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01.15.14

Links: Latest Android Milestones

Posted in News Roundup at 11:02 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: Android and Steam, CyanogenMod Gallery, BlackBerry potential, developer interest, and growing interest from Intel

Links: 2014 Already a Good Year for Android on the Desktop

Posted in News Roundup at 10:57 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: Recent news of interest, showing how Android is gaining on desktops, not just phones and tablets

  • Will New Android/Windows PCs Find Success?

    In late December, rumors were going around to the effect that PCs running both Android and Windows would debut at the Consumer Electronics Show, as I covered in a post. Actually, OStatic covered the basic concept of Android being married with other platforms at the very beginning of last year, in a post called “Should Microsoft Embrace Both Android and Firefox OS?”

  • DA223 HQL: Acer’s all-in-one Android PC has a Snapdragon 600 inside

    The DA223 HQL is the newest Android all-in-one computer announced at the just-concluded 2014 edition of the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada.

  • Transformer Book Duet offers Windows and Android in dual-boot mode

    The Transformer Book Duet TD 300 is one of the major product announcements from ASUS at the ongoing International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada.

  • 7 Reasons Desktop Android Will Grow

    Perhaps more significantly, three touch-enabled, Android-only AiOs debuted at CES 2014 this past week from major vendors:

    Acer TA272 HUL — Thanks to its Nvidia Tegra 4 processor, this $1,100, 27-inch AiO is one of the highest resolution Android devices around, with 2560 x 1440 pixels (WQHD). It runs only Android 4.2, but Windows 8 users can plug in to use it as a touchscreen monitor.

    HP Slate21 Pro — The $335 Slate21 Pro AiO runs Android 4.3 on a Tegra 4, and features a 21.5-inch HD IPS touchscreen. It’s aimed at the enterprise, with features like Kingsoft Office Suite, Citrix Receiver, and its Security Enhancements for Android.

    Lenovo N308– Yet another Tegra 4 based AiO, the N308 is designed for both enterprise and consumer users. The 19.5-inch Android 4.2.2 computer offers an HD+ touchscreen and a 500GB hard drive. You can detach the screen and use it for three hours as a huge Android tablet.

Links: Linux and Android Dominant in CES 2014

Posted in GNU/Linux at 10:52 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: Some Linux-related coverage from CES

  • Top Android and Linux devices from CES

    It’s January 14th, and yet another CES has passed by. The week of excitement, thrills, surprises and grand announcements has left us with quite a mouthful to sift through. It is a daunting task for mere mortals like us, but every once in a while, we here at Muktware like to attempt the unthinkable, just for the benefit of our readers. To simplify this task, I’m going to separate the devices into categories, and then highlight the top devices of each category. The task I am about to embark upon may kill me due to its severe nature, but if I die, at least we’ll all know that I died while doing what I loved. Let’s being; shall we?

  • Android Dominated Apple At CES
  • Are large screen Android phones destroying the iPhone?
  • What I Saw on the CES Show Floor: Your Work on Display

    From 3D printers to drones, phones, tablets, TVs and even crockpots, Linux is running almost everything on display on the CES show floor. One of my favorite picks is Makerbot. These Linux-based 3D printers are creating everything from mechanical hands to clothing to dinosaur skulls. Originally introduced at SXSW with the founders hanging out in bars around Austin making shot glasses with their printers, this company was white hot this week at CES. It introduced three new printers, a digital store that is being referred to as the iTunes of 3D printing and a variety of new apps. All built on Linux.

  • 8 Innovative Linux-Based Products Demoed at CES

    If you look behind the scenes of the many gadgets shown at the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) in Las Vegas last week you can spot Linux and open-source software almost everywhere. Here are Rudolf Streif’s top marvels from the show.

Links: Rise of GNU/Linux in the News

Posted in GNU/Linux, News Roundup at 10:49 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: Recent news headlines (with excepts) that show the growth of GNU/Linux in the market

  • Who’s afraid of Linux, anyway?

