01.02.14
Posted in GNU/Linux, IBM, OIN, Patents at 12:29 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: OpenStack grows mature enough to be bundled into the OIN’s ‘portfolio’ of protected (from patent litigation) projects
IT IS ALWAYS encouraging and very much rewarding to see the impact of Free software expanding to the higher layers/levels in the stack. OpenStack, an Apache-licensed project which may as well be called FreedomStack (but not “OpenCloud”), has just been added to OIN’s coverage, protecting it from the likes of SCO now that new trolls (Microsoft- and Apple-backed) arrive at the scene [1].
OIN has roots at IBM, which still promotes mainframes [2] and puts GNU/Linux in them [3], essentially to be managed by a proprietary hypervisor/platform (proprietary like UNIX/AIX [4]).
IBM is a big backer of OpenStack [5], but it’s not alone; almost all the large OEMs are embracing OpenStack (very recent examples in [6-15]), even Oracle [16-18]. Foes of OpenStack are Microsoft-funded groups like Gartner, who keep saying about OpenStack [19] what they used to say about GNU/Linux (Gartner was proven wrong, as usual). █
Related/contextual items from the news:
-
Am I the only one who’s been having a bit of SCO déjà vu when it comes to Rockstar’s suit against Google and a bevy of Android handset makers?
You remember SCO, don’t you? They’re the company, once a major Linux player with the Caldera distro, that bought the rights to Unix then turned around and sued IBM for $1 billion, claiming that Big Blue had been copying Unix code into Linux. They’re also the company that sued two of their former clients, AutoZone and Daimler Chrysler, for moving to Linux. Trouble was, they had nothing, not even the copyrights to the code they claimed had been infringed.
-
-
-
eWEEK 30: Unix remains a major server platform in enterprises and on the Internet three decades after PC Week started covering the computer industry.
-
-
-
-
-
-
Red Hat claims that its “enterprise-ready solution combines the stability of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) with the innovation inherent in Red Hat OpenStack technologies to deliver a scalable and secure foundation for building an open private or public cloud.”
-
Dreamhost has emerged in recent years to become one of the world’s most popular shared hosting providers. The company is now expanding its lineup with new cloud compute and storage services, leveraging the open-source OpenStack platform serving as the foundation. Helping to fuel Dreamhost’s expansion is a new $30 million round of financing.
-
-
The difference between these two cloud giants is that everything OpenStack does, it does in the open. All of our successes and failures are in the open. So, we must beware to believe the OpenStack processes cannot support growth beyond the core IaaS feature set. If we do, we fail to grow OpenStack’s own portfolio of features, and we risk quickly becoming irrelevant as Amazon continues its proprietary quest for cloud market domination and saturation. In order to have a competitive open source offering for building clouds, both public and private—we need to add new services and features to the OpenStack portfolio to mature and stabilize the ‘core’ projects.
-
VIDEO: HP Distinguished Engineer Monty Taylor explains how the open-source OpenStack cloud platform is moving forward.
There are many hundreds of developers who contribute code to the open-source OpenStack cloud platform. For the recent OpenStack Havana release, the top developer as measured by the volume of code commits was Monty Taylor, distinguished engineer at Hewlett-Packard.
In a video interview with eWEEK, Taylor explains what he actually does at HP and how his team is contributing to making OpenStack the best it can be.
-
Internap Network Services unveiled the beta version of its new OpenStack-driven public cloud, AgileCLOUD. The company claims it’s the first cloud platform that “will fully expose both virtualized and bare-metal compute instances over a native OpenStack API and delivers significant performance, interoperability and flexibility benefits.”
-
Oracle has started sponsoring an open-source cloud tech that it already uses within its commercial offerings, as the company tentatively embraces a market it once reckoned inconsequential.
The company announced on Tuesday that it had become a “Corporate Sponsor” of the OpenStack Foundation, following El Reg reporting in September that the company’s new public cloud was partly based on the software.
-
Of course, Oracle has spilled a bit of open source bad blood in recent years so when it says it embraces an open source standard, it’s not as though the open source community jumps up and down with glee about it. It’s more likely that the OpenStack community is more than pleased to see Oracle join the party, but they may wonder if the hardware giant has some ulterior motives, rightly or not.
-
-
Debate continues to swirl over whether OpenStack has emerged as a successful cloud computing platform in terms of actual deployments, or whether it is overhyped and immature. Earlier this month, we reported on survey results from The OpenStack Foundation that showed that many enterprises are deploying or plan to deploy the platform.
