違反ing the 'Dam

Earlier in October I spent a week in Amsterdam, まず第一に／本来 to …に出席する the first European Open Source 条約 (OSCON), an thousand-euro-a-長，率いる three-day event organised by O'Reilly マスコミ. It took place at the Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky, one of the finest hotels in the city. “When 王族 come to Amsterdam”, I was told, “they stay at the Kras.”

The Grand Hotel had a 都合よく Grand Ballroom, where the (rather staccato, at fifteen minutes each) 基本方針s started each day at the を締めるing time of 8.45. But the presenters had to 戦う／戦い more than audience 疲労，（軍の）雑役 to get their message across; O'Reilly had rolled out a 会議／協議会-wide, 急速な／放蕩な and 解放する／自由な wireless 網状組織. Although it's not as if they had any choice; I 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う a 重要な割合 of attendees would put 強健な WiFi higher than running water on their 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） of 会議／協議会 must-有産国.

Of course, a thousand euros is a lot of money. In reaction to that, and to the 招待-only nature of another O'Reilly event called Foo （軍の）野営地，陣営, the community has started a 一連の grassroots get-togethers under the 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業（軍の）野営地，陣営旗，新聞一面トップの大見出し／大々的に報道する (“妨げる／法廷，弁護士業” follows “foo” in the canonical 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） of words hackers use when they need an 一時的な identifier for something). 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業（軍の）野営地，陣営 Amsterdam was held the day after OSCON at the offices of Mediamatic, a new マスコミ arts 集団の／共同の, in a soon-to-be-破壊するd tower 封鎖する on the Amsterdam waterfront. This and other 衛星 events kept a hard 核心 of 解放する／自由なソフトウェア people in the city for the entire week.

But by Saturday morning, the O'Reilly and 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業（軍の）野営地，陣営 WiFi was just a memory, and several of the group were going 冷淡な turkey. So after a lunch at a cafe, which cost わずかにいっそう少なく than one third the price of breakfast at the Kras, we 始める，決める off on a forty-five minute trek across the city. “How far will geeks go for bandwidth?” mused one of my companions.

Our 目的地 was ASCII, the Amsterdam Centre for 破壊分子（警察などへの）密告，告訴（状）交換, a techo-squat which has had several 前提s over the past six years but is 現在／一般に位置を示すd in middle of a 列／漕ぐ／騒動 of shops in an ethnically-diverse area of east Amsterdam. Importantly for our 目的s, one of its 役割s is the nexus of an 成果／努力 to roll out 解放する／自由な community wireless across the city.

In the 前線 window (re-glazed and 特に増強するd by the new occupants after the ex-tenant of the place threw a bicycle through it) there were four 再生利用するd computers running Linux and Firefox, 申し込む／申し出ing 解放する／自由な Internet cafe 施設s to anyone who walked in ? although the coffee was instant and self-service.

We 押し進めるd open the door and moved past the computers に向かって the 支援する of the shop. The shaven-長，率いるd 青年 behind the 反対する regarded our group of pasty-直面するd middle-class geeks with a look of 無関心／冷淡. “Yes?” “Er, hi. We heard about you guys from Mediamatic, and so we thought we'd come over and, er, check it out.” “Ah”. He seemed 完全に unimpressed. “We're all 解放する／自由なソフトウェア people.” He raised an eyebrow. “Really? What 解放する／自由なソフトウェア?” “I work on Firefox, and these guys are Drupal”. He broke into a smile. “承認する, 冷静な／正味の. Welcome to ASCII.”

We sat 負かす／撃墜する on a surprisingly smart sofa, underneath a stencilled 黒人／ボイコット-on-yellow 旗，新聞一面トップの大見出し／大々的に報道する布告するing “解放する／自由な WiFi! Your keyboard is your 武器!”, and started to 切り開く／タクシー／不正アクセス on our さまざまな事業／計画（する）s, enjoying that particular sort of geek fellowship which comes from concentrating very hard on your computer in the presence of other people.

So, I asked the admin, does someone live here all the time? “Oh, no.” But can't they take the place 支援する if there's no-one in? “Yeah, 井戸／弁護士席 technically we should have someone here all the time but in practice we don't.” And you aren't 関心d about the owner? “井戸／弁護士席, he's under 調査 for 麻薬s, and isn't 許すd to start any new 商売／仕事s. So we don't 推定する／予想する him to come 一連の会議、交渉／完成する any time soon.” So you don't live here, then. “Of course not.” 明確に, his 態度 seemed to say, no-one could be 推定する／予想するd to live in such a place. “No,” he continued, “I live in another squat around the corner.”