For some time now, I’ve been investigating all of the things that I have to do at work (on my PC) and trying to see if any of them cannot be done on a Linux distro. So far (perhaps amazingly) I’ve found nothing that would hinder an OS swap. My most recent trials have produced something intersting though, so I thought that I’d mention it here.
Archive for March, 2006
Ooo matron!
Saturday, March 11th, 2006GURT awful!
Sunday, March 5th, 2006I have to confess that this is the most odious use of technology that I’ve seen in many a year.
Genetic Use Restriction Technology (GURT) is biological DRM. In short, seeds are genetically modified so that they cannot be regrown without external intervention; farmers (typically those in the Third World) are sold this seed at preferentially low rates, but then have to buy the activating chemical separately at a price determined by the seed producer. Any plants that grow are sterile and thus produce no seed of their own so that the farmers have to go back and buy more seed rather than harvesting seed from this year’s crop as they have done for centuries. Michael Meacher, MP, said of this technology: “For the first time in history, farmers would be stopped from using their own seed.”