    Whether it is a tech-savvy hero saving us from terrorist attacks by hacking into computer networks; or a skinny, bespectacled software programmer punching the night away on the keyboard, coding up the next big social network… well, chance are you will be shown arcane lines of code scrolling on the computer screen. Lot of cryptic commands, symbols and jargon that makes no sense to anyone but the protagonist. Luckily, for us mere mortals, such melodrama usually ends with big flashing text that say stuff like “Access Granted” or “Nuclear Launch Aborted” or “Virus Contained” or “Kejriwal for PM”.

  • Bitcoin is the Linux of payments. And its killer apps will be for US dollars

    I was scanning the news the other day, and someone on Hacker News mentioned that half the items above the fold on StreetEYE were about Bitcoin. And I said to myself, I haven’t seen the neckbeards this excited since the early days of Linux.

  • Five best Linux applications for enterprises

    Linux has been a part of the enterprise back end for a long time and is becoming more prevalent in the office-side of businesses, from small businesses to major enterprises. So, what are the best Linux applications for IT managers and business owners to use in the enterprise? These five apps will expand the business’s IT infrastructure and functionality while reducing the overall cost of maintaining an efficient, reliable business.

  • Linux powers AR-15 rifle targeting system
  • Discussing a Linux powered AR-15 and how Ars doesn’t serve “normals”
  • Linux Top 3: Quirky, Steam and Arch Update for 2014
  • PC retail rut

    LINUX has bloomed over the last few years into a modern, stable, secure and user-friendly operating system that can go head-to-head with any of its commercial counterparts, but you wouldn’t know it from a visit to a typical PC retailer in the Philippines.

  • Summary of 2013 and New Year’s list

    Another interesting fact is that now I can buy laptops with Linux preinstalled here. Well, they only do Ubuntu, but it’s refreshing… The world is changing.

  • To Windows and Back Again.

    I did miss the terminal console and many other Linux features while in Windows 8.1. It was a quick trip to Windows land and back, but I am glad I am back.

  • 8 Hot IT Jobs For 2014

    4. Linux pros.

  • January 2014 Issue of Linux Journal: Security
  • eWEEK at 30: Linux Makes Open Source a Software Industry Force
  • Lumpis Linux: A Windows User’s Dream if I Ever Did See One

    I winked at Nick. We crawled out from behind the desk and he sat at the computer to turn it on. His dad stood right beside him, making sure “Lumpis” wasn’t anywhere in the vicinity. Taking a cue from Nick, I had grabbed a ZorinOS machine that was ready to go. With a bit of cosmetic magic and the renaming of a few shortcuts, anybody would be hard pressed to tell it was Linux…at first glance anyway.

  • Why Teach Linux?

    I received an email from a student working on a case study, looking for reasons why a University should put Linux on its desktop PCs.

Latest Examples of Linux Domination in Devices/Embedded Systems

Posted in GNU/Linux at 10:40 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: Ivee Sleek, PiPad, Nest, WeMo (home automation), Android-based Moverio, cars, smartwatches, TVs, WRT, and Vizio

  • Home control hub offers Siri-like voice assistant

    Ivee has begun shipping a $200, Linux-based “Ivee Sleek” home automation hub, offering voice control of WiFi-enabled devices and a Siri-like voice assistant.

  • Tiny ARM9 box-PC adds wireless options

    Artila Electronics announced a tiny control computer running Linux on ARM9, and featuring mini-PCIe sockets for options including WiFi, Bluetooth, cellular, and GPS.

  • Homemade Raspberry Pi tablet, PiPad, with wood finish and Linux OS will set your sweet tooth tingling

    Meet the Raspberry Pi tablet, named PiPad by its owner and creator Michael Castor.

