Free speech and free culture

Tonight I had the dream about something, that would solve the problems of  both the content industry and the free speech movement.

It would add so much entertainment value to the internet if people instead of posting the actual songs/pictures/films/books/comics that they like would just sing the the songs, draw the pictures  themselves, reenact the films or write a summary of the book themselves and then link back to the creators website (or some store like Amazon or iTunes, earning referral money in the process btw.) to get to the full version.

So let me demonstrate:

If I thought that it would be clever to reference the Sex Pistols “God Save The Queen” (from memory which makes it even more fun, because it’s probably way off) in the context of a bee hive I could be posting it like this:

Citizens of the world, it is time to save the Queen Bee, so let’s get up and sing our world anthem “God Save The Queen”

Get the real song here:

That way everyone is happy and we would have additional value.

Free speech and content creators

I wish that the internet community would start separating the privacy concerns and free speech concerns from the content creators, big or small, and instead focus on what is actually important: political censorship and freedom. Distributing someones content without that persons consent has nothing to do with free speech. Nothing.

Respecting of intellectual property is a social and civil contract that’s in the best interest of both the creator and consumer.

And Googles record gets tainted further

It is amazing to me, that the supporters of free speech (which I am also!!) still see Google as the free and open web.

They have been funding institutes releasing wrongful information about how legislation that is trying to protect content creators may destroy the free internet. But how much interest do they really have in this free pluralistic internet?

But please, read for yourself!

Troubling Google Contractor Allegedly Caught Vandalizing Open Street Map.

Recipe for a happy New Year!

Recipe for a happy New Year!
Take 12 months, clean them from envy,
bitterness, costiveness, pedantry
and divide them into 30 or 31 parts,
so that the supply is enough for one year.
Each day individually arranged from:
1 part of work and
2 parts of exhilaration and humor.
Add 3 heaped tablespoons optimism,
1 tablespoon tolerance, 1 pellet irony
and 1 pinch of time.
Then dowse the mass with
very much love all over.
The finished dish can be decorated
with posies of small attentions,
serve it daily with amusement!
– Katharina Elisabeth Goethe (1731-1808) –

Google Ergebnisse – neutral?

Habe eben mal spaßeshalber nach “Musik” gesucht auf Google, da bekam ich diese Suchergebnisseite:

Da zwei der Ergebnisse real world Freunde von mir waren (Gumpelmaier und Le Clap), war ich doch etwas verblüfft. Es hat mich natürlich für die beiden gefreut, dass beide auf der ersten Ergebnisseite sind, sowas ist ja nicht leicht und auch viel wert. Dann habe ich mich gefragt, ob es wohl mit der Tatsache zu tun hat, dass ich eingeloggt war. Also habe ich schnell mal alle Cookies gelöscht, Cache geleert, neue IP geholt und die Suche wiederholt und siehe da, es waren andere Ergebnisse:

Nun kann natürlich jeder denken, was er will. Aber mit Neutralität und Transparenz hat das nix zu tun. Das ist pures personalisiertes Ergebnistuning. Das mag nicht groß überraschend sein, aber man sollte sich eben nicht blenden lassen vom “Don’t be evil” Slogan des Konzerns aus San Francisco.

Google ist nicht neutral, Google verändert Suchergebnisse, Google editiert Ergebnisse und Google arbeitet mit der CIA zusammen

The Marriage of Sight and Sound: Early Edison Experiments with Film and Sound

When reading this it becomes terribly obvious how little we appreciate how far we’ve come.

Also, whenever users are bitching about missing features, we should go back and think how difficult it can be to actually implement things.

So the next time you’re attacking a developer by saying “I can’t believe you didn’t think of this…???”, think twice, cut him some slack and have patience.
Edison:The Marriage of Sight and Sound: Early Edison Experiments with Film and Sound.