Permalink
Send this to a friend
Posted in GNU/Linux, Microsoft, Windows at 11:55 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Diversity of brands makes the domination of GNU/Linux easy to overlook (goalposts are being moved)
GNU/Linux, especially as a type of advocacy magnet, is sort of passé because it is now a mainstream, highly-recognised entity with billions of dollars spent on it by corporations which rebrand it (e.g. Android, SteamOS). But advocacy of GNU/Linux is not dead. It’s just less necessary than before.
Last month was a “Very Linux Christmas,” [1] as one GNU/Linux advocate put it (others suggested migrating old PCs to GNU/Linux over Christmas [2]). There are all sorts of other advocacy posts like “Linux Nerd New Year’s Resolutions” [3] and “I have no intention of ending my relationships with Linux” [4]. In 2013 there we had “A Linux Christmas” [5], as SJVN (probably the most famous GNU/Linux advocate) put it [5]. Sean Kerner, another journalist and advocate of GNU/Linux, is sticking to his format of “Linux Top 3″ [6-8]. He used to write many individual articles about positive GNU/Linux news. He can no longer keep up and concentrate on individual stories.
It’s is clear that Linux is now embedded in almost everything [9], often with GNU, e.g. in Chromebooks and netbooks [10-12]. Dell, despite its strong connection to Microsoft, has got its own Linux-based operating system as well [13]. Compatibility across distributions is improving [14,15], so many of the old slurs and FUD don’t apply anymore. There are many indicators of GNU/Linux going mainstream for a lot of purposes, gaining at the expense of UNIX in the back room [16] and Windows on the desktop/main room [17,18]. Its security advantage (no back doors for starters) sure is helping [19], despite some fear-mongering [20]. It should not be shocking that funding goes towards independent publications that exclusively cover GNU/Linux [21] rather than troll GNU/Linux proponents for hits. The operating systems attracts people young [22] and old [23], seeding new branches [24,25] and gaining lots of positive publicity in the corporate press [26], not just sites of GNU/Linux advocates [27].
Those who somehow insist that GNU/Linux makes no progress (those people do exist) are unhinged from facts simply because the “G” word and “L” words are spoken less often than “Android” or “Chromebooks”, for example. This has actually evolved to become a very common FUD argument — something along the “Chrome OS is not really Linux” (even though it certainly is and Microsoft's response speaks volumes). █
Related/contextual items from the news:
-
-
-
-
-
Sales information for the 2013 holidays shows another successful season for Amazon. That’s no surprise. What may surprise some is how often Linux-powered electronics appeared at the top of Amazon buyers’ list.
-
-
-
-
”Linux is Everywhere. From Space Stations to Microwave Ovens, Linux powers everything.” You might have heard that a lot and have always wondered ” Is that just a phrase or is it actually true ? “ Be assured, it is true. World’s biggest companies use Linux in one way or another but you are not going to believe unless I take names. Well, get ready for a roller coaster ride across the globe where I show you where and how Linux is used
-
…while market research findings have been very bleak for PCs and PC equipment makers, Chromebooks–portable computers based on Google’s Chrome OS platform–have continued to sell, although we continue to see stories online like “Why there’s no good reason to buy a Chromebook.” Just recently, a bunch of big hardware makers have either delivered Chromebooks or announced plans to deliver them. HP, Lenovo, Acer and Samsung are among vendors with sub-$300 Chromebooks, and Dell is about to join the ranks. But debate has swirled over whether the devices are really selling well.
-
Sales of Chromebooks exploded from basically nothing in 2012 to more than 20 percent of the U.S. commercial PC market, analyst firm NPD reported on Monday, while Windows PCs and Macs remained flat at best.
NPD estimated that, throughout all of 2013, 14.4 million desktops, notebooks, and tablets were sold through U.S. commercial channels, typically resellers. That compares to 16.4 million PCs, overall, sold in the U.S. during the third quarter alone–excluding tablets, according to IDC. All told, about 46.2 million PCs have been sold in the U.S. during 2013, IDC found.
-
-
The new Dell Networking N-series includes new silicon, hardware chassis and a new Linux-based operating system. The new switches include the N2000 and N3000, both 1 GbE switches with 10 GbE uplinks. Dell’s refreshed campus portfolio competes in a highly competitive space dominated by Cisco, with HP and Juniper also pushing hard for market share.
