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12.28.10

IRC Proceedings: December 27th, 2010

Posted in IRC Logs at 7:05 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNOME Gedit

GNOME Gedit

GNOME Gedit

#techrights log

#boycottnovell log

#boycottnovell-social log

Enter the IRC channels now

ES: Apple y Bill Gates Servicio del poder, Servirse A Sí Mismos, Perjudicar a la Población

Posted in Apple, Bill Gates at 1:35 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Steve Jobs and Bill Gates

(ODF | PDF | English/original)

Resumen: Como personas con excesiva riqueza se aseguran que la población por debajo de ellos sigua siendo ignorante y obediente, con el control de la información (adquisición de medios de comunicación y la censura).

Las compañías como PayPal, MasterCard y Visa saben que han defendido la mala conducta de su gobierno. Estuvieron en todas las noticias de este mes. Amazon podría decirse que pertenece a la misma categoría, pero ¿adivinen quién más? “Apple elimina la aplicación de Wikileaks? Corea del Norte son más abiertos que Apple “, escribió Gordon Sinclair sobre esta noticia muy reciente[http://techrights.org/2010/12/21/china-esque-apple/]. Sí, Apple censura Wikileaks sin especificar una razón, pero hay excusas[http://www.boingboing.net/2010/12/21/why-did-apple-remove.html]. Techdirt no suele ser hostil hacia Apple, pero dice que su último título[http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101221/09524812365/apple-latest-to-convict-wikileaks-despite-no-charges-trial-kills-wikileaks-app-violating-unnamed-laws.shtml]: “Apple el último en condenar a Wikileaks a pesar de no cargos ni proceso; Mata la aplicación de Wikileaks por violar leyes sin nombre”

“La cosa es, Wikileaks ni siquiera ha sido acusado de un delito, por no hablar de culpables, por lo que no está claro por qué todas estas empresas alegan que la aplicación de Wikeleaks no cumple con la ley. Asimismo, si bien todavía estamos esperando pruebas de que realmente alguien fue puesto en “peligro” debido a Wikileaks, este razonamiento no tiene ningún sentido tampoco. La información que se encuentra en Wikileaks está escrito en todo tipo de publicaciones de noticias importantes – por lo que si una aplicación Wikileaks pone a las personas en peligro, también lo es el navegador Safari en el iPhone que se puede utilizar para acceder a toda la misma información.”

Asher Wolf[http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101221/09524812365/apple-latest-to-convict-wikileaks-despite-no-charges-trial-kills-wikileaks-app-violating-unnamed-laws.shtml] añade: La aplicación de “” voltear Faldas ‘iPhone todavía esta disponible en iStores. Wikileaks aplicación censurada. ¿Qué dice esto acerca de los valores de Apple “En un post posterior Techdirt amontona a Apple junto con todos los censores Wikileaks [http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101222/04353612381/will-visa-mastercard-paypal-bofa-apple-terminate-relationships-with-nytimes-revealing-military-secrets.shtml](Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, Bank of America y Apple”) y ha dicho?:

“Sin embargo, un punto aún mayor está enterrado hacia el final de una actualización, donde Greenwald pregunta:

¿Por qué no son Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, su empresa de alojamiento web y varios bancos ponen fin a su relación con The New York Times, en la forma en que todos lo hicieron con Wikileaks: no sólo para la publicación del New York Times de muchos de los mismos cables diplomáticos y de la guerra publicada por Wikileaks, sino también para el mucho más grave que el día de hoy fuga en la que se Wikileaks no estuvieron involucrados?

“Y, creo, podemos añadir a la lista de Apple. Después de todo, si estas empresas mantienen alegando que Wikileaks “violó la ley” (como la mayoría de las empresas figuran en esta lista están diciendo), ¿por qué ellos no sienten lo mismo por el New York Times?”

Lo que nos enseña una lección importante. El apoyo a Apple es el apoyo a una visión donde las personas no tienen percepción de la individualidad/superioridad (todo el mundo utiliza Apple) y todo el mundo esta digital ‘encarcelado’. Ese es el tipo que tiranos tienden a tener una visión y hablando de tiranos, observemos a Bill Gates apropiarse de de la prensa[http://techrights.org/2010/11/28/bill-melinda-evangelization/], que a su vez se utiliza para promover su estratagema de alimentación (hacerse cargo de las escuelas, bibliotecas, etc). Un periodista acaba de publicar un artículo titulado “La conspiración de la Fundación Gates para hacerse cargo de los medios de comunicación[http://humanosphere.kplu.org/2010/12/the-gates-foundation-conspiracy-to-take-over-the-media/]” (similar a la idea de suprimir el contenido de Wikileaks):

“Bill Gates es demasiado astuto hombre de negocios para querer apropiarse de una industria que en realidad pierde dinero, como la industria de los medios de comunicación. (Aunque los periódicos de hoy tienen algo en común con el software, una persona produce el producto original y luego millones de obtener copias de ella de forma gratuita.)”

