Essays and Papers

This is the collection of essays and papers written by Peter Keel (aka Seegras) to various political, social and technical themes.

Please note that some of these may be quite old and may not represent the views of the author anymore. They are here for historic reasons and because they may contain some valuable or otherwise interesting points.

Obsolete

PC Piraterie -- Peter Keel, 1995
[german]
Completely bogus idea on from where illegal copying might come from. Of course its according to RMS somehow an effect, but not a reason.

Politics

On Anarchy -- Peter Keel, 1994
[english]

I tried to clear up the confusion around the word anarchy; specifically that anarchy does not mean chaos. Anarchy is a close relative of democracy.
Principles For A New World -- Peter Keel, 1996
[english]

To make a world you and your heirs will find worthwile to live in. Sustainable development, abolishment of monoply-generating laws and so on.
Software Piracy -- Peter Keel, 1998
[english]

My first take on the topic of illegal copying. Where I explain why so-called piracy is actually a win for the respective copyright-holder.
Conquistadores on the Internet -- Peter Keel, 1999
[english]

How evil can you behave on the internet? So called content-providers behave like conquistadores regarding internet-culture. Now its lawyers, but 450 years ago they would have slain you and burned your books.
Competition and the Microsoft Case -- Peter Keel, 1999
[english]

Solutions and remedies regarding the Microsoft-monopoly. And background of where such monopolies come or feed from: Overbroad patents and everlasting copyrights.
Probleme mit Domainnamen -- Peter Keel, 1999
[german]

Problems with domaingrabbing, domaingrabbing, trademark-piracy and cybersquatting. A well balanced take on the subject. Written for the SiUG.
Espionage in the free World -- Peter Keel, 1999
[english]

A selection of resources regarding the world-wide spy-network Echelon and the proposed swiss-spy-network Satos 3. This is what is and will be used for industrial espionage and thought control.
Copyprotection doesn't work -- Peter Keel, 1999-2000
[english]

My second take on illegal copying, with the focus on the non-workability of technical measures for copyright-enforcement. This is what got me a cease-and-desist letter from the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America).
Hitparade Of Switzerlands dumbest Laws -- Peter Keel, 2000
[english]

I sometimes research some laws, and these are the articles that stand out for their obvious stupidity (in a greater economic sense), or where you can tell from a long distance which lobbying party was responsible for its inclusion.
Legal Weapon -- Peter Keel, 2000
[english]

Short rant. Sad but true.
Intellectual Property -- Peter Keel, 2000
[english]

Short issue about intellectual property being theft from the public domain.
Schweizer Urheberrecht im Um- und Abbruch -- Peter Keel, 2000
[german]

Once again, my pet-issue. This time its about reverse-engineering, licenses and the exceptional state of computer programs regarding copyright.
Software Piracy Does Not Exist -- Peter Keel, 2002
[german]

About the misuse of the word "piracy" for the act of "illegal copying".
The MPAA Case -- Peter Keel, 2002
[english]

A short wrapup on my clash with the MPAA.
Current Boycotts -- Peter Keel, 2002
[english]

I decided to boycott various firms, companies, conglomerates and people. Because they suck, because they pissed on my leg, because their stupid advertisements insult my intelligence. Whatever.
Schwarzkopie und Marktwirtschaft -- Peter Keel, 2002
[german]

An explanation that illegal copied software behaves like competition to the legally obtained software.
Söldner heute -- Peter Keel, 2002
[german]

A Short rant against the rampant soldierdom of lawyers.
Steuern eintreiben kostet zuviel -- Peter Keel, 2003
[german]

Loads of money get wasted on collecting taxes on people which will pay less taxes than the collection of taxes itself costs.
Sue Everyone for your genetic pollution -- Peter Keel, 2005
[english]

Another look at what damages are made possible through patents.

Technical

DOS Games Cheaters Guide -- Peter Keel, 1996
[english]

How to cheat in old DOS-games. A howto plus hexcodes for savegames of about 20 games.
Footnotes On Security -- Peter Keel, 1996
[english]

Some primer for achieving a little bit of computer-security.
Open The Sources -- Peter Keel, 1997
[english]

Plea to open the sources of old games and other software which can't be sold anymore.
Network Security By Half-Wits -- Peter Keel, 1999
[english]

People break the internet out of a false idea of how security works.
Considerations Concerning Blockades -- Peter Keel, 1998-1999
[english]

Technical review of methods for bypassing technical blockades of internet-content.
IRC'en Mit Linux -- Peter Keel, 2001
[german]

A primer for using the irc and an overview over various IRC-clients on Linux.
Issues On Porting -- Peter Keel, 2001
[english]

Issues on porting software from DOS/Windows to Unix/Linux.
Lilo Splashscreens -- Peter Keel, 2001
[english]

How to make a graphical LILO Splashscreen using Corel Linux 1.0. Probably obsolete.
Einführung in die Unix-Shell -- Peter Keel, 2003
[german]

Textverarbeitung unter der Unix Shell.
Fighting System for Computer-Games -- Peter Keel, 2004
[english]

Realistic Arms- Armor- and Fight-Models.
Webdesign Issues -- Peter Keel, 2004
[english]

Problems and workarounds concerning Webdesign

Sociological

Victimless Crimes -- Peter Keel, 1996
[english]

A second-source analysis upon the attitude towards victimless crimes.
Bei der Kryptographie geht es um die Zukunft von Freiheit und Demokratie -- Peter Keel, 1996
[german]

These are the slides for some speech about the importance of cryptography. I held this speech in a sociology-seminar.
Kryptografie -- Xelcgbtensvr -- Peter Keel, 1998
[english]

An unfinished work, regarding history and future development of the usage of cryptography. The idea was to analyze usage, access and regulation of cryptography in a historical context, and to find out how much todays life has changed through the availability of strong cryptography.
Why 74% of the US-Citizens are stupid -- Peter Keel, 1997
[english]

Short rant about statistics and their non-use in the USA.
How did I get that work done -- Peter Keel, 1997
[english]

How I sometimes manage to get my work done. Completely off-topic and stupid, but reflective..
Magical Medieval Barrier -- Peter Keel, 2004
[english]

How come movies might be historically accurate as long as they don't play in the middle ages? Because if they do, suddenly nobody seems to know anything about history anymore and everything becomes one big fantasy-blur of inaccuracies and bogus.