[fsf-community-team] what the hell

[jeff cliff]

    sometimes activist here.
    I should point out that while I have been an actual FSF member in
the 
    past(2002-3!), I have fallen under tough times again and again and
again 
    and currently am about at the end of my budget for the 
    semester(hopefully my last towards a computer science degree). I
have 
    been quoted by my local federal MP here in Canada in his press 
    literature in support of copyright reform(who according to recent
news 
    reports was not that far away from being prime minister), am one of
two 
    organizers for the Fair Copyright in Saskatchewan group, and have
also 
    been summarized by Michael Geist as well. I am in general, a free 
    software zealot, although there are limited situations where I can
be 
    coerced into using unfree software. That being said I might be
failing 
    another university class this semester(which might postpone my
degree 
    ANOTHER year) because of my refusal to use proprietary software in
the 
    labs, so I'd say I'm pretty hardcore.
    In general though, I'm a (CC-BY-SA) musician, and computer science 
    student. Once my semester ends I might have some (*gasp*) free time
and 
    although I can't write all too well I *AM* tangled pretty deep into
the 
    blogosphere, and since I have worked coding free software for a
living 
    I'd say it's possible that I could end up doing it again, especially

    once I get my degree.

- Ignored:
    1) Send us a quick introduction. What blogs, news sites, or
communities 
    do you follow?
    What--if any--areas would you like to focus on?
    
    Although I couldn't possibly try to keep current with all of them, I

    tend to read ~100 posts a day from about 150 different sources, and 
    about 10 a day from a list of 1700 "trusted" sources. So...a lot. I
also 
    usually maintain at least a dozen active conversation
threads/flamewars 
    at once. I'm an internet/reddit addict, really. I'm not really sure
what 
    would be meant by 'focus'. I'm pretty scatterbrained at the best of 
    times, and on the internet...hey look shiny! In general though,
being 
    Canadian I drift towards anything related to Canadian copyright(and
if 
    it need be, patent law or other law, such as ACTA that impacts the 
    development of software or creation of music).
    
    Just pulling from a hat, a subset of what I follow...
    your typical news sites, including some french ones as I try to pick

    that up:
    /., BBC News, boingboing, ars technica, Le Monde, Groupe CNW, Le fil
de 
    presse du Devoir Communiqués français de la journée
    
    reddit:
    subreddits business, science, tech, anarchism, wearethemusicmakers, 
    cogsci, reddit.com, wtf, worldnews, pics, and news, with some others

    thrown in for good measure.
    
    saskatchewan(Canada) blogosphere:
    SaskBlogs Aggregator 2.0 (basically a list of who's-who on the 
    Saskatchewan blogosphere,
    including left and right sides of it, from smalldeadanimals to
buckdog)
    
    Random blogs otherwise to give an example:
    michael geist, abanadoned stuff by saskboy, marginal revolution, 
    techdirt, zerohedge, a bunch of conservative blogs (I'm about the
only 
    person on the left in quite afew)
    ...
    
    2) Reply to the list, letting us know when you've read these three 
    articles about FSF's basic philosophy and political approach, along
with 
    any questions you have (questions are good!).
    
    Never seen the 'words to avoid' page before:
    * I am not opposed to avoiding the term "cloud computing" but am
curious 
    what terms better describe a system that approximates a "true"
turing 
    machine by abstracting the amount of memory available to as much as
a 
    user pays for it. Although it's still not a "true" turing machine,
it's 
    a hell of a lot closer than we've ever come to building one. It
might be 
    absolutely unfree, unfriendly to use, and just plain bad
economics...but 
    it's possible to imagine a situation where such a system could be,
say, 
    community owned.
    So I guess the questions would be
    a) what *is* the term for a turing-machine-approximator in this
manner?
    b) is a community owned break-even datacentre necessarily unfree for
its 
    members?
    c) is said turing machine approximator necessarily harmful?
    
    * I am probably too much of a lamer to dispute the FSF on their 
    definition of hacker, but I'm sticking to the broad umbrella group 
    definition of someone who creatively subverts systems in ways not 
    designed by their designers, ideally by creating, and use of
creativity 
    and technical skill in that area. Including intrusion(not merely the
use 
    of a script, but actual research & pwning a system through knowledge
of it).
    
    3) Write some short responses to these excerpts below, as if you
were 
    responding with a short comment to somebody's blog post on FSF's
behalf. 
    These are representative of the sort of things we often find
ourselves 
    responding to. Be polite, concise, and--most of all--make sure you
hit 
    the most important points.
    
    This will give us an idea of your writing style, and it gives FSF
staff 
    and other volunteers on the list a chance to offer feedback and show
you 
    the ropes.
    
        * "Linux is awesome for checking email and browsing the web."
    
    *twitch* *twitch*. Is this some kind of a test to see if I'll point
out 
    that it is GNU/Linux? I try to choose my battles a little in
general, 
    and I don't think that they'll "get it". However I try to make sure
that 
    people I interact with on a more regular basis than a single blog 
    posting get reminded periodically that it is, in fact, GNU/Linux.
    Second: They are promoting free software, even if they don't know it
and 
    are actually diminishing the value of said software, and I'm kind of

    used to the opposite. I guess though if I were actually writing ON 
    BEHALF of the FSF I might simply pull a reddit-style
    
     > "*GNU/*Linux is awesome for checking email and browsing the web."
    FTFY.
    
    But that might get old after the first 5,000 times. I guess that's
why 
    we're being called to help :)
    
     > "But make no mistake, if the real version 2 of the European 
    Interoperability Framework is anything like the one discussed above,

    with its pathetically devalued definition of openness, and its
espousal 
    of the risible “openness continuum”, it will represent a huge
setback 
    for the use of free software in Europe, and a major boost for 
    closed-source software producers and the patents they all-too often 
    claim there - even though software cannot be patented “as such” in 
    Europe." Link 
   
<http://www.computerworlduk.com/community/blogs/index.cfm?entryid=2620&blogid=14>(You

    could parse this one in a few different ways, the quibble here at
best 
    could be pretty minor: use of 'closed-source' instead of
'proprietary'. 
    Everything else would be context dependent. )
    
    Just a nitpick, but there is ambiguity created by your use of 
    'closed-source' in reference to
    free software. The opposite of free software is unfree, or
proprietary 
    software. Closed
    refers only to a subset of this class of software. See (this link)
for 
    details :)
    (I'd only say this if I were particularly anal, chances are, like
the 
    above, I'd pass over it since they were close)
    
     >"When combined with the other chapters that include statutory
damages, 
    search and seizure powers for border guards, anti-camcording rules,
and 
    mandatory disclosure of personal information requirements, it is
clear 
    that there is no bigger intellectual property issue today than the 
    Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement being negotiated behind closed
doors 
    this week in Korea." Link 
    <http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/4510/125/>
    
    This sentence would make a lot more sense without the inclusion of
the 
    misnomer "intellectual property".
    (Unless someone else mentions this, I am quite often the person that

    brings this up already).
    
    All 3 of these however have been potential allies, so I can see why 
    you'd want to be careful with them.
    
    tmg1
    http://themusicgod1.livejournal.com/profile
    

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