Editors • About the Site • Comes vs. Microsoft • Using This Web Site • Site Archives • Credibility Index • OOXML • OpenDocument • Patents • Novell • News Digest • Site News • RSS

03.22.08

Links 22/03/2008: KDE Plasma Contest, Yahoosoft Aids Suppressive Regime

Posted in News Roundup at 12:42 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNOME bluefish

Share this post: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Reddit
  • co.mments
  • DZone
  • email
  • Google Bookmarks
  • LinkedIn
  • NewsVine
  • Print
  • Technorati
  • TwitThis
  • Facebook

If you liked this post, consider subscribing to the RSS feed or join us now at the IRC channels.

Pages that cross-reference this one

3 Comments

  1. Victor Soliz said,

    March 22, 2008 at 2:24 pm

    Gravatar

    MS got economic interests on the Chinese Olympics, remember that MS has forced a deal with the Olympics authorities to require Silverlight poison in order to view the Olympics off line. Expect even more MS-ish support of the Chinese government soon.

  2. Roy Schestowitz said,

    March 22, 2008 at 9:30 pm

    Gravatar

    There are other examples of course. To just grab a few from my list of citations:

    [1] Yahoo!, Microsoft ink web pact with Chinese government

    Microsoft and Yahoo! have signed a pact with the Chinese government that “encourages” the big name web players to record the identities of bloggers and censor content. So says Reporters Without Borders, an organization that fights for journalistic rights across the globe.

    [2] Microsoft, Yahoo Tailor Ads To Users’ Behavior

    Google will remain on the sidelines — at least for now. But its Web portal rivals are stepping up their efforts to use behavioral targeting to make display, or banner, ads more relevant to Web site visitors.

    [3] Microsoft sued by Beijing student for privacy infringement

    Lu argued that Microsoft had violated his legal rights by providing a formal contract which had to be accepted in order to proceed with the installation.

    [4] Riding the social networks wave

    Before it would play along with a game like that, though, I’d suspect Microsoft, for its part, would probably want to buy Facebook. It will have trouble tolerating someone else’s platform getting that much traction. But it could certainly come up with the $10 billion (minimum) that would probably now be necessary for such a deal.

    [5] New software can identify you from your online habits

    That is the spectre raised by new research conducted by Microsoft. The computing giant is developing software that could accurately guess your name, age, gender and potentially even your location, by analysing telltale patterns in your web browsing history. But experts say the idea is a clear threat to privacy – and may be illegal in some places.

    [6] Microsoft patents the mother of all adware systems

    The adware framework would leave almost no data untouched in its quest to sell you stuff. It would inspect “user document files, user e-mail files, user music files, downloaded podcasts, computer settings, computer status messages (e.g., a low memory status or low printer ink),” and more. How could we have been so blind as to not see the marketing value in computer status messages?

    [7] Will Microsoft Put The Colonel in the Kernel?

    “The kernel meets The Colonel in a just-published Microsoft patent application for an Advertising Services Architecture, which delivers targeted advertising as ‘part of the OS.’

    [8] Microsoft could be teaching police to hack Vista

    Microsoft may begin training the police in ways to break the encryption built into its forthcoming Vista operating system.

    [9] Forget about the WGA! 20+ Windows Vista Features and Services Harvest User Data for Microsoft

    re you using Windows Vista? Then you might as well know that the licensed operating system installed on your machine is harvesting a healthy volume of information for Microsoft. In this context, a program such as the Windows Genuine Advantage is the last of your concerns. In fact, in excess of 20 Windows Vista features and services are hard at work collecting and transmitting your personal data to the Redmond company.

    [10] Yahoo! Answers is rejecting Open-Source options in answers

    Someone got a computer from a friend that has some serious problems with Windows. S/he has none of the disks (XP or restore) and was asking for recommendations.

    [...]

    How is recommending freely available and legal alternatives abuse? ImgBurn is also a perfectly legal program, so are Ubuntu and Kubuntu (they’re Linux).

    [11] Yahoo in China human rights case

    A human rights group in the US is suing Yahoo for alleged complicity in rights abuses and acts of torture in China.

    [12] Chinese Internet dissident committed to mental hospital

    “It is not acceptable that Chinese authorities use such methods to silence citizens who have merely peacefully voiced their opinions”, expressed the organisation in an announcement. Apparently authorities have not abandoned the practice of punishing those who have exposed the abuse of power and defied censorship by compulsorily committing them to mental institutions.

  3. Victor Soliz said,

    March 22, 2008 at 9:33 pm

    Gravatar

    Errata: when I said “off line” I actually meant “online”

What Else is New

  1. Links 25/5/2013: Beaglebone Black (BBB), Tizen Comeback

    Links for the day

  2. Red Hat Pays Microsoft-Linked Patent Troll Again, Refuses to Provide Details

    Another attack on GNU/Linux results in payment to trolls and silence from Red Hat, which keeps the FOSS community in the dark

  3. Microsoft Brings the Notion of Buying Games to End, Consumer Rights Groups Should Sue

    Not only is XBox eliminating the notion of owning and controlling one's console; new XBox paradigm aims to reduce one's control over purchased games, reducing buyers to temporary, transient consumers