    The tablet was built by maker-enthusiast Castor as a Maker Faire project. He used a 12V, 10-inch touchscreen with a 5V HDMI to LVDS adapter, since the Raspberry Pi runs off 5V. He also managed to squeeze in a 10,000mAh battery that gives a good six hours of use.

  • Raspberry Pi: Hands-on with RISC OS

    In the previous three posts about exploring my Raspberry Pi, the operating system has always been Linux; first looking at Raspbian, the Debian GNU/Linux spin for the Pi, then Arch Linux ARM and Pidora, and then Raspbmc and OpenELEC, two Linux-based XBMC Media Center versions.

  • Feathering its Nest

    “HOLY cripes, Google just broke into my home”, was a typical reaction on Twitter to news on January 13th that the internet giant had splashed out $3.2 billion of its cash pile on Nest, a startup that makes smart thermostats and smoke-alarm systems for houses and apartments. The deal is striking not just because it represents a massive pay day for a hardware company that is only a few years old. It is also a landmark deal that signals the coming of age of the internet of things, or “Thingternet”—a world in which everything from household gadgets to cars, clothes and pets are connected wirelessly to the web.

  • Google acquires Nest, gains Linux IoT tech

    Google’s pending $3.2 billion acquisition of Nest Labs brings it a hot selling, Linux-based smart thermostat — and a launchpad for the Internet of Things.

    Google’s stock price rose 1 percent the day after it announced it planned to acquire Nest Labs for $3.2 billion. The acquisition topped off a CES show in Las Vegas that was awash in similar, low-cost, smartphone-accessible home automation devices. Like most of these products, including Belkin’s WeMo and Ivee’s new Ivee Sleek, Nest Lab’s Learning Thermostat and runs on embedded Linux. The Nest Protect Smoke + CO Alarm lists the open source FreeBSD, NetBSD, and FreeRTOS. (See farther below for more details on the products.)

  • Linux powers smart LED bulbs, crockpot, maker kit

    Belkin is expanding its line of WeMo home automation products with smart LED bulbs, an automated crockpot, and a Maker kit for WeMo-izing your own devices.

  • Linux-friendly mini-PC moves to Haswell CPUs
  • Android eyewear offers virtual, augmented reality

    Epson demonstrated Android-based Moverio BT-200 eyewear featuring a stereoscopic 3D VR display, a camera for augmented reality applications, and head tracking.

  • Traffic Jam on the Road to Linux in Cars

    A little before Christmas, I wrote about some of the important markets where Linux was starting to make its mark, notably gaming and the Internet of things. One sector where Linux has been active for a while is that of cars. As these become more and more infused with digital elements – be it in-car entertainment or control systems – so the need for an operating system that ties it all together becomes more urgent. As for elsewhere, Linux is the perfect choice: low-cost, flexible, secure, robust etc.

  • Linux Drives Automotive Innovation into the New Year
  • New Harman IVI system runs HTML5 apps on Linux

    Harman announced a Linux-based IVI platform featuring an HTML5 development environment, a type 1 hypervisor, and integration with driver assist functions.

  • Full-featured Android smartwatches debut at CES

    None of the high profile smartwatch launches expected in 2014 appeared at CES this year, but as we await rumored wristwear from Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft, and others, there were plenty of interesting smartwatches on display. Most follow the path of the Pebble watch, typically with minimalist operating systems running on microcontrollers, monochrome displays, and a focus on Bluetooth tethering. Here, we instead examine two relative newcomers that offer substantial smartphone-like Android capabilities: the Neptune Pine and the Omate TrueSmart Smartwatch 2.0.

  • Roku gets sucked into TVs

    It was inevitable: Roku, which shipped its 5 millionth streaming media player last year, is now having its Linux-based STB technology embedded directly within Smart TVs.

  • Linksys WRT54G reborn, with 802.11ac and more

    Linksys is resurrecting the hackable Linksys WRT54G router in a new WRT1900AC model, with dual-band 802.11ac, a dual core CPU, and open source Linux code.

