petition

jailbreaking !== jail

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Jailbreaking is not a crime, but we shouldn’t take that for granted, because as Bunnie (XBox hacker) writes;

Three years ago, the [U.S.] Copyright Office agreed to create an exemption to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act so that folks could jailbreak their smartphones. But that exemption is about to expire.

Given the fact that the U.S. jailbreaking-scene is an important contributor, I signed the EFF petition which asks the Copyright Office for continued support for jailbreakers;

Being an avid Android-user, jailbreaking permits me to replace heavily customized (and in some ways crippled, think CarrierIQ) vendor-specific versions of Android with clean, crisp, fast and secure after-market “mods” such as CyanogenMod.

You should really sign this as well!

Act up against ACTA

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The European Parliament will soon vote on ACTA, an international trade agreement that might have a huge impact on the internet as we know it. The YouTube video below explains some of the ramifications (in a propaganda-esque kind of way, but still) and this Wikipedia-article provides some more objective information and contains links to -a lot- more detailed reviews and criticisms.
The bottom-line: if you’re European and you were supporting the great anti-SOPA-protests in the U.S., this is the time to act yourself! Spread the word and sign one or more of these petitions against ACTA:

The video:

Say NO to ACTA
Watch this video on YouTube.

Stop software patents

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Really, sign this petition: 

stopsoftwarepatents.eu petition banner
If in doubt, just check out some of these European software patents;
  1. Webshop: Selling things over a network using a server, client and payment processor, or using a client and a server – EP803105, EP738446, EP1016014
  2. Order by cell phone: Selling over a mobile phone network – EP1090494
  3. Shopping cart: Electronic shopping cart – EP807891
  4. Adapt pages: Generate different web page depending on detected device – EP1320972
  5. Related results: Show related results if customer likes the current ones – EP628919

So stop coding that fancy webapp now and go sign that petition!