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To Michael Moore

Friday, August 27th, 2010

As you know, from time to time I’ve decided to write letters to different known persons or semi big sites online about Flattr. This time the intent was not to write about Flattr, but I did a short namedrop. This time it was about a little bit more personal praise, but I still want to share it with you guys!

Hello Mr. Moore
My name is Marie Axelsson, I’m 24 years old and I love in Sweden.
I’m not sure in which end to being, so I’ll just take it from the top. I hadn’t much heard of you until I was 16, turning 17, 7.5 years ago now. I went to a children/youth film festival in the south of Sweden and saw your documentary Bowling for Columbine in one of the many cinemas in Malmö, which I can’t recall at this moment. Parts of the movie I could hardly see without feeling squeamish, but it was a really good docu and I re watched it many times after that in the coming years.
For some reason back then I never got around to reading any of your books, even tho they were on my lists of books to read. But I had so many books, and so many lists that it just fell apart and I concentrated on the ones more important for school at that particular time. Yesterday I started reading Stupid White Men, while reading the first part of it where you call on normal citizens to take action and stand up for what they believe in and run in an election it just fit so perfectly, and I was really really glad that I hadn’t read any of that before.

I’m a member of the Pirate Party here in Sweden, who just struck a deal to host Wikileaks (saw that you contributed to defense fund of accused WikiLeaker Pfc. Bradley Manning) here in Sweden. I’m also a candidate for the Parliament in this year’s election, and we got less than a month left, 19th of September is the day.
We ourselves are all concerned citizens when it comes to all the “Big Brother Laws”, and some of the copy right issues. I’m convinced that a man like you would have read up on this, and do not hate us just because we believe in sharing, remixing and free culture and knowledge. Most people don’t even understand the Copy Rights Laws, which is kinda of sad. I’m not writing this mail to ask for your support or anything, I just wanted to tell you that even tho Stupid White Men has a few years on its neck, and even tho I’ve just read the first 115 or so pages of the hardcover, Swedish translation, it still feels very accurate in many ways. I would have read it in English, which was my original plan for many years, but got to borrow it from a friend now.
Here is usually where I would make this letter commercialised by telling you about a Swedish founded Social Micro Donation System (that Wikileaks also uses now) and how I would love to be able to Flattr each of your Chapters. But I will skip that part.

I will just stick to telling you that even tho you are very blunt, and somewhat hilarious in what you write, it’s easy to get lost and thinking that it’s all a big joke, it’s scary to see the facts involved around it. I just finished reading the part about school, and that you wanted to skip a grade when you were young. I think it’s a problem in today’s system, in a lot of countries I assume, but especially here in Sweden, that you usually don’t get to skip grades. Or when you have you move and get put back one grade and go a full year “redoing” everything you did last year, just because you moved.

Part of our politics is to move on to the Information and Knowledge Society.
Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est
Knowledge is Power, you know it, I know it, and they who want to keep it to themselves know it very well.

I could continue writing you a whole essay, but I think I will stop here, for this time at least. I thank you for your time, and all the great effort you’ve put into making your amazing documentaries, series and books, yes I probably missed something and I apologize for that. I’m well aware that my letter does not contain much of questions only lots of praise, but I hope I will hear from you!

I write and blog some, but mostly in Swedish. http://maloki.redhog.org and http://mlokit.wordpress.com, will also publish this e-mail on my blog.

Agent Felix Atari on Internet and AFK Tunnels

Wednesday, June 16th, 2010

Start: 14:37
What: Agent Felix Atari talks about the Internet and AFK tunnels
The act of tunneling has gone through a socio-political change in recent years. It is no longer associated with closed groups, sect-like behavious and hiding away from the mainstream. This talk will argue that developing tunneling technology is the very prerequisite for remaining open at the surface and feature an exposé from dark nets to sunny mexican pirate markets.
Watch it: On bambuser

Since I was late I missed some of the presentation, and I will write what I caught.

Agent Felix Atari made an interesting analogy about the layers of communications in a way of layers in the jungle. It’s not just a plain surface.

Tunnels can only be closed off at the entrances, but the tunnels are still there and the information within the tunnel is still safe.

A problem with tunnels is that the laws can’t stop what goes through them. The communication, may it be of product or just normal communication, will find a way anyway. It undermines this binary power of borders.
The border between Mexico and US is made as an example.

No matter if you have a border or not, there is a slow degredation. The borders will move. Even if they have to go into the ground.

Surveilance wont stop or fully control. It will only make it slower, but never stop the process completely since the information always can go through tunnels.

Ciphersspace is just as cyberspace, but a little slower.

Discussion:
There are tunnels who are ever ending, and with no entrances.
Examples of being cut off from earth, in tunnels making a living in there.

Have you studied the similarities between the i2p tunnels and physical tunnels? With enough force you can destroy physical tunnels, and you should be able to with i2p as well?
Tunnels are temporary, they are built, and moved and rebuilt and so on. You can fortify them, if they are used for a longer time. Within filesharing you move a tunnel to somewhere else when a vonerability is found.

The information that is submitted through tunnels are usually short messages, which makes tunnels work even though they are slow.
Cipherspare sites have different esteics since they are slower, and need to be able to go through easier. It’s going back to web 1.0.

Could the tunnels be exploited? At the mexican us border, where mexican put up sweatshops near the border in mexico. So people move closer to the border to get the jobs and pay. The transportation from mexico to the US gets deminished. IS there anything similar going on in i2p?
Tunnels attrackt all different kind of activity. Look at the mexican border, drugs, and so forth. Tunnels often operate in intense zones.
Yes tunnels can be exploited.
If you want to spread something, you could create a buzz in the tunnels that there’s a leak, and have it spread back to the surface.

Erupted in a discussion about urination and bushes. Remove places where people can pee, and then “stake out” the areas where you have to go to pee, and catch you in the act.

Leaks and infiltration is a way to get out information from hidden tunnels, It can be tunnels in the government communication or other hidden. There are tunnels everywhere.