  • The Iconic Linksys WRT Router is Back
  • Amahi’s Open Source Home Server Software Goes Mobile

    Following a recent trend in network attached storage (NAS), Amahi, the open source home server software based on Linux, has added remote network access using its new mobile app for iOS and a forthcoming Android app.

  • Touchscreen media players run Android KitKat

    Vizio’s new touchscreen Portable Smart Audio players stream audio and video directly from the Web, from USB drives, and from mobile devices via Bluetooth.

Copyright Law May be Reformed in the West, Infringement (For Now) Treated as Worse Than Murder and Rape

Posted in Intellectual Monopoly at 7:36 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: It is becoming clear that amendment of laws (for the better) is now treated like “terrorism” (or worse, based on espionage-driven surveillance of regulators in the EU) and those who claim to be enforcing copyright law are actually breaking the law

BRITISH ISPs seem eager to censor those who suggest copyright reforms (Web sites blocked for delivering news which those in power don’t agree with). One site that blocked British ISPs that used DPI has just shared an interesting post titled “Opposing Copyright” [1] and other sites with an alternative message write about the travesty of Public Domain being lost to the copyright cartel/monopoly [2,3]. If only more people had access to such views… instead we have the copyright moguls/Hollywood structuring our schools' curriculum to indoctrinate children regarding copyrights.

“The US special forces target Dotcom like he is a terrorist, raiding his mother’s house in Germany (at gunpoint) and illegally raiding his own house in New Zealand.”There are talks about copyright reforms right now. It’s happening in the US [4], central Europe [5] (Web site blocked by some British ISPs, so see original in [6]), and in the UK (article from November) [7]. It should be noted that Google deserves some credit for helping copyright reform [8,9] (in self interest) and promoting Fair Use [10], unlike Rupert Murdoch’s Fox [11] (news site blocked by British ISPs). There are many misconceptions [12,13,14] (last news site blocked by British ISPs) and it leads to out-of-control attitude towards sharing sites (which can also be misused by users).

Take Kim Dotcom for example. The US special forces target Dotcom like he is a terrorist [15], raiding his mother’s house in Germany (at gunpoint [16]) and illegally raiding his own house in New Zealand [17]. The only criminals here are those who sent out dozens of people with rifles to his house, which had many kids in it and a father who is innocent (but an easy target for Hollywood).

Now take the Pirate Bay’s founders, who are treated worse than mass murderers from the same bunch of countries (Scandinavia) [18,19] (the latter news site is blocked by British ISPs). What does that say about the priorities of these states? It’s all corrupt. They blame people rather than blame bad laws which make sharing illegal if anonymous users — not administrators — may upload some infringing material.

“It sure seems like those who claim to be enforcing the law are the real criminals and instead of adopting reasonable legislation they are going after the messengers and the activists, making an example out of scapegoats.”The zealous pursuit has led more people to proudly state “I am a Pirate” [20] (British Pirate Party, which has just added numerous people to its ranks). In Britain, the BBC proves that business models are the real problem [21] and the City Of London Police proves that it itself — not some so-called ‘pirates’ — is the criminal [22] (this news site is blocked by British ISPs). The City Of London Police is taking down sites on behalf of businesses, without even a trial. This is illegal. It’s overreach.

Last but not least, “Viewing Pirated Streams is Not Illegal, German Govt Says,” [23] but you might not know it because this news site is blocked by British ISPs.

So much for protecting the law, eh? It sure seems like those who claim to be enforcing the law are the real criminals and instead of adopting reasonable legislation they are going after the messengers and the activists, making an example out of scapegoats.

Related/contextual items from the news:

  1. Opposing Copyright

    This brilliant criticism of monopoly is spoiled only by the false assertion that it’s a necessary evil, but clearly it isn’t, it’s merely a misguided convenience with no actual benefit to anyone except the monopolist, and even then only a marginal benefit at best.