-
It’s based on open-source technology that emerged in the mid-2000s — Linux containers, which run isolated applications on a single physical server. But a company called Docker has made the technology easier to implement and far more useful. Through Docker, the Linux container has blossomed into a tool that helps developers build one application and easily move it into a testing environment and then a production environment, and then from one cloud to another, all without modifying the code.
-
In this arena, I see Steam as the clear winner here. And if we can get Steam ramped up in distributing paid applications that people actually want to use – not just the limited paid title library for Linux we have now – the options could be limitless.
-
-
-
-
-
-
Unlike some Indiegogo projects, Linux Voice has chosen to roll with a flex funding campaign. That means if they don’t reach their goal, they won’t be keeping the funds. That seems highly unlikely at this point: the community has already responded with more than £62,000 ($101,624) in pledges. With three weeks left to collect just over £27,000 ($44,255) more, Linux Voice certainly looks like a lock.
-
“Linux adoption is exploding. It’s a great operating system, not just in the server world, but also on the desktop,” he said. “I really love using it, and after I graduate I would like to get a Linux-based job.”
-
There are few things more gratifying to those of us here in the Linux blogosphere than seeing another user give the proprietary world the boot and make the switch to our favorite operating system.
-
-
In 2006, Foré was fed up with Windows, and he switched to Linux, the open source operating system. But he didn’t just use the OS. Like so many others, he also helped improve the thing. He had no programming experience, but wanted to be involved in this famously communal project, so he designed a set of icons for the OS. And from there, he went to work on a desktop theme called Elementary.
-
-
When I read on Monday that my friend Ken Starks had come-up with the 12 Geeks of Christmas idea for his Reglue project, my first thought was “what a wonderful idea.”
In case you don’t know, Reglue is a nonprofit run by Starks down in Texas that refurbishes old computers, loads them up with GNU/Linux and the necessary software, then gives them to school age children who’s parents can’t afford a decent computer.
When you think about it, this not only gives kids who can’t afford it a much needed computer for their school work, it also gives them the added advantage of learning to use an operating system other than Windows or OS X while being opened-up to the possibilities of free and open source software. I can’t help but wonder how many of tomorrow’s FOSS developers are being nurtured by Starks and his Reglue project just by dint of learning their way around Linux.
Permalink
Send this to a friend
Posted in Action at 10:43 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Micorsoft
-
Scary. Insane. Ridiculous. Invasive. Wrong. The Washington Post reports that the FBI has had the ability to secretly activate a computer’s camera “without triggering the light that lets users know it is recording” for years now. What in the hell is going on? What kind of world do we live in?
Marcus Thomas, the former assistant director of the FBI’s Operational Technology Division, told the Post that that sort of creepy spy laptop recording is “mainly” used in terrorism cases or the “most serious” of criminal investigations. That doesn’t really make it less crazy (or any better) since the very idea of the FBI being able to watch you through your computer is absolutely disturbing.
-
The FBI team works much like other hackers, using security weaknesses in computer programs to gain control of users’ machines. The most common delivery mechanism, say people familiar with the technology, is a simple phishing attack — a link slipped into an e-mail, typically labeled in a misleading way.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Snowden
-
Along with journalist colleagues Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras, I spent six days with Edward Snowden in Hong Kong. He had spent almost all of his short adult life working in America’s spy agencies, but at the end of those six days, the unknown 29-year-old became one of the most famous faces on the planet. He went public in a Guardian video, revealing himself as the source of one of the biggest leaks in western intelligence history.
-
Only three months after the Snowden leaks on NSA snooping began, we learn from Ars Technica that the developers at FreeBSD have decided to rethink the way they access random numbers to generate cryptographic keys. Starting with version 10.0, users of the operating system will no longer be relying solely on random numbers generated by Intel and Via Technologies processors. This comes as a response to reports that government spooks can successfully open some encryption schemes.
-
-
Agency Implementing 2-Person Rule, Increasing Encryption Use
Greenwald
Machon
-
While British politics and media display a strong reluctance to confront the harsh realities of UK spying, we should be worried about further revelations of a dystopian, Orwellian surveillance system gone global, former MI5 agent Annie Machon told RT.
-
Here’s an RT interview I did about the media response to Edward Snowden, the media response, privacy and what we can do.
