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05.26.10

Novell’s Future in Fog Computing

Posted in Marketing, Novell, Servers at 4:20 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Foggy tree

Summary: Novell’s products — just like its future — are rather foggy

SEVERAL years ago Novell was marketing itself as an “open source” company because it was good PR. Nowadays, as we showed last week (and before that too), Novell uses the so-called 'cloud' bonanza as marketing pitch (we call it Fog Computing, which is a more suitable term emphasising the associated dangers). Here are some examples from this week’s news:

Managing application licences will define limits of cloud computing

[...]

Describing the strategy during his keynote presentation at the company’s Brainshare Europe conference, Javier Colado, president, Novell EMEA, said, “CIOs both need to support flexibility and regulatory compliance. Intelligent workload management provides an ability to mange [application] workloads in a secure and scalable way,” which he said would allow them to meet these distinct requirements.

This was also mentioned in a new interview with Novell’s CEO:

Identity Manager 4 is at the heart of Novell’s latest platform push, dubbed Intelligent Workload Management (IWM), in which applications are categorised with security credentials to automate deployment. IWM allows IT departments to specify whether an application can only run on physical hardware, whether it is okay to run on virtual machines, or whether it is safe to deploy in the public cloud.

Now it’s the “public cloud”. The word “public” is yet another euphemism (another popular one is “private”).

Novell’s Identity Manager is now marketed using the same buzzwords that include “cloud”. Here are some of the latest headlines (from the past few days alone):

This is a complete list. Notice how many headlines contain the word “cloud”. █

What Novell Still Does: Software Patents and .NET

Posted in GNU/Linux, Google, Microsoft, Mono, Novell at 4:01 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Ron Hovsepian begs Ballmer

Summary: Supine, weak, miserable Novell is doing the only things it still knows how to do, namely assisting Microsoft and amassing controversial patents on computer algorithms

FIVE more software patents have just been granted to Novell, which loves software patents very much (it’s always just software patents from Novell because Novell is not a hardware company). Microsoft too loves software patents because 85% of Microsoft's patent applications are said to be software patents.

Here is a list of Novell’s latest patents:

Method for rule locating, ordering and combining in a polyhierarichical environment , patent No. 7,725,416, invented by Duane Buss of West Mountain, assigned to Novell Inc. of Provo.

Recurrent billing maintenance with radio-frequency payment devices , patent No. 7,725,427, invented by Fred Bishop of Glendale, Ariz., and Peter D. Saunders of Salt Lake City.

System and method for restoring a database in a distributed database system , patent No. 7,725,428, invented by Brian Hawkins of Santaquin, Andrew Hodgkinson of Pleasant Grove, Daniel Sanders of Orem and Steven S. McLain of Provo, assigned to Novell Inc. of Provo.

Defragmentation in a virtual environment , patent No. 7,725,506, invented by Russell R. Stringham of Orem, assigned to Symantec Corp. of Mountain View, Calif.

System and method for providing advanced reservations in a compute environment , patent No. 7,725,583, invented by David B. Jackson of Spanish Fork, assigned to Adaptive Computing Enterprises Inc. of Provo.

System and method of imaging a memory module while in functional operation , patent No. 7,725,670, invented by Matthew A. Misbach of Orem, assigned to Novell Inc. of Provo.

Generic template to autogenerate reports for software target testing , patent No. 7,725,772, invented by Philip J. Proto of Groveland, Mass., assigned to Novell Inc. of Provo.

Audio-related system node instantiation , patent No. 7,725,826, invented by Richard Allen Kreifeldt of South Jordan, John Lee of Salt Lake City, William A. Plunkett of Granger, Ind., Timothy J. Shuttleworth of Woodland Hills, Calif., Andrew Stevenson of Hemel Hempstead, U.K. and Bruce Vander Werf of Elkhart, Ind., assigned to Harman International Industries Inc. of Northridge, Calif.

System and method for using sandboxes in a managed shell , patent No. 7,725,922, invented by Sebastien Pouliot of Beauport, Calif., assigned to Novell Inc. of Provo.

Mono and Moonlight are known to be patent problems, but why would Novell mind? It has patent ‘peace’ with Microsoft, unlike those other distributors of GNU/Linux. Novell is marketing itself based on this whole exclusive "peace of mind" thing.

Looking a few days back, Adrian Bridgwater from ZDNet was escorted by Microsoft and Novell to promote their relationship while IDG and The Register promote this Novell/Microsoft .NET assault on the Linux-based Android [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13]. The Street has a copy of one article

Novell, for its part, is announcing MonoDroid, a software development kit for building Android applications using code and libraries written for the Microsoft .Net development framework and languages like C#. MonoDroid functions with the Android SDK.

If this is how Novell ‘contributes’ to GNU/Linux, then it's better off sold away. █

Novell Spin-off — Not Just Novell — is Up for Sale (Key Day Today)

Posted in Finance, Novell, SLES/SLED at 3:50 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Novell happy year

Summary: Novell’s days may be numbered but a spin-off of Novell too faces a similar destiny

WHETHER Novell will sell itself in pieces or as a whole unit we do not know yet. What we do know is that Novell has plans to make a sale and the following new article describes SUSE Linux users as “nervous”. They did not boycott Novell and now they are suffering inside.

Novell reportedly put itself on the market last week, leaving SUSE Linux Enterprise users unsure about the fate of that open source operating system and other Novell products.

If the report in The Wall Street Journal is true, the bidding kicks off two months after Waltham, Mass-based Novell’s board turned down Elliott Partners $2 billion buyout offer. At that time, Novell said the price was inadequate, and it would explore other options, including stock buy-backs, cash dividends and more alliances.

A Novell spokesman provided no comment.

In the mean time, Novell last week released SUSE Linux Enterprise 11 Service Pack 1.

Over at Server Watch, Paul Rubens says that Novell “has run out of ideas.”

Novell is a company that has run out of ideas.

That’s not to say it doesn’t have some good software, or that there aren’t some very good people working there. But the fact is that despite having SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) and much else to offer, Novell is a company going nowhere fast. Ask yourself this — which of these two companies does it most resemble: Red Hat, the vigorous, thrusting fellow Linux server operating system vendor, or the crumbling Sun Microsystems, just before Oracle acquired it?

That may be a loaded question, but you know the answer, and it sure as heck isn’t Red Hat. There’s a smell of death about Novell these days, along with a sense that this is a company that will never again attain the heights it reached in the past with NetWare. Like Sun before the Oracle acquisition, it’s in terminal decline. You know it, I know it, and, it seems, the company’s management know it too.

Last week we wrote about LANDesk, a Novell spin-off which is also putting itself up for sale. Another article on the subject has just been published.

Utah-based LANDesk up for sale

[...]

The year was 1991. Intel Corp. acquired a spin-off from Provo-based Novell Inc. and named it LANDesk.

From Channel Insider we learn that:

Even Novell has put itself up for sale. And Brocade reportedly investigated the market for its own sale last year. Here’s what’s behind the trend.

Novell will report its latest results any moment and it is expected to beat expectations (it does not mean anything if expectations are deliberately set low).

Here is another new take from a financial news site:

Novell has floundered for years, and many consider it a directionless company. Still, it has long been thought of by many as a buyout candidate for well over a decade. The reasons are many, and a higher price is only more than obvious as to what is needed for a real buyout of Novell.

Motley Fool says:

Novell, the former networking software star, now finds itself on the auction block. It rebuffed an unsolicited buyout offer from a hedge fund two months ago. Now it’s simply opening up the bidding process. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that as many as 20 different bidders may be fielding offers. This could get interesting, and next week’s report may set the tone on how desperate Novell is to cash out.

There are up to twenty companies/hedge funds waiting in line, as reported last week.