  2. What Could Have Entered the Public Domain on January 1, 2014?
  3. The Grinch Who Stole The Public Domain

    As they do every year, unfortunately, the good folks at the Center for the Study of the Public Domain at Duke have put together a depressing list of what should have entered the public domain yesterday. As you hopefully know, until 1978, the maximum amount of time that work in the US could be covered by copyright was 56 years (you initially received a 28 year copyright term, which could be renewed for another 28 years). That means, back in 1957, everyone who created the works in that list knew absolutely, and without a doubt that their works would be given back to the public to share, to perform, to build on and more… on January 1, 2014 at the very latest. And they all still created their works, making clear that the incentive of a 56 year monopoly was absolutely more than enough incentive to create.

  4. Copyright Week: Taking Copyright Back

    Copyright used to be a pretty specialized area of law, one that didn’t seem to affect the lives of most people. But with the proliferation of digital technologies and the Internet, a funny thing happened: copyright policy became speech policy, and it started to show up in all sorts of unexpected and unwelcome places.

  5. EU Offers Public a Chance to Fix Copyright Law

    Copyright and the Internet have been struggling to get along for many years and some feel we are now due a comprehensive update of the former in order for it to work more harmoniously with the latter. In deciding how to progress the EU Commission has opened a public consultation which allows all citizens – even those in the U.S. – a rare opportunity to change the path of copyright law. But with just three weeks left, time is ticking away.

  6. Reform of EU copyright rules: your chance to give your views!
  7. Dear government, copyright reform – is it happening?

    These are beguiling but bad arguments. People dislike legal risks, so avoid them. We also know plenty of people get caught up in disputes, even resulting in Youtube takedowns, when parodies are accused of copyright infringement. Such actions are an infringement of free expression, yet do no real harm to copyright owners. Many countries, including copyright hardliners like France and the US, have legal protection for parodies.

  8. Glorious day!

    Google has launched a simple way to filter Google images by reuse rights.

  9. How to filter Google image searches by usage rights
  10. Google Books is fair use

    After almost a decade of litigation, on 14 November the Southern District Court of New York has ruled on the class action Authors Guild v Google. Judge Chin, who had rejected in March 2011 the agreement proposing to settle the case, found that the activities carried out in the context of the Google Books project do not infringe copyright. In a nutshell, the ruling affirms that reproducing in-copyright works to make them searchable on the Internet is a fair use under US law.

  11. Simpsons Pirate Ordered to Pay Fox $10.5 Million in Damages

    A lawsuit against a man who ran websites which linked to episodes of The Simpsons and Family Guy has ended in the most expensive way possible. The judgment, which awards Fox $10.5 million in statutory and punitive damages, is the highest amount ever awarded by the Federal Court in Toronto, Canada. Speaking with TorrentFreak, the target of the lawsuit says that he is now going through a bankruptcy and Fox are chasing “as hard as they possibly can” for the money.

  12. Internet streaming won’t save music – the industry still relies on hits
  13. Shia Labeouf Brilliantly Parodies Intellectual Property With Plagiarized Apologies And Defense Of Plagiarism

    I’ll admit that, other than knowing his name and that he was a Hollywood actor in some big budget films, I didn’t know very much at all about Shia LaBeouf. However, apparently he’s been facing some “controversy” over a few different examples of plagiarism in his work, with the “biggest” being plagiarizing a cartoon by Daniel Clowes called Justin M. Damiano with the short film HowardCantour.com. Others also pointed out that, in a comic book created by LaBeouf, he apparently plagiarized a bunch of others, including Kurt Vonnegut and Charles Bukowski (if you’re going to plagiarize, plagiarize from the best, apparently).

  14. File-Sharing Boosts Creation of New Hit Music, Research Finds

    New research published by Tulane University Law Professor Glynn Lunney shows that online piracy is linked to the creation of more hit music. The increase in output can be attributed to existing artists, who make up for a decline in new hits from newcomers. This counter-intuitive finding suggests that file-sharing advances the core purpose of copyright, and that it should be permitted under copyright law.

