blogg för Cristian Bulumac

Knowledge and democracy come from simple things

Cristian Bulumac — Fri, 17 May 2013 12:29:17 +0000

Språk Engelska

Knowledge is power says one sentence attributed to Sir Francis Bacon. While is almost certain that he didn’t said that, the wisdom included in it is no less valuable or true. And when power (kratos) is given to the people (demos) we have democracy.

This article is about a simple piece of paper that makes all the above true. As you found out from the press or the articles preceding this on, at the Bundesparteitag, the German Pirate Party debated fiercely on online General Assemblies and online voting.

But how can be a debate held with more than 1000 people in the same space, whatever the size of the room? The German pirates did it.

Every participant had a chair, a space on a table, a cable connection to high speed Internet, an agenda and a speaking system that allowed views to be expressed on the issues.

But for me as a guest there, the tool that I found most interesting was a colored sheet of paper: A4 format, folded in three and printed on both sides.

This is the first page:

It clearly explains for what is it used, what it contains and gives an explanation of symbols that can be combined to express a possible structure for online votes.

The second page looked like this:

It codifies the possible alternatives, it describes those using short titles and it explains them using the symbols form the first page.

This simple piece of paper had two effects:

1. It gave power to those present, the power coming from knowledge expressed in an easily understandable way, the power to construct ideals and thoughts.

2. Kept the debate structured in a way that showed that direct democracy is not anarchy and can provide results, given the right tools are used.

In my opinion, the 2013 Bundesparteitag showed that the German pirates have much more to say and show to the world. Their will to participate, the will to find innovative ways to lead a debate and reach the best outcomes are well served by their tagline Ich Bin Motiviert and German people will better listen to the pirates as they have something important to say.

Medicoleak: Pirate President denounces allegedly security leak and gets sued

Cristian Bulumac — Sun, 12 May 2013 12:04:36 +0000

Språk Engelska

This is a guest blog post, written by Jerry Weyer from the Luxembourg Pirate Party

A day in April 2012, 6:30pm. Policemen knock on the door of Sven Clement, President of the Pirate Party Luxembourg, to carry out a search warrant. They take his laptops, smartphones and tablets, he has to follow them to the police station where he is being questioned - the accusation: Sven allegedly "stole" a password written on a Post-It by making a picture of it in a publicly accessible place and allegedly used this password to "hack" into the medical database of the ministry of sports. A few weeks ago Sven received the confirmation that he will be charged with unauthorized access to a protected database and - brace yourself - copyright infringement!

Let's start from the beginning: on January 19th, 2012, Sven's birthday, news gets to the luxembourgish pres that there has been a very serious security problem at the medial database of the ministry of health, containing the medical records of nearly 10% of the total population of Luxembourg. The first reaction of the Minister of Health is frantic panic: in an interview he denounces the "hackers" and "thieves" that will face the prosecution of the government. The facts in no way justify this reaction: the information presented to the press clearly stated that there has been a security problem, that this problem resulted from the incredibly negligent behaviour of the technical and political staff responsible for the database, that the responsible administration dealing with data leaks had immediately been notified and that now, 2 weeks later, this information was given to the press to inform the public of the carelessness of government institution with personal data. No data sets from the database have ever been leaked, till today.

That didn't stop the Luxembourgish government though. The justice Minister at a press conference reiterated the health ministers claims: the thief and/or hackers will be prosecuted! His claim: the culprits stole the password and accessed the database without authorization. No word on government negligence in creating the database, no mention on generally improving database security. Instead the lawyer and justice minister François Biltgen repeats the mind-blowing conclusion of the health minister: the culprit "stole" a password by making a picture of the post-it it was written on. This conclusion contradicts not only common sense and logic, it is in direct violation of luxembourgish jurisprudence. Prosecution has to drop this charge later in the case against Sven Clement - François Biltgen still becomes the luxembourgish candidate for the vacant seat at the European Court of Justice.

The chaotic response by the government to the data leak culminated on that day in April with the house searches. Sven Clement, previously critizining the negligent behaviour of government officials in the matter, wasn't the only person targeted by prosecution. In fact, the home of a person working for the administration to which the data leak was notified received a visit from the police that same day. Not only should the person that allegedly notified the authorities about the data leak, but the staff of that authority itself(!) be prosecuted.

The final act in this farce comes with the accusation: the prosecution accuses Sven Clement, among others, to have infringed the copyright of the Ministry of Health by allegedly having accessed his own (!) medical record. As the ministry of health possesses the intellectual property rights to the database, Sven Clement has, by looking at his own record with his own personal data, violated the copyright of the Ministry. That's not even funny anymore.

At the moment Sven Clement is waiting for a date and time for his trial. He will be prosecuted because he allegedly discovered a security leak potentially exposing the medical records of nearly 55.000 people in Luxembourg and for allegedly notifying the responsible administration about this leak. Ignoring for a moment the personal repercussions for Sven (f.ex. home search, lawyer costs), this actions paint a clear picture for whistleblowers in Luxembourg: "don't tell, or you'll be sued!". The willfull refusal of fault as well as the complete ignorance of ethics by our government makes Luxembourg a "no-go" place for whistleblowers.