Novell has put itself up for sale, several news outlets report. The Wall Street Journal reported that the Waltham, Massachusetts based company can count on up to 20 bidders, most of them private equity firms. An unsolicited takeover bid by Elliot Associates to buy Novell for $5.75 per share in cash was turned down in March 2010.

Money Control reports:

Hewlett-Packard Co is in the process of buying smartphone pioneer Palm Inc for USD 1.2 billion, while software maker Novell Inc has put itself up for sale.

From DZone we get more or less the same story (no new information).

Novell on the Auction Block

After a hedge fund organization was turned down for offering too little, Novell is now taking bids from up to 20 companies for its acquisition. There’s no indication whether Novell’s four business units (including Linux technology and identity management) will be sold separately. The sale of Novell is expected to be in access of the previously offered $2 billion price tag.

A friend of Novell, the VAR Guy, remains cautiously optimistic.

The big question: Will those partners — and other solutions providers — take a broader look at Novell’s entire product portfolio, as part of the IWM push? And of course, the biggest question of all: Is somebody ready to step in and acquire Novell?

Another new one from the VAR Guy:

Novell vs. Mandriva: Don’t Confuse 2 Potential Linux Sales

Novell, promoter of SUSE Linux, is listening to potential takeover bids. Mandriva, promoter of a Linux distribution that has 3 million users, is in discussions with potential investors. As a result, some pundits think Mandriva Linux and Novell SUSE Linux face similar business challenges. The VAR Guy begs to differ.

The coming days will matter and the coming week/month will be a crucial one for Novell, which will probably announce that units of the company or the company as a whole is being sold. █

Latvia’s Digital Independence Under Attack by Microsoft

Posted in Bill Gates, Europe, Microsoft, OpenOffice, Steve Ballmer at 2:59 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

“Linux infestations are being uncovered in many of our large accounts as part of the escalation engagements.”

–Microsoft Confidential

Coat of Arms of Latvia

Summary: Latvian sovereignty is at risk due to Microsoft’s and Bill Gates’ involvement with politicians, which leads to disruption of local migrations to freedom-respecting software such as OpenOffice.org, GNU/Linux, and Firefox

A READER of ours from Latvia has just mailed us some information about his/her home country (anonymity is preferred here), where Microsoft has been suppressing freedom using its proprietary code and back room deals. We wrote about the subject in the following posts and recent English references that we are appended at the bottom of this post.

AUSTRUMI is a Latvian GNU/Linux distribution we don’t hear so much about anymore (last release seemingly announced a year and a half ago). It used to describe itself as “a business card size (50MB) bootable Live CD Linux distribution.  Imagine the ability to boot your favorite Linux distribution whether you are  at home, at school or at work.”

“Microsoft lobbying is super big in Latvia!!”
      –Anonymous source“There is [an] interesting link,” tells us a reader, “which must be added for all in Techrights website.” The link contains information about Project 3td.

Watch this page to witness how both Microsoft and super-lobbyist Gates are pushing Microsoft into Latvia. Are they trying to just block or suppress the country’s astounding adoption rates of Free software (see links below)? It’s always described as ‘donations’ and goodwill (even the Gates Foundation gets involved). It’s just wonderful when attacking one’s competition can be spun as being charitable and it takes great PR skills to achieve this deception.

There are some other pointers sent by the reader (but not in English), e.g.

That last link is translated by Google to say:

Zatlers of Latvia: Latvian IT professionals and Microsoft’s co-operation can bring real projects to be proud

[...]

The project was initiated and Valdis Zatlers Microsoft Executive Steve Balmer meeting in May this year. The president believes that the project is not only important from the standpoint of modern technology, but also from small countries in the language of the conservation, improvement and convenient everyday use, using IT software. To continue the project as a guardian, he promises to carefully monitor the project.

Language Bank was discussed at Tuesday meeting V. Zatlers, Microsoft International and Microsoft Central and eastern regional vice president Vahem Torosjanam, Microsoft Latvia Head Daiga Trump and company Tilde Head A. Vasilyev.

We wrote about Ballmer’s meeting at the time because there was English coverage (see links at the top).

Our reader stressed the urgency of the matter by writing: “Microsoft lobbying is super big in Latvia!! Can you help???? Please, please!!! Is there possible to inform about this problem our President of Latvia which is infected too!!!! [...] Please help Latvia. [...] Is there possible to inform Red Hat CEO and maybe there will be possible to put this question up???? Are you have any contacts with CEO of Red Hat??”

If anybody can help (there are some Red Hat employees who read this site for example), please do get involved and help Latvia get back to its agenda of software freedom. Microsoft is clearly trying to derail it by pushing aside the Latvian people and greasing up their politicians instead. █
_____
[1] LV: City council to provide OpenOffice courses

The city council of Ogre is providing free training for OpenOffice, an Open Source suite of office applications, to improve the competitiveness of the local businesses and boost the performance of the local government.

Ogre, a town with some 27,000 inhabitants is about 30 km southeast of Latvia’s capital Riga.

[2] Latvians Love Firefox

The first day of each month often brings great news. A month ago, we saw that the latest browser market share data showed Firefox surpassing the 50% milestone in Slovakia and the Philippines. Today, we can say the same about Firefox usage in Latvia!

[3] LV: Ministry of Education approves open source software for schools

Open source can be used to teach computer science classes to secondary school pupils, Latvia’s ministry of Education announced on Tuesday.

The ministry bases its conclusion on the work of a group of experts, industry association representatives, ministry officials and school representatives. The group in August started looking for open source applications that could be used for computer science classes.

According to the group open source software will be able to fulfil all requirements of the computer education curriculum in primary and secondary schools.

[4] mCash-strapped Latvia mulls switching from Microsoft

Cash-strapped Latvia is mulling whether to replace brand name office software like Microsoft with an open source equivalent as a cost-cutting measure, a government spokeswoman told AFP Thursday.

[5] Approval For Open Source Software For Schools Has Been Announced By Ministry Of Education

Open source can be used to teach computer science classes to secondary school pupils, Latvia’s Ministry of Education announced on 1 December 2009.

The ministry bases its conclusion on the work of a group of experts, industry association representatives, ministry officials and school representatives. In August 2009 the group started looking for open source applications that could be used for computer science classes.

According to the group, open source software will be able to fulfil all requirements of the computer education curriculum in primary and secondary schools.

BSA Attacks the Right to Software Freedom in the Czech Republic; Similar Offenses in the UK, Finland

Posted in Europe, Free/Libre Software, Microsoft at 2:08 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Prague cows
Prague cows, 2005

Summary: The BSA continues to make life a lot harder for Free/libre software; message about the situation in Finland is reproduced

THE BSA is up to old tricks again. It is trying to marginalise Free software either by declaring it illegal, making it inconvenient to get hold of, nearly impossible to pass through the authorities, or more expensive to deploy due to artificial limitations imposed by the BSA and those whom its lobbyists can reach.

This time the BSA’s victim of the Czech Republic:

BSA: Hardware Without Software Not Tax Deductible

The Czech Ministry of Finance along with the BSA threaten to disallow deducting hardware from base tax if purchased without software. This idea stems from their joint proclamation that for software to be used legally, it must be bought – thus completely ignoring the existence of free and open source software which can be obtained legally without any purchase whatsoever. The Ministry and the BSA have issued a press release which basically labels all users of ‘free software’ pirates. Many public organizations and companies (including Red Hat and Novell) have expressed their dismay at such actions of the Ministry.

There are similar stories here in the UK, as covered in our previous posts on the BSA (back in 2007 and later). Other agencies subservient to Microsoft’s interests (and proprietary software at large) include BECTA, but fortunately the British government is killing it (what took so long?). “Good Riddance,” says the headline from Glyn Moody who explains and provides some background:

Not quite on the scale of cancelling the ID cards project, the news that Becta would be shut down was nonetheless further evidence of the coalition government’s new broom whooshing into action.