  4. Links 24/5/2013: Fedora ‘Pidora’, CIvil Rights Debated in the US

    Links for the day

  5. Bill Gates Still Getting Richer Through For-Profit Investments, Now Wants to Brainwash Children in Schools in Favour of His Investments

    Some of the latest strategies used by the world's richest man to protect his investments and amass yet more money, adding to an ever-growing wealth while pretending it's a charity

  6. Microsoft Entryism and Its Effects on Corporate and Public Policy

    An aspect of Microsoft culture that ought not be overlooked because of its profound effect on society (private and public)

  7. Red Hat Should Follow Google's and Twitter's Footsteps on Patents to Avoid Becoming the Next Novell

    Red Hat continues to ignore my plea to defang the software patents it is applying for, potentially making them weaponised like Novell's and Sun's patents (e.g. Java at Oracle) upon buyout or another major event

  8. CAFC Decision Still Overridden by Overzealous Patent Lawyers in the Press, The Guardian and Other Corporate Press (CBS and AFP Included) Still Guard the Establishment

    Analysis of a sceptical kind of corporate press coverage regarding software patents in the US; great examples of how Microsoft- and Gates-funded press outlets tend to get it all wrong on the facts, smearing digital freedom fighters

  9. Software Patents Debate Still Open in New Zealand and the US

    In spite of distraction attempts, the debate over software patents continues to stress that there is a real danger

  10. WebM is No Ogg, It is Not Freedom-Respecting Anymore, Even in Countries That Have No Software Patents

    Why Google needs to fix the licence of VP9, or simply stop pretending that it should be the only de facto standard for multimedia

  11. Microsoft Violates Google Licences

    The champion of 'IP' and licensing (extortion) is not much of a champion after all, based on new reports, not just a lot of old ones

  12. Skype Teaches Us That All Microsoft Software Should be Assumed Spyware Unless Proven Otherwise

    The broader implications of Microsoft adding spying 'features' to Skype

  13. Links 23/5/2013: Threat to Civil Rights in UK, KDE 4.11 LTS

    Links for the day

  14. Links 22/5/2013: Debian GNU/Hurd, New Go Language Release

    Links for the day

  15. The FRAND Apple-Microsoft Conspiracy Attempts to Destroy Android/Linux, Ban Imports

    How Microsoft and Apple are using patents in bulk (sometimes acquired in unison, e.g. from Novell and Nortel) to artificially lower market saturation of the Android operating system or drive costs up

  16. Gates Foundation: Buying Influence for Bill's Ego and Bill's Profit

    New examples of power being acquired and investments (i.e. for profit) being funnelled into the beneficiaries

  17. Bill Gates Enters Financial Centres With His Goons Becoming US Budget Chief, Top Bankers

    How Bill Gates' staff is entering positions of financial power, indirectly giving Gates power over US (national and international) finance

  18. IBM Ignores Small Companies' Interests, Denies Patent Scope is a Problem, Focusing on Its Own Problems (Trolls) Instead

    How David Kappos and IBM (his longtime employer) continue to ignore the obvious problem which kills small businesses and everyone is complaining about

  19. The New York Times Publishes Factually-Flawed Patent Propaganda Benefiting Microsoft and Apple

    Eamonn Fingleton is rewriting history in the US' top newspaper, insinuating that patents contributed to the rise of software duopolists

  20. Software Patents Eligibility Likely to be Decided by SCOTUS

    Analyses suggest that an escalation by appeal to SCOTUS is likely to be the next stage in 'Bilski 2.0'

  21. Does Bill Gates Try to Flush GNU/Linux Down the Toilet in Kerala?

    Renting Microsoft software rather than using Free (as in freedom, or libre) software?

  22. Links 21/5/2013: Handbrake Turns 0.9.9, NetBSD 6.1

    Links for the day

  23. Links 20/5/2013: First Salifish Smartphone, Mageia 3 Released

    Links for the day

  24. Microsoft Corruption (Illegal Tenders) Stopped by European Court

    Microsoft cannot bypass public tenders, based on a ruling from a court of law in Europe

  25. Not Satire: Microsoft Wants to Show the World How Security is Done

    Software security 'standard' to be led by the company which made insecurity an acceptable engineering practice?

  26. Microsoft is Struggling to Maintain Industry 'Standards'

    With Microsoft's common carrier and browser share down considerably Microsoft finds itself increasingly irrelevant and it tries subversive means of making another comeback

  27. Microsoft Entryism and Bribery Get the Microsoft Way Implemented

    A recollection of very dirty tactics from Microsoft, which uses money to oppress, overthrow, and even hijack its opposition

  28. Patent Policy Laundering in the European Union and New Zealand

    How the so-called 'free' trade agreements help spread patent policy which favours software patents

  29. Ongoing Focus on Patent Litigation and Patent Trolls Reduces Focus on Software Patents

    The problem with increased focus on the players that use software patents litigiously and the litigation itself

  30. Andrew Y. Schroeder Shows That Patent Lawyers Are Sociopaths

    Bully and law misuser is trying to get his way with foul language, intimidation, and sheer lack of professionalism

RSS 64x64RSS Feed: subscribe to the RSS feed for regular updates

Home iconSite Wiki: You can improve this site by helping the extension of the site's content

Chat iconIRC Channel: Come and chat with us in real time

Recent Posts