You can reach Sven on Twitter at @svnee

Weekley meetings

Cristian Bulumac — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 09:14:05 +0000

Språk Svenska

The highlinght of this week is the event organised by Amelia in cooperation with MEP Ivailo Kalfin (S&D) on opening up public information for transparency, knowledge and growth. The re-use of Public Sector Information have started giving promising results in improving the accountability of public bodies towards its citizens and in creating new and innovative businesses within the EU. Still, today's challenges need to be addressed to reach optimal re-use of public sector information and that is the main topic in this event.

Monday

9.00-17.00 Legal reasoning in the political process

11.00-12.00 ENISA technical meeting

16:30 - 18:30 Extended planning meeting, drafting of short and medium term schedule and activities

Tuesday

9.00-17.00 Legal reasoning in the political process

12.30-14.30 General Data Protection regulation, GSMA Europe

Wednesday

14.00-16.00 Event Opening up public information for transparency, knowledge and growth

Thursday

9.00-12.30 Event Copyright what is broken how to mend it (S&D)

9.00-12.00 Work meeting on Exile6s movie series

16.00-18.00 Event EU40 welcomes Star Trek and ESA astronauts to the European Parliament

18.00-21.00 Event - opening of new EDRi office in Bruxelles

Friday

11.00-12.00 ENISA technical meeting

Weekley meetings

Cristian Bulumac — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 08:54:30 +0000

Språk Svenska

The week of 8th-12th October, is mainly dedicated to activities in the committees that Amelia is a member of, ITRE and INTA. She will also be participating in some events and preparing her own initiatives in order to promote topics that fall under the pirate area of interest.

Monday

13.30-15.00 ITRE Committee Working Group

15.00-18.30 ITRE Committee meeting

Tuesday

9-18.30 ITRE Committee meeting

9.00- 11.30 Panel discussion: “Free speech in a hyper connected world”

Wednesday

15.00-18.30 INTA Committee meeting

Thursday

9.00-18.30 INTA Committee meeting

14.30 - 15.00 Pirate Delegation Meeting

16.00-17.00 Working meeting on an event on bloggers and democracy

Blinded by the money, deaf to the needs

Cristian Bulumac — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 11:39:52 +0000

Språk Svenska

The history of the efforts done in WIPO to improve accessibility to universal knowledge for the persns who are blind or have other disabilities is long and starts in 1981, when the governing bodies of WIPO and UNESCO agreed to create a Working Group on Access by the Visually and Auditory Handicapped to Material Reproducing Works Produced by Copyright. The group meeting took place on October 25-27, 1982 in Paris, and produced a report that included model exceptions for national copyright laws.

Since then parties progressed on the topic and today the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) has on its agenda, a proposal for an internationally binding treaty to establish a targeted exception to copyright that creates minimum exceptions for persons who are blind or have other disabilities.

The purpose of the Treaty is to provide the necessary minimum flexibilities in copyright laws that are needed to ensure full and equal access to information and communication for persons who are visually impaired or otherwise disabled in terms of reading copyrighted works, in order to support their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others, and to ensure the opportunity to develop and utilize their creative, artistic and intellectual potential, not only for their own benefit, but also for the enrichment of society.

As stated in the proposed text, 90% of the of visually impaired persons live in countries of low or moderate incomes and other sources put the volume of publications converted to ‘accessible formats’ such as Braille, large print or audio to only 5% of the total works.

The European Parliament having regard to the questions of 13 January 2012 to the Council and the Commission on Petition 0924/2011 by Dan Pescod (British), on behalf of European Blind Union (EBU)/Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), on access by blind people to books and other printed products (O-000005/2012 – B7-0029/2012 and O-000006/2012 – B7-0030/2012), has called on the Council and Commission to support a binding WIPO treaty with regard to copyright on books and printed products for blind and visually impaired people, through its Resolution dated 16th February 2012.

In this context, many Member States have not yet presented presented their opinion despite the rising voices of their citizens and the will expressed by the European Parliament. For example, Romania, a Member State having representatives in WIPO, (ORDA and OSIM) is silent, while its community of 117.000 visually impaired persons is lacking much of the basic access to information.

On 17th October, the subject will be once again on the agenda the WIPO SCCR and from the previous meetings we know that the proposal for an international treaty on exceptions to copyright seems to fall on deaf ears of the more economically developed states, while being supported by most of the developing countries.

With the advent of European Union policies targeted to improve the quality of life for all EU citizens, the political will expressed by the European Parliament and most of the countries of the world, discussions in WIPO are tedious and seem not to take into account the urgent needs of the people.

This is one more reason for proceedings in WIPO to be transparent and under careful scrutiny.