Although there seems to be a wide range of views on whether this is a good or bad thing – see this post and its comments for a representative selection – for me Becta was pretty much an unmitigated disaster for free software in this country, and I’m glad to see it go.

I write not just as someone who has followed free software for 15 years, but as a parent. Never mind that schools almost without exception are stuffed to the gunwales with Microsoft’s technology – including, unbelievably, Internet Explorer when it was still totally insecure.

What I find particularly outrageous is the fact that even today, some of the educational websites used by schools don’t even work with Firefox, and that there is a presumption that parents have a copy of Microsoft Office at home (whether it was bought or “borrowed” from work doesn’t seem to matter to IT departments much.) Most of the responsibility for this parlous state of affairs can be laid at the door of Becta.

Somebody from Finland informed us of similar injustices in his/her country (relating to copyright, which is similar to the issue of software freedom and the propaganda the BSA spread this month [1, 2] along with Microsoft). For the purpose of wider exposure, we reproduce the comment below. █

1. http://yle.fi/uutiset/viihde/2010/05/nettipiratismi_aiheuttaa_suomessa_jattitappiot_1708634.html
(URL title: Internet piracy causes huge losses in Finland)

This is where this all started now on May 25th, once again. I haven’t seen it on *ANY* english pages of any outlet yet.
LYHTY (registered association, just like most of the IP alley dogs barking here in .fi, but for some reason they’re allowed to have lots of publicity AND influence when making the laws)
ordered a questionnaire from “Taloustutkimus” about intellectual property, who then asked 3000 people, from 15 to 79 years.
This was posted verbatim on most, if not all newspapers and www news outlets in the country.

Their main site is at http://www.antipiracy.fi/inenglish/ , with participants listed at http://www.antipiracy.fi/lisatietoa/toimijat/
Same bunch of puppets behind the widenation.fi campaign which got mentioned on http://www.boingboing.net/2010/05/20/finnish-record-indus.html

They now claim that
a) 33% would have bought music from (internet) shops if there wouldn’t have been a free option
b) 16% of all households download “illegal” files
c) average amount of downloaded music per household was 380 tracks, most done by teens and young adults
d) in households of people over 50 years of age, there’s almost no “illegal” downloading
e) 355 million euros lost annually by downloading – but as usual, there are no details at all how this figure was determined

So now lyhty is trying to drive through a two-stop mechanism in Finland, consisting of a warning letter and then suing to court.

2. http://yle.fi/uutiset/talous_ja_politiikka/2010/05/wallin_lupaa_toimia_nettipiratismin_kitkemiseksi_1710113.html
(URL title: Wallin promises actions to curb internet piracy)

Stefan Wallin is the minister of culture in Finland.

Translation:
Stefan Wallin thinks the “new” information about widespread internet piracy is startling.
Says these show that electronic commerce isn’t in shape in Finland.
He promises to propose an amendment in the law already during this year, which is aimed at making “three strikes”-threats possible.
Of course usual BS about letting parents know about their children pirating on the net is included in the reasoning.

3. http://yle.fi/uutiset/kotimaa/2010/05/nettikommentoijat_purkivat_nettipiratismin_taustoja_1709933.html
(URL title: Selected comments to previous article)

4. http://www.uusisuomi.fi/kulttuuri/93366-nettilataaja-viimeinen-varoitus-tulossa
(URL title: Internet downloader, your last warning is about to arrive)

Additional info to the above ones:
Amendment to the law is already done in ministry of education and culture, about to be sent into parliament handling!
( http://www.minedu.fi/OPM/Tiedotteet/2010/05/wallin_nettipiratismi.html?lang=fi )

5. http://yle.fi/uutiset/kulttuuri/2010/05/tietoliikenneala_hyvaksyy_varoituskirjeet_tietyin_ehdoin_1710867.html
(URL title: FiCom aka Finnish Federation for Communications and Teleinformatics approves warning letters with some conditions)

Reijo Svento from FiCom says: We’re going to live with this new law, in case parliament decides to rubber-stamp on it. He also claims that this is going on worldwide..
It also requires a change into law about electronic privacy, since at the moment ISP’s cannot handle customer records due to piracy suspicions.
FiCom’s conditions:
a) Warning letters must be sent coming from the holder of IP
b) They must also bear the costs
c) ISP’s must not be required to keep records about people who have been suspected for piracy
And a comment from pirate party, see #6.

Suvi Lindén is also mentioned. She’s famous for being minister of communications without a clue how to handle anything regarding to her position.
Read: Whatever IP baddies whisper to her, will happen.

6. http://www.piraattipuolue.fi/ajankohtaista/lehdistoetiedotteet/474-piraattipuolue-ei-halua-uhkailukirjeitae-yhteenkaeaen-kotiin
(URL title: Pirate party doesn’t want threatening letters sent to any homes)

7. http://blog.starwreck.com/2010/05/25/avoin-kirje-ministeri-stefan-wallinille/
(URL title: An open letter to minister Stefan Wallin)

There’s a note in english at the bottom: “This post is in Finnish, an open letter to Finland’s minister of culture, who is ramping up anti-piracy initiatives in a way we find destructive to the media business.”
They are the makers of Star Wreck movie and currently working on Iron Sky.
Very good and thorough points, like why the effort (and money) isn’t spend on making those ecommerce shops available and good enough instead of threatening the buyers?
Another – would Wallin want to have all the mail examined because of financial crimes?

8. http://blog.piraattipuolue.fi/2010/05/piratismi-tuottaa-kansalle-yli-miljardi-euroa-voittoa-vuodessa/
(URL title: Piracy profits the people with over a billion euros annually)

Comment on the debate from blog of Pirate party.

Inside-trading Microsoft President Quits the Company, Allard Does Too

Posted in Fraud, Hardware, Microsoft at 1:58 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Red handcuffs

Summary: Without a jail sentence — let alone an investigation — Robbie Bach exits Microsoft along with his sidekick from the division that cost Microsoft billions of dollars in losses

SEVERAL days ago we wrote about J Allard, who rumours suggested had left Microsoft [1, 2]. For those who do not know, J Allard is responsible for losing billions of dollars in failed projects at Microsoft. He’s a key mastermind/engineer in some atrocious products like Zune. We now have it confirmed that J Allard is indeed leaving Microsoft, joining the long list of top executives who quit the company in recent years. To make matters worse, J Allard metaphorically takes with him a Microsoft President, who also seems to have decided to abandon the boat while it’s rocking. We are talking about Robbie Bach, the corrupt (yet above the law) Microsoft executive with direct oversight involving money holes (or sinks) such as Xbox. What future is left for Microsoft in hardware then? Re-badged mice and keyboards from the far east?

The severity of these two new departures is so high that Steve Ballmer needed to formally announce it himself with a tone of ‘damage control’ [1, 2].

Microsoft Chief Experience Officer J Allard sent out a goodbye note of his own on May 25, the date that Microsoft announced officially that both Allard and Entertainment and Devices President Robbie Bach are leaving the company.

Over at GigaOM, a site which Microsoft used to pay for some AstroTurfing (sneakily throwing slogans into posts), there is pondering about Allard, Bach, and Ballmer. There were a lot of articles/material written back in 2008 (when Microsoft began a big decline) about the need to fire Steve Ballmer. There is nobody left who can inherit his position and besides, being the PR disaster that he is, it’s probably good that he remains CEO (his predecessor spends billions investing to empower other monopolies and laundering his criminal past with legions of PR people). █

“On the day of the sentencing, the gang members [Microsoft executives] maintained that they had done nothing wrong, saying that the whole case was a conspiracy by the white power structure to destroy them. I am now under no illusions that miscreants will realize that other parts of society view them that way.”

