Posts by Russell Brown
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Interesting conversation.
The one that's thrown me so much that I don't quite feel up to addressing it is the pre-natal test proposed by Simon Baron Cohen et al for autism spectrum conditions.
The thing that makes like a thought experiment is that the technique -- measuring testosterone levels in utero -- is very coarsely-grained. From what I can make of it, you only know if you have a high chance of an ASD child -- you don't know if you're getting a non-verbal child who needs constant care, or Einstein.
Perhaps I'm biased, but I think all ASD lives are worth living. Not everyone will think that way. But even then, there's a huge societal risk in losing ASD.
Bram Cohen, the creator of the BitTorrent protocol, is Asperger syndrome. If he wasn't, he might not have been moved to create a rules-based protocol for reciprocal relationships (most of us don't consciously form rules, we just muddle through). It would be a serious bummer if we lost those people. We need systematising nerds.
But that risk is real -- and, ironically, it's heightened by the kind of "cure autism now" campaigning that is common in the US.
There's a huge and unpleasant war between groups of parents who desperately want their child "cured" of autism, and the autism-positive people. The latter, I think, frequently ignore the massive and distressing challenges faced by parents of ASD kids, and the former are almost contemptuous of who their own children actually are. The guy who runs the "Hating Autism" blog is just scary.
Anyway, my personal language point is that I don't talk about people "having" Aspergers. I say our kids are Asperger. It is who they are. And understanding that has been an enormous help in understanding who everyone else is. It's quite a bonus for a journalist.
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It doesn't follow in any way that consequences under s 92A should follow.
You're right: the process for (D) does not necesssarily apply for (A).
On the other hand, there is no process stipulated for (A), and the copyright owners have explicitly said they need this law because they can't abide with any due process. Their solution is to be allowed to adjudicate their own complaints.
But (D) and its model, the DMCA, do provide a useful pointer. ISPs and service providers like YouTube don't seek to try and adjudicate complaints of infringement. They simply take down the content. TelstraClear has said that would be its approach to 92(A) complaints: it would disconnect on complaint.
The TCF code of conduct might ameliorate that, but I'm not sure where that stands now.
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well the code of practice may or may not make nonsense of that. those points have been raised and ant healey said he acknowledged and agreed they were valid and pledged to work to address them. yet we still have screaming and wailing.
And Campbell Smith rejected the code out of hand and wanted complainants to be able to adjudicate their own complaints.
Look, the Creative Freedom Foundation proposes a sensible, proven process -- a low-cost copyright court modelled on the Disputes Tribunal. That's addressing the issue.
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It's quite a unifying force.
Dude, when I'm linking approvingly to a post by DPF on Muriel Newman's website, ya know it.
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and re the black squares protest. sheesh, what happened to getting off one's expanding ass and making a real life protest. I remember standing in line to be battoned for a principle,
That's only one part of what's going on. There's government relations stuff in the background, along with the Remix competition, a real-life flashmob protest tomorrow and quite a lot in the media space.
changing your online icon to black seems kinda token.
Of itself, it does nothing to change the law. But it provides a focus for protest and a sense of scale -- and it attracts media attention, especially when Stephen Fry clambers aboard. All these things are elements of a successful protest strategy.
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Can the ISPs say "Ok, we'll cut this guy off -- once the courts have established that he did repeatedly infringe copyright" ?
One option is that they hand on the complaint to the police, who will not have time to deal with.
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Just getting your attention ...
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Still though, I'll protest anything.
And you get to wear black! That's quite cool.
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Oh, and I forgot to thank (again) Mikaere for making me look good by helping out with my whaikorero at the beginning of the weekend.
The hosts were impressed. I also managed to get through most of the te reo part without looking at my notes. It has actually motivated me to do something about learning at least ceremonial Maori. Pure self-interest of course: I just love speaking on marae.
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