Month: August 2013

Nej til krig mod Syrien – nu med britisk parlament

Det britiske parlament giver mig ret. In your face, Cameron!

Forfatteren Arne Herløv Petersen kommenterer krigsplanerne således:

– Bandekriminaliteten i København er forfærdende. De slås indbyrdes, og de kaster sig over uskyldige forbipassende og slår dem til lirekassemænd. Hvad skal vi dog gøre?
– Nu har jeg det. Vi går op i Rundetårn og smider nogle store sten ned over fodgængerne.
– Hvordan skulle det dog kunne hjælpe?
– Næ. Men så har vi da sendt et signal.

Fri os for krig og nyttesløse signaler. Hvis der skal gøres noget, så lad os gøre noget konstruktivt i stedet. Noget, som ikke med sikkerhed vil forværre situationen.

Boykot Legoland

Legoland ejes af kapitalfonden Merlin, der ejer en masse lignende forlystelsesparker rundt om i verden og år for år indhøster svimlende overskud.

Disse penge tjener de på bekostning af deres ansatte, som de alle andre steder end i Danmark betaler sulteløn. For nylig kom flere hundrede tyske Legoland-ansatte af samme grund til Billund for at demonstrere mod Merlin-koncernens udnyttelse af dem.

Avisen.dk skriver:

Utilfredse tyske ansatte kan glemme alt om en overenskomst med Legolands ejere, koncernen Merlin. Det skriver Fagbladet 3F.

– Det er fuldstændigt udelukket, at vi vil indgå en overenskomst med en fagforening i nogen af de lande, vi har attraktioner, siger Sally Ann Wilkinson, der er kommunikationschef hos Merlin.

Lørdag besøgte to busser med vrede tyske Legoland-ansatte forlystelsesparken i Billund for at protestere over lønninger på 60 kroner i timen i Legoland i Günzberg i Sydtyskland. Fagforbundet NGG fortæller, at mange af de ansatte tjener så lidt, at de er nødt til at modtage socialhjælp ved siden af deres løn.

Fagbladet 3F skriver endvidere:

Det er betænkeligt, mener arbejdsmarkedsforsker Henning Jørgensen fra Aalborg Universitet.

– Det er en meget udansk måde at opføre sig på for Legoland. Vi har en tradition for aftaler mellem arbejdsmarkedets parter. Uden en overenskomst har de ansatte ingen kollektive rettigheder. Det bliver i stedet et arbejdsgiverparadis, hvor firmaet bestemmer uden indblanding fra andre, siger Henning Jørgensen.

Kirkbifonden, der ejer 34 procent af Merlin, er som erhvervsfond omfattet af en høj grad af skattefrihed. Fonden meddeler, at den har fuld tillid til Merlins ledelse i sagen.

– Det er en amerikansk strategi, der har bredt sig til Europa, hvor flere koncerner fjerner sig fra aftalemodellen. Det underminerer den model, det har taget 100 år at bygge op i flere europæiske lande, siger Henning Jørgensen.

Fagforbundet NGG fortæller, at mange ansatte i Legoland i Günzberg tjener så lidt, at de er nødt til at modtage socialhjælp ved siden af deres løn. I øjeblikket kører de en retssag om fyring af en tillidsmand i forlystelsesparken.

Kirkbi-fonden er de oprindelige Lego-grundlæggeres familiefond. Det er tankevækkende, at de skattefrit kan skovle penge ind, som de tjener ved at betale så lave lønninger, at deres ansatte må søge bistandshjælp. Jeg har i hvert fald sat mine ben i Legoland for sidste gang.

Google: Du kan ikke forvente, at din Gmail er privat

Google har, i et forsøg på at undgå en retssag om krænkelse af privatlivets fred, erklæret til retten, at brugere af Gmail ikke med rimelighed kan forvente, at deres kommunikation er privat.

The Guardian skriver:

People sending email to any of Google’s 425 million Gmail users have no “reasonable expectation” that their communications are confidential, the internet giant has said in a court filing.

Consumer Watchdog, the advocacy group that uncovered the filing, called the revelation a “stunning admission.” It comes as Google and its peers are under pressure to explain their role in the National Security Agency’s (NSA) mass surveillance of US citizens and foreign nationals.

“Google has finally admitted they don’t respect privacy,” said John Simpson, Consumer Watchdog’s privacy project director. “People should take them at their word; if you care about your email correspondents’ privacy, don’t use Gmail.”

Google set out its case last month in an attempt to dismiss a class action lawsuit that accuses the tech giant of breaking wire tap laws when it scans emails sent from non-Google accounts in order to target ads to Gmail users.

That suit, filed in May, claims Google “unlawfully opens up, reads, and acquires the content of people’s private email messages”. It quotes Eric Schmidt, Google’s executive chairman: “Google policy is to get right up to the creepy line and not cross it.”

