11.24.11

Links 24/11/2011: Doom Code, Atmos Storage for Linux

Posted in News Roundup at 8:21 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNOME bluefish

Contents

GNU/Linux

Free Software/Open Source

Leftovers

  • Microsoft’s Future: What’s the Worst that Could Happen?

    When you look at it methodically, it’s easy to see how all Microsoft’s parts are interconnected. If one part breaks, particularly if that part is Windows or Office, then the whole house could come down.

  • The retro vision of Commodore’s new OS.

  • Censorship

    • Highest EU Court Prohibits P2P Filtering by ISPs

      While the US is still pondering SOPA, we just got some absolutely fantastic news out of Europe. The European Court of Justice, the highest court in the European Union, has just ruled that P2P filters installed by ISPs violate the European Directive on electronic commerce as well as fundamental rights [full ruling]. This is a hugely important ruling that effectively protects all member states of the European Union from ever being subjected to ISP filtering and spying.

      The origins of this ruling lie in Belgium. The Belgian version of the RIAA, SABAM, had sued Belgian internet provider Scarlet because the ISP’s users were downloading copyrighted content without paying royalties. The President of the Tribunal de première instance de Bruxelles (Brussels Court of First Instance) then ordered Scarlet to install a filtering system to monitor the internet traffic of its subscribers.

  • Intellectual Monopolies

    • Trademarks

      • Koha in fight to regain its own trademark

        The Horowhenua Library Trust, the birthplace of the Koha integrated library system, the first such open source project, finds itself in a peculiar position today, that of having to fight to regain rights to its own name.

        This follows the successful application by the American defence contractor, Progressive Technology Federal Systems/Liblime, for a trademark on the name Koha in New Zealand. Koha is a Maori term that means reciprocity in giving.

      • PTFS/LibLime Offers Trademark Transfer To Koha Foundation

        Open source Integrated Library System (ILS), Koha, came under a trademark threat when the US based PTFS/Liblime managed to get their application for a Trademark on Koha accepted in New Zealand.

        A Koha community blog says, “For the library that invented Koha to now have to have a legal battle to prevent a US company trademarking the word in NZ seems bizarre, but it is at this point that we find ourselves.”

    • Copyrights

      • Private Copying: French Parliament Downsizes The Public’s Rights

        Members of the French Parliament are using a bill on private copying levy as an occasion to kill the copyright exception for private copying. Under the pretense of saving royalties collection, MPs have redefined fair use in the process. Giving in once more to pressure from the recording and movie industry, the French Parliament carries on Nicolas Sarkozy’s repressive policy against the Internet and new cultural practices.

      • EU Court of Justice: Censorship in Name of Copyright Violates Fundamental Rights

        The European Court of Justice just rendered a historic decision in the Scarlet Extended case, which is crucial for the future of rights and freedoms on the Internet. The Court ruled that forcing Internet service providers to monitor and censor their users’ communications violated EU law, and in particular the right to freedom of communication. At a time of all-out offensive in the war against culture sharing online, this decision suggests that censorship measures requested by the entertainment industry are disproportionate means to enforce an outdated copyright regime. Policy-makers across Europe must take this decision into account by refusing new repressive schemes, such as the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), and engage in a much needed reform of copyright.

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  4. [Meme] Management of the EPO Cannot Let the Staff Breathe or Smell Freedom

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  5. “ViCo” is Nothing New (Not Even the Acronym), Done on 9/11 Last Year, Been Possible as Long as the EPO Has Existed

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  6. Release: Early Letters and Documents About Financial Hoax Disguised as EPO 'Study'

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  7. IRC Proceedings: Sunday, November 29, 2020

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  8. Managing IP: Puff Pieces Galore for the EPO's Dictatorship (Complete With Buzzwords and PR Stunts)

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  9. Links 29/11/2020: Genode OS Framework 20.11, Linux 5.11 Kernel Changes, and Latest in KDE Itinerary

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  10. Sincere Thoughts About Outreachy

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  11. Free Software Under Tyranny of Codes of Conduct as the Western Equivalent of Blasphemy Law (Corporations as the New Religion/Sponsors as Deities)

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  14. [Meme] Unified Patent Court Agreement (UPCA) is an Attack on Europe and the European Businesses That Don't Do Litigation

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    Constructive suggestions from EPO staff, made just over a year ago and assembled into a letter to their EPO colleagues

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  18. Microsoft Removes Free Software From GitHub Again, This Time for Motion Picture Association (MPA)

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  23. Nine Documents About the Financial Siege Against EPO Staff (Past, Present, and Future)

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  24. EPO Senior Management (Cabal) “Essentially Deaf to the Proposals From Staff Representatives.”

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  25. EPO Management, Led by António Campinos, Attempted to Stifle or Prevent Staff From Being Surveyed

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  26. The European Patent Office's Central Staff Committee: Office Cannot Recruit Fit-for-Purpose Patent Examiners Anymore

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  27. IRC Proceedings: Friday, November 27, 2020

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  29. The Time Coronavirus Helped EPO Management Prevent Staff From Protesting and Going on Strike (March 26th)

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