“No, lo que quiero hablar es de la financiación de la Fundación Gates a los medios de comunicación. Ya he escrito mucho acerca de esto … tal vez demasiado.”

“Más exactamente, yo quería hablar con la gente de los medios de comunicación en la filantropía de Seattle sobre su perspectiva de “asociación” con los medios de comunicación.”

“Esta clase de acuerdos confunden o molestan a algunas personas y ha dado la gente de los medios de comunicación en la Fundación Gates, un poco de dolor en los últimos meses acerca de la naturaleza de algunas de estas asociaciones. Esto puede parecer algo raro, lo sé, ya que trabajo para NPR (Radio Publica Nacional), que también ha sido financiado por la “filantropía” más grande del mundo para informar sobre la salud mundial y las cuestiones de desarrollo – y que es lo que hago (a pesar de que no reciben dinero de Gates).”

El mundo necesita acceso a la información real y no de relaciones públicas, que GATES INVIERTE más de UN MiLLON de dólares de POR DIA. Es por eso que mantenemos este Wiki acerca de la Fundación Gates [http://techrights.org/wiki/index.php/Gates_Foundation_Critique]- una página que realmente esperamos ampliar la próxima semana (si el tiempo lo permite). Esto significa que Gates insulta a la inteligencia de los estadounidenses [http://rokdrop.com/2010/12/22/us-students-military-exam/] para justificar el enfoque de Microsoft hacia mano de obra baratos en/de otros países[http://techrights.org/2008/12/22/microsoft-gates-abramoff-connection/]. Es muy peligroso cuando la información es controlada por los ricos de una nación y la desinformación es diseminada con la justificación de que la ignorancia es felicidad. █

[Many thanks to Eduardo for his translation.]

ES: La Voz de Traición

Posted in Microsoft, Novell, Patents at 1:27 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

FOSSpatents

(ODF | PDF | English/original)

Resumen: Otra capa de la cebolla se pela para revelar como apesta el lobbyism (cabildeo) de Microsoft.

MR. “Microsoft” Florian Müller es un objetivo porque fingió ser pro-software libre mientras al mismo tiempo se encontraba/encuentra haciendo campaña contra el software libre. Esto tiene “ACT (Estadounidenses por Tecnología “Competitiva”)”, escrito por todas partes y, para aquellos que no lo saben, ACT (Estadounidenses por Tecnología “Competitiva”) es un grupo frontal de Microsoft confirmado. Lo secreto es sospechoso si no SINIESTRO cuando preguntas básicas – tales como las hechas a Müller frecuentemente – no puede ser respondidas. Ni siquiera una pregunta sí/no puede ser contestada. Él tiene muchas cosas acerca de él que hacen pensar que sigue haciendo cabildeo -LOBBYISM- (el de defensor de alquiler como probablemente preferiría llamarlo), tal como lo ha hecho en sus último empleos. Esto no es un caso ordinario de defensa legítima de la agenda de Microsoft, pronto vamos a exponer algunos activistas de Microsoft recientemente desenmascarados cuyo papel en Microsoft incluye el acoso a bloggers, maldecir a Linux, la PROMOCION de Microsoft, e insultar a los críticos de Microsoft, con los datos preliminares en el último episodio de TechBytes.

“En Twitter encuentras FOSSpatents similar a MicrosoftPresse”, escribe Groklaw. “‘Nuff dijo. Espere. ¿A propósito cuál es la definición de una patente de software libre? “Vean la captura de pantalla en la parte superior. Viene de la FFII (Fundación para una Infraestructura de Información Libre)[http://twitpic.com/3jvlwb], que Müller ha estado atacando de nuevo recientemente. La FFII ha sido muy, muy mala, ya que se encuentra en el camino de Microsoft y antagoniza las patentes de software. “Microsoft” Müller ha estado tratando de incitar a algunos miembros de la FFII en contra de otros, lo que es una vieja y sucia divide y vencerás táctica cuya intención trae consecuencia guerras civiles.

