This is a text available in the About section of D3's website. It occurred me to publish an English translation here as well (machine-translated + a few manual improvements).
We made our best to be as less original as possible. Have fun trying to get all the uncredited references.
In the beginning was Cyberspace.
Open to all, it became home to the minds of many good people, the natives. Self-declared independent, with its own rules and no physical borders. Above all, it was free, full of potential, and full of hope for the future.
Soon, the abundant fertility of the soil attracted the attention of those who had been distracted. Forces from ancient kingdoms began to invade. Some preached the sacred Law, others came only for the promise of gold. After all, if a new sun was rising, it should shine for everyone.
Prof. José de Oliveira Ascensão was a Portuguese-Brazilian lawyer and academic who for many, many decades was the main academic reference in Portugal concerning Intellectual Law (to use his expression) and, specifically, copyright.
I knew he was also popular in Brazil, where he worked for many years, but I guess I have been underestimating how widely popular he became there. Which might help to explain such a difference in the copyright culture of both countries – but let's keep that discussion for another time.
I created the .gif below – let's call it a short meme production – over a year ago, in August 2021. The process of creating it worked as a kind of therapy session, during my summer holidays, at a time when I was particularly down and exhausted. Little I know that one year later, in this last Summer, I would be much worse.
I didn't even have a purpose for it, it was just something I had to put out. It was a reflection on how digital rights are being defended in Portugal, and in some other countries. The situation is so ridicule, the asymmetries are so extreme, that I sometimes wonder if we are really brave or just fools. I guess we are both, we must be.
This blog post is a bit late. In fact, I have some more things to post about, but unfortunately I haven't had the time to update the blog.
In the Summer, I published a blog post in Kluwer Copyright Blog. It's about the educational copyright exceptions in several countries, in light of the transposition process of Article 5 CDSM Directive. It is based on two articles by Priora/Jütte/Mezei and Lazarova.
No inicio do mês participei no podcast "Justiça sem Códigos". Trata-se do novo podcast da SIC Notícias dedicado, como o nome indica, a temas relacionados com a Justiça. Conta a jornalista Ana Peneda Moreira ao leme e a análise do advogado Paulo Sá e Cunha. O som fica a cargo de João Martins.
The General Assembly of EDRi happened in May, in Berlin.
It was fantastic to see so many familiar faces in person, after 2+ years, and meet new people as well. These meetings are so energizing. I can't really explain it, there is something magic that happens when people from so many different places meet to conspire and fight for what they believe.
I participated in this panel about new data retention laws in Europe. I covered the recent decision of the Portuguese Constitutional Court, which stroke down our data retention law. It is still a bit too early to know what to expect from the Portuguese Parliament…
Em pleno frenesim dos metadados (finalmente o país acordou para o tema), participei no Em Nome da Lei, da Renascença, dedicado ao assunto. Já tinha participado no programa anteriormente, aqui há uns anos, então sobre o famoso artigo 13/17. Ao contrário do que estava à…
