music. However, after a few years the artist’s primary income focuses on live tours and merchandise anyway.

I feel that the reason that drug patents are so short is because the Government realizes that we need short patents to drive innovation. While they would rather neglect artistic innovation, and only embrace being the worlds health care leader. As this shows, not only do short patent times not “kill innovation” as some say it will, but it also drives innovation and can be contributed into the United States great contributions to science.

We cannot be battling any more on black and white issues, and the time is to rally in support of real copyright and patent reform so that we can learn from our medical innovations, and apply that great system to media, and code as well. By allowing people to build off code after 7 years opposed to the rest of your lifetime… we develop better projects. By allowing music to be mixed, we create more innovation in what music is and what it can be.

Whats funny is that the answer to the question is simple:
Who does (current) Intellectual Property Laws help? Management
Who does (current) Intellectual Property Laws hurt? Anyone who wants to learn.

American

Geek

Pirate

I am one man among many

I don’t want change,

I don’t want hope,

I don’t want the government to hold my hand.

I want progress

Progress I can see

Progress that affects my daily life.

My voice is quiet

Our voice is loud

Your not apathetic. You care. You understand that the path that the United States is on is detrimental to the development of our country. We slowly give up our rights day by day, little by little and they seem so small that we don’t think much about them, but today is the day that we need to fight to regain those rights and to put America back on a course where not only will we be the world leader in innovation again, we will be more free than we ever have been, our freedoms, our liberty, and the justice that has been robbed from us, will all be handed back to us on a silver platter if we demand it, and I say we should.

This is not election season, but that does not change the process of democracy, it does not change the fact that this is a country FOR the people BY the people, and when people stand up for what they believe in, and they state their demands they will be answered.

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 made it illegal to make backups of media YOU ALREADY OWN. Tens of thousands of people in the Untied States have since been labeled thieves, taken to court, legally pressured, and in some cases lost their job because they were doing the most American thing you can possibly do: Share Ideas.

Thats not right is it?

The First Amendment is crumbling at our feet, politicians see our bill of rights as a punch line, not a foundation. There are reporters who are being arrested for simply being in areas that the news is. However, current Government stands by and watches as Big Media gains control of 80% of the market, allowing them to effectively decide what they feel the news will be .

Thats not right is it?

People draw up a plan for an invention, then decide to never actually create the device… so they get the patent and then shelve it, never again revisiting it… until another person comes up with that idea, builds a device, and tries to market it… then the original inventor sues for infringing his patent. This is the type of practices that kills the innovation in America, granting patents to people is great, it protects peoples work, but don’t you think that patents should be protecting inventions that are actually being produced?

Peaceful assembly is another right given to us by our great First Amendment, however, any peaceful demonstration in most areas needs a PERMIT? Police and Burrocrats should not have the ability to interfere with non-violent non-disruptive protesting. Don’t you feel that you should have the right to speak out against what you feel is wrong prohibited?

Copyright abuse runs rampate throughout the world, has unreasonable term lengths, and is used to prevent, rather than promote innovation. The right to use should never be in question. Currently a person owns a copyright on their work for their entire life after applying for it, then an additional 70 years AFTER THEY DIE. How does that promote innovation?

Finally we should have the right to privacy, and not be seen as doing something wrong because we want it. Digital privacy should be given the same amount of attention as physical, and I know you don’t want someone reading your mail, let alone your email.

This is why the time is now, the time is today.

We need to start calling our friends, posting to message boards, and becoming active… because we don’t have time to wait until the next election… Your voice is that of millions, stand up and represent them.