–Supreme Court Justice Jackson

Eric Raymond Explains Why Linux (Android) ‘Outguns’ Apple in ‘Technology and User-visible Features’

Posted in Apple, DRM, Europe, GNU/Linux, Google at 1:00 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Eric Raymond's mug

Summary: “Apple has been outflanked by Google’s multi-vendor strategy, outsold in new unit sales, and is now outgunned in technology and user-visible features,” says a well-known Open Source figure

MR. Eric Raymond has just argued that it’s a “bad time to be an Apple fanboy”. Apple’s latest despicable moves are a subject we wrote about this morning and Apple is not even winning against Linux. In fact, it has actually alienated many of those so-called ‘fanboys’. Raymond ends his post with the following statement:

I’m not going to count off the rest of the feature list here, because I want to focus on the larger picture. Apple has been outflanked by Google’s multi-vendor strategy, outsold in new unit sales, and is now outgunned in technology and user-visible features. Again, I was expecting this…but not so soon.

Now is a good time to point out the embarrassment that we have in the UK, namely that elected officials decided to acquire some of the most draconian products ever to exist and to give them to people who run the country. What an utterly bad example to be setting, never mind the issue of cost (the cost of freedom is vastly higher than Apple’s generic devices that are assembled by children in Chinese sweatshops).

From The Times:

MEPs get £4m taste for Apple iPad

[...]

Marta Andreasen, the UKIP member who sits on the budget committee, said: “We were told the iPads would actually cut costs as they are not expensive and that we would be able to stay connected while outside the office or on holidays, but many of the older MEPs don’t even know how to use the internet properly.

“I am against that because it seems completely unnecessary, especially when European taxpayers are facing such difficult times.”

A parliament spokeswoman denied that there were plans to obtain iPads for MEPs in the “immediate future” and said she was not familiar with the bureau initiative.

Why would anyone want to promote a technology cult inside parliament, and one that puts control in the hands of a foreign company with its own secret digital locks, kill switches, and potentially back doors? Ideally, parliament should assemble computers with exchangeable parts (it’s not hard to do these days) and put on them free code which it can inspect, control, enhance, and share with the public too. This free code is some of the best which is out there and it’s always improving. █

Links 26/5/2010: Fedora 13 Celebrations

Posted in News Roundup at 12:31 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNOME bluefish

Contents

GNU/Linux

  • Why GNU+Linux is > GNU/Linux and > just Linux

    Let’s get the obvious out of the way, we advocate for computer software users’ freedom. The Free Software Foundation and GNU Project are responsible for most of the software we use everyday. At InaTux Computers, we of course use the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) to compile custom Linux kernels (when customers want them), as well as other custom software modifications customers may want (such as hardware optimization). Our compiling is of course done in GNOME Terminal running GNU BASH, and most software we compile require the GNU C Library, GTK+, gtkmm, etc.

  • Desktop

    • 6 things Microsoft needs to do before I’ll take Windows seriously

      While I’m going to address security later in this article, let me say one thing about Windows Updates: you need them. If you are not applying updates at least monthly, you will regret it, unless you’re one of those oddball system administrators who doesn’t MIND finding that your servers are part of a botnet, or have been turned into a porn server, or a spam server, or more on the stability side of things, are ridden with bugs that Microsoft has deemed worthy of fixing in a patch or a hotfix.

      As for my second truth there, in my experience Windows servers act “funny” when they’ve been up and running (and providing some service, not just sitting idle) for longer than a month or so. Odd things will happen… you might see some out of control paging file usage, bizarre error messages, services that are in some sort of “starting” or “shutting down” limbo (which only a reboot can fix), you know the drill.

      My point is, Windows servers need frequent reboots. If you’re a Windows IT person and you don’t think that only a month of uptime isn’t ridiculous, then you obviously haven’t done anything other than Windows in your data center, because I’m here to tell you: it’s nuts.

      Microsoft needs to address stability first and foremost, and while they’re at it, and while we’re on the subject of uptime, they need to engineer things in a way that won’t require a reboot for seemingly EVERY SINGLE UPDATE.

      My last maintenance evening I had to reboot one particular server four times in order for it to take all of its updates, and it had only been two weeks since its last round of them. That’s ridiculous. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve actually HAD to reboot a Linux machine after applying pushed-out updates for it.

      [...]

      I always find it funny when I read articles that are mostly FUD that say things like “Linux is not ready for the desktop” and “not ready for the enterprise”, because as I just discussed, the reality of the situation is that well, neither is Windows. Whether you’re running XP or Windows 7, Server 2003 or Server 2008, you’ll find that compared to the alternatives, you’re running something that requires constant attention, constant hand holding, constant reboots, constant patching, constant reloading, troubleshooting, more hardware requirements, and more security-mindedness in your administrative approach, just to do its job.

    • I’ve Installed Linux, Now What?

      How do you deliver the bad news to someone who is upset, technically unsavvy and has just overwritten their Windows system with Linux?

      He had installed a second hard disk in his system and wanted to put Linux there. The problem was that when he installed it, he did so to the primary (Windows) disk.

      I looked up a PC Recovery business in the phone book for him and politely told him, “Good luck.” I unplugged my phone until the next morning.

      I’ll never know what happened to that guy or if he ever recovered his files or his Windos system. But, it makes me wonder if that scenario could play out today with our newer, cooler, smarter installers. Could that happen on Ubuntu, for example

    • Teen builds computer lab for Traceway residents

      Next, he installed a Linux-based operating system that would be easy to use. The Ubuntu operating system had the added benefit of being free.

  • Audiocasts

  • Kernel Space

    • The kernel column #87

      The past month saw steady progress toward the final 2.6.34 kernel release, including the announcement of initial Release Candidate kernels 2.6.34-rc1 through 2.6.34-rc4. The latter had an interesting virtual memory bug that added a week of delay (I will cover that in a future issue), and of course there was already an incompatible release of the nouveau graphics driver that was covered in last month’s column. But such issues aside, the 2.6.34 kernel is otherwise shaping up to be a good release, including a number of new features of some note as well as fixes for various performance regressions that have affected some of the more recent comparative benchmarks against older releases.

  • Applications

  • Desktop Environments

    • K Desktop Environment (KDE SC)

      • The Trinity Project Picks Up Where KDE 3.5.10 Left Off

        Hey, pst! Yes, you! I know you’ve been crying yourself to sleep at night ever since those mean, mean people developing the K Desktop Environment decided to radically change the way your favorite DE worked and release the dreaded “4″ version. Good news! There’s no more need to get over it and move on with your life, as, apparently, the God of open source decided to bring you a fork of KDE 3. Ok, maybe not God, but a company/team that goes under the name of Pearson Computing.

      • Sneak preview for coming KDE SC 4.5

        KDE SC 4.5 is in feature freeze right now. Therefore, I decide to share some of early screenshots with you. In General there are no major changes. It is all about polishing and fixing bugs. There is a lot of under-hood changes in libs which as enduser we cannot see. KDE SC will be release in August 2010. Now I will let you enjoy the screenshots.

      • Qt Multimedia/Mobility vs. Phonon: FIGHT!!!

        Well it’s not really like that, but I guess those involved can think about it a bit like that at times!. For some background, Phonon is a Multimedia framework that was included in Qt 4 as far as I understand it, it was developed outside Qt, but was adopted (please correct me if my history is incorrect here). It was designed to give application developers easy access to media playback systems, be it MP3 music or new fangled WebM video! Rather than implement any of the complex stuff itself, Phonon hands off the actual decoding and playback parts to existing media frameworks. Originally Qt wrote a GStreamer “backend” for Phonon and this was the only available backend on Linux in the early stages (others were available for other platforms too). I personally think that GStreamer was a good choice. I think it is a very powerful system, but it’s not for the feint hearted. I wont begin to pretend that I understand it (although I have hacked my way through some GST code!), but the principle of it’s operation seemed to fit the needs of the Phonon project very nicely.