The suit claims: “Unbeknown to millions of people, on a daily basis and for years, Google has systematically and intentionally crossed the ‘creepy line’ to read private email messages containing information you don’t want anyone to know, and to acquire, collect, or mine valuable information from that mail.”

In its motion to dismiss the case, Google said the plaintiffs were making “an attempt to criminalise ordinary business practices” that have been part of Gmail’s service since its introduction. Google said “all users of email must necessarily expect that their emails will be subject to automated processing.”

(…)

Simpson, a long-term Google critic, said: “Google’s brief uses a wrong-headed analogy; sending an email is like giving a letter to the Post Office. I expect the Post Office to deliver the letter based on the address written on the envelope. I don’t expect the mail carrier to open my letter and read it.

“Similarly, when I send an email, I expect it to be delivered to the intended recipient with a Gmail account based on the email address; why would I expect its content will be intercepted by Google and read?”

På en måde er der ikke noget nyt i det – det har altid været sådan, at systemadministratorer kunne være nødt til at åbne emails af rent tekniske årsager, hvis der for eksempel opstod en fejl på systemet. Emails har af den grund altid skullet betragtes som åbne postkort, medmindre de er krypteret.

Men derfra og så til systematisk at scanne emails og stille indholdet til rådighed for sine egne systemer, som Google gør, er der alligevel et stykke. Men i lyset af, at NSA alligevel opsnapper og gemmer en kopi af alle de mails, det kommer i nærheden af, er Googles omgang med brugernes data måske blot et eksempel på, hvor udvandet vi har tilladt begrebet “privatliv” at blive i denne vor digitale æra.

Træk dig, Trine Bramsen!

Mads Bondo Dydensborg, tidligere byrådsmedlem for de radikale og aktiv i det IT-politiske miljø, har i dag dette læserbrev i Jyllands-Posten:

Trine Bramsens (S) pinagtigt uinformerede og tåkrummende fordomsbaserede indlæg refereret på JP online 2/8 savner ikke alene hold i virkeligheden, men bør samtidig få Socialdemokraterne til at overveje, efter hvilke kriterier de uddeler ordførerskaber. På trods af anerkendelse af fagligheden sætter it- og teleordføreren fra det regeringsbærende parti i praksis lighedstegn imellem det meste af Danmarks it-sektor og en større gruppe af introverte, dårligt klædte og usoignerede ”it-nørder”, der »gør alt hvad de kan for at være så lidt attraktive som overhovedet muligt«.

Trine Bramsen forsøgte efterfølgende i forskellige medier at slå det problematiske i sit indlæg hen, men der kan ikke være tvivl om, at indlægget er dybt krænkende for hele it-branchen. Samtidig skader det branchens muligheder for at tiltrække f.eks. kvinder, idet indlægget på alle måder er med til at cementere fordommen om en branche befolket af mandlige ”nørder”.

Det er oplagt for enhver med kendskab til it-sektoren, at Trine Bramsen efter dette indlæg ikke længere vil kunne tages alvorligt af branchen. Dette er allerede mere eller mindre bekræftet af Prosa, der i forvejen ikke er imponerede over hendes udmeldinger.

Post uden prestige

Branchen er generelt sjældent imponeret af de folketingsmedlemmer, der får tildelt it- og teleordførerskaberne. Det er tilsyneladende ofte en lavprestigepost, der uden løftede øjenbryn kan tildeles til juniormedlemmer som Trine Bramsen.

Det burde være anderledes. Det er afgørende for Danmarks konkurrencedygtighed, vækst og f.eks. realisering af digitaliseringspotentiale hos det offentlige, at it-branchen har fornuftige kår, og at politikerne fører en aktiv og engageret politik over for branchen. Området er komplekst, præget af hurtig udvikling og dækker over alt fra den nyeste teknologi til juridiske spidsfindigheder i forbindelse med f.eks. immaterielle rettigheder.

En forudsætning for at den rette politik kan føres, er kontinuitet med engagerede, erfarne og vidende politikere på it- og teleordførerposterne – ikke juniormedlemmer.

For Trine Bramsen bør løbet være kørt. Socialdemokraterne bør benytte lejligheden til at give ordførerskabet til en fra gruppen, der kan løfte opgaven. De øvrige partier bør benytte lejligheden til at overveje, om deres ordførere udfylder rollen godt nok.

Og han rammer desværre lige i plet. Det er besynderligt, at posten som IT-ordfører prioriteres så lavt – det drejer sig trods alt “kun” om hele den infrastruktur, vi er i fuld gang med basere vort fremtidige samfund på. Det burde være vidende og kyndige folk, der afstikker de politiske retningslinjer for den udvikling – ikke døgnfluer som Trine Bramsen. Måske endda skandaler som NemID og Rejsekortet kunne have været undgået, hvis der havde været kompetente folk ved roret.

