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"Would you be better off paying for online newspapers like this one? Should you feel guilty about downloading free music? Is the Web's "information-wants-to-free" culture hurting writers, musicians and the rest of the "digital peasants," as Jaron Lanier calls us, now providing unpaid content to be exploited by the "lords of the clouds" like Google? In my Findings column, I discuss Mr. Lanier's new book, "You Are Not A Gadget," a manifesto decrying the Web's effect on individual creativity. (You can see excerpts of his criticism at Edge and at Cato Unbound.) Mr. Lanier mentions this newspaper as one of the victims as well as the promoters of the Web's ideology. "The New York Times," he writes, "promotes so-called open digital politics on a daily basis even though that ideal and the movement behind it are destroying the newspaper and all other newspapers. It seems to be a case of journalistic Stockholm syndrome." Mr. Lanier also faults himself: "

"People in tech companies and particularly in open source communities believe in and value meritocracy-letting the best ideas win. One thing that's become increasingly clear to me over the past few years is this: meritocracy is a great driver of innovation, but if we want to get to the best ideas, we need diversity of thought and an inclusive environment where everyone feels welcome to participate"

"People in tech companies and particularly in open source communities believe in and value meritocracy-letting the best ideas win. One thing that's become increasingly clear to me over the past few years is this: meritocracy is a great driver of innovation, but if we want to get to the best ideas, we need diversity of thought and an inclusive environment where everyone feels welcome to participate"

"The Congress shall have power . . . . To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries." (U.S. Constitution, 1787)"

"2015 is the Time for Global Action 2015 presents a historic and unprecedented opportunity to bring the countries and citizens of the world together to decide and embark on new paths to improve the lives of people everywhere. These decisions will determine the global course of action to end poverty, promote prosperity and well-being for all, protect the environment and address climate change."

"2015 is the Time for Global Action 2015 presents a historic and unprecedented opportunity to bring the countries and citizens of the world together to decide and embark on new paths to improve the lives of people everywhere. These decisions will determine the global course of action to end poverty, promote prosperity and well-being for all, protect the environment and address climate change."

"Back at the end of August, we wrote about a ridiculous situation in which the Pokemon Company decided to sue two fans in Seattle who had set up a Pokemon-themed party leading into the big PAX conference. As soon as the threats came down, these guys shut down the party entirely, but the Pokemon Company would not be stopped in its determination to totally bankrupt and destroy such a big fan who was out there promoting Pokemon and Pokemon culture. "

"Back at the end of August, we wrote about a ridiculous situation in which the Pokemon Company decided to sue two fans in Seattle who had set up a Pokemon-themed party leading into the big PAX conference. As soon as the threats came down, these guys shut down the party entirely, but the Pokemon Company would not be stopped in its determination to totally bankrupt and destroy such a big fan who was out there promoting Pokemon and Pokemon culture. "

" There is no doubt that human evolution has been linked to meat in many fundamental ways. Our digestive tract is not one of obligatory herbivores; our enzymes evolved to digest meat whose consumption aided higher encephalization and better physical growth. Cooperative hunting promoted"

" Andy on July 29, 2016 C: 39 News In 2014, Sony was subjected to a massive cyberattack which resulted in the leak of huge quantities of data. The trove contained several movies, all of which appeared online for anyone to download for free. Now the owner of one of the titles is suing Sony, claiming that company failed in its obligation to protect the movie from Internet pirates."

"by Richard Stallman There are organizations that proclaim support for free software or the GNU Project, and teach classes in use of nonfree software. It's possible that they do some other things that really support free software, but those classes certainly don't. On the contrary, they work directly against the free software movement by promoting the use of the nonfree software. That increases the magnitude of the practical problem it is our mission to correct."