Weekley Meetings

Cristian Bulumac — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 08:46:55 +0000

Språk Svenska

In the the week of 1st-5th October, Amelia is in her Bruxelles office preparing for her positions in the files she is currently involved. It is a busy week with many meetings, and special attention is dedicated to the issues of digital Europe, monitoring of the Internet and the current economic crisis.

Monday

9-16.00 Delegated and implemented acts training course

15-18.30 EPP Group hearing on collective rights management in the digital era

Tuesday

9-10 Meeting on Digital Europe issues

14-15.30 INTA Monitoring Group on Moldova

10-17.30 Green group meeting on crisis and Treaty change

20-22.00 Meeting on Cyber-protection of critical infrastructure

Wednesday

9.30-10 Meeting with Mr Gerard De Graaf, Director of the "Electronic and Communications Networks Services" Directorate at DG Connect

10-10.30 Meeting with representatives for Opower

11-16.00 Policy Meeting on Monitoring the Internet: the Challenges of Cyber-Surveillance, Data Protection and Privacy in the EU
16-17.00 INTA technical briefing by DG Trade on Intellectual property rights on genetic resources

Thursday

8-8.30 ALDE social media intern meeting

10-11.00 Meeting on Political Elites in Europe

14-15.00 Meeting with Eva Walder, Sveriges EU-representation

17-18.00 Community Spectrum Summit speech

Weekley meetings

Cristian Bulumac — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 08:23:25 +0000

Språk Svenska

In the the week of 24th-28th September, Amelia together with MEP Giles Chichester from the ECR Group, is organising an event titled ENISA Network and Information research at the Frontiers of Knowledge and Europe. Distinguished speakers include Prof. Dr. Udo Helmbrecht, executive director of ENISA and Dr. Marnix Dekker, network information security expert.

Also in Bruxelles, on 25th September, the 2012 edition of Open Europe Forum Summit will take place, an event geared towards openness which will also be covered by the office.

Monday

11.30-12.30 Office meeting

15-18.30 ITRE meeting

19-21 meeting with the Ung Pirat visitor grup

Tuesday

9-16 Open Forum Europe Summit

14-16 event: ENISA Network and Information research at the Frontiers of Knowledge and Europe

Friday

9-10.30Briefing for the shadows of the report on the EU digital freedom strategy, in the context of Freedom House 2012 Freedom on the Net report.

Weekley meetings

Cristian Bulumac — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 07:24:57 +0000

Språk Svenska

Back in Bruxells for the week of 17-21 September, a week dedicated to meetings in the Committees that Amelia is member of, respectively INTA and ITRE. In INTA, Amelia will present and support her opinion on the report on Digital Freedom Strategy in Foreign Policy, a issue that took a lot of work and effort during the last weeks. Also, as a full member of ITRE, she will participate in the discussions and votes of that committee. Some of that hard work is now reaching completion and Amelia will have a busy week in Bruxelles:

Monday

10-11 Office meeting

15-18.30 INTA meeting

15-17.30 ITRE meeting

Tuesday

9-11.30 INTA meeting

9.30-12.30 ITRE meeting

10-11 INTA vote

12.30 - 14.30 Conference on investor protection

15-18.30 INTA meeting

15-18.30 ITRE meeting

Wednesday

9-12 Proposed timeframe for conference on PSI directive

14-15 INTA Monitoring Group for Russia

Thursday

12.30-14.30 INTA Monitoring Group for South Caucasus

Weekley meetings

Cristian Bulumac — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 08:08:37 +0000

Språk Svenska

The week of 10-14 September is dedicated to the Strasbourg session of the European Parliament. Amelia is there together with Julien Bencz and Ulf Pettersson, and their schedule looks like this:

Monday

16.00-17.00 Green Group meeting

17.00-23.00 European Parliament plenary

Tuesday

08.30-23.00 European Parliament plenary

16.00-18.00 Internet Core Group meeting

19.00-21.00 Green Group meeting

Wednesday

09.00-23.00 European Parliament plenary

18.00-20.00 Green Group meeting

Thursday

09.00-17.00 European Parliament plenary

10.00-11.00 Pirate delegation meeting

Friday

Back to Bruxelles, and weekly review meeting

Weekly meetings

Cristian Bulumac — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 06:53:29 +0000

Språk Svenska

The EP’s committees are starting to meet in Brussels this week, after the summer break. Amelia will participate at the INTA and ITRE meetings, and this is the schedule for the week:

Monday

10-11 Staff meeting. The schedule of the week is going to be discussed and tasks will be assigned according to each staff duties and competences.

15-18 INTA meeting. A opinion on trade relations with Kazakhstan is on the agenda, and Amelia is going to propose and amendment signaling issues to overcome before making a trade agreement.

Tuesday
16.30-18 - Green group meeting

Thursday
9-12 ITRE meeting. On the subject of Completing the Digital Single Market, Amelia proposed an amendment that will be discussed during this meeting.
14-15 Pirate delegation meeting

Friday
10-10:30 EPFSUG Carrot cake at Karsmakers