Fortress Of Freedom Board

[Maurice Ali]

Well - his didn't take long:



"Dear SOCAN Members,

Today, SOCAN filed a lawsuit against Suno Inc.

SOCAN is filing this claim to ensure that songwriters, composers, and music publishers are able to decide when and how their music is used by AI services, that they are paid when their music is used, and that AI services understand that there are consequences when they use music without permission.

Copyright does not stop innovation. The laws that protect songwriters, composers, and music publishers apply equally in the AI era.

SOCAN’s claim refers specifically to a sample of 150 outputs that contain the entirety, or a substantial part, of songs in SOCAN’s repertoire.

Because the legal process requires that we refer to specific infringements, the claim also includes the names of certain members whose works we indicate have been infringed by Suno.

To be clear, however, this legal action has been brought by SOCAN, on behalf of all our members, in our role as a collective management organization. No individual songwriter, composer, or music publisher is a party to the proceeding, and members are not required to take any action.

You can listen to examples of the alleged infringing outputs, read the statement of claim, FAQs, and press release, and get more information about the lawsuit at www.socan.com/socan-ai/ai-lawsuit.

Legal proceedings can take time, and we will be limited in terms of what we can share during the process. However, we are committed to keeping members informed and will provide updates when possible."



From Socan and I'll have more later.

[Maurice Ali]

So SOCAN, after embracing AI use in song making is now going nuclear on the site SUNO for creating AI music!



It's better late than never I suppose.



If you are a creator you had better watch out for copyright violations if you use AI in your songs. I keep wondering what happens with the art work and literary works, I'm just saying that you may - as a musician - want to go back to the traditional methods of music production. At the very least to avoid that AI material tag being placed on things lately. I doubt they will go after every "musician" that uses AI - but tagging music with AI is a very real possibility and that tag may be objectionable to the listener, if not getting your music booted from platforms because of the legal liability to the platforms for having it on there. Something to think about.



In other news:




The other card at the event!



The guy I used for business cards and some issues of The Fortress is on vacation till the 15th, so I have to make my Positive Mandate business cards elsewhere. So far I have the basic files in photoshop and working on them now. I also have Illustrator for vector based files but I'll just stay with PhotoShop for now. I could submit on Friday but it's better to just submit on Tuesday (it is a long weekend here) as that gives me the weekend to tweak it.



Then there are the VIP envelopes. All of this and probably nothing happens - but an evening event the night before the big speeches and start of General Assembly is an opportunity I have to take seriously!




Goodnight.....

[Maurice Ali]

I wish I had more time to write - anyway...



It always amazes me how some relatively intelligent people can embrace the idea that we have no self-determination in our lives.


When I was in university taking ohilosophy, I was mostly interested in limits. I took the hardest undergraduate course (third or year symbolic logic) by a man who studied directly under Karl Popper and is listed in Canada's "Who's Who". Anyway a big part of it's as Godel's Proof which I was the only one in the class who understood it and got an "A" by default (the distain this man had toward the other students was actually quite funny - but I digress). Basically the proof put limits on consistency and completeness in a system complex enough to hold an arithmetic. Eventually having the arithmetic talk about itself and thus come to some conclusions - if that makes any sense.







Godel's Proof was to me more of a statement on a human's ability to reason and thus why absolute statements on causality and self-determination are pure folly. We just don't have the mind to make that call - but we can prove that we do not have the mind to make that call! So we don't know.



Anthropologists stated predictably what would happen to me and they were absolutely right. A brown kid growing up where I did had no chance at anything no matter how intelligent or dynamic he would be. No women or dating or family - all would be denied. But their predictions were not absolute! However, taking myself out of the environment where they made their predictions - and into an international environment - my life changed on a dime! All this just to show you how I broke the predictions by anthropologists who were mostly right. But I change things and continued on with my own self-determination in my own way. Today I live a duality of lives and nobody seems to see the issue with me living in the place I call home.....



