silpol

A UK judge ruled that a photograph inspired by another photograph, but clearly different from it, infringes the original photo\'s copyright. The two photographs were shot in the same location, have the same subject, and use the same distinctive post-processing treatment. However, the angle and composition are different.

In a shock ruling in the UK this Tuesday, a photo was found to be in violation of the copyright monopoly of another photographer. There’s only one hitch with this ruling: the infringing copy was not a copy at all, but another original with a similar composition.

October 27, 2011 - the European Parliament voted on whether to introduce web censorship with the intention of combating child pornography. The Pirate Party representative was one of only two representatives who voted against it. The censorship passed.

Are you going to build shelters or are you going to build windmills when the winds change? That was the question Rick Falkvinge, founder of the Swedish Pirate Party posed in his talk. There is a lot of misunderstanding in the debate around copyright. Rick addresses the fundamental issues in this debate and explains why we should worry about our civil liberties instead of keeping the copyright industry alive.

One encouraging thing that became apparent during the panel debate was that there’s a growing view within the music industry that the only realistic way forward is to find a compromise between the desires of fans and the demands of the industry.

Maybe we’ll find a way out of this mess yet.

A thorough understanding of the user is crucial in technological design and development. Thedomestication framework has been used in sociology of consumption to open up technology adaptation processes where technology becomes part of the everyday life of people. This study applies domesticationframework for air heat pumps, solar thermal collectors and micro-wind generator technologies. Anexperimental case study is based on semi-structured interviews and observation of residential householdand summer cottages in Finland. Trialing of technology and incremental increase of usage and further investing demonstrate users to aim for smooth evolutionary approach in energy technology adaptation.Modularity, extendibility, interoperability with other energy systems are key design requirements toenhance adaptation.