  15. FBI lead officer speaks out about Dotcom case
  16. Kim Dotcom Raid: Megaupload Founder’s Mother Held At Gunpoint , BMW Seized

    Kim Dotcom has seen an internet piracy case tighten around him, and now even the family of the controversial mogul is feeling the heat.

    Reports this weekend said that authorities raided the New Zealand mansion of the Megaupload founder and also targeted this mother’s house in Germany, searching for a car Kim bought for her.

  17. Kim Dotcom: The Man Behind Mega

    In October 2013, VICE News was invited to visit the infamous tech mogul and creator of Megaupload, Kim Dotcom, at his palatial property in New Zealand. Even though Kim is under house arrest—since he’s at the center of history’s largest copyright case—he’s still able to visit a recording studio in Auckland. So check out this brand new documentary we made at Kim’s mega-mansion and in the studio where our host, Tim Pool, got to lay down some backup vocals for Kim’s upcoming EDM album while talking about online surveillance, file-sharing, and Kim’s controversial case.

  18. Pirate Bay founder Gottfrid Svartholm Warg gets an extended prison stay

    ONE OF THE FOUNDERS of The Pirate Bay, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, has had his prison sentence extended until 5 February, despite widespread popular support for his release.

  19. 50,000 Call to Free Pirate Bay Founder as Court Extends Custody
  20. Sephy Hallow: Why I am a Pirate

    My name is Sephy Hallow, and as of December 2013, I became the first ever Deputy Leader of PPUK. As a 25-year-old graduate with a degree in Literature from York, I’m one of the youngest people to be in a position of political leadership in the country, and at times, I ask myself why I’ve been afforded this opportunity. What makes my voice any different from the sound bites of our mainstream politicians? What do I have to say that is any more valid, any better? And why do I deserve to be given a podium to speak from?

  21. BBC Fights TV Piracy By Rushing Sherlock Holmes to the East

    Unavailability of content is one of the key drivers for online piracy so it’s of great interest that the BBC has made a pioneering move with one of its current hottest properties. In an attempt to reign in what some describe as rampant infringement, the UK national broadcaster has struck a deal to broadcast Sherlock Holmes on a Chinese streaming platform just hours after its UK debut.

  22. City Of London Police Cannot Seize Domains Just Because Hollywood Says The Websites Are Infringers

    Last fall, we noted that the City of London Police, who had just set up a special “intellectual property crime unit” which appeared to be taking orders directly from Hollywood, had issued bizarre orders to registrars, based on no court order or ruling, that they hand over domain names to the police, point them to a splash page that advertised Hollywood-approved businesses, and block the transfer of those domains to anyone else. A bunch of registrars actually did this, despite the lack of a court order or ruling of any kind. Just because the City of London Police said so. The only registrar who apparently resisted was EasyDNS, who pointed out that there’s such a thing called due process. Furthermore, EasyDNS pointed out that the registrars who complied with the order almost certainly violated ICANN policies for registrars, which has a very specific set of conditions under which a registrar can freeze a whois record, none of which include “because some Hollywood-controlled police force says so.”

  23. Viewing Pirated Streams is Not Illegal, German Govt Says

Censorship on the Web Done For Financial Security Reasons, Not Anyone’s Real Security

Posted in Action, Europe at 6:44 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Business controls the filters in the West

Big Ben in London

Summary: How Western censorship proved itself to be all about protecting the villains while blocking justice

WHEN society is run by businesses (which is true in the West), then censorship by businesses is natural; it’s only to be expected.

Here in the UK we now officially have Internet censorship, just like in China, Iran, Russia etc. Our government would be too hypocritical to criticise those nations over censorship. One leading British civil rights groups asks rhetorically [1], “what could possibly go wrong?”