Richard Jones, del infame Grupo Gartner [http://techrights.org/wiki/index.php/Gartner_Group] afirma que las CPTN patentes [http://blogs.gartner.com/richard-jones/2010/12/17/novell-attachmate-and-the-cptn-patent-deal/] no afectan a UNIX / Linux, pero se equivoca (Gartner ha estado mal un montón de veces y hemos documentado varios ejemplos de esto). “Él dice que Novell no tiene las patentes de UNIX”, explica Pamela Jones en Groklaw, “Pero las obtuvieron. Usted puede encontrar la lista de las patentes “en relación con el negocio” en los accesorios de aquí [http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20031207205252984]a la APA entre Novell y Santa Cruz. Novell, después de todo, tiene de todo, desde la USL, de bloqueo, las acciones y el barril. ”

“Para los medios de comunicación, una sugerencia: pidan a Mueller quién le paga actualmente. Vean si les da una respuesta directa. Si no, pregúntele si trabaja para Microsoft. Yo lo he hecho Otros tambíen. No quiso decirlo.”
      –Pamela Jones, GroklawPara defenderse de esto, Groklaw sugerido recientemente que todo el mundo se una a la OIN Invención de Red Abierta (incluso gratis) en cuestión de semanas. Poco después hubo un montón de noticias OIN [1[http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/enterprise/363922/open-source-firms-seek-safety-in-numbers], 2[http://www.techeye.net/software/open-saucers-buying-up-patent-insurance], 3[http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2010/12/kde-and-the-document-foundation-join-open-invention-network.ars]] y en relación al anuncio de KDE acerca de unirse a la OIN [http://techrights.org/2010/12/22/kde-joins-oin/] Pamela Jones escribió: “Puede ser desconcertante para los que se han embebido Florian Mueller contra la OIN FUD o que no saben exactamente todo lo que OIN hace. [Microsoft Florian [http://techrights.org/wiki/index.php/Florian_M%C3%BCller] hace correo masivo a los periodistas para sembrar su desinformación través de ellos]. Lo que ellos reciben se explica aquí [http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20101206205654916]. Usted obtiene mas qué patentes de licencias que pertenecen a la OIN. Usted obtiene las licencias a perpetuidad a las patentes de todos los miembros/titulares de las licencia que se relacionan con Linux, incluyendo las 882 patentes de NOVELL está PLANEANDO VENDER al CONSORCIO MICROSOFT, integrado por Microsoft, Oracle, Apple y EMC. Así que en el caso, de un universo alternativo, la idea detrás de la venta fue a dar esos tipos algunas de las posibilidades de infracción de patentes como una entidad troll de patentes, el plan ha sido frustrado por los que se unen OIN antes del cierre de la venta, que debería nos informarnos que la OIN no está indefensa contra los trolls de patentes. ra los medios de comunicación, una sugerencia: pidan a Mueller quién le paga actualmente. Vean si les da una respuesta directa. Si no, pregúntele si trabaja para Microsoft. Yo lo he hecho Otros tambíen. No quiso decirlo”. Eso me recuerda cuando cínicamente él y otros miembros del grupo TurboHercules afirmaron que Microsoft NO TENIA NINGUNA CONEXION con TURBOHERCULES, lo que resultó ser verdad? Vivan y aprenden, todos ustedes. ”

TurboHercules [http://techrights.org/wiki/index.php/TurboHercules_vs_IBM] es en parte propiedad de Microsoft e Intellectual Ventures [http://techrights.org/wiki/index.php/Intellectual_Ventures] es como un spin-off de Microsoft creado por un hombre de Microsoft con la inversión de Microsoft. John White, un abogado de patentes, critica Intellectual Ventures[http://ipwatchdog.com/2010/12/20/intellectual-ventures-independence-day-take-ii/id=13876/] muy fuertemente, por lo que incluso los que litigan con patentes tratan esta estafa enteramente trolling como una vergüenza y un peligro para su ocupación.

Eduardo Landaveri adds to the above:

Florian Muller is not just a a campaigner for hire but a mercenary, his actions & refusal to answer on whose payroll he is shows it clearly.

And Richard Jones saying “To me, this spells that these companies were together concerned about Novell patents getting into the hands of patent trolls.”

http://blogs.gartner.com/richard-jones/2010/12/17/novell-attachmate-and-the-cptn-patent-deal/

Is Richard Jones a dummy? Who does he -Richard Jones- think is he fooling? it is just MISINFORMACION- tactics that Microsoft and his controlled media (those under his sleeve) have been using for years. He ain’t fooling no one only idiots would believe him. Poor Microsoft was worried that those patents would fall on the hands of patent trolls when indeed those patents already fall in to the hands of the FATHER of ALL PATENT TROLLS: Microsoft itself as well as Apple & those whose interests and lately actions have been attacking Linux and the Community.

Or in Spanish:

Florian Müller no es sólo activista de alquiler, sino un mercenario, sus acciones y la negativa a responder en cuya nómina se encuentra lo demuestra con claridad.