Terroreksperter: “Komplet vanvittigt” at evakuere ambassader

Cory Doctorow skriver på Boing Boing:

By an amazing coincidence, the worst terrorist attack that never happened since 9/11 is not happening right now, proving that everyone who was worried about out-of-control NSA spying had lost the plot. Which is ZOMGTERRISM. So 28 US diplomatic posts have been evacuated (that is to say, “experienced an ordered departure”), including ones in places like Mauritius or Madagascar, where al Qaeda has nefariously never operated as part of its devious plan to lure everyone there into a false sense of security.

Well, some people are cynical and just don’t believe it, despite all the overwhelming secret evidence that we’re not allowed to see or know about or hear about or even have described to us. People like State Department counterterrorism advisor Will McCants, who called the evacuation of the diplomatic posts “Crazy Pants” (“you can quote me”). Loose cannons like Michael Leiter, former director of the National Counterterrorism Center, who called the terrifying and nonspecific warnings “absurd hyperbole that is coming almost entirely from reckless commentators or ill-informed or ill-spoken [Capitol] Hill folks…no one who really knows al Qaeda or its history thinks that this is as huge a deal as portrayed—and certainly nothing remotely close to the worst thing we have seen since 9/11.” But what the hell does he know?

“It’s not completely random,” said another expert of the administration’s reaction, “but most people are, like, ‘Whaaat?'” Other terms used to describe it in addition to “Whaaat?” and “crazy pants”: “willy-nilly,” “baffling,” “tenuous,” “head-scratching,” and “who really knows, anyway?” White House spokesman Jay Carney wasn’t helping any: “What we know is the threat emanates from, and may be focused on, occurring in the Arabian Peninsula,” he said yesterday. “It could potentially be beyond that, or elsewhere. We cannot be more specific.” So, just stay away from everywhere, thanks.

But we have to do something, don’t we, because isn’t this “the most serious threat [Sen. Saxby Chambliss has] seen in the last several years,” reminiscent of “what we saw before 9/11”? Actually, “[t]hat is absurd hyperbole that is coming almost entirely from reckless commentators or ill-informed or ill-spoken [Capitol] Hill folks,” or so said Michael Leiter, but what does a former director of the National Counterterrorism Center know about counterterrorism? “I don’t think this was purposeful hype,” Leiter continued, “but no one who really knows al Qaeda or its history thinks that this is as huge a deal as portrayed—and certainly nothing remotely close to the worst thing we have seen since 9/11.”

Security Expert: Broad U.S. Terror Alert Is “Crazy Pants” [Lowering the Bar]

Og ja, hvis man var rigtig kynisk, kunne man få den tanke, at panikken faktisk handler om at få os alle til at synes, at NSAs overvågning af alt og alle er fjing fjong. I alle tilfælde har terroreksperterne og Doctorow ret i, at så overbevisende ser det heller ikke ud.

Kvinden, der næsten døde af at lave din iPad

Håber, den ligger godt i hånden:

Tian Yu

Tian Yu tried to kill herself in 2010, as did 17 of her Foxconn colleagues. Photograph: University Research Group

At around 8am on 17 March 2010, Tian Yu threw herself from the fourth floor of her factory dormitory in Shenzhen, southern China. For the past month, the teenager had worked on an assembly line churning out parts for Apple iPhones and iPads. At Foxconn’s Longhua facility, that is what the 400,000 employees do: produce the smartphones and tablets that are sold by Samsung or Sony or Dell and end up in British and American homes.

But most famously of all, China’s biggest factory makes gadgets for Apple. Without its No 1 supplier, the Cupertino giant’s current riches would be unimaginable: in 2010, Longhua employees made 137,000 iPhones a day, or around 90 a minute.

That same year, 18 workers – none older than 25 – attempted suicide at Foxconn facilities. Fourteen died. Tian Yu was one of the lucky ones: emerging from a 12-day coma, she was left with fractures to her spine and hips and paralysed from the waist down. She was 17.

When news broke of the suicide spree, reporters battled to piece together what was wrong in Apple’s supply chain. Photos were printed of safety nets strung by the company under dorm windows; interviews with workers revealed just how bad conditions were. Some quibbled over how unusual the Foxconn deaths were, arguing that they were in line with China’s high rate of self-killing. However conscience-soothing that claim was in both Shenzhen and California, it overlooked how those who take their own lives are often elderly or women in villages, rather than youngsters who have just moved to cities to seek their fortunes.

For the three years since, that’s the spot where the debate has been paused. In all the talk of corporate social responsibility and activists’ counter-claims that the producers of iPads and iPhones are still sweating in “labour camp” conditions, you hardly ever hear those who actually work at Foxconn speak at length and in their own terms. People such as Tian Yu.

Og jo, det er Apples skyld, at forholdene er så dårlige:

The suicide spate prompted Apple CEO Tim Cook to call on Foxconn to improve working conditions. But there is no record of him providing any money to do so, or even relaxing the draconian contractual conditions imposed on Foxconn. Asked about it yesterday, Apple’s press office said it did not discuss such matters.