Wouter Tebbens's blog

Here's a message from Michigan Tech's researcher and lecturer Joshua Pierce:

In an attempt to make patents even marginally useful we have just created an open source free inactive patent search. Roughly 1/2 of US patents become inactive before the 20 year mark because owners don't pay fees on time.

Part of our work for the Digital DIY project is to study the legal challenges in this context. We have published a first report that we hereby present to you with a strong request for comments. We hope this one not to go in just another EC drawer but to be useful for the makers, policymakers, enterpreneurs and educators who are confronted with these challenges.

Here's a quick overview of the main research topics that we have identified and addressed in this work.

Com potser ja saps, estem organitzant unes jornades sobre el fenomen "Digital DIY". Tenim la sort de comptar amb l'equip internacional d'investigadors del projecte europeu Digital DIY i amb una serie de ponents locals molt potents.

Join us at the Digital DIY Community Day in Barcelona! On the 6th of July we'll be meeting with international researchers and local practitioners to share knowledge and reflect on the impact of this emerging phenomenon.

Drones are a clear example of Digital DIY: many people engage in making their own drones, often based on shared designs - as Open Source Hardware. And they are a case of Atoms-Bits Convergence (ABC), as the bits move the atoms when piloting such machine; in the oppositie sense it also holds true: many drones are being equiped with digital cameras that convert atoms into bits.

Thanks to the music industry, it is illegal to make private copies of music — again, at least in the UK. While in most countries the making of copies for personal use (of your own music, films...) is exempt from copyright control, the UK has tried to introduce such exemption, but the judicial review has withdrawn this regulation.

New South Wales (Australia) recently enacted a new legislation to regulate gun control with the Firearms and Weapons Prohibition Legislation Amendment Bill 2015. It is the first of its kind in that it tries to control digital fabrication of firearms, it aims: "to create a new offence of possessing digital blueprints for the manufacture of firearms on 3D printers or electronic milling machines".< href="http://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/bills/docref/5bb4f02b-1f1e-48b2-aa93-955574e699f6"> Source (PDF)

The Things Network is an initiative to build a distributed wireless data network for connecting "things" to the net, fully owned and controlled by its users. The Internet of Things (IoT) typically consists of electronic devices with sensors and actuators that transmit small bits of data to the net. The Things Network (TTN) uses a free spectrum radio technology called LoRaWAN, that is Long Range, using low bandwidth and low power.

On October 1st I had an interview with David Bollier. Given his decade long work on the commons, as researcher and activist, author of books like Viral Spiral and in particular his work on Laws and the Commons, I thought that his perspective would be meaningful for our research in the DiDIY project. In particular for our work on rights and responsibilities, but also more in general to the various workpackages that make up the project.