Here is what goes wrong.

Recently we saw a news site getting censored by the British Web filters [2]. Why? Probably because it delivers an alternative message that puts in jeopardy the copyright monopoly/cartel.

“UK ISPs Need To Be Sued Way Out Into Atlantic,” said the founder of the original Pirate Party after this incident [3]. We are gradually getting rather petty and becoming no better than Russia, which “Orders Pirate Party to Drop ‘Pirate’ From Its Name” (according to the censored news site) [4]. Notice what they do here; it is clear that when language is policed we are basically losing our ability to express ourselves. The censored news site also says that “Record Label Asks Google to Censor Artists’ Twitter Accounts” [5] (censorship for the copyright monopoly/cartel), helping to shed light on he sheer abuse of those companies and proving the value/importance of such news sites.

“In other words, the filters are now being turned from tools of law enforcement into tools of protecting criminals and banning those who report crime.”There are some other new examples of censorship (by intimidatiob) for business reasons, courtesy of Digital Ocean [6] and SeaWorld [7,8].

Isn’t it funny that those who engage in misconduct or unethical behaviour get to use censorship in their favour? In other words, the filters are now being turned from tools of law enforcement into tools of protecting criminals and banning those who report crime. That’s what government- and corporations-controlled filters are bound to achieve.

Related/contextual items from the news:

  1. Blocking: what could possibly go wrong?
  2. Internet Censors Came For TorrentFreak & Now I’m Really Mad

    ISPs exist to provide us with unfettered access to the Internet, not the version they or their technology partners feels is appropriate for us. Their ‘parental controls’ do not achieve their stated aim of “protecting children” and are already causing collateral damage by blocking totally innocent sites such as the one you are reading now. It’s hard not to get angry when you realize your website’s accessibility is becoming disabled by default.

  3. Censorship Triggers Liability: UK ISPs Need To Be Sued Way Out Into Atlantic
  4. Russia Orders Pirate Party to Drop ‘Pirate’ From Its Name

    A long-running battle between the Pirate Party of Russia and the Russian Government has concluded with disappointment for the Pirates. In an announcement yesterday that finally brings an end to a number of appeals, the Ministry of Justice declared that since piracy – sea piracy – is a crime under Russian law, no political party may have that word as part of its name. As a result the Pirate Party can never become officially recognized unless it calls itself something else.

  5. Record Label Asks Google to Censor Artists’ Twitter Accounts

    Spinnin’ Records, one of the largest independent dance music labels, has been sending several unusual takedown requests to Google. The record label asked the search engine to take down the Twitter pages of several of its own top artists, including Afrojack, as well as its own account. Google, thus far, has refused to help out with this blatant attempt at self-censorship.

  6. Digital Ocean said it would shut down my blog if I didn’t remove or edit a blog post.

    This is a story about how the VPS provider Digital Ocean required me to either delete a blog post or make it anonymous by removing any reference to the person I was writing about. If I refused to do it, Digital Ocean said they would terminate my account. The person I wrote about (Googler Travis Collins) in the blog post happened to be a friend of a Digital Ocean executive, but Digital Ocean said the only reason the blog post needed to be removed was due to a terms of service violation. Here’s the blog post in its original form. I describe below how this whole incident came to pass and provide screenshots of Digital Ocean’s communications. Digital Ocean promotes itself as a great place to setup a blog, and they provide instructions to make it easy for you, but you might want to learn how Digital Ocean applies its terms of service before investing a lot of time in writing blog posts.

  7. F-O-R-B-E-S

    Well folks, I suppose it was bound to happen. I wrote a dozen pieces for Forbes.com and enjoyed it very much. But the 13th–an article critical of SeaWorld (a 2.5 billion dollar company partially owned by the Blackstone Group) and praiseworthy of ‘Blackfish” (made on a small budget)–rattled some corporate cages.