    • GNOME Desktop

      • Mutter 2.31.2 Brings Performance, Theme Enhancements

        Over the past 48 hours or so there has been a horde of GNOME 3.0 development packages being checked in for the forthcoming development snapshot (GNOME 2.31.2). Yesterday we reported on the Clutter 1.3/1.4 enhancements and now there’s a release of Mutter, which happens to use Clutter, and it too boasts some interesting changes from the previous development release.

      • GNOME Shell 2.31.2 Brings Exciting Changes Too

        The GNOME Shell 2.31.2 also boasts some interesting changes, including a magnifier option being added for accessibility reasons (though it may find uses for general purposes too), the GNOME Shell clock is now configurable, IM notifications within the message tray now use Telepathy and support in-line messaging, a performance event log that tracks events has been added to the GNOME Shell Performance Framework, an initial application menu has been added to the top panel, many interface enhancements, many Shell Toolkit enhancements, and quite a few bug/build fixes.

      • The Default Nautilus Will Soon Look A Lot Like Nautilus Elementary

  • Distributions

    • UCK your own Linux distro!

      That’s why you might want to construct your own distribution. Perhaps you know exactly how a good Linux distro should be, and every time you install Linux you set up specific applications and settings. Set your own distro up and bingo, every time you load it onto a new machine it is exactly how you like it.

      There are tutorials online how to roll your own Linux distro but here’s a new tool which makes it dead simple to base something on the ever-popular Ubuntu.

    • Paris Descartes University’s UFR Biomédicale turns to Mandriva to improve its infrastructure management

      Paris Descartes University’s UFR Biomédicale has installed the Mandriva Linux operating system on client desktops and servers to ensure a permanent stability and optimise the work of its 4,500 students.

      The ‘UFR Biomédicale’ of Saints-Pères embraces within the Paris Descartes University different medical and life science academic units and 14 laboratories attached to the CNRS and INSERM research institutions.

    • Red Hat Family

      • Red Hat: The one true open source company?

        Oracle boasts an extensive list of free and open source software, now more than ever with its recent acquisition of Sun. IBM is a key contributor to the Linux kernel and dozens of other high-profile open source projects. Google has released millions of lines of code of Android, Chrome, and GWT (Google Web Toolkit) for public use.

      • Fedora

        • Fedora 13 Propels Open Source Innovation

          The Fedora Project, a Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE: RHT) sponsored and community-supported open source collaboration, today announced the availability of Fedora 13, the latest version of its free open source operating system distribution. Fedora 13 combines some of the latest open source features with an open and transparent development process. Fedora 13 includes a variety of features and improvements to enhance desktop productivity, assist in software development, and improve virtualization.

        • Fedora 13 – Linux for Applephobes

          That focus on the more tech savvy, contributing users is reflected in Fedora 13, where you’ll find open source, 3D-capable graphics drivers, excellent Python tools, some very nice color management tools, and other less flashy improvements.

        • Linux Outlaws 151 – Fedora 13 Release Special

          We celebrate the release of Fedora 13 and have a look at the new features and improvements.

        • Work underway to keep Xen support in Fedora 13

          As for KVM, Red Hat is, of course, a major contributor to Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM), a project the company committed to when it purchased KVM’s pioneer Qumranet in 2008. Red Hat’s commercial version, RHEL 6.0, was the first RHEL version to have dropped support for the Xen hypervisor.

        • Fedora 13 Lightscribe labels

          Nelson Marques and James Findley (siXy) have put together a set of LightScribe disc labels for Fedora 13. I don’t know if there is a way to use them using free software (I don’t have a LightScribe drive) – I know you can use LightScribe’s proprietary app in Fedora to make them. Anyway, these seem to be popular every release so here they are fresh for your F13 arch of choice, thanks to Nelson and James!

        • Fedora 13 Linux “Goddard” Takes Flight

          The Red Hat-sponsored Fedora Project today officially released the Fedora 13 Linux distribution, codenamed “Goddard,” with improvements aimed at both new and experienced Linux users.

          The new Fedora 13 release comes six months after Fedora 12′s debut and continues to enhance the Linux operating system experience for its users. Fedora 13 includes improved virtualization, along with other developer, desktop and server improvements.

        • The Coding Studio OS Screenshots: Fedora 13 Screenshots

    • Debian Family

      • SimplyMEPIS 8.5

        The last time I looked at SimplyMEPIS was the 8.0 release. In this review I’ll be taking a look at the latest version, SimplyMEPIS Linux 8.5. SimplyMEPIS is based on Debian, and it uses KDE as its desktop environment.

        [...]

        Summary: SimplyMEPIS offers a viable, KDE-based alternative to some of the better known desktop distros. It’s worth considering if you want a workhorse desktop distro rather than a showhorse.

        Rating: 4

      • Ubuntu/Canonical

        • Ubuntu’s Unity Desktop: Reality vs. Rationales

          Over the past year, Ubuntu has become one of the centers for usability design on the Linux desktop. You might criticize this effort because it takes place in the distribution, rather than as contributions to the GNOME desktop, but at least it is happening. Moreover, this effort is being discussed far beyond the outer reaches of the Ubuntu community.

          Part of the reason for this discussion is because Ubuntu’s popularity automatically makes it influential.

          Yet an even more important reason for the interest is that Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth has made usability his personal obsession. Not only has he withdrawn from managing the business affairs of Canonical, Ubuntu’s commercial arm, in order to devote his full attention to it, but — what really matters — he blogs about usability decisions as they are announced.

        • Five Usability Improvements in Ubuntu 10.04

          While no operating system is perfectly intuitive, Ubuntu gives its competitors a good run when it comes to usability. Other Linux distributions, and proprietary operating systems, certainly do some things better than Ubuntu. But all in all, I’m impressed with the attention to user-friendliness evident in Lucid.

        • Canonical Landscape 1.5 Extends Ubuntu Linux Management for Enterprises

          Landscape 1.5 is being officially announced this week, providing users of Ubuntu Linux with new management and deployment capabilities.

          The new Landscape follows the debut of Ubuntu’s most recent Long-Term Support (LTS) release, the latest edition of the open source Linux distro aimed at providing enterprises with the ability to maintain and upgrade their deployed Ubuntu distributions. Now with the Landscape 1.5 release, Canonical, the lead commercial sponsor behind the Ubuntu Linux operating system, is extending its management platform as it looks to further grow its enterprise business.

        • Variants

          • Linux Mint 9 Review

            Chromium and Flock now in the repositories! Nice!! My biggest wow moment concerns the AWN dock but I think I may have to do a review of it on its own merits :D The Hardware Analysis tool is going to be very useful in terms of getting the information needed to do troubleshooting, especially with the copy to clipboard option which is very useful when trying to get help with an issue..just copy and paste the problem right into the forum!

            So my overall, unbiased opinion? I give Linux Mint 9 a solid A for performance and an A/A- for appearance. I’ve heard various sources saying this is up there for top distro release this year and I believe it. Linux newbies, this one’s for you!

          • Linux Mint 9: Solid, Simple, Shiny

            Overall, I find Linux Mint to be a fine desktop distro. Being based on Ubuntu, the package selection is huge and you can also get decent support for third-party apps like Dropbox. It’s a good GNOME-based distribution, though it doesn’t stay perfectly in step with upstream GNOME default applications. It’s also a pretty solid distro. I haven’t run into any major glitches or problems since starting with the Mint RC a few weeks ago.

