I need a push

This is exactly how I feel.

NSA surveillance easily explained

A video by the Guardian explaining in a simple manner how online spying by Governments and private actors works.  

Need food and not football. #Brazil

Need FOOD and not football graffiti in Brazil. 

Thank you.

#WeDontRideCamels

I am in the process of exploring the Arab versions of well-known 'Western' websites & platforms.   
Souq.com is the Middle East's version of Amazon established in 2005. [Souq means market]

My favourite is Zoomaal. Zoomaal is a crowdfunding platform in the Arab world (like Kickstarter) - with an emphasis on artistic projects.

This is Zoomaal's twitter handle. Their motto is 'We Don't Ride Camels' pointing out that Arabs are creative too. I concur. 

lego people v people

via the magnificent xkcd
permanent link here

Doha - daily

3 reasons why India is a game changer in international affairs

1. Pharmaceutical companies & stupid patents over meds 
A few months ago the Indian Supreme Court refused to allow one of the world leading pharmaceutical companies to patent a new version of a cancer drug. Novartis lost a 6 year legal battle since the court decided that a few minor changes and improvements to the drug did not amount to innovation deserving a patent. Had the court asserted  that the drug is a new one, the manufacturer's (Novartis) control would extend over the new version of the drug. This judgment allows poor people to access medicines in cheaper and almost affordable to them prices. It also paves the way for similar rulings in the future in other countries as well. 

[Ironically enough this drug was manufactured in the first place in the US mostly due to public funding and now it is under Novartis intellectual property (see techdirt's brief but concise account and the NYTimes).]

2. Publishers & copyright
India will raise in December the issue of the copyright of textbooks in the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). India will ask for the modification of the strict copyright criteria when it comes to the educational use of academic textbooks and the students' right to photocopy them.  

3. Cyberspace & illegal interception of communications 
India with Brazil and South Africa - the so-called IBSA Grouping - openly pointed out that the unauthorised practice of illegal interception of communications and data is a serious violation of national sovereignty and individual rights. Even though I am not 100% on the same side with these countries regarding their motives or even the precise way that they frame their disagreements, I have to give them that they stand up.  

Go India! In the Queen's name.