"With more than 10 million users, the Scratch online community is the largest online community where kids learn to program. Since it was created, a central goal of the community has been to promote "remixing" - the reworking and recombination of existing creative artifacts. "

"Executive Summary GMO Myths and Truths report Genetically modified (GM) crops are promoted on the basis of a range of far-reaching claims from the GM crop industry and its supporters. They say that GM crops: Are an extension of natural breeding and do not pose different risks from naturally bred crops Are safe to eat and can be more nutritious than naturally bred crops Are strictly regulated for safety Increase crop yields Reduce pesticide use Benefit farmers and make their lives easier Bring economic benefits Benefit the environment Can help solve problems caused by climate change Reduce energy use Will help feed the world. However, a large and growing body of scientific and other authoritative evidence shows that these claims are not true. On the contrary, evidence presented in this report indicates that GM crops: Are laboratory-made, using technology that is totally different from natural breeding methods, and pose different risks from non-GM crops Can be toxic, allergenic or less nutritious than their natural counterparts Are not adequately regulated to ensure safety Do not increase yield potential Do not reduce pesticide use but increase it Create serious problems for farmers, including herbicide-tolerant "superweeds", compromised soil quality, and increased disease susceptibility in crops Have mixed economic effects Harm soil quality, disrupt ecosystems, and reduce biodiversity Do not offer effective solutions to climate change Are as energy-hungry as any other chemically-farmed crops Cannot solve the problem of world hunger but distract from its real causes - poverty, lack of access to food and, increasingly, lack of access to land to grow it on. Based on the evidence presented in this report, there is no need to take risks with GM crops when effective, readily available, and sustainable solutions to the problems that GM technology is claimed to address already

"From the perspective of the USTR, the TPP is not a threat to global health initiatives that rely on generics, but rather a blueprint for international norms that promote innovation in global health and elsewhere. However, amfAR's Senior Research Advisor, Brian Honermann, labels the USTR's outlook on HIV and the TPP as "inaccurate." He notes that the TPP contains "unprecedented intellectual property protections" around data exclusivity and the scope of patentability, both of which could make it harder to integrate new treatment options into large public sector programs that rely overwhelmingly on off-label drugs. "

" Ernesto on February 8, 2016 C: 37 News Every month hundreds of people are sued for sharing copyrighted media through file-sharing networks, mostly BitTorrent. This practice is big business for copyright holders and lawyers alike. Unfortunately, however, not all defense attorneys appear to have the best interests of their clients at heart."

" Ernesto on February 8, 2016 C: 37 News Every month hundreds of people are sued for sharing copyrighted media through file-sharing networks, mostly BitTorrent. This practice is big business for copyright holders and lawyers alike. Unfortunately, however, not all defense attorneys appear to have the best interests of their clients at heart."

"Germany wants to become global encryption leader -- but the reasons for its stance are complex."

"Germany wants to become global encryption leader -- but the reasons for its stance are complex."

"Libreboot is a free BIOS or UEFI replacement (free as in freedom); libre boot firmware that initializes the hardware and starts a bootloader for your operating system. It's also an open source BIOS, but open source fails to promote freedom; please call libreboot free software."

"Boing Boing editor responds, offers 200 free copies to the school's students. by Joe Silver - June 10 2014, 8:04pm CEST Activism Web Culture 212 Enlarge Cory Doctorow After the Booker T. Washington Public High School in Pensacola, Florida, placed best-selling author and popular Boing Boing blog editor Cory Doctorow's young adult novel Little Brother on its "One School/One Book" summer reading list, the school's administration promptly cancelled the school-wide reading program."

"Boing Boing editor responds, offers 200 free copies to the school's students. by Joe Silver - June 10 2014, 8:04pm CEST Activism Web Culture 212 Enlarge Cory Doctorow After the Booker T. Washington Public High School in Pensacola, Florida, placed best-selling author and popular Boing Boing blog editor Cory Doctorow's young adult novel Little Brother on its "One School/One Book" summer reading list, the school's administration promptly cancelled the school-wide reading program."