Y Richard Jones diciendo “Para mí, esto explica que estas empresas fueron afectadas, así como sobre las patentes de Novell caigan en manos de los trolls de patentes”.

http://blogs.gartner.com/richard-jones/2010/12/17/novell-attachmate-and-the-cptn-patent-deal/

Richard Jones es un tonto? ¿A quién-Richard Jones-piensa que esta engañando? Esto es sólo MISINFORMACION-tácticas que Microsoft y sus medios de comunicación controlados (los que tiene bajo la manga) han
estado utilizando durante años. Él no está engañando a nadie sólo los idiotas lo creerian. Pobre Microsoft estaba preocupado de que las patentes caería en las manos de los trolls de patentes cuando en
realidad las patentes, ya estén en las manos del Padre de todas las patentes TROLLS: el propio Microsoft como Apple y aquellos cuyos intereses y acciones últimamente han estado atacando a Linux y la Comunidad.

Many thanks to Eduardo for his translation. █

“El estado de la técnica es tan eficaz como los soldados de EE.UU. en Irak: Controlan el suelo en el que estan de pie, y nada más. Yo solía decir esto de Vietnam, pero, bueno, ya sabes … “

-Richard Stallman

12.27.10

The Voice of Treason

Posted in Microsoft, Patents at 7:21 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

FOSSpatents

Summary: Another layer of the onion is peeled off to reveal what stinks of Microsoft lobbying

MR. Florian Müller is a target because he pretended to be pro-FOSS while he was campaigning against FOSS. This has “ACT” written all over it and, for those who do not know, ACT is a confirmed Microsoft front group. Secrecy is suspicious if not sinister when basic questions — such as the ones Müller is frequently asked — cannot be answered. Not even a yes/no question can be answered. He has many things about him which suggest that he is still lobbying (as a campaigner for hire as he would probably prefer to call it), just as he has done in his latest jobs. This is not an ordinary case of legitimate advocacy of Microsoft agenda; we are soon going to expose some recently-unmasked Microsoft activists whose role at Microsoft includes harassing bloggers, cursing Linux, promoting Microsoft, and insulting Microsoft critics, with preliminary details in the latest episode of TechBytes.

“Twitter finds FOSSpatents similar to MicrosoftPresse,” writes Groklaw. “‘Nuff said. Wait. What’s the definition of a FOSS patent, by the way?” See the screenshot at the top. It comes from the FFII, which Müller has been attacking again recently. The FFII has been very, very naughty because it stands in Microsoft’s way and antagonises software patents. Müller has been trying to incite some members of the FFII against others, which is a dirty old divide-and-conquer tactic whose intended consequence is civil wars.

Richard Jones from Gartner claims that CPTN patents do not affect UNIX/Linux, but he is wrong (Gartner is wrong a lot of the time and we documented several examples of this). “He says that Novell never got any UNIX patents,” explains Pamela Jones over at Groklaw, “But they did. You can find the list of patents “related to the business” in the Attachments here to the APA between Novell and Santa Cruz. Novell, after all, got everything from USL, lock, stock and barrel.”

“To the media, a suggestion: ask Mueller who pays him currently. See if you get a straight answer. If not, ask him if he works for Microsoft. I have. Others have. He wouldn’t say.”
      –Pamela Jones, GroklawIn order to defend against this, Groklaw recently suggested that everyone joins the OIN (even free of charge) within weeks. Shortly afterwards there was a lot of OIN news [1, 2, 3] and in relation to KDE's announcement about joining the OIN Pamela Jones wrote: “It may be puzzling to those who imbibed Florian Mueller’s anti-OIN FUD or who don’t know exactly all that OIN does [Microsoft Florian is mass-mailing journalists to plant his disinformation through them]. What they get is explained here. You get more than licenses to OIN-owned patents. You get licenses in perpetuity to all member’s/licensee’s patents that relate to Linux, including the 882 patents Novell is planning to sell to the Microsoft consortium, made up of Microsoft, Oracle, Apple and EMC. So in case, in some alternate universe, the idea behind the sale was to give those dudes some patent infringement possibilities as a patent troll entity, the plan has been foiled for those who join OIN prior to the closing of the sale, which ought to inform us that OIN is not helpless against patent trolls. To the media, a suggestion: ask Mueller who pays him currently. See if you get a straight answer. If not, ask him if he works for Microsoft. I have. Others have. He wouldn’t say. That reminds me: when he and others in the TurboHercules group claimed that Microsoft had no connection to TurboHercules, did that turn out to be true? Live and learn, y’all.”

TurboHercules is partly owned by Microsoft and Intellectual Ventures is like a spinoff of Microsoft created by a Microsoft man with investment from Microsoft. John White, a patent attorney, criticises Intellectual Ventures very strongly, so even those who litigate with patents treat this whole trolling scam as an embarrassment and a danger to their occupation. █

“Prior art is as effective as US soldiers in Iraq: They control the ground they stand on, and nothing more. I used to say Vietnam, but, well, you know…”

–Richard Stallman

TechBytes Episode 22: Freedom Debate and Picks of the Year

Posted in TechBytes at 7:20 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

TechBytes

Direct download as Ogg (1:46:40, 32.0 MB) | Direct download as MP3 (48.8 MB)

Summary: Tim, Gordon, and Roy speak about games and make their picks of the year (for 2010)

TODAY’S show covers what was missed since last week’s show and OpenBytes has published the show notes with most of the topics and some corresponding links.