    After I posted, editorial management demanded changes that I could not, in good conscience, make. So the article got pulled (after 77,000 hits in one day) and I left my position.

  8. Op-Ed: How low can you can go? Did SeaWorld skew online poll?

US Courts Are Cementing the Gradual Death of the World Wide Web (As We Know It)

Posted in Action at 6:21 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Comcast is Blocktastic? SavetheInternet.com

Summary: Censorship and discrimination in access/speech increase on the Internet after a US court rules against net neutrality

WITH Western censorship, DRM in standards, and surveillance by design, the Web is already a dying medium as an independent, neutral ground for communication. Now comes another blow to net neutrality, basically jeopardising non-discrimination and introducing a form of ‘soft’ censorship. We have already written a great deal about net neutrality, including for example the following articles:

Here in Europe net neutrality is dying [1], but in the US it is already dead, officially so after this new court decision [2,3]. It might be possible to get net neutrality back [4], but it’s going to be extremely hard and the future looks grim [5] (the press of Rupert Murdoch, who is an opponent of the Internet and net neutrality, pretends nothing has changed [6]). This latest travesty [7] is following outrageous moves by AT&T just a week earlier [8-11], turning data caps into profits although there is no real capacity issue, just an imaginary issue, an excuse. The saddest thing is that not only the Web is affected; if an alternative to the Web was made and was designed to sit on top of the Internet, then too discrimination per protocol or content would be permitted.

Related/contextual items from the news:

  1. SaveTheInternet.eu: Act Now For Net Neutrality!

    A broad coalition of civil Liberties NGOs launched SaveTheInternet.eu, a campaign to protect Net neutrality in upcoming EU legislation. A recent proposal from the European Commission will restrict freedom of speech on the Internet, increase prices and stifle online innovation unless urgent action is taken. Citizens should contact parliamentarians in the European Parliament’s Industry Committee and urge them to defend the open Internet.

  2. U.S. appeals court kills net neutrality
  3. Key provision of net-neutrality law struck down by court
  4. Net Neutrality Is Dead — Here’s How to Get It Back

    Three judges in D.C. just killed Net Neutrality.

    This could be the end of the Internet as we know it. But it doesn’t have to be.

    The big news: A federal appeals court on Tuesday struck down the Federal Communications Commission’s Open Internet Order. This decision means that companies like AT&T, Comcast and Verizon — which brought the lawsuit — are now free to block or slow down any website, application or service they like.

    These companies will rush to change the Web and line their own pockets at our expense — creating new tolls for app makers, expensive price tiers for popular sites, and fast lanes open only to the few content providers that can afford them.

  5. Net neutrality gets a kick in the teeth

    A US court has ruled against the FCC’s Open Internet regulations, putting the future of net neutrality completely up in the air.

  6. Open Internet Ruling: No Change for Consumers’ Ability to Access and Use the Internet
  7. Federal Court Strikes Down Net Neutrality Rules, Sides with Big Telecom

    A U.S. Appeals Court just invalidated the FCC’s net neutrality rules that would’ve made it illegal for telecom companies to favor certain types of traffic over others. The court ruled that the commission lacked the authority to implement and enforce such rules which were embedded in a complicated legal framework.

  8. AT&T Says Sponsored Data Doesn’t Violate Net Neutrality: Internet Advocates Argue Mobile Practices Are Unfair

    AT&T’s (NYSE:T) Sponsored Data announcement at 2014 International CES instantly drew concerns from Internet advocates and even the Federal Communications Commission, or FCC. However, the wireless communications giant is unfazed by public response, maintaining that Sponsored Data complies with FCC Net neutrality rules.

  9. AT&T Thumbs Nose at Net Neutrality With ‘Sponsored’ Bandwidth Scheme
  10. AT&T’s ‘Sponsored Data’ Program An Admission That Data Caps Have Nothing To Do With Congestion
  11. AT&T turns data caps into profits with new fees for content providers

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