            Linux Mint has quite a lot to offer. If you’re new to Linux or want a distro to recommend to someone who’s new to Linux, Mint is one of the best to start with. The inclusion of “restricted” codecs and such is likely to rankle some Free Software purists but can help get new users transitioned to Linux a bit more quickly. Since Mint 9 is based on an Ubuntu Long Term Support (LTS) release, users have support for the desktop through 2013, which makes it even more ideal for new users. If you haven’t settled on a distro yet, or want one to recommend to friends and family, Mint is an excellent choice.

  • Devices/Embedded

    • Android

      • Want Android On Your iPhone? It’s Ready For Download

        Last month we reported that an enterprising young hacker named David Wang had managed to successfully port Android on to the Apple iPhone. Wang noted the release wasn’t far away from making his work available, just that he needed time to clean his code before releasing the binaries for public consumption.

      • Android UFO/Chopper/Blimp2.0: Parrot AR.Drone [VIDEO]

        You probably wouldn’t be surprised to learn that one of the coolest products being demonstrated at Google IO was an Android device but you probably wouldn’t have guessed it is a vehicle… and not the Chevy Volt.

      • Why Google’s Android Could Rule Connected Cars

        The recent linking of General Motors and Google for a handful of services related to the plug-in Chevy Volt marks an intersection for automakers and Internet giants. The two industries — one little changed for centuries decades and marked by steel and manufacturing, the other constantly morphing over the past decade and ruled by chips and algorithms — will come together more and more as “connected” cars begin to offer a new platform for development, innovation and revenue.

      • Android Has Won — Time for Chrome OS to Move Along?

        Yes Google held a press conference where co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin talked up the Chrome Web Store, but that was pretty much it. That’s because while Chrome is still waiting for its day in the sun, Android has taken on a life of its own. By the time the Chrome OS becomes available via devices on store shelves, who knows where Android will be.

    • Tablets

      • Dell launches Streak tablet PC across Europe

        PC giant Dell has joined the increasing number of firms offering a tablet device.

        The world’s number three computer manufacturer says that its Streak – also known as the Mini 5 – is the first of a number of planned products.

        The Streak is smaller than most tablets with a 5in (12.5cm) screen and runs Google’s Android operating system.

Free Software/Open Source

  • AbiWord: The Underappreciated Word Processor

    Network effects being what they are, OpenOffice.org tends to suck all the oxygen out of the room when talking about open source productivity applications. But OpenOffice.org isn’t the only game in town for open source word processing. One of the best, if underexposed, open word processors is AbiWord.

  • CloudCourse: An Enterprise Application in the Cloud

    At Google we have experts on everything from Python to penguins. However, connecting our expert teachers to eager students around the globe can be a complicated business. To that end, we are excited to release our new internal learning platform, CloudCourse under an open source license. Built entirely on App Engine, CloudCourse allows anyone to create and track learning activities. CloudCourse also offers calendaring, waitlist management and approval features.

  • EditShare Announces First Ever Lightworks Open Source platform

    Though its not Blender related news it is open source news for editing which I felt warranted mention here. I’ll let you in the community figure out if its worth it or not. From what I’ve read it on their site, it looks impressive. Have any of you ever used it?

  • Multimedia

    • The Very Best Open Source Tools For Video, Audio and Graphics

      If you cycle back 10 years, the sophistication of and available tools for working with video, audio, and graphics–including working with them online–lagged far behind what is available today. The improvement in the available tools has hardly been lost on the open source world, where some best-of-breed tools are available at absolutely no cost. In this post, you’ll find a roundup of our most significant posts on open source tools for video, audio and graphics. There are many gem applications to be found here.

    • Is VP8 open source?

      The license that Google has chosen for VP8 isn’t technically an approved license from the OSI (Open Source Initiative), the group that decides what is and what isn’t a bona fide open source license. At least that’s the view of former Sun Chief Open Source Officer Simon Phipps.

    • Google open codec ‘not open,’ says OSI man

  • Mozilla

    • The Firefox plugin checker needs to be checked
    • An Open Web App Store
    • Mozilla Weave Being Rebranded as Firefox Sync
    • quick update on Korea

      Kim Tong-hyung, staff reporter for the Korea Times, is the only reporter providing English-language coverage of the news on the Microsoft monopoly in S. Korea.

      I wanted to share two recent articles from Kim Tong-hyung, one covering the event that Mozilla’s Lucas Adamski attended at the end of April and another covering the “anti-virus” industry in Korea, which is one of the incumbent industries that would be significantly negatively affected if the Korean government moved away from the current PKI-based encryption architecture.

  • Databases

    • PostgreSQL 9.0 is now in Betaphase

      The PostgreSQL developers’ community recently published the first Beta version of the new 9.0 release. Over 200 new functions and improvements feature in this new version.

  • CMS

  • Business

    • The behavioral economics of free software

      Behavioral economics explores the way in which our irrational behavior affects economies, and the results are curious and subtle. For example, the riddle of experience versus memory (TED video), or the several examples in “The Marketplace of Perception” (Harvard Magazine article). I think it would be illuminating to examine free software through this lens, and consider that the vagaries of human perception may have a very strong influence on our choices.

      Some questions for thought:

      * Does using free software make us happier? If so, why? If not, why do we use it anyway?
      * Do we believe in free software because we have a great experience using it, or because we feel good about having used it? (Daniel Kahneman explains the difference)
      * Why do we want other people to use free software? Is it only because we want them to share our preference, or because we will benefit ourselves, or do we believe they will appreciate it for their own reasons?

    • Status.net: Raising Social Capital and Paying Customers

      One of the startups that calls Montreal home is Status.net, “a platform that enables communities, brands and organizations to incorporate micro messaging into their own domain.” I caught up with CEO Evan Prodromou by phone to talk about some of the marketing strategies they employ. While he darted around Montreal in his car (using a hands free unit, of course) he told me about how they strategically position their commercial products alongide the messaging for their open source offerings.

  • BSD/UNIX

    • UNIX still a hit for mission-critical systems

      The majority of companies using UNIX will be sticking with it for their mission-critical systems, even though use of the operating system has declined in recent times.

      Almost two-thirds running UNIX-based platforms will keep them, in comparison to the 38 per cent who will be dumping the platform in the next three years, according to a survey from Coleman Parkes Research on behalf of HP.

    • Bordeaux on PC-BSD Screenshot tour

      This is a Bordeaux on PC-BSD 8 Screenshot tour. This tour will show you how easy it is to install Bordeaux on PC-BSD and start installing Windows Applications and Games. Bordeaux has a single dependency on Zenity once Zenity is installed Bordeaux will install and run on your PC-BSD system.

  • Project Releases

    • Digital Networks Releases Openvirt 2.0

      Today Digital Networks released Openvirt 2.0. Openvirt provides a full virtualization platform for Linux, Windows, Solaris and FreeBSD virtual machines.

      Openvirt provides commercial quality virtualization that is completely free of license fees. A web based control panel makes for easy management.

  • Government

    • CeBIT 2010: AGIMO says open source needs to lift its game

      Despite a new level of openness through the recent adoption of eGovernment and web 2.0 tools, the Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO) is still cagey when it comes to procurement of open source software.

      Commenting at CeBIT Australia 2010, John Sheridan, division manager at AGIMO’s Agency Services Division hinted that open source suppliers would need to lift their levels of support if they were to make further inroads into the public sector.

      “Our policy on open source remains one of informed neutrality,” he said. “Our view is, rather than preferring one particular sort of open source software to another, to make sure our software can be properly supported.

  • Openness

  • Programming

    • Damian Conway on Perl and its future

      I’m just starting work on a new book…on Perl 6. I hope it will appear some time next year.