Obama
-
The facts that we know so far – from Fisa court documents to LOVEINT – show that the NSA has overstepped its powers
-
Before he left for Hawaii, the president was sending signals that government surveillance programs need an overhaul to restore the public’s faith on issues of national security.
Judgement
-
-
The September 11th terrorist attacks revealed, in the starkest terms, just how dangerous and interconnected the world is. While Americans depended on technology for the conveniences of modernity, al-Qaeda plotted in a seventh-century milieu to use that technology against us. It was a bold jujitsu. And it succeeded because conventional intelligence gathering could not detect diffuse filaments connecting al-Qaeda.
Prior to the September 11th attacks, the National Security Agency (“NSA”) intercepted seven calls made by hijacker Khalid al-Mihdhar, who was living in San Diego, California, to an al-Qaeda safe house in Yemen. The NSA intercepted those calls using overseas signals intelligence capabilities that could not capture al-Mihdhar’s telephone number identifier. Without that identifier, NSA analysts concluded mistakenly that al-Mihdhar was overseas and not in the United States. Telephony metadata would have furnished the missing information and might have permitted the NSA to notify the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) of the fact that al-Mihdhar was calling the Yemeni safe house from inside the United States.
-
1984
-
A Scottish sci-fi writer has cancelled the last instalment in a trilogy about high-tech government spying after discovering that the NSA has been doing exactly what he described in his books.
-
-
Snowden in 2013 revealed what George Orwell in 1949 had already revealed in 1984: that Big Brothers who spy on their citizens will go on to do very bad things. He then asked for asylum in a country with a long history of its own citizens seeking asylum from his country.
Sci-FI Made Real
-
-
-
-
-
-
Many Americans might never notice or care. I remember when telephone calls were considered to be private. In the 1940s and 1950s the telephone company could not always provide private lines. There were “party lines” in which two or more customers shared the same telephone line. It was considered extremely rude and inappropriate to listen in on someone’s calls and to monopolize the line with long duration conversations.
-
-
A leaked NSA cyber-arms catalog has shed light on the technologies US and UK spies use to infiltrate and remotely control PCs, routers, firewalls, phones and software from some of the biggest names in IT.
The exploits, often delivered via the web, provide clandestine backdoor access across networks, allowing the intelligence services to carry out man-in-the-middle attacks that conventional security software has no chance of stopping.
Corporate and Other
-
Kelly hired David Cohen, the former head of the C.I.A.’s spy division, to run the force’s intelligence outfit. Cohen, a trained economist known to be intensely loyal to his superiors (and profane with everyone else), created the Demographics Unit, which imbedded special recruits in eighteen Muslim neighborhoods to monitor every aspect of daily life. At the same time, Kelly created the International Liaison Program, which posted detectives in eleven hot spots overseas, including London, Paris, Madrid, Abu Dhabi, and Tel Aviv. “We’ve reorganized the department to accommodate this world view,” Kelly said. “You might say that the N.Y.P.D. has aspired to become a Council on Foreign Relations with guns.”
-
We have all heard by now of the massive surveillance being conducted by the NSA and other governments across the world. China is a well-known anti-privacy country and others have decided to also spy on their citizens’ social network activities amongst other things. The Internet censorship trends are getting pretty bad.
-
Older teenagers have turned their backs on Facebook, an EU-funded study has found. Young people are opting for alternative social networks like Twitter and WhatsApp, while the “worst people of all, their parents, continue to use the service.”
Permalink
Send this to a friend
Posted in News Roundup at 10:13 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Permalink
Send this to a friend
Posted in Antitrust, GNU/Linux, Ubuntu at 10:06 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Positive outlook for GNU and Linux is overshadowed somewhat by tactless embrace of UEFI by the likes of Canonical
2013, as we’ve pointed out throughout that year, was an excellent year for GNU/Linux (others agree [1]). Even Microsoft boosters realise that the world is leaving Windows behind, mostly because Google (with Chrome OS and Android) is occupying more and more segments, enjoying huge market share (by some criteria higher than Windows’). As an example of one Microsoft booster in a stage of acceptance, see “Facing the Biggest Problem with Windows in 2014″ (written by a famous Windows booster).
The last thing we need right now is technology that helps keep Windows around. It is baffling to see Ubuntu, which is now managed by former Microsoft staff, wasting everyone’s time with UEFI (this is counter-productive). Here is the latest: “An Ubuntu developer has proposed 32-bit UEFI support within new Ubuntu Linux install images to support the new “Bay Trail” laptops and other hardware that requires 32-bit UEFI support.”
