Mika writes columns on "Corriere della Sera"

The only thing I got from Apple is the Itune soft on my pc and the only song I bought there is Mika's Boum Boum Boum as it was the only legal way I could get it (my daughter said she would but she kept forgetting ) and physical singles seem to be a thing of the past now

And I don't like U2 but I now wonder if it's in my library along with Boum Boum Boum now

And Sylvie I love my android flat as well

another Android flatmate here

"Still what we choose to store in our private libraries is sacred."

For me the essential sentence is this one. And on that level I totally agree with him. I didn't get the album and I use another library. But if I would just get an album I didn't asked for in that library I would be pissed. This is about privacy on a totally different level. It's not about "just" seeing my personal stuff (I think everyone is conscious that it is done), but about messing around in my personal stuff. And music is something very personal. It has a reason why the music that is in my library is in my library. And why the music that is not in my library is not in my library. The music that is in my library is there because it's important to me. I don't want some random stuff or even stuff I hate in there.

Plus getting something you don't ask for is just simply Spam. That it happens in other situations as well doesn't make better. It's annoying enough there (don't let me get started about needing to be alertly like hell while installing programs for not being tricked into getting all kind of rubbish or preinstalled programs on new devices), so I don't need another new situation where I need to get rid of things I don't want to have.

The one album is not a big deal. But it being an example for a general question, deciding what you want to have and what not, is to some extent. What if it gets common you get some random album every week, every day, into your library? What if Amazons decides it's a great idea that you get another Ebook if you download one without asking?

If they give me an option to download actively myself for free if I want to or ask unmistakable if I want it before downloading it automatically or some option like with automatic/manual updates than it's another thing. But I as a user need to be the one who decides it and the one who needs to be asked first.

***

Edit: Totally forgot to write it : I'm happy that he writes columns again, I like to read his opinions on things

And that's what Apple did. It stopped by and drop a gift for a change.

You don't whine about it, you say thanks and then either you use the gift or you dump it when they are gone.

If you don't like their attitude you can change flat. I like Android flats for instance. They aren't that strict.

If you loathe the rental system either you suck it up or you move to Kalahari and live among aborigines.

But in any case, if you are picking on the gift topic, you're missing the point.

I was joking, I should have put a smilie up.

The thing is with corporations like Apple, is that when they are almost to a point of monopolising a market, they get arrogant, and assume they can do what they like. Sky are the same. If customers kick back and go to other places for their music (or whatever the product is) it will show them that they can't push things on them, and they will soon do a turn around on trying to woo them back.

It needs us, the music buying public, to stand up to them, and put them back in their place.

another Android flatmate here

Great

"Still what we choose to store in our private libraries is sacred."

 

For me the essential sentence is this one. And on that level I totally agree with him.

But it's not private. You've got the door wide open and have given Apple explicit permission to make changes to it. Just because some people seem to have been totally ignorant about what they have agreed to doesn't mean they have been violated. It just means they should stay off the internet if they don't understand how technology works and can't cope with the concept of corporations using their personal data for their own benefit.

Nothing that transpires on or via the internet is private. NOTHING. I find it bizarre that anyone is getting their knickers in a knot over a free album from a corporation they have willingly given access to their music library when governments can read your email and browsing history without you giving permission of any kind whatsoever and could potentially incarcerate you for it.

If this iTunes thing is so offensive then why don't people just stop using it instead of this faux outrage? I would be willing to bet that Mika has half a dozen Apple products hooked up right now that would download another free album tonight because he hasn't actually done anything to stop it and isn't willing to give up the convenience of his iPhones.

I missed his columns and I really enjoy he is doing it again!

I agree with TheMoment, Apple could have offered us a free download and give us the possibilty to decide if I want the Album or not.

Love to read columns, missed them:wub2:

But it's not private. You've got the door wide open and have given Apple explicit permission to make changes to it. Just because some people seem to have been totally ignorant about what they have agreed to doesn't mean they have been violated. It just means they should stay off the internet if they don't understand how technology works and can't cope with the concept of corporations using their personal data for their own benefit.

 

Nothing that transpires on or via the internet is private. NOTHING. I find it bizarre that anyone is getting their knickers in a knot over a free album from a corporation they have willingly given access to their music library when governments can read your email and browsing history without you giving permission of any kind whatsoever and could potentially incarcerate you for it.

 

If this iTunes thing is so offensive then why don't people just stop using it instead of this faux outrage? I would be willing to bet that Mika has half a dozen Apple products hooked up right now that would download another free album tonight because he hasn't actually done anything to stop it and isn't willing to give up the convenience of his iPhones.

absolutely agree, the internet is public per definition, and corporations are widely allowed by ourselves to interfere in our accounts!