RSS 64x64We hope you will join us for future shows and consider subscribing to the show via the RSS feed. You can also visit our archives for past shows. If you have an Identi.ca account, consider subscribing to TechBytes in order to keep up to date. █

As embedded (HTML5):

Download:

Ogg Theora
(There is also an MP3 version)

Our past shows:

November 2010

Show overview Show title Date recorded
Episode 1: Brandon from Fedora TechBytes Episode 1: Apple, Microsoft, Bundling, and Fedora 14 (With Special Guest Brandon Lozza) 1/11/2010
Episode 2: No guests TechBytes Episode 2: Ubuntu’s One Way, Silverlight Goes Dark, and GNU Octave Discovered 7/11/2010
Episode 3: No guests TechBytes Episode 3: Games, Wayland, Xfce, Restrictive Application Stores, and Office Suites 8/11/2010
Episode 4: No guests TechBytes Episode 4: Fedora 14 Impressions, MPAA et al. Payday, and Emma Lee’s Magic 9/11/2010
Episode 5: No guests TechBytes Episode 5: Windows Loses to Linux in Phones, GNU/Linux Desktop Market Share Estimations, and Much More 12/11/2010
Episode 6: No guests TechBytes Episode 6: KINect a Cheapo Gadget, Sharing Perceptually Criminalised, Fedora and Fusion 14 in Review 13/11/2010
Episode 7: No guests TechBytes Episode 7: FUD From The Economist, New Releases, and Linux Eureka Moment at Netflix 14/11/2010
Episode 8: Gordon Sinclair on Linux Mint TechBytes Episode 8: Linux Mint Special With Gordon Sinclair (ThistleWeb) 15/11/2010
Episode 9: Gordon Sinclair returns TechBytes Episode 9: The Potentially Permanent Return of ThistleWeb 17/11/2010
Episode 10: Special show format TechBytes Episode 10: Microsoft FUD and Dirty Tactics Against GNU/Linux 19/11/2010
Episode 11: Part 2 of special show TechBytes Episode 11: Microsoft FUD and Dirty Tactics Against GNU/Linux – Part II 21/11/2010
Episode 12: Novell special TechBytes Episode 12: Novell Sold for Microsoft Gains 23/11/2010
Episode 13: No guests TechBytes Episode 13: Copyfight, Wikileaks, and Other Chat 28/11/2010
Episode 14: Patents special TechBytes Episode 14: Software Patents in Phones, Android, and in General 29/11/2010
Episode 15: No guests TechBytes Episode 15: Google Chrome OS, Windows Refund, and Side Topics Like Wikileaks 30/11/2010

December 2010

Show overview Show title Date recorded
Episode 16: No guests TechBytes Episode 16: Bribes for Reviews, GNU/Linux News, and Wikileaks Opinions 3/12/2010
Episode 17: No guests TechBytes Episode 17: Chrome OS Imminent, Wikileaks Spreads to Mirrors, ‘Open’ Microsoft 5/12/2010
Episode 18: No guests TechBytes Episode 18: Chrome OS, Sharing, Freedom, and Wikileaks 11/12/2010
Episode 19: No guests TechBytes Episode 19: GNU/Linux Market Share on Desktop at 4%, Microsoft Declining, and ChromeOS is Coming 16/12/2010
Episode 20: No guests TechBytes Episode 20: GNU/Linux Gamers Pay More for Games, Other Discussions 18/12/2010
Episode 21: No guests TechBytes Episode 21: Copyright Abuses, Agitators and Trolls, Starting a New Site 20/12/2010

ES: La Libertad No Es Gratis

Posted in Deception, Free/Libre Software, Microsoft, Patents at 6:52 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

(ODF | PDF | English/original)

Resumen: ¿Porqué esta Microsoft daemonisando a la gente común y confunde a los legisladores con la terminología y los impostores tratan de hablar de software libre/código abierto.