Ubuntu’s Mark Shuttleworth says that Ubuntu Linux on track for full convergence before Microsoft [2], but why is he following Microsoft’s ‘lead’ (in antifeatures)? This is not necessary. He would be better off joining antitrust complaints. Shuttleworth is correct in pointing out that we’re moving towards mobile and servers (pundits agree with him [3] and so do sales numbers [3-6], which demonstrate Linux domination [7]).
GNU/Linux is doing just fine without following Microsoft’s footsteps. Canonical should rethink its UEFI strategy at this stage. It’s never too late. █
Related/contextual items from the news:
-
2013 was one of the most dramatic years of my life-time. The Edward Snowden revelations made this year the most remarkable year in the history. As a Gnu/Linux user (where privacy and control of data is prime objective) this year was quite promising as Gnu/Linux rose as the dominant player in the consumer space.
-
Microsoft is widely expected to converge its operating systems across desktops, mobile phones and tablets. However, according to Mark Shuttleworth, Ubuntu Linux is on track to achieve full convergence first.
-
Much like the overall IT industry, the Linux community shifted its focus to mobile and cloud computing.
-
-
-
-
While I’m happy to see Android doing so well, I’d really like to see other Linux-based products topping the charts too. Perhaps an Ubuntu based tablet or phone might also be a good option for consumers. I’d very much prefer that customers had another choice besides just Android, iOS or Microsoft Windows based products.
Permalink
Send this to a friend
Posted in Microsoft at 9:40 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: The NSA comes under a wave of litigation again, this time in France and the United States, but the real target of litigation should be conspirators and facilitators of NSA surveillance (like PRISM kickstarter Microsoft)
OVER THE years we have stressed that Microsoft pays CBS, which owns and runs Microsoft-friendly (by design) sites like ZDNet and CNET. To demonstrate how deep this relationship runs consider the notorious NSA propaganda that CBS aired in December and mind this new article from Tim Cushing. As Cushing points out, Microsoft and the NSA are very close, going beyond eavesdropping on Skype and into back doors (access to files) inside the operating system used by most people.
Hayden, who helps connect the NSA with the even more notorious CIA (and himself has a bad reputation even among former CIA analysts [1]), is said to have been sort of been tied to Microsoft in this case. As Cushing said, “I’m sure this is the last (mostly inadvertent) tie-in the software giant hoped to see rolling out to CBS News’ 2.8 million followers. Microsoft has tried hard to distance itself from the image of “willing surveillance participant” in the past several weeks. It has issued statements about valuing customer privacy even as news has surfaced about it handing over pre-encryption access to the agency for several of its most popular products, as well as newer acquisitions like Skype.
“But the way CBS pitches it, the message comes across as Microsoft supporting Hayden’s claims that Snowden is a traitor. Unfortunate to be sure, but not entirely unbelievable.”
The NSA leaks have done an enormous damage to Microsoft and in the coming few quarters we’ll begin to see it. In 2012 we noted that with Microsoft providing NSA access to international calls (eavesdropping on Skype users) it stands on iffy legal ground. The NSA has just been sued in France [2-7] and the ACLU is suing the NSA for spying on international calls [8-15]. Maybe the ACLU should sue Microsoft too, for complicity at the very least. ACLU has already slammed Skype, but there might be Bill Gates moles inside and they like surveillance (they profit from it). █
Related/contextual items from the news:
-
To his credit, I suppose, President-elect Obama did get rid of Hayden – for cause, as I tried to explain in “What’s CIA Director Hayden Hidin’” on Jan. 15, 2009. I ended that article with the following expression of good riddance: “The sooner Hayden is gone (likely to join the Fawning Corporate Media channels as an expert commentator, and to warm some seats on defense-industry corporate boards) the better. His credentials would appear good for that kind of work.”
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Permalink
Send this to a friend
12.31.13
Posted in Intellectual Monopoly at 11:56 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Thoughts and observations about who is being served by today’s copyright “law” (written by the copyright monopoly)
Copyright reform in the digital age is an important topic [1] because more often than not we see copyright abused to kill information or censor it. In a world of abundance through sharing everyone including artists would benefit; monopolists and middlemen, however, would not.