I don't get all this noise for nothing real.

The one album is not a big deal. But it being an example for a general question, deciding what you want to have and what not, is to some extent. What if it gets common you get some random album every week, every day, into your library? What if Amazons decides it's a great idea that you get another Ebook if you download one without asking?

See, this is where you and I have a real difference of opinion. What if iTunes DID give me a free album or book every week? I think that would be awesome! FREE? When do you ever get anything for free? If I don't want it, I delete it. If it's something I was going to buy, that's $10 I don't have to spend -- I can spend it on something else.

If they give me an option to download actively myself for free if I want to or ask unmistakable if I want it before downloading it automatically or some option like with automatic/manual updates than it's another thing. But I as a user need to be the one who decides it and the one who needs to be asked first.

I don't know how it was for everyone else, but the U2 album showed up as "in the cloud." I had to download it from the cloud if I wanted it. Maybe that's why I don't feel it was that intrusive?

Edit: Totally forgot to write it : I'm happy that he writes columns again, I like to read his opinions on things

I missed his columns and I really enjoy he is doing it again!

I think that we all agree on that!

I wish my landlady left free things in my room every once in a while. The only thing I get is notes about things.

I get left cat hair when the landlady doesn't close my door all the way - and occasionally cat poo. So a note would be preferable.

So happy to read one of his column again especially knowing that there will be more

This album appearing in my iTune doesn't bother me at all.

What bothers me is when corporation gives me something free for a month & if i don't remember to call and cancel, they charge me for upcoming months.

What bothers me is when corporation gives me something free for a month & if i don't remember to call and cancel, they charge me for upcoming months.

Oh, I hate that too

This album appearing in my iTune doesn't bother me at all.

 

What bothers me is when corporation gives me something free for a month & if i don't remember to call and cancel, they charge me for upcoming months.

It's really annoying, it should be illegal.

I was joking, I should have put a smilie up.

It was actually a good metaphor, and so was mine.

I don't know how it was for everyone else, but the U2 album showed up as "in the cloud." I had to download it from the cloud if I wanted it. Maybe that's why I don't feel it was that intrusive?

From what they told in the news about it I understood that a lot of people had it automatic on their Iphones and devices And I wouldn't even want it in my Cloud if I would use this Cloud to collect all of my music in one place.

See, this is where you and I have a real difference of opinion. What if iTunes DID give me a free album or book every week? I think that would be awesome! FREE? When do you ever get anything for free? If I don't want it, I delete it. If it's something I was going to buy, that's $10 I don't have to spend -- I can spend it on something else.

Oh no, I don't have a problem with getting something for free. Not at all, I think it would be great! BUT I could have all this positive things you list about getting something for free if it would be a free download in the Itunes store (or maybe the question "Do you want to add the new U2 album for free in your cloud?"), too - without having the negative effects of getting unwanted things. I don't want to end up with the need to do a daily clean-up of my library. Or just think about the heavy metal fan who gets the new One Direction album put into his library...

Oh no, I don't have a problem with getting something for free. Not at all, I think it would be great! BUT I could have all this positive things you list about getting something for free if it would be a free download in the Itunes store (or maybe the question "Do you want to add the new U2 album for free in your cloud?"), too - without having the negative effects of getting unwanted things. I don't want to end up with the need to do a daily clean-up of my library. Or just think about the heavy metal fan who gets the new One Direction album put into his library...

I'm just not that bothered by it -- I'm in my iTunes library almost daily, so having to delete something or move something around isn't that big of a chore. I do it routinely anyway.

As for getting an album that is not my favorite genre... well, I can think of more traumatic and inconvenient things that could happen to me.

Let's move here

Mika in Corriere Della Sera : Indifferenza e discriminazione: la storia di Eduardo e la lotta all’Hiv

 

http://www.corriere.it/salute/14_novembre_30/indifferenza-discriminazione-storia-eduardo-lotta-all-hiv-f49c1a16-78d5-11e4-9707-4e704182e518.shtml

You're welcome!

 

The English version: http://www.corriere.it/salute/14_dicembre_01/aids-fear-must-not-win-7db6f05e-793b-11e4-abc3-1c132dc377f5.shtml

Let's move here

Thank you!

http://www.corriere.it/salute/14_novembre_30/indifferenza-discriminazione-storia-eduardo-lotta-all-hiv-f49c1a16-78d5-11e4-9707-4e704182e518.shtml

:uk:English version

WORLD AIDS DAY

Aids, Fear must not win

In Italy, there are currently around 140,000 people living with HIV but 48% of 16 to 35 year old Italians do not practice protected sex

Mika

As of 2013 it is estimated that over 35 million people are currently living with HIV. An estimated 19m of the total infected have no idea of their HIV+ status. In 2013 alone, 1.5 million people died from HIV related illnesses, 74% of which (according to UNAIDS) were in Sub Saharan Africa and the virus has claimed 39 million lives so far worldwide. Printed in black and white, these statistics seem in line for what is, according to the WHO, the 6th biggest cause of death in the world. Ask an average person in the street however for any of these statistics and they will most likely have no idea. Unlike other big killers such as heart disease, if you ask a stranger if they know someone with HIV they will feel uncomfortable. Ask them if they themselves have been tested and they will probably walk away.

