The Proletariat Congress

This entry is a guest article written by Brian Damage of demodulated blog.

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What’s in a name? Can a few proper nouns summarize the essence of a human being? If a man is only as good as his name does that man have the sole rights to its selective usage? Not according to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers who is the world’s regulating body for internet domain names.

Let’s back up that tractor a bit first. (beep beep beep)

Blogger and native Edmontonian Dave Cournoyer, aka Daveberta, is a vocal member of Canada’s Liberal party and a staunch opponent of the provincial Progressive Conservative party of which reigning Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach is a member. Dave recently registered the publicly and freely available domain name “edstelmach.ca” for fourteen bucks and pointed it to his blog. Shortly thereafter, with nary a warning shot, Dave was contacted by the Stelmach’s lawyers who demanded he desist in pointing this domain name to his blog and that he surrender the domain to the Premier at once, else the coyotes of litigation would git to howlin’.

Cournoyer, unswayed by these empty threats, merely pointed the domain to the Wikipedia article on Harry Strom, a former Alberta Premier who was criticized similarly to Stelmach as a good old farm boy whose reputation dwindled for being oblivious to the needs of the province’s flourishing urban centres. Threatening this indebted University of Alberta student due to his misunderstanding of the workings of the internet certainly bolsters such comparison.

Does Stelmach have the authority to unleash his stampede of thoroughbred lawyers on this poor kid in his jurisdiction? Well sure he does - it’s his got-dang right as a western Canadian. But that’s as far as he’ll mosey along, ah reckon.

The US Copyright Office, who regulates the ICANN, has this to say on the matter of copyright…

… on domain names:

“Copyright law does not protect domain names. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a nonprofit organization that has assumed the responsibility for domain name system management, administers the assignation of domain names through accredited registers.”

… and on proper names:

“Names are not protected by copyright law.” and “Copyright does not protect names, titles, slogans, or short phrases.”

That’s right, it’s first come first serve in the Wild Wild Web. (otherwise translated for Stelmach’s benefit as “them dubyas”)

It seems that unless the very Right (if not Honourable) Premier might have to prove that he is either the world’s one and only Ed Stelmach, the supposely infringing use of his name detracts from his brand, the domain name disingenuously cuts his profits by impersonating his brand and thereby tricking customers, or that his name is the entirety of a catchy corporate slogan. (might I recommend, like George Costanza before him, the “by Mennen” tune?)

Ed Stelmach may as well hitch up and git along. Daveberta is making a stand and won’t be ponying up any time soon.

For more information on this topic I’ve blogged previously (here and here) about corporate bullying for domain names.

 

“Yeee haw, lit’s wrangle up this internet sumbitch!” - not actually said by Ed Stelmach

I have reached the end of the month of November. Back at the beginning of the month I had announced that I was going to be participating in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) as ScreechingWeasel. For that reason, I have no written nor attended my blog over the month, leaving it woefully neglected in the pursuit of those elusive 50,000 words, which is the core of the NaNo challange. Needless to say, I have reached the end of a long road and I have finally got those words and I can now proudly return to my blog with this achievement under my belt.

Early on the challenge I posted pieces of my work. But then I stopped doing it. I needed to focus more on the work itself and not my blog, so I decided that it would take away from my ability to write in order to reach my deadline.

Doing this, reminded me of something I learned while I took Tae Kwon-do in high school. At the start of each class, we would recite the oath of the art, and in that oath, in the first one, we would recite the five tenets of Tae Kwon-do.

Courtesy • Integrity • Self-Control • Perseverance • Indomitable Spirit
Courtesy - even when you dedicate your time, you need to realise that you need to listen to those around you, and be courteous, so that they will be respectful of your need to write in peace. This creates friendships and a support network.

Integrity, it’s the ability to admit to yourself that this isn’t going to be an easy task but you can do it if you just try. To be honest with yourself and others.

Self-control. This is the ability to ignore the other factors when the weight of the task weighs down on you, driving one to procrastinate and find others venues of escape. It’s the ability to ignore temptation and plug away until you reach your goal.

Perseverance. The ability to keep at it even when things get tough and never giving up. Failure is only an inevitability when one decides that they are ready to give up. Even if you don’t succeed, not giving up is the way to victory. Not surrendering when things get tough takes a lot out of you. The initial burst to get started tapers off once the realisation of reality sets in and one realises that there is a monumental task ahead of them.

Indomitable Spirit. It is the courage, but, you don’t need it unless you struggle against an oppressive regime in your literary pursuit to express yourself.

And now, I come to the end of another long road on the ever-winding path of life. I have proven to myself that I have it in me to just write. I know now that if I need to I can do it. Seeing results is a truly driving force; it can be a truly driving force when you can see the finish line. Just when things start to look grim, as that deadline approaches, when you can get a glimpse of the finish line, you can reach into yourself and find that little power keg. That power keg can provide you with the last burst; that final exhilarating rush of adrenaline driving you to push yourself to the limit and make it out, triumphant, even if drenched in a thick coat of sweat.

Winner Certificate

In my previous post I mentioned that November is National Novel Writing Month or rather NaNoWriMo. As promised, I will post pieces of my story as I finish them. Consider this to be the link to all the parts as I get them written. I’m providing the link to my profile on the NaNoWriMo website. It has a basic word tracker and a chart to show the progress. But because it’s slow loading due to the bandwidth demands, I’m posting my novel here in pieces.

Dial C for Chrystal’s Grand Adventure

by ScreechingWeasel

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6

November 5/07 EDIT: If you scroll to the bottom of the main page here, you’ll notice something new. I have placed a Creative Commons License on my blog (and subsequently on the index pages of the rest of my domain). This means I would like my creative genius to be respected while you copy and modify anything I’ve written; but you’re still permitted to copy it. I put it in the public domain for that reason; for it to be enjoyed by all.

I will post an update to this story shortly. I’m amending parts of it so it flows better. The rules of NaNoWriMo say just to write but to keep my inner (overlord) editor happy, I let it change something so long as it adds new content to inflate my word count. As of this morning, I’m at 14,500. Hopefully I’ll get close to 20,000 today provided there are no distractions.

This month is national novel writing, or NaNoWriMo for short. I realise the shorthand form is quite silly but that’s what it’s called. Why am I telling you this? Because from now until November 30th, I will be focusing my writing on this.  Any posts I make will be for this and contain exerpts from the novel I hope to finish or at least reach the goal of 50,000 works with.

I have my idea already planned on my head.  All I need now is good music, lots of caffeine and no one around to make snide comments about my twisted imagination.

I will give one hint about my story, it’s in first person POV and a commentary about life that goes on around them.

My alias for this is ScreechingWeasel.  Seems about right given the title of this blog, doesn’t it?

If you do read what I post here, please do leave feedback.  I love feedback.