The Pirate Bay is not copyright abuse although it can, if misused, contain copyrighted material against the will of the copyright holder/s (not always same as the creator). The Pirate Bay is still online [2], but its founder gets treated worse than serial killers, showing perhaps that “law” these days is an instrument of the rich and powerful. Those who call for ridiculous new “laws” (like “Six strikes”) may actually be the real criminals [3] and when illegal raids are used against people like Kim Dotcom (with biased “justifications” to come only years after the act [4]) we just know that copyright “law” deserves little respect. It’s written by lobbyists and politicians funded by billionaires who profit from their cartels. “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” is currently being censored by those thuggish billionaires, using copyright “law” of course [5].
Torrents have just turned a decade old [6] and one must remember that a lot of this technology is being used for totally legitimate purposes by very legitimate entities, including businesses and governments. Torrents should be celebrated — not demonised — for they improve utilisation of the networks while reducing surveillance.
Don’t let scapegoat rulings [7] scare you and remember that those who hunt down sharers are deemed human rights violators, according to the European Court Of Human Rights [8]. A lot of those who are prosecuted are not even guilty of copyright infringement. Remember that “Google Discarded 21,000,000 Takedown Requests in 2013″ [9] (almost unworkable to do because the total number of requests was 235,000,000). How can any site keep copyrighted material (and check validity of claims) without employing thousands of staff to work 24/7 and hopefully make correct rulings 100% of the time? It’s impossible. Sites that have copyrighted material on them (uploaded by users) cannot honestly be prosecuted unless they deliberately turn a blind eye to the problem and support/advocate the problem. Some nations have already moved on, realising that it’s impractical to stop sharing [10] (one way or another people will share files, even using physical devices like portable drives) and some artists too are trying to evolve (even if it’s just a rumour [11]) rather than just litigate.
Google can explain the issue at hand pretty well because it does challenge current copyright law in various ways, e.g. in fair use of scanned books. To demonstrate the copyright problem of scale, consider YouTube. Every single second, hours of footage are uploaded. How can a moderator check the source, assess in context fair use (must view the original), assess satirical/critical additions, or even verify with the copyright owner whether takedowns are desirable? This is not possible. It’s infeasible even if Google had thousands of staff doing it 24/7. So should the only alternative be to completely ban all such video sharing sites? And if so, what about self hosting of videos? Who would regulate it, the ISPs and the hosts? The other problem with copyright “law” is that it destroys data hosting sites; some people may occasionally put infringing material in their Web-based filespace (e.g. DropBox) and in order to enforce copyright “law” scanners (in effect surveillance) need to go through personal files, essentially opening the door to the NSA (which sought to add DropBox as a PRISM partner). Hence, copyright law is not just a tool in the censorship toolbox but also in the surveillance toolbox. It’s clear who benefits from it. █
Related/contextual items from the news:
-
-
The Pirate Bay’s domain troubles seem to be never ending. Just a day after the troubled torrent site found a new home in Guyana, the site’s new .GY domain has already been suspended. The local domain registry informs TorrentFreak that all domains that violate its policies will be suspended immediately. The Pirate Bay, meanwhile, has decided to return to the relatively calm waters of Sweden for the time being.
-
Antitrust law is as thoroughly unlibertarian as IP law is, though my guess is patent and copyright do more damage to property rights, freedom, the free market, and the economy.1 The perverse thing is that the state helps to create monopolies by its various policies (patent, copyright, FDA regulations) and then it turns around and uses its antitrust regulations to punish companies for acquiring these monopolies.2 And, also perversely, the use of antitrust law itself can limit the abilities of private actors to deal privately with “piracy,” competition and knockoffs, which then supports the argument that IP is needed (and then the IP rights, once granted, get the companies in trouble with antitrust law if these IP monopoly rights are “abused”). (As an example: antitrust law has been used against the fashion industry, and the movie chain system, making it harder for these industries to engage in private measures in response to knockoffs and “piracy”.)
-
The U.S. Department of Justice has released a new 191-page filing in which Megaupload is portrayed as a massive piracy hub. The Government is using data obtained from Megaupload’s seized databases to back up and expand several of the allegations against Kim Dotcom and his co-defendants. Among other things, the evidence suggests that “repeat infringers” drove a lot of traffic to Mega’s sites. The document further shows that roughly 43% of all files streamed on Megavideo received a takedown notice.
