US Copyright Lobby: FOSS “Weakens Software Industry”

posted by Thom Holwerda on Wed 24th Feb 2010 22:23 UTC

 

The world is slowly and surely going crazy. I’m sure of it now. The US copyright lobby has officially gone totally and utterly nuts. Get this: they are trying to lobby the US government to equate encouraging the use of Free and open source software to undermining intellectual property rights, and to weakening the software industry. I wish I was making this stuff up.

The International Intellectual Property Alliance is an umbrella group for organisations like the RIAA and the MPAA, but it also covers publishing, television, and software. It’s one of those organisations you don’t hear about often, who operate rather silently in the background, lobbying for their poisonous cause to the US government.

What the IIPA is currently lobbying for defies all logic. They want the US Trade Representative to place countries like Brazil, India, and Indonesia on the Special 301 list, which is a list of countries that do not, according to mostly the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America and the IIPA, do enough to protect intellectual property rights.

Now, why should these countries be placed on this Special 301 list? Hold on to your Debian t-shirt, because it’s all about Free and open source software. The governments of the countries the IIPA wants to add have one thing in common: they’ve used or are encouraging the adoption of Free and open source software, which, according to the IIPA, "weakens the software industry" and "fails to build respect for intellectual property rights".

10 Innovative Ways To Use Twitter For Business

Increasingly more companies use Twitter for business – to do market research, do brand advocacy and reputation management and provide selected highlights from a conference or event. Twitter allows them to expand their brand and thus generate new opportunities.

In this article, Mahendra shows you how you can integrate Twitter into your Powerpoint presentation and receive instant feedback. Steven has written about using hashtags effectively. And also, you can learn more about Twitter Lists to follow people more closely.

But to be more innovative in the use of Twitter for a business setting, here are 10 useful tips.

 

1. Expand Your Network

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Don’t Expect Too Much On Obama!!

It is obvious that Barack Hussein Obama, the current president of United States of America (USA), used a very hypnotic slogan in his presidential campaign last year (2008), which was "CHANGE: We Can Believe In". That slogan had successfully drugged most people of USA, and even most people of the world, including Indonesia. It is understandable, as he had been expected by the world to be able to change the USA’s foreign policies, after all the mess his predecessor –George Walker Bush– had done with Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo, and most of the Muslim world.

Many people in Indonesia even had more pride and hope on him becoming the president of a superpower country. In my opinion, that was because of one rather unacceptable reason, which was an improper pride of Barry (the nickname of little Obama), concerning that he had been staying and studying in Jakarta for a couple years, when he was just an elementary school kid. They might have different opinion if only they know the truth. Now I can say, don’t expect too much on Obama! Why? I’ll tell you why.