      As far as second editions go, I’d certainly like to revisit “Perl Best Practices”. I’ve learnt so much more myself about good programming in the past five years. The community’s notion of “best” – and its available tools – have also developed considerably in that time. But, if I were to look at a second edition, it would certainly be a few years further down the track. There are just so many other projects and so few available tuits.

  • Standards/Consortia

    • HTML5 Video on Ubuntu

      There’s not much to say about my actual experience playing HTML5 video in Chrome, other than that it worked great, and with little effort. After enabling HTML5 on Youtube, videos were decoded extremely smoothly and with only about half the CPU load of flash videos. Vimeo also worked seamlessly with HTML5 enabled. The only drawback on both sites is that fullscreen playback is not yet supported, due to browser limitations.

      Much to my dismay, Hulu has yet to announce plans to support HTML5 in desktop browsers. If that changes, I’ll have gotten everything I want out of life.

Leftovers

  • Newly open source BitTorrent protocol aims to unclog tubes

    The company behind the BitTorrent technology has opened the source code of its uTorrent Transport Protocol (uTP). A production-ready implementation of the protocol code in C++ is now available from GitHub under the MIT license.

  • Intel Puts Mobile CPUs on a Diet for Ultra-Thin Laptop PCs

    Intel today broadened its number of ultra-low voltage (ULV) processors to include a complete range, from Celeron to Core i7, for the super-thin laptop market. This announcement builds on Intel’s January introduction of laptop processors, which included only a few low-end ULV processors.

  • Science

  • Security/Aggression

    • Enhance Desktop Security Using Virtualization

      You might have seen this scene during the climactic shoot-out in any number of movies and television shows—the hunted character lures his hunters into a room full of mirrors, who fire their weapons at the reflections, mistaking them for the real person. Like most of what we see on the screen, this probably isn’t a very plausible scenario in real life (who gets so confused by a reflection, besides my cat?). But it is an apt metaphor when we think about using PC virtualization to add a layer of defense against malware and other types of security compromises.

    • Act now to keep your medical records private

      The new coalition government has committed itself to rolling back state intrusion, with plans to scrap the ID card scheme, the National Identity Register, and the ContactPoint database.

    • No refunds for ID card pioneers

      The government is set to refuse refunds to people who have forked out good money for ID cards.

      There will be a bill to abolish the cards, along with electoral and parliamentary reform – a move to equally-populated constituencies and to the Alternative Vote system – in the Queen’s Speech tomorrow.

      But thousands of people persuaded to buy an ID card should not expect a refund, the Sunday Telegraph reports.

    • Councils carry out over 8,500 covert surveillance operations

      More than 8,500 covert surveillance operations on members of the public have been carried out by 372 local authorities in Britain in the past two years – the equivalent of 11 a day, according to a study published today.

      The research by the pressure group Big Brother Watch names Newcastle upon Tyne as the worst local authority in the country for the use of its powers under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, having spied on its residents 231 times over the past two years.

      West Berkshire and Walsall were close behind, however, with 228 and 215 Ripa authorisations respectively since April 2008.

    • [Bruce Schneier:] Scene from an Airport

      I’ve gotten to the front of the security line and handed the TSA officer my ID and ticket.

      TSA Officer: (Looks at my ticket. Looks at my ID. Looks at me. Smiles.)

      Me: (Smiles back.)

      TSA Officer: (Looks at my ID. Looks at me. Smiles.)

    • An old scam still works

      Bank insider issues extra card, steals money, customer blamed – after all, chip and pin is infallible, isn’t it? Expecting banks to keep decent logs might be too much; and I supppose it’s way too much to expect bank fraud staff to read the research literature on their subject.

  • Environment

  • Finance

    • Reforms put Wall Street in its place

      The most important provision in the bill may be the Volcker Rule, which restricts the ability of banks to trade on their own account. Goldman Sachs became the poster child for this kind of trading when it was revealed that the firm was selling mortgage-backed securities designed by an investment partner who was shorting mortgages. These trades led to charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission and prompted a federal criminal investigation into the firm’s dubious practices.

  • PR/AstroTurf/Lobbying

    • More conservative textbook curriculum OK’d

      Texas standards often wind up being taught in other states because national publishers typically tailor their materials to Texas, one of the biggest textbook purchasers in the country.

      Approval came after the GOP-dominated board approved a new curriculum standard that would encourage high school students to question the legal doctrine of church-state separation – a sore point for social conservative groups who disagree with court decisions that have affirmed the doctrine, including the ban on school-sponsored prayer.

  • Censorship/Privacy/Civil Rights

    • In search of “Internet freedom”

      But it’s hard to find consensus – even amongst liberal internationalists with different cultural and religious backgrounds – about how to find the right balance between our right to free expression and assembly and our right to privacy and security. Even trickier is the question of what is “hate speech” and what constitutes justified criticism or even satire of one religion by members of another. The Global Voices community has come together around a set of common values around freedom of expression and communication. Our Manifesto begins: “We believe in free speech: in protecting the right to speak — and the right to listen. We believe in universal access to the tools of speech.” But all you need to do is to read this post about Pakistani reactions to the “Draw Mohammed Day” Facebook page, then read this post by another member of our community, to see how far we are from having a consensus about how civilized cross-cultural discourse should or shouldn’t be managed on global Internet platforms.

    • Bad Stuff About Facebook, But Not What You Think

      Meanwhile, be very careful about saying bad things about Facebook or you could get banned from the site, as happened to a radio station that dared link to Leo Laporte’s sayonara Facebook show. The way Facebook is treating negative comments and bad press, you’d think they were Apple.

    • Muhammad cartoon sparks threats to South African newspaper

      Staff at South African newspaper received threatening phone calls today after publishing a satirical cartoon depicting the prophet Muhammad.

    • Jafar Panahi ‘may soon be freed’

      Tehran’s prosecutor general has asked the Islamic revolutionary court to reconsider the continued detention of the celebrated Iranian film-maker, Jafar Panahi, raising hopes that he may quickly be freed.

    • U.N. body adopts resolution on religious defamation

      A United Nations forum on Thursday passed a resolution condemning “defamation of religion” as a human rights violation, despite wide concerns that it could be used to justify curbs on free speech in Muslim countries.

    • Wang Keqin and China’s revolution in investigative journalism

      Death threats from criminals and official wrath fail to silence zealous watchdog journalists

    • Australia Can Search Laptops, Phones for Porn

      Make sure you dispose of anything baring flesh on your mobile phones and laptop drives before heading to Australia.

      A spokesperson for the Australian sex industry is warning visitors that local customs officers suddenly have an “unfettered right” search laptops and mobile phones for porn. Apparently Incoming Passenger Cards now ask visitors if they’re carrying adult material. Visitors must answer truthfully or face criminal charges if the material is in possession and the answer was marked “No.” This means home-made movies in the bedroom or footage of you taking a shower must be reported.

    • Why Should Customs Officers Be Determining What Counts As A Copyright Circumvention Device?

      Some of the earliest fears around ACTA concerned some of the earliest draft suggestions, that would increase the power of border patrol/customs officials to look for infringement at the border, including the possibility of searching your laptop or iPod for infringing content. While those provisions mostly seemed to drop out in the negotiations, it doesn’t mean that there aren’t still efforts to get closer to that sort of system. Mart Kuhn, at Public Knowledge, has an interesting post, looking at a bill in the Senate that would give customs the authority to determine if things crossing the border were “circumvention devices” as prohibited by the DMCA. Of course, as the article notes, determining what is and what is not a circumvention device is not particularly easy — as various lawsuits have demonstrated. So it’s quite questionable as to why anyone thinks border patrol agents should be involved in that process at all.

