Skeptics' poem of the digital rights
This work of art is under permanent construction & expansion
Web3 is a scam
Metaverse is a scam
NFTs are a scam
Blockchain / distributed ledgers use cases are mostly scams
Insólito
Adaptado deste fio de Twitter.
No podcast Soberania, do Diário de Notícias, o Director Nacional da Polícia Judiciária afirmou que espera que eu nunca venha a precisar da PJ, enquanto vítima, devido à minha opinião sobre o tema dos metadados.
Uma expressão infeliz… espero eu.
Diário de Notícias | Metadados: o Tribunal Constitucional tem costas largas
Artigo de opinião publicado na edição impressa e online do Diário de Notícias de 4 Março 2023.
How to connect to NOVA's VPN from Linux
Apparently, NOVA's technical department is too busy to make guides for Linux users (only Windows and Mac). Something that even the University of Lisbon has - which is funny, because NOVA's supposed to be the modern & state-of-the-art university (thus making the University of Lisbon the old & classic one).
Anyway, here is a guide for Ubuntu 20.04.5 LTS (I'm not on 22.04, yet). Might be useful for other students.
The Prophets of the Present
Having found out about Oliveira Ascensão's e-book (this blog post), I didn't resist reading the article on cyberspace (2001). In its conclusion, Oliveira Ascensão presents us the following reflection:
10 years since Aaron's death
Today marks the 10th anniversary of the tragic death of Aaron Swartz, "The Internet's Own Boy".
Ten years ago, we had a major loss, a stupid loss.
2022
Not terrible, not great. Both. Neither.
Law ain't Code
I wrote this blog post for WhatNextLaw. I'm publishing it here as well, for archiving purposes.
Law ain’t Code: Upload filtering technologies and the CDSM Directive
A new provision entered the scene of EU copyright regulation, deeply affecting the uploading, accessing, and enjoying of online content. Some considerations on the legal and technological impact of Article 17 of the Copyright in the Digital Single Market Directive.
When Lawrence Lessig published “Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace” in 1999, a new – often misunderstood – mantra was born: “Code is Law”. With his book (later updated to Code Version 2.0), Lessig helped us understand that cyberspace, despite its peculiar nature, was not beyond the reach of physical space regulation. Contrary to popular ideas at the time, which claimed that cyberspace should not – and could not – be regulated, Lessig argued that, in cyberspace, freedom would not come from the absence of the State and, if left to itself, cyberspace would be misused as a tool for control and restriction. As such, a new form of public legal ordering needed to be built for our fundamental values and rights to also be protected online. And it needed to be built within the maze of Codes.
In the beginning was the Cyberspace
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 anyone, it became the home of the mind of many good people, the natives. Self-declared independent and with its own rules, without physical borders. Above all free, full of potential and hope for the future.
Soon the abundant fertility of the soil aroused the attention of those still distracted. Forces from much older kingdoms began to invade. Some preached the sacred Law, others came only for the promised gold. After all, if a new sun was rising, it should be for everyone.
José de Oliveira Ascensão - on Copyright Law & The Information Society
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.