Anyway, I'm out of time, but there is kind of proof that our lives are what they are -but could be changed. You saw this yourself in the 20 plus year blog. And now I'm marauding around the globe trying to change things with the Worldwide Vote and Positive Mandate for Humanity. From one chance out of billions to now - one chance out of three to change the world! All because I knew true causality was not the truth and that we probably have self-determination and thus are responsible for our actions - on all sides.....




Goodnight.....





https://youtu.be/ng0m83GHg1w?si=0-CNyh6-lY6RzHde

[Maurice Ali]

I took the day off.



I had planned to waterproof the chimney for the winter but I was a little bit tired so I called it off. I did update some apps on the Android phones as a time waster and watched the end of a movie i was trying to get through. That kind of a "nothing" day.



I ran some errands I had to do and just took the day off doing nothing. I know it suck's to give up a day on a long weekend but at least you have that luxury. Hopefully Sunday is better.




Goodnight.....

[Maurice Ali]

A Global Social Contract needs to be with everyone which is why we have the Worldwide Vote. This can work with the United Nations SDGs but that is incomplete as a Global Social Contract. A global contract needs the global population as a necessary part of the social contract. In General Assembly it is the member nations. In ECOSOC and the sustainable goals you have nations, civil society and business - but - not the humanity that supposedly gets the most of the social contract and its goals! The Worldwide Vote gets them into the global social contract with the ability to vote and participate in the social contract. That is why I have the Positive Mandate with increasing happiness as its core function - but also - The Worldwide Vote to truly make it a social contact for all!








Anyway - in other news:



I have reactivated Fortress of Freedom's Square account and it works including tap to pay on my iPhone. This actually was launched in Canada in 2024 so I'm late to the game. Tested with Apple Pay and the credit card. I'll test Android pay later today. I had a bunch of square accounts and will see if IAIJ had one. Activating Square accounts for the not-for-profits will help with future donations when the word gets out as checks are an old thing these days. But everyone has a credit or debit card. I guess I'll have to check out the debit card also.



The business card for the Positive Mandate for Humanity is basically done. I did it early in the morning and was surprised how fast that happened. Anyway I'll submit on Tuesday and get that out of the way.



I'm off on the roof Sunday afternoon pointing up the chimney and waterproofing the thing for winter. Yes, I said the word - winter.....




Goodnight.....





https://youtu.be/bAKggpHVOn0?si=1BwcXo3nmcuFEfFg

[Maurice Ali]

The update.....



Chimney has been pointed up with mortar and received its first coat of waterproofing. After New York I may apply another but this is not critical.


Positive Mandate for Humanity business card is totally finished with files ready to print. There is a one hour printer near my house so we will try him first.


Dress shirts off to the dry cleaners. Mowed my dad's lawn and I will mow mine next. The weed whacking should happen later today and we are good till after New York.



I now move into the more detailed massage in those envelops I will carry to the United Nations.



I also thought about whether I should change the transmission fluid on the Mustang. In every case over the last 36 years of driving - changing the transmission fluid lead to overfilling, over pressure with fluid oozing off all over the place and eventually leaks and the transmission working worse. The 6R80 transmission in my car is a truck transmission over-engineered for my V6 motor. They want you to change the fluid at 150,000 miles. Basically they are saying it's sealed for life and synthetic ATF does not degrade like the old versions. So. may just leave it and see.....



It's been a rough time on the home front but things have eased up. You keep at it and never give up while voices ask why bother any more - It's a waste of time. That's not how I do things. This has to be trained into you and the reason experience is so important in things like battlefield situations. You need that experience but in the beginning it has to be trained.





Goodnight.....





https://youtu.be/o9thLXcyqbo?si=n0qnuTzVCwlEFoQD

[Maurice Ali]

A late one today but things are moving ahead.....



The Positive Mandate has been sent to the printers and we should have them early next week with enough time to make an adjustment - but I doubt that will happen!