    • Silvio Berlusconi faces barrage of criticism over telephone bugging law

      Judges, prosecutors and journalists say law is simply to shield Silvio Berlusconi from further embarrassing revelations

    • Turin police raid Scientology chapter

      Police raided a local Scientology chapter here and discovered a hidden archive which contained not only information on the group’s members but also on the sect’s ‘enemies’, the Turin daily La Stampa reported on Thursday.

      Police were acting on a warrant issued by magistrates who have opened a probe into the religion which is suspected of violating laws governing the handling of personal information.

    • Facebook, Google and Twitter: custodians of our most intimate secrets

      The next time you hear the phrase “internet privacy”, don’t think of teenage infatuations heatedly committed to Facebook, of lads puking down their Ted Bakers and sticking the cameraphone footage on YouTube, or of some hack writer tweeting about the progress of his colonic cancer. No, consider instead AOL Subscriber 4417749.

      [...]

      Except that list, coupled with a little patience, was all anyone needed to yank down AOL’s privacy screen. A couple of New York Times journalists showed how easily it could be done. Trawling though the hundreds of searches made by Subscriber 4417749 for local estate agents and gardeners, through to “numb fingers”, “dog that urinates on everything” and “60 single men”, they tracked down Thelma Arnold, a 62-year-old widow and pet-owner from Lilburn, Georgia. “My goodness, it’s my whole personal life,” she said as the reporter read AOL’s search records to her. “I had no idea somebody was looking over my shoulder.”

    • Cloud Computing Prompts Push for Privacy Law Rewrite

      Members of a broad coalition advocating an overhaul of a more than two-decades-old privacy law took to Capitol Hill Friday afternoon, convening a briefing for congressional staffers to champion the cause.

      They argued that the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, or ECPA, has fallen lamentably out of step with the way that people are using computers and the Internet, particularly with regard to cloud computing and location-based services.

    • German watchdog tells firms to do own US privacy checks

      German privacy watchdogs have told companies to conduct their own checks of US companies’ conduct before passing personal data to them, even if they are signed up to the EU-US ‘Safe Harbor’ data protection scheme.

  • DRM

    • Open University Academics Object to BBC DRM Proposals

      Following up on our recent open letter to Ofcom on the BBC HD DRM proposal, a large group of Open University academics has written to the Michael Lyons, the Chairman of the BBC Trust, notifying him of our objections to the idea. The full text of the letter is below.

      We write in connection with the BBC’s current application to Ofcom to vary the terms of its licence for its HDTV service by encrypting signals using DRM. We have written separately to Ofcom to oppose this proposal but write to you now because we believe it raises several important issues for the BBC Trust.

      First, and procedurally, the BBC management’s application to Ofcom raises the question (interestingly identified by Diana Coyle and Chris Woolard in their book for the Trust, ‘Public Value in Practice’) whether a new application should be made to the Trust, analogous to that for the “bookmarking” function of the iPlayer. We believe that the encryption proposal is so fundamental a change from the original HDTV proposal, and one which raises such fundamental issues for the BBC, that it should be the subject of a new Public Value Test. You will be aware that DRM is a kind of encrypted digital lock used to control access to digital files and signals. In order to access the BBC HD signal a viewer will require equipment containing the relevant decryption key.

      Second, and substantively, the proposal to encrypt the HDTV signal using DRM breaks the clear and, seemingly unequivocal, undertaking made in the BBC’s Building Public Value (published in 2004), and underwritten by the last Chairman of the BBC Governors, Mr Michael Grade, that the BBC would not encrypt its services. Building Public Value stated (p 10) that “the BBC will always be on the side of universal provision, open access and unencryption”.

      Third, and also substantively, the proposals to use DRM in the BBC’s HDTV signals breaks from the Trust’s policy, stated (at p 9) in the PVT authorisation of the HDTV proposal, that “Any move from the currently proposed HD standards on picture resolution should not disadvantage consumers who invest in HD equipment which meets the current standards”.

  • Publishing

  • Intellectual Monopolies

    • Diplopedia a success at US Department of State

      Study looks at 5-year history of creating and implementing the State Department’s use of Wikipedia-like knowledge and platform

      A new study released today by Rice University and the U.S. Department of State’s (DOS) Office of eDiplomacy looks at the five-year history of creating and implementing Diplopedia, DOS’ use of the Wikipedia-style diplomacy Web 2.0 tool.

    • What’s Mine is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative Consumption

      Shareable contributor Rachel Botsman and co-author Roo Rogers just released a video previewing What’s Mine is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative Consumption, their new book being released in September about sharing.

      One thing I have in common with Rachel is that I’ve learned that sharing is much bigger than we had thought. In a recent example, I was quite surprised by the growth of bikesharing. According to the video, it’s the fastest growing form of transportation. All the major cities in the US has a bikesharing program in development. Who knew?

    • Why we share: a sideways look at privacy

      And that’s what happening about digital privacy and sharing. We’re learning. And there are going to be mistakes. And there will be hurt. And out of all that new value will emerge. People like danah help us and safeguard us, because they’re looking at some of these issues deeply. People like the Web Science Trust are looking into this. People like the Berkman Center are looking into this. Even people like the World Economic Forum are looking into this. Because it matters.

    • FluidDB Aims To Become The Wikipedia Of Databases

      A few years ago, Terry Jones sold his Barcelona apartment so that he could single-mindedly pursue a rather radical idea. What if a database worked like Wikipedia—it was not only readable by everybody, but also writeable by everybody?

    • Seeds of doubt in Delhi

      Caught in the middle of a fierce domestic debate, the Indian government is wavering over the introduction of GM aubergines – and the rest of the world is watching closely. Joydeep Gupta reports.

    • Monsanto Ranked Least Ethical Company In The World

      Monsanto, the Missouri-based agriculture giant, ranked dead last in the Covalence ethical index. The company, which leads the world in the production of genetically-engineered seed, has been subject to myriad criticisms. Among them: the company is accused of frequently and unfairly suing small farmers for patent infringement.

    • Copyrights

      • itTorrent Open Sources ‘Improved’ BitTorrent Protocol

        BitTorrent Inc. has open sourced uTP, the BitTorrent protocol powering the latest release of uTorrent, in the hope that other BitTorrent clients will soon adopt it. UTP promises less congestion for ISPs and end users without degrading overall download speeds. Thus far, however, many BitTorrent developers outside the BitTorrent Inc. team are skeptical about the new protocol.

      • Gallo Report on the future of EU copyright: repression or reflexion ?

        The Gallo Report on the future of “intellectual property rights” (IPR) enforcement will be voted on June 1st, at 9 AM,1 in the Committee for Legal Affairs (JURI) of the European Parliament. Since no compromise was found between the members of the committee, two visions will frontally oppose. While the rapporteur — French sarkozyst EPP member Marielle Gallo — is pushing for more repression to tackle online file-sharing, some positive amendments from all the other political groups2 seek to end the dogmatic repression and call for the consideration of alternative schemes to fund creation. Every citizen concerned by the future of copyright in Europe and by the open nature of the Internet should express their views to the Members of the JURI committee3.

    • ACTA

      • UK regulator plans a taste of ACTA for small ISPs

        Ofcom’s proposal to exclude small ISPs from the Digital Economy Act 3-strikes measures is not quite what it seems. One interpretation is very interesting in the context of the online service provider ‘policy’ provision in ACTA.

    • Digital Economy Bill

      • ConDems Won’t Repeal UK’s Digital Economy Act

        All those angry digital liberties campaigners? They shouldn’t get their hopes up too much about the Digital Economy Act under a new government…

        “We’re not going to repeal it,” the new UK government’s Conservative culture secretary Jeremy Hunt told paidContent:UK.

Clip of the Day

NASA Connect – FoF – Computer Simulation (1/5/2003)


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