No other disease involves as many socio political issues. Traditional and religious intolerance, economic inequality, social equality, racism, immigration, homophobia, poor education, prudishness; all of these, are not only highlighted when discussing HIV but are the very same things not only preventing the eradication of a terrible and avoidable disease but stopping people from accessing the care and information that they really need. Until Ebola, No other victims of any disease have ever been as discriminated against as those with AIDS. Have we become numb to the numbers of dead? Are we numb to the deaths of millions because the majority are poor, are black and are far away? As outlined in UNAIDS’ GAP Report, ending the AIDS epidemic is possible, however getting to that ultimate goal involves looking much closer to home, in our own countries, in our own families, and addressing what we fear the most. In preparing for this article, I attempted to find some Italians 30 or younger, that would be willing to tell me their story and explain how life is for them as HIV+ young people today. I started my search with Julian Fleet, former UNAIDS director and human rights lawyer. Unable to source anyone through his UNAIDS contacts, Fleet contacted LILA whilst I contacted CESVI, an Italian humanitarian organisation. Between all of us, we were unable to find a single person under the age of 45 willing to talk publicly about their condition. Even with the possibility of changing interviewee’s names, the fear of shame and negative consequences was far too much for any of their volunteers and contacts to handle.

In Italy, there are currently around 140,000 people living with HIV. According to recent research conducted by DOXA for CESVI, there are signs of a growing complacency among Italian youth when it comes to protecting themselves from HIV and AIDS. An astonishing 48% of 16 to 35 year old Italians do not practice protected sex. A large amount of them claiming that there is no need as they are in a stable single partner relationship. This justification is dubious but the figures become even more alarming when combined with the statistic that only 29% declared ever having been tested for HIV. According to Chiara Magni from Cesvi Italian youths compared to Zimbabwian or South African’s are far less aware of the consequences of unsafe sex and far more prudish in using protection or admitting it, «In Italy there is stigma, prejudice, fear and it is something that is not talked about». «In Italy there is no sexual education like in Northern Europe, its not talked about at schools and condoms are still perceived as an instrument of devious sex.» Says Alessandra Cerioli, President of LILA. «If a girl is found carying around a condom, at a nightclub for instance, which would be responsible behaviour, she is ridiculed and is perceived as a prostitute and promiscuous». «Protection is judged negatively and even if a girl carries it, she is often afraid to use it for fear of judgment and ridicule, this is a crisis.» In a recent test, LILA placed condom machines in bathrooms of a lycee in Rome, priced at minimal cost. The exercise was so unsuccessful that the machines had to be removed. No one bought any. It is hard for me to imagine a school in America with a scheme for subsidised protection, not being at least vaguely successful. In recent years condoms have become almost a symbol of virility and responsible sexual behaviour. The potential kudos and appropriate marketing of protection seems non existent in Italy. Condom marketing and packaging has proven so successful in the USA that its symantics have been borrowed for branding and selling even chewing gum, as seen in the recent success of the 5 Senses brand. I finally found a willing interviewee through friends in Milan.

Although at first breaking the promise of keeping his HIV+ status a secret, a friend was able to introduce me to a 25 year old who was willing to tell his story. Eduardo was born in Cesena to an HIV+ mother. Before his birth his grandmother had been working in a supermarket, stealing money from the cash register and purchasing hard drugs which she would then sell on at a premium. As a result Eduardo’s mother came into contact with hard drugs at the age of 13. «When my grandfather found out, he reported my grandmother who was arrested and imprisoned. My mother and her younger brother were admitted into a rehabilitation centre for Heroin addiction where she remained for 5 years. She was only 15». It was there that Eduardo’s mother met his father. They remained together and she gave birth to him at the age of 24. During the pregnancy, she discovered she was HIV+. When Eduardo was 3, she died of AIDS related complications. His father remained HIV negative. His HIV+ status was kept a secret from him his whole childhood. As a result of lack of treatment he became blind. «At the age of 6 I woke up one morning and by the evening I could no longer see. It was as if the lights had been turned off. I remember everything from what things looked like before, I see everything in colour». It was not until 15 years old, when researching medicines he was being told to take to restore his sight that he realised he was in fact taking antiretrovirals. After confronting his father he was told of his Mother’s past and his HIV+ status. «Instead of keeping quiet, as my father asked me to do, I told my closest friend. We were sharing a cigaret and I explained everything. She gave me back the cigarette and later that day, asked to give confession to our school priest. She confessed the sin of having shared a cigaret with an HIV+ boy. She told him my name and he gave her her penance. He called a reunion of all the school and student representatives. He told my story and called me in to face them all in person. He insisted on questioning me in public to know if I was lying, as an HIV+ student would pose a massive risk to my classmates. I told them I was lying, that I was angry I was blind, that I was a selfish attention seeker and I asked for forgiveness». For the following three years, Eduardo spoke to no one in his class as they no longer trusted him. All except for one boy, who happened to be the most popular of the class. His friendship was honest and non judgemental. It was at this time that Eduardo realised he was gay. «I have had to be discreet as when you talk about my situation, you are talking about blindness, homosexuality and HIV+ all at the same time. Its a difficult cocktail».