-
We were just talking about the latest efforts to remove termination rights from musicians (and other artists), and a number of termination rights battles are still ongoing. Most of the existing ones are slightly different from the ones we’re talking about — and it gets pretty down in the weeds technically. In short, there are different rules for works created prior to 1978 and those after 1978. Most of the focus is on the termination rights for works created after 1978 — though there are some interesting ongoing battles concerning works created prior to 1978… including that song you just can’t stop hearing this time of year: Santa Claus is Coming to Town.
-
A fan-created ASCII version of the 1999 sci-fi classic The Matrix is currently the oldest torrent alive. Created exactly 10 years ago the file in question has achieved iconic status, piquing the interest of dozens of downloaders week after week. Warner Bros, is not known to go after this type of fan-art, so those who are interested can proceed to download without worry.
-
Earlier this week a torrent site user was hit with a damages claim of $652,000 for uploading one movie to the Internet. With the huge amount undoubtedly still ringing in the 28-year-old’s ears, questions are now being raised about how this figure was arrived at. It’s an amazing process that shows that sometimes copyright holders may as well just think of a number, double it, multiply it by the day of the week and then add it all to their dog’s age.
-
-
Google discarded 9% of the 235,000,000 allegedly infringing links copyright holders asked the company to remove from its search engine this year. This amounts to 21 million URLs for which Google took no action, either because the requests were illegitimate or were duplicates already submitted in previous notices. NBC Universal, Fox and Lynda.com have the worst track record in this regard as more than a quarter of their requests were discarded.
-
-
Permalink
Send this to a friend
Posted in News Roundup at 11:01 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
While ardent Linux gamers have likely already heard and own a copy, for those that didn’t hear yet Valve’s latest kindness, the Linux-friendly entertainment company is giving away their very popular Left 4 Dead 2 game today and tomorrow as a Christmas present to gamers.
-
-
While in some of the past years we have seen new Sauerbraten / Cube 2 game releases around Christmas and the end of the year, there’s no indications of any imminent releases this year, but the Tesseract fork is continuing to show signs of hope for another non-ioquake3-based game engine with improved visuals. Tesseract is derived from Cube 2: Sauerbraten but with much better visuals.
Permalink
Send this to a friend
« Previous Page — « Previous entries « Previous Page · Next Page » Next entries » — Next Page »
Further Recent Posts
- 2017: Latest Year That the Unitary Patent (UPC) is Still Stuck in a Limbo
The issues associated with the UPC, especially in light of ongoing negotiations of Britain's exit from the EU, remain too big a barrier to any implementation this year (and probably future years too)
- Links 7/1/2017: Linux 4.9.1, Wine 2.0 RC4
Links for the day
- India Keeps Rejecting Software Patents in Spite of Pressure From Large Foreign Multinationals
India's resilience in the face of incredible pressure to allow software patents is essential for the success of India's growing software industry and more effort is needed to thwart corporate colonisation through patents in India itself
- Links 6/1/2017: Irssi 1.0.0, KaOS 2017.01 Released
Links for the day
- Watchtroll a Fake News Site in Lobbying Mode and Attack Mode Against Those Who Don't Agree (Even PTAB and Judges)
A look at some of the latest spin and the latest shaming courtesy of the patent microcosm, which behaves so poorly that one has to wonder if its objective is to alienate everyone
- The Productivity Commission Warns Against Patent Maximalism, Which is Where China (SIPO) is Heading Along With EPO
In defiance of common sense and everything that public officials or academics keep saying (European, Australian, American), China's SIPO and Europe's EPO want us to believe that when it comes to patents it's "the more, the merrier"
- Technical Failure of the European Patent Office (EPO) a Growing Cause for Concern
The problem associated with Battistelli's strategy of increasing so-called 'production' by granting in haste everything on the shelf is quickly being grasped by patent professionals (outside EPO), not just patent examiners (inside EPO)
- Links 5/1/2017: Inkscape 0.92, GNU Sed 4.3
Links for the day
- Links 4/1/2017: Cutelyst 1.2.0 and Lumina 1.2 Desktop Released
Links for the day
- Financial Giants Will Attempt to Dominate or Control Bitcoin, Blockchain and Other Disruptive Free Software Using Software Patents
