Gunnar Wolf - Nice grey life - page 71

Excuse me in advance for any typos. itting in a dark room and posting with a Kindle has its down sides. I have been participating for about 1.5 years on a seminar about the copyright in the ediyorial ambit. This year, the focus is on digital media. Today the first speaker is Dr. Kyoshi Tsuru, General Director of BSA Mexico. He is talking about the beauties and advantages of DRM and TPM. It was interesting to hear how he began by saying how people are afraid of nice, good, protective measures and call it with derogatoey, morally charged ways:Specifically about...

It’s been a long time since I last took some time to read First Monday — A great online publication, if you are not familiar with it, that I would categorize (and no, I’m not probably well-informed in it to be authoritative) as dealing with social, psychological aspects of the cultural shifts the online world has brought upon us (often dealing with topics related to Free Software communities, the reason I first met the publication). Firstmonday is an Open Access champion from early on. It follows an approachable but academic format (this means, it is peer-reviewed, its articles give extensive...

On June 2011, we were invited to the Free Software in Mexico: Reflections and Opportunities in Mexico’s Senate. This is the presentation I used. Some photos from the panel: 1, 2, 3, 4. Attachments Presentation (LaTeX Beamer sources) (12 KB) Presentation (PDF format) (153 KB)

The discussion panel on Free Software and Society; «Free Software in Mexico: Reflections and Opportunities» forum; June 2, 2011

Umh… More than one strange thing here.<ul><li>Adults are forbidden if not accompanied by children‽ First time I ever see such a sign…</li><li>It is common for people to bring several things to a park which might constitute a sign. But, please explain all of the icons…<ul><li>Explain the relative severity of biking (0,0) or eating (1,0) at a park to… Bringing weapons? (2,0)</li><li>Oh, and of course, they have to be inclusive and list things — So not only it is forbidden to bring food and drinks, but also to serve drinks (3,0), or to cook food (which would have to take place...

If this qualifies as a safe crossing («cruce seguro»)… I should have stayed at home

I was invited to be part of one of the panels to be present this Thursday (June 2) in a forum that promises to be interesting. The forum is organized by the Science and Technology comission of the Senate of the Republic (of Mexico ;-) ), Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana and Mozilla México. The day will be opened by Sen. Francisco Javier Castellón Fonseca and Richard Stallman; starting at 10:00, we will have thematic panels on:<ul><li>Education</li><li>Government</li><li>Industry</li><li>Civil society</li></ul> The full program (as well as details of interest of those that can physically attend) is attached to this post. I am looking forward...

<p>La idea para la columna de este número surgió de una plática con mi padre, comentando acerca de un texto que él presentó, como parte del espacio de la Academia de Ciencias de Morelos en el periódico La Unión de Morelos el pasado 18 de abril<a href="#fn-1" class="fn">1</a>. En éste, habla acerca de la disparidad de las cifras reportadas ante la manifestación dirigida por Javier Sicilia en la ciudad de Cuernavaca (ésta, el miércoles 6 de abril), y acerca de métodos que podrían utilizarse para tener una estimación más precisa. Yo, como buen consultor, le sugerí algo bonito y preciso...

While swearing at my bank’s automated phone attention system, I was thinking that –taking advantage in the fact they already usually say that “the call will be recorded to improve service quality“– call center operators/programmers should record all user activity and, just for laughs, play back the grumbles angry users shout at the system. Of course, at random intervals, on loudspeakers, over the crowded call centers. Oh, they do it already?

Today we had a very interesting demonstration. People who know me for some time know I like to be a part of demonstrations, adding my voice to the people. And even though I know most demonstrations, as massive as they might be, have no real and tangible effect… Well, I try to be there. Today we had a large demonstration in Mexico City of people angry with the government’s tactics on the war on drugs — Have you been to Mexico before 2007? You will remember we have always had our problems, but violence was basically limited to keeping an...