I was wishing that I had paid the hotel upfront so they could not cancel me out of the hotel at the last minute. It turns out they billed my credit card the full amount on September 3 while cancellation was Sept 7. So if I balked at the price - hotels during General Assembly are astronomical - I could get out of it and my reservation would go to the usual suspects. You really do wonder if the high cost was worth it as you could just book in at the other end of Manhattan and commute in. But I wanted to be treated like the big wigs there and I got what I wanted - nobody is bouncing me out of my hotel this time!





World Bank participation in 2021!



There I am on the participants list at the World Bank in 2019!



The great thing about this trip is the progress made. After that speech in July it now looks like it's just a matter of time before the Worldwide Vote becomes a reality - the genie is out of the bottle! Now the Positive Mandate was the next piece of the puzzle to put on the table and that seems to have landed with a purpose and strategy. Aside from the Sustainable Development Goals - this now has me activating my IMF account that is now active and me pocking around the World Bank. Remember years ago when I was involved there? Well those chickens have now come home to roost.




Couldn't even make this up but it's real!



Anyway, the Positive Mandate has a strategy and possible home. There is an actual valid end game for that new Global Social Contract. Sure I'll make enemies but the rewards are worth it! I was trained for this even though I don't see the value or need back in the day. Now I see why those old idealist White Men (cowboy hats and all) figured I would need all that given where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do. They are all dead now but their knowledge survives. I carry a little bit of all of them as this all plays out.....




Goodnight.....





https://www.youtube.com/live/PuD4GeAw4ps?si=2m9ZdqDS8zeqCLcs

[Maurice Ali]

I took out some US cash today - planning the trip continues.....







If you are wondering why I got involved with the World Bank and IMF, it's because you alway need to know about ways to put money to work for the good of all. Without general public participation as stakeholders - you can only expect those actually physically there and involved to reap the rewards for funding. Having the entirety of humanity there may change that dynamic.







Call me a threat, but I am in my element with these people. I am not this pure good person. Actually I'm a bit of a monster at heart given my life experience - but I was philosophically inclined and I have embraced a moral imperative that has worked for me since doing that. The Positive Mandate fixes almost everything that made my life miserable. If it ain't broke then don't fix it!



Consider me "Hannibal Lector" turned into "Mr. Rogers" but still "Hannibal Lector" inside. With this kind of combination - you can really go places with such a person - just saying.




Goodnight.....





https://youtu.be/FhAJnx5uwUU?si=vfyHzF2IS06fTh9F


https://youtu.be/whfQf3Pd5bU?si=kcM8_7dSd-DpmJch

[Maurice Ali]

I'm writing the short one page pitch for the New Global Social Contract.


For those that pickup the cards I will have at the event - will have a prominent link to the same message on the Positive Mandate website. Basically it will outline the SDGs into a proper and new Global Social Contract. The buy-in for humanity is happiness through being all they can be by free expression in all its forms. The current SDGs are necessary as if you don't have drinkable water / housing, safety or food. If you have poverty or lack of education and even things like proper electricity - without these necessities you cannot begin to think about free expression. Like Maslov's hierarchy of needs the SDGs may the foundation for Happiness that is an achieved in a non-political, non-religious and non-cultural way.




An evening shot of the same event last year!

The key part is the Worldwide Vote that brings humanity in as a stakeholder that can participate and be heard at the United Nations.



Right now things are moving better than I thought but will take years even in the best scenario. But nobody - nobody, says I should give up and admit that it is hopeless. Every one just wants to watch and see what happens.



Less than two week to the New York trip. Expect nothing except the dissemination of that New Global Social Contract. It may take months to see if that trip had any effect. But ideas are like the spread of a virus. Patient zero and the infection begins and gets faster and faster in the general population. I would say my adversaries have moved on from trying to block the voting and will make a stand somewhere down the line.




Goodnight.....

[Maurice Ali]

A late one.



The ITU has given us an opportunity to make a 20 second video about how we are helping the world digitally. So I figured on a short video on the Worldwide Vote. This really is geared to the youth but we will submit regardless.



Nothing ventured - nothing gained.




Goodnight.....

[Maurice Ali]

I got the Positive Mandate for Humanity cards from the printer.