Free/Open Source software in the currency and trading world promised to emancipate us from the yoke of banking conglomerates, but a gold rush for software patents threatens to jeopardise any meaningful change or progress
- New Article From Heise Explains Erosion of Patent Quality at the European Patent Office (EPO)
To nobody's surprise, the past half a decade saw accelerating demise in quality of European Patents (EPs) and it is the fault of Battistelli's notorious policies
- Insensitivity at the EPO’s Management – Part V: Suspension of Salary and Unfair Trials
One of the lesser-publicised cases of EPO witch-hunting, wherein a member of staff is denied a salary "without any notification"
- Links 3/1/2017: Microsoft Imposing TPM2 on Linux, ASUS Bringing Out Android Phones
Links for the day
- Links 2/1/2017: Neptune 4.5.3 Release, Netrunner Desktop 17.01 Released
Links for the day
- Teaser: Corruption Indictments Brought Against Vice-President of the European Patent Office (EPO)
New trouble for Željko Topić in Strasbourg, making it yet another EPO Vice-President who is on shaky grounds and paving the way to managerial collapse/avalanche at the EPO
- 365 Days Later, German Justice Minister Heiko Maas Remains Silent and Thus Complicit in EPO Abuses on German Soil
The utter lack of participation, involvement or even intervention by German authorities serve to confirm that the government of Germany is very much complicit in the EPO's abuses, by refusing to do anything to stop them
- Battistelli's Idea of 'Independent' 'External' 'Social' 'Study' is Something to BUY From Notorious Firm PwC
The sham which is the so-called 'social' 'study' as explained by the Central Staff Committee last year, well before the results came out
- Europe Should Listen to SMEs Regarding the UPC, as Battistelli, Team UPC and the Select Committee Lie About It
Another example of UPC promotion from within the EPO (a committee dedicated to UPC promotion), in spite of everything we know about opposition to the UPC from small businesses (not the imaginary ones which Team UPC claims to speak 'on behalf' of)
- Video: French State Secretary for Digital Economy Speaks Out Against Benoît Battistelli at Battistelli's PR Event
Uploaded by SUEPO earlier today was the above video, which shows how last year's party (actually 2015) was spoiled for Battistelli by the French State Secretary for Digital Economy, Axelle Lemaire, echoing the French government's concern about union busting etc. at the EPO (only to be rudely censored by Battistelli's 'media partner')
- When EPO Vice-President, Who Will Resign Soon, Made a Mockery of the EPO
Leaked letter from Willy Minnoye/management to the people who are supposed to oversee EPO management
- No Separation of Powers or Justice at the EPO: Reign of Terror by Battistelli Explained in Letter to the Administrative Council
In violation of international labour laws, Team Battistelli marches on and engages in a union-busting race against the clock, relying on immunity to keep this gravy train rolling before an inevitable crash
- FFPE-EPO is a Zombie (if Not Dead) Yellow Union Whose Only de Facto Purpose Has Been Attacking the EPO's Staff Union
A new year's reminder that the EPO has only one legitimate union, the Staff Union of the EPO (SUEPO), whereas FFPE-EPO serves virtually no purpose other than to attack SUEPO, more so after signing a deal with the devil (Battistelli)
- EPO Select Committee is Wrong About the Unitary Patent (UPC)
The UPC is neither desirable nor practical, especially now that the EPO lowers patent quality; but does the Select Committee understand that?
- Links 1/1/2017: KDE Plasma 5.9 Coming, PelicanHPC 4.1
Links for the day
- 2016: The Year EPO Staff Went on Strike, Possibly “Biggest Ever Strike in the History of the EPO.”
A look back at a key event inside the EPO, which marked somewhat of a breaking point for Team Battistelli
- Open EPO Letter Bemoans Battistelli's Antisocial Autocracy Disguised/Camouflaged Under the Misleading Term “Social Democracy”
Orwellian misuse of terms by the EPO, which keeps using the term "social democracy" whilst actually pushing further and further towards a totalitarian regime led by 'King' Battistelli
- EPO's Central Staff Committee Complains About Battistelli's Bodyguards Fetish and Corruption of the Media
Even the EPO's Central Staff Committee (not SUEPO) understands that Battistelli brings waste and disgrace to the Office
- Translation of French Texts About Battistelli and His Awful Perception of Omnipotence
The paradigm of totalitarian control, inability to admit mistakes and tendency to lie all the time is backfiring on the EPO rather than making it stronger
- 2016 in Review and Plans for 2017
A look back and a quick look at the road ahead, as 2016 comes to an end
- Links 31/12/2016: Firefox 52 Improves Privacy, Tizen Comes to Middle East
Links for the day
Content is available under CC-BY-SA