Not one of those issues in Eduardo’s life were a result of his actions or choices. His social isolation is a totally unjustified one, and the shame he feels should be ours and that of those in positions of authority during his adolescence. The abuses of power from the church and school are impossible to justify. Today I sit with Eduardo who has recently graduated from Bologna university in Psychology of organisation. I find it Ironic that a man with more reasons to be isolated from society than anyone I’ve ever met would end up a specialist in optimising large workforces in schools and companies. I ask him why he is here, why after years of secrecy he has chosen to speak to me, with such public consequences. «I am here because I am curious. I think that if you do not talk about something, it doesn’t exist. We are in 2014 and there are still many people who can not imagine that there are cases like mine. If I talk about my situation, I make those issues real and I see now that I can give people the opportunity to broaden their knowledge and tolerance on these issues». I ask him if he identifies himself as an HIV+ man. «The first thing people have to deal with with me is my blindness,» he says «then my homosexuality». I can not help but feel sad for him as although he consider’s his non identification as an HIV+ man as a strength, I think it was never an option. «Are you part of a community of HIV+ people?» I ask him, to which he replies no. «Is world AIDS day important to you?» he says no, «do you know what world AIDS day is?» «No,» he says «I’ve never been to it». «Being openly HIV+ in Italy is not simple, because you are still seen by many as being a person who has behaved dispicably». Says Alessandra Cerioli. «Upon discovering their status, people often auto discriminate. We (LILA) know that you have had a lot of trouble getting people to talk openly and we need people to come forward now and speak as we want to fight discrimination in the workplace».

After my interview with Eduardo he called several times seeking reassurance that what he was doing was right. His main fear was that he would lose his job at his place of work, at an important charity foundation in Milan. «We even had two cases of men fired from Lufthansa Airlines for being HIV+ and we were ready to sue and win on behalf of the former employees but they refused, for fear of going public with their condition». Explains Alessandra. «I am happy that we spoke» I say to Eduardo whilst sitting on the couch of my apartment in Milan, «your story is a human one, hard and complicated but people who do not have your condition will understand» He tells me he is afraid none the less. I tell him its ok as he is one of the first young men to tell his story publicly in Italy. He realises this and know is its important, «but in this instant» he continues «I can not deny that I feel shame and fear». Fear is only defeated when confronted. On this world aids day, this 25 year olds story is a remarkable reminder of the consequences of discrimination and isolation. His life has already been full of more challenges than I will ever deal with in the rest of mine. His future is optimistic but one full of terms and conditions. His country, his church his workplace and his friends should serve as nothing but sources of support and strength, anything else would be totally inhumane. How can we seriously help to rectify the devastating epidemic in Sub saharan Africa, ravaging young woman, children and men, if we can not tolerate the same issue on our own doorstep.

1 dicembre 2014 | 10:45

© RIPRODUZIONE RISERVATA

Thank you Eriko as always

Thanks!

Interesting, and quite sad...

Thanks Eriko, especially for saving the English version before it was deleted!

Very interesting article, I was not at all aware of this situation in Italy.

Thanks for posting! I think it's a good thing that he writes about this, he has an audience that will profit from this information and that needs to be aware.

Interesting topic, and so spot on, as in this country the rate of unprotectect sex with teenagers has indeed risen, but not as much as it has for people over 50, who should definitely know better, so are themselves heading for a rise in HIV related illnesses!

Thank you Eriko as always

+1 Thanks from me too, Eriko! I agree with Cathrine, it's sad reading!

And thanks also to Krysady for more "happy news" - with the little taste of the new song, used in adv. I think we'll have to get used to this kind of use, even we might not like it too much - at least as long MIKA's is so popular Here we have a saying, directly translated : "Iron while the tool is hot" ...

Love,love

me