El MOVIMIENTO por la Libertad (libre) de Software es una decisión que debe ser motivada al menos en parte por la convicción de que la libertad es difícil de ganar y es muy valiosa. Es sólo cuando se pierde que su completo valor puede ser apreciado. Microsoft pretende estar luchando contra la falsificación [http://techrights.org/wiki/index.php/Microsoft_and_counterfeiting], mientras que en el hecho UTILIZA la falsificación en contra de la libertad , asegurando que las poblaciones especialmente en los países pobres no tengan el control de su informática, sino que Microsoft toma el control. Glyn Moody ha encontrado este post sobre China[http://advertising.chinasmack.com/2010/computing-information-technology/microsoft-tackles-piracy-in-china-with-genuine-its-not-the-same-campaign.html] acerca de una nueva deshonesta campaña de Microsoft:

“Uno de los mayores problemas de las empresas occidentales con China es la posición del país sobre los derechos de propiedad intelectual. A pesar del Gobierno de China intensifica sus esfuerzos para combatir el problema en los últimos años, los problemas que aún existen.”

“Ya se trate de los puestos de la Seda de Pekín mercado vendiendo su asombrosa variedad de productos de diseños falsos, los organismos de radiodifusión los medios de comunicación chinos usando films que tienen de derecho de autor sin permiso, o de los productos de imitación siempre impresionantes (conocido en China como “山寨 ‘- Shanzhai), como el reciente “IPED” – el IPAD falso, no hay duda de que las infracciones de propiedad intelectual son moneda corriente en la República Popular China.”

[...]

“Por ejemplo, en 2008, Microsoft lanzó un programa llamado “Windows Genuine Advantage”, que causó “pantallas negras de la muerte” a aparecer a cada hora sobre las versiónes no registradas del sistema operativo Windows. La única manera de resolver el problema hubiera sido comprar una copia original de Windows.”

Bill Gates en China 1995

Sin embargo, justo un año antes, Bill Gates declaró que le gustaba que los chinos pirateen su software frente a sus competidores, porque creía que los consumidores chinos finalmente pagaría por la cosa real.”

Wikileaks recientemente nos ha enseñado algo nuevo sobre el “pantallas negras de la muerte [http://techrights.org/2010/12/13/cablegate-black-screens-of-death/]“. Para el gobierno, se trata de control (poder de suspender las computadoras en una nación hostil), no se trata de la llamada “piratería” (falsificación). Tenga cuidado con el giro de Microsoft, que parece estar de moda en todas partes estos días.

En un “post invitado[http://ostatic.com/blog/guest-post-the-rise-of-open-source-software-foundations]” de Microsoft de Walli [1[http://techrights.org/2010/09/28/microsoft-tea-party/], 2[http://techrights.org/2010/09/27/microsoft-elements-in-mono-gpl/], 3[http://techrights.org/2010/09/17/vilifying-a-standard-routine/], 4[http://techrights.org/2010/09/03/foss-insiders/], 5[http://techrights.org/2010/08/29/idg-faux-open-source-news/], 6[http://techrights.org/2010/12/15/novell-writings-on-the-wall/]] (que finge no entender el software libre, por ejemplo, implícitamente, comparandólo con el comunismo) Outercurve , la Fundación de Microsoft se promueve al mismo tiempo Outercurve personal de Microsoft continúa volviendo a tratar de definir de código abierto. Se trata de infiltrarse en su competencia y oscurecer la libertad como en “libertad de distribuir”, en contraposición a gratis. No hace mucho el mismo tipo de personas trataron de decirnos que RAND era compatible con el software libre y se las arreglaron para hacer fracasar la segunda versión de la FEI [1[http://techrights.org/2010/12/20/red-hat-oracle-response/], 2[http://techrights.org/2010/12/19/assessments-of-eifv2/], 3[http://techrights.org/2010/12/20/interpretations-of-eifv2/], 4[http://techrights.org/2010/12/21/novell-is-slammed-by-groklaw/], 5[http://techrights.org/2010/12/23/more-reactions-to-eifv2/]], que agrupa a más y más grupos que no está satisfecho con el [http://webwereld.nl/nieuws/68184/europa-laat-open-standaarden-definitief-vallen.html]. La FFII descifra el mensaje del Holanda[http://twitter.com/FFII/statuses/17538515352952832]:

TI periodista Brenno de invierno no está impresionado por el FEI #

Eso es lo que ocurrirá si se le permite a Microsoft apropiarse del “código abierto” y luego usar mobbyists/grupos de presión que mentir acerca de lo que es. Glyn Moody predijeron que esto sucedería cuando escribió sobre el mismo con Linux Journal hace unos 3 años. █

“Hay software gratis [gratis, dumpware] que entonces no es de código abierto … no es esa cosa llamada la GPL (Licencia Publica General), con la que absolutamente no estamos de acuerdo.”

-Bill Gates, abril de 2008


Many thanks to Eduardo Landaveri for his translation.