I also finished recording that 20 second segment for the ITU event. The maximum is only 20 seconds so I just said what we did and why. No mention of the fact it is in Google Play and the App Store. Heck, I didn't even mention the name of the app. Just what we did and why. If they follow the association name or even my name they will find the app for their phone. But I did squeeze it to 20 seconds. I forgot to mention my country and added that at the start in the editor - so literally I didn't even have a second to add anything else. Besides, it could look like I am shamelessly promoting apps at an event - so I will just leave it as is.


It is done. Rare is a video of me without distracting reflections from my glasses or me looking like some kind of homunculus of sorts. So the video stands. It is English and a translation in English is not needed but if I can upload I will.



The 13th of September is the deadline but if I can sneak it in tonight I will. Crap - I forgot - Switzerland is six or seven hours ahead so it's already September 13. This is my life. I'll get you photos of the card and video later.




Goodnight.....

[Maurice Ali]

The 20 second video was sent off and we will see what happens there.






Don't expect much as these things are geared for the under 40 crowd, but actually with the wild hair - humm - I don't look so old. Certainly not the 66 years I actually am! So it helps if you don't look like Methuselah at these get-togethers! Im wearing a Calvin Klein suit so new the hang tag had to be cut off the lapel. Bill Blass shirt and an old Enrico Covari tie from the 1980s that is probably the most expensive tie I ever bought!







The first shot is the start of the video. Do I always have my head cocked to one side? I thought the white balance was off but my teeth and the white on the phones is correct so that is just the dynamic of where I was. I do look good in the video, so no retakes were needed. Anyway, the video is now the ITU's property to do what they wish.....



Like I said yesterday, the Positive Mandate business cards are done:







I'll hand them out as I work the crowd before and after all the presentations.




The other card at the event!



Aside from that it is just packing and taking care of stuff in my personal life. I'll finish those more involved letters to hand out to VIPs. But basically it's just get yourself down there and see what happens.



Also - expect the unexpected - good or bad - these are adventures and adventures can carry risk and reward. Playing it safe and staying home is more secure, but to make things happen you have to go to where the action is and that always carries risk.....




Goodnight.....





https://youtu.be/U3_gd7xOtus?si=ipl2shuhf_aKa5gd

[Maurice Ali]

I finished up all the work on the roof on Sunday.



I also washed the car and touched up the paint chips in preparation for the waxing I do before winter. I also have to rust proof the car. September is when it all changes and toward the end it rains regularly so if you want to weather proof your brickwork you have to do it now.



I'm really going to get on top of preparing for the trip as a Monday morning flight means the weekend disappears faster than you think!



The video stuff is sent off to the ITU but don't expect much. These "voices" initiatives are usually focused on the young people, in-fact the awards ceremony I believe has like 40 years old as the oldest you can be to enter. I get why they do it - but some outliers like myself that are older but came into this very late get their ideas shut out, maybe a bit unfairly - just saying.



For these last minute videos you either constantly re-do it or you work with what you have. For my video I hate working off a script as it's distracting and more robotic a sort of message. So I chucked the script and just went for it. Doing that meant I forgot to say which country I was from. Easily fixed with me putting an audio file saying - From Canada!" at the start where you see me doing nothing with my head cocked to one side. Then in the statement I called all the places where the voting all could work as "satellite agencies" instead of "specialized agencies" The vast majority of watchers won't catch that as it rolled of my mouth so naturally. I did think about re-taking the video but more and more I liked the business definition of "satellite agencies". Truth is UN specialized agencies are a closed number definable things and places like the SDGs and the Commission for Social Development and all kinds of places where the vote could be used do not necessarily fall under the definition of "specialized agencies" - so we kept the video as is. There were other problems like the S25 screen turning off so while I was waving the phones around - so the S25 was a black screen. Glare off my glasses is always a thing but here it was only apparent in the top fringe. Another "bugaboo" was that at the start you got both my eyes with the white dot in the pupil that makes it look normal but for some reason I moved my head and the dot was gone on my right pupil. This gives you the "dead eye look" from me. My voice could have been a bit more animated. The hair worked out and made me more youthful - I already cut it down a bit for the trip after shooting the video.




