Author: Alasdair

Links for Wednesday January 25th 2012

Posted on by Alasdair
  • Bootstrap, from Twitter
    Really want to check this out proper like, and maybe build something using it. I've kept on promising myself a custom-designer blog for years, but have never gotten around to it. Maybe now's the time.
  • Google tracks consumers’ online activities across products, and users can’t opt out – The Washington Post
    I was able to opt out of using Facebook when I didn't like their privacy settings. I welcome any suggestions on how to avoid using Google products. At this point, I'm just consoling myself with the thought that the company will probably be dead (or at least, much reduced) within the next 10-15 years, and I'm just hoping they don't damage our norms around privacy too much along the way.

ACTA

Posted on by Alasdair

Anyone here not know what it is, and why you should be writing to your elected representatives to make sure it doesn’t wind up being enshrined in law wherever you are?

Short version: it’s like SOPA, but affecting everywhere, not just the US, and with less oversight, and more draconian.

If you contacted anyone about SOPA, or just wanted to and couldn’t, you should also be contacting them about ACTA, because it’s much, much scarier.

Read more about it here, and then contact your representative here, if you’re in the UK.

Links for Wednesday January 18th 2012

Posted on by Alasdair
  • SOPA/PIPA blackout | MetaTalk
    Another story about what it's like to get a bogus takedown letter. 2 weeks of work and stress, without getting compensation from the party that caused the work and stress.
  • Takedown Hall of Shame | Electronic Frontier Foundation
    Just in case you're thinking that this SOPA business is a fuss over nothing, than that it is what its supporters say it is – an act targeting pirates and criminals, and that it won't hurt the average innocent internet user – here is a link to a page collating the worst abuses of the existing law in this area, the DCMA, which is what companies currently use to require takedowns of infringing material. Take a look at the list of companies who have used the existing law in a way that was never intended.

A Serpent Uncoiled

Posted on by Alasdair

A Serpent Uncoiled was the best crime novel I read last year.

It has just come out in paperback, and the writer, the very lovely Mr Simon Spurrier would like your attention while he tells you all about it.

Now that you have watched his amusing movie, you must buy it at once.

(Also available in hardback, Kindle, and iBooks editions. Seriously folks, pony up the cash, you won’t regret it.)

Stunning

Posted on by Alasdair

Art made by light shone through coloured plastic

Apparently this is by Rashad Alakbarov, an artist from Azerbaijan, and may currently be available to be viewed at the De Pury gallery in London as part of this “Fly to Baku” exhibit. I’m just posting it because I think it’s jaw-droppingly beautiful. Yes, I know this sort of thing is what tumblr is for, but this is just so fucking inspired that I wanted to blog it proper like.