Thumbs Up to Linux Phones for Rejecting Apple-esque Censorship

Posted in Apple, GNU/Linux, Google at 3:50 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Wikileaks logo

Summary: Google harbours Wikileaks where Apple indiscriminately decides that anything from Wikileaks is not acceptable and thus bans the application

Linux has become popular in part owing to the accompanying philosophy it inherits from GNU. If this was not a factor to be taken into account by users, then it sure did make a difference to many developers. Google shares some of Torvalds’ philosophies when it comes to software development (freedom demoted in favour of technical merit) and Torvalds has an Android phone. There is nothing too wrong with that. A few weeks/months ago Steve Jobs smeared Android by suggesting that Android was not really open and Jobs received a lot of backlash for this unject insinuation. The head of Android compared Jobs to North Korea's dead leader (Kim Il-sung). As we showed earlier today in this post about Apple's Wikileaks censorship, Jobs is an abusive individual whose company regularly abuses power even to censor political dissent. Examples of this go even years back, e.g. software with humourous critique of George Bush.

Unusually enough, Reuters came up with this opinionated peace that implicitly names Google’s Linux-based phones platform as supporter of free speech/transparency whereas Apple is the opposite (many comments on this article, some from Apple apologists, as expected). From the opening:

Apple Inc has joined a growing number of U.S. companies that have severed ties with WikiLeaks, removing an application from its online store that gave users access to the controversial website’s content.

But Google Inc, which operates the second-largest online mobile applications store, has kept more than half a dozen apps available on its Android Marketplace that make it easier to access the confidential U.S. government documents WikiLeaks had released on its site.

It was very recently that Google said in its Android blog that rooting of one’s phone is acceptable and even encouraged as an option. There’s nothing to dislike about that. Apple is the opposite.

Apple, which famously used “1984″ to daemonise IBM, is now itself acting like Big Brother not just by silencing Wikileaks “Despite No Charges Or Trial” but also by censoring an application which criticises Steve Jobs the “1984″ way. To quote CNET:

Apple hasn’t always been entirely transparent about its app approval procedures. It has admitted that there have been some slight snafus. However, the company’s explanation for this app’s removal seemed quite clear (which doesn’t necessarily mean it is, to some minds, justified).

“We removed the Manhattan Declaration app from the App Store because it violates our developer guidelines by being offensive to large groups of people,” an Apple spokesperson told CNET.

Over at Groklaw, Pamela Jones who has been defensive of Apple for a long time, writes: “So, here’s a question. Since minority views are what the First Amendment protects, if most of the world ends up on smart phones instead of computers, if the ruler’s edge is whether large groups get upset, how will they ever speak? This is getting serious.”

Techrights commends Groklaw for no longer posting items that defend Apple (it was different earlier this year) and it commends Google for showing that despite great success with Android it remains committed to at least some level of freedom. It would have been worse if the proprietary-but-Linux-based WebOS, for example, gained momentum like Google did. We are eager to see what MeeGo brings despite its management being on the iffy side. █

Links 27/12/2010: The Humble Indie Bundle Ends, Mandriva 2010.2 Screenshots

Posted in News Roundup at 2:53 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNOME bluefish

Contents

GNU/Linux

Free Software/Open Source

  • Web Browsers

    • Mozilla

      • Firefox 4 Session Restore Not Working? Try This Fix

        I have been experiencing problems with Firefox’s built-in session restore which was configured to load the tabs from the last browsing session automatically on the next startup to allow me to continue working exactly where I stopped the last time.

      • Why Iceweasel?

        It is a valid question. Iceweasel/Firefox is fantastic software, but when compared to some of the newer WebKit based browsers, it begins to look somewhat stale. This lack of freshness is often compounded on Debian systems where the Iceweasel packages can lag some way behind Mozilla’s official Firefox releases.

  • Databases

    • Ubuntu Upstart for automatic MySQL start and stop

      Here at Recorded Future we use Ubuntu (running on Amazon EC2), but so far we have not explored Ubuntu Upstart that much. During the holidays I made an effort to get acquainted with Upstart and to implement proper MySQL start and stop with it.

  • CMS

    • WordPress 3.1 Release Candidate

      An RC comes after the beta period and before final release. That means we think we’re done. We currently have no known issues or bugs to squash. But with tens of millions of users, a variety of configurations, and thousands of plugins, it’s possible we’ve missed something. So if you haven’t tested WordPress 3.1 yet, now is the time! Please though, not on your live site unless you’re extra adventurous.

    • WordPress New Beta– to Upgrade or Not to Upgrade?

  • FSF/FSFE/GNU/SFLC

    • Free software campaigners put pressure on Brussels

      “We would like to see the European Commission back up its public rhetoric regarding free software, open standards and interoperability with its own actions,” it said. “This would require DIGIT to rethink some procurement practices in order to open up public software procurement to competition.”

  • Openness/Sharing

    • Pirate Apple App Store Innovates With ‘Reverse BitTorrent’

      Hackulous, the community dedicated to the cracking of Apple DRM and the indexing of unprotected software for iPhone, iPod and iPad, has announced some interesting innovations. As well as having cracking software for the yet-to-be-released Mac App Store already up their sleeve, they also have an intriguing “reverse BitTorrent” system for jailbroken devices which will increase cracked app availability on the Internet.

