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Richard Stallman's Political Notes

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Urgent: Sharing copies of e-books

mardi 9 avril 2019 à 02:00

UK residents: write to your MP and to the Business Secretary to condemn the push for repression on sharing copies of e-books.

What you say is up to you, but if I were in the UK, I would say that I would choose to buy authorized copies if I could do so anonymously, without DRM, and without signing a contract. I buy printed books that way, and I'd buy e-books the same way, if they let me. However, today's commercially published ebooks generally carry all those oppressive characteristics, and even one of them is unacceptable. I'd suggest they read https://gnu.org/philosophy/ebooks.html.

I would say that sharing is good, and they should stop insulting sharers with the smear of "pirate".

I would also say that all else being equal I would like to support authors with money; but I suspect that most of the money goes to other parties, and I have no wish to donate to those others. Would they please set up a system for anonymous donations, of which at least 90% goes to whichever author we select?

Finally I would say that Pullman's prediction of the disappearance of all art is an exaggeration, obviously intended to encourage unjust laws, and they should put a sock in it.

Because of Pullman's antagonism towards sharing, I have never read any of his books. There are lots of other authors whose books are worth reading — why choose his? But if you feel you need to read some, borrow them from a friend.

Thugs in schools

lundi 8 avril 2019 à 02:00

An 11-year-old student was arrested in school for refusing to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

It is his constitutional right to refuse to recite that text. I would refuse to say the words "under god". But the biggest wrong here is the presence of a thug in the school, ready at any moment to arrest students for breaking rules and try to feed them into the school-to-prison pipeline.

As this example shows, even articulate, gifted students are in danger from that.

Chinese attack drones

lundi 8 avril 2019 à 02:00

Chinese attack drones are almost as good as US drones, and much cheaper, so many countries are buying them.

A drone, used as a weapon of war, is not inherently morally worse than an artillery piece or a ground-attack plane that could do the same job. I would not criticize Nigeria for using drones in battle against Boko Haram or Iraq for using them against PISSI. (Turkey's tyrant started the fighting with the Kurds in order to get more votes, so he has no justification in that fighting no matter what weapons are used.)

What makes drones specially bad is their use for assassinations, away from battlefields.

Rojava asks for international border force

lundi 8 avril 2019 à 02:00

Rojava has asked for an international border force to deter Turkey from attacking.

US mainstream media

lundi 8 avril 2019 à 02:00

The US mainstream media are boosters for intervention in Venezuela.