Daily Archives: Sunday, July 9, 2017

  • Child superheroes launch campaign against litter

    Steve WoodsBristol, Media, Politics

    Superheroes picture
    Photo courtesy of Bristol City Council
    Local ‘superhero’ schoolchildren are the stars of a new publicity campaign to reduce litter in Bristol.

    As part of Mayor Marvin Rees’ Clean Streets campaign, children from schools across Bristol have been taking part in litter picks to improve their neighbourhoods and now they’re encouraging all Bristolians to do their bit by not dropping litter in the first place.

    Each year Bristol Waste Company collects 3,700 tonnes of litter from the city’s streets, not including rubbish that is fly-tipped or residents’ residual waste. That’s equivalent to the weight of over 290 double-decker buses.

    Chesney, one of the children taking part in the campaign, has been helping with the clean-up as he felt sad at seeing litter in the park. “You try to make a difference but then people just litter again, and it’s like a consistent circle.” says Chesney.

    Taking inspiration from these youngsters, the council is asking everyone in Bristol to help keep the city clean. The message is simple: Use a bin or take your litter with you.

    Find out more at bristol.gov.uk/superheroes.

  • Day against DRM

    Steve WoodsMedia, Open Standards, Politics, Tech

    Defective by Design buttonToday, Sunday 9th July, is the Day against DRM.

    DRM is the software that comes bolted to your digital media and computerised devices and tries to police your behaviour. The major media companies are its masters, and they justify it as a necessary evil to prevent file sharing.

    However, it does more than that and also does worse than that: DRM gives its owners power over our cars, medical devices, phones, computers and more; in addition, it opens a deep crack in our digital rights and freedoms – a crack will only get wider and more dangerous as our societies continue to interweave with technology.

    I support the global campaign led by the Free Software Foundation (FSF) to raise the awareness of issues related to the so-called Digital Rights Management software. As any other proprietary technology, DRM is killing user freedom of choice and should therefore always be avoided.

    For more details, see Defective by Design’s dedicated Day Against DRM page.