Zoom in on my eyes and see the white dots on the pupils?




Now zoom in and my right eye has no dot and looks like a "dead eye"!



Like I said I will be surprised if they put that video in the montage - due to my age - but we will see. If you send in videos, keep the video slightly dark as they can match brightness to the other videos but too bright especially with "hot spots" can't be fixed. Also with the audio - slightly lower without spiking is best as too loud can spike and lowering it compresses the file and makes it mushy and less defined. I sent it in with one track as the person compiling the videos can double it up in post and they did not say anything about stereo or two tracks. The video is their's unless they don't accept it - then it's mine again.



My emergency trip insurance was only good for one day - September 21 - so I had to add the 22nd and 23rd (birthday) and pay double - I must be getting old.



Anyway that is your update today.




Goodnight.....




https://youtu.be/svRUxXMka_w?si=uG9BHgEwZWlb0dVU

[Maurice Ali]

Things are narrowing down on the advocacy front.



Instead of throwing darts at a board and hoping a dart would stick. Well, it sort of has and that's the SDGs for 2O30. That is because - so far - they were the only one to entertain the Worldwide Vote concept of participation at their yearly high level meeting in July.







Nothing happens by chance at the United Nations so I have to look at that opportunity as a form of guidance on where to concentrate my efforts. There are many good reasons to concentrate advocacy at the SDGs currently the "SDGs by 2030":


1. Me being "allowed" to even mention the idea of voting of the general public as a form of stakeholder participation.
2. We basically have three years for the reinvention of the SDGs to carry on as the goals will not be reached by 2030.
3. The Positive Mandate for Humanity can be used to cement a proper Global Social Contract for a more permanent form of the SDGs and allow a more fluid set of goals that can change as long as they are global and needed for humanity.
4. This goal of happiness with the Positive Mandate for Humanity is the non-political, non-cultural and non-religious goal that can be easily be embraced by all.
5. Having a proper generic goal above the current SDGs actually makes it easier to achieve the original goals as they are now a stepping stone to something else as opposed to this particular goal alone. For those involved in the current SDGs, achieving the goals does not make the thing irrelevant but easily moved on to other goals and a permanent instead of a ten year goal.
6. The SDGs are already there and you would not have to start the Global Social Contract from scratch. I fact the SDGs I believe were endorsed by all nations - it's easy acceptance as an entity is there to stay if we drop the time limit of ten year to an ongoing one because we have now made it a proper Global Social Contract.
7. Finally, as humanity now is a ongoing stakeholder with the Worldwide Vote there will be more
8. Participation and observance keeping everyone focused and honest about achieving the goals.



I could go on but you get the idea. The vote is a necessary thing for a social contract and to include all of humanity in it with a vote and thus self-determination for al is paramount. There is the real goal of increasing happiness in the world connected to the achievement of these SDG goals.







It could work and the possibility is there. This will be the material submitted at the ITU meeting and available on the website index pages.



So I now have a plan and direction. I could be worse - but - I don't know if this plan could be better, so we will go in this direction.....




Goodnight.....

[Maurice Ali]

Cruising along and then something stupid happens.



Went to the IAIJ forums just after I updated my iPhone to iOS 27 - and boom - the forums were all screwed up!




The other



The photos break out of the columns along with links. Strangely the S25 Ultra displays it properly. The Pixel 9 Pro and even the OnePlus Nord. Now you know I have so many phones around - to check all this stuff out when things go bad.



However the FOF forums are the same version and they display correctly on the iPhone - what is up with that? So I decided to change the style and it worked. So now if you go to the IAIJ forums you get the older style green forums found here:



https://www.iaij.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1165&sid=55f05d0e7db592ad780174908f1927ee



So that was the fix but I had to fix it in the middle of the night - so a crappy night's sleep for me.....




Anyway it's back to the trip and writing those letters for the VIPs.....




Goodnight.....