    • Zen and the Art of Self-Publishing (cont.)

      You see, in trying everything—audiobooks, POD, limited editions—I’ve discovered the thing that captures the public’s interest is also the thing that makes the most money is also the thing that has the least logistics: super-premium limited editions. Over and over again, when I describe With a Little Help to people, they fixate on the limited editions. I’ve had dozens of e-mails from people practically begging to buy the $275 editions I’m doing—and I stand to make $50,000 or more from them.

  • Programming

    • Progress in Algorithms Beats Moore’s Law

      Every so often Lance tweets about some science policy report. My natural tendency, like any good techie, is to keep my distance from such reports. I do recognize that they serve an important social function (like dentists or lawyers) but personally I would want to have as little as possible to do with them.

  • Standards/Consortia

    • Is Ogg Theora a free and open standard?

      For a while now I have tried to figure out of Ogg Theora is a free and open standard according to this definition. Here is a short writeup of what I have been able to gather so far. I brought up the topic on the Xiph advocacy mailing list in July 2009, for those that want to see some background information. According to Ivo Emanuel Gonçalves and Monty Montgomery on that list the Ogg Theora specification fulfils the Digistan definition.

    • Microsoft opens playpen for ‘unstable’ web standards

      Microsoft has unveiled an online sandbox where developers can experiment with unfinished web standards you won’t find in its Internet Explorer browser.

      After years of cold shouldering the web standards movement, Redmond has taken a very different approach with Internet Explorer 9, now available in beta. And with the introduction of its new sandbox, the company hopes to convince you that its promotion of web standards is more prudent than the approach favored by its rivals.

Leftovers

  • The Putinization of Hungary

    NEXT MONTH many European Union members may be regretting their system of a rotating presidency. That’s because the gavel will be handed to Hungary, whose populist and power-hungry government has just adopted a media law more suited to an authoritarian regime than to a Western democracy.

    The right-wing Fidesz party of Prime Minister Viktor Orban won 53 percent of the popular vote in an election this year but gained 66 percent of the seats in parliament – enough to change the constitution. It proceeded to take over or attack the authority of every institution it did not control, including the presidency, the Supreme Court and the state audit office; the central bank is now under its assault.

  • The Unwelcome Return of Platform Dependencies
  • Video Games Boost Brain Power, Multitasking Skills

    Parents, the next time you fret that your child is wasting too much time playing video games, consider new research suggesting that video gaming may have real-world benefits for your child’s developing brain.

    Daphne Bavelier is professor of brain and cognitive sciences at the University of Rochester. She studies young people playing action video games. Having now conducted more than 20 studies on the topic, Bavelier says, “It turns out that action video games are far from mindless.”

  • Winklevoss Twins Take One Last Shot At Facebook In Court

    Despite the film’s tidy ending, the Winklevosses’ litigation is marching on.

    That’s because the twin brothers have asked for a remarkable series of “do-overs” since signing the settlement agreement in February 2008, surrounded by their lawyers. First, they complained that the settlement wasn’t fair, because they were duped into believing that the Facebook stock was worth more than it actually was. Then, they got into a battle with the lawyers who won the settlement for them, from the law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Hedges, alleging the firm had engaged in malpractice. (That dispute ended up in arbitration, which was resolved in September, with the Quinn Emanuel firm collecting the full fee it asked for, reportedly $13 million.)

  • Phone-Wielding Shoppers Strike Fear Into Retailers

    Last year, he might have just dropped the $184.85 Garmin global positioning system into his cart. This time, he took out his Android phone and typed the model number into an app that instantly compared the Best Buy price to those of other retailers. He found that he could get the same item on Amazon.com Inc.’s website for only $106.75, no shipping, no tax.

  • Is Julian Assange a Journalist?

    Despite Vice President Biden’s recent squabbling with Republican senators over the meaning of Christmas, he and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell do agree on something. They both say WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has published thousands of confidential Pentagon and State Department documents on his group’s website, is “a high-tech terrorist.”

    But assuming that President Obama is not ready to drop a bomb on Assange, punishing him for disseminating military records and diplomatic cables will require specifying what crime he committed under U.S. law. That won’t be easy, unless the Justice Department is prepared to criminalize something journalists do every day: divulge information that the government wants to keep secret.

  • Virgin Passengers Not Named Madonna Wait 3 Hours To Get Off Plane

    When bad weather forced a London-bound Virgin flight to reroute from Heathrow Airport to Stansted, passengers had to wait three hours on the tarmac before they could disembark. A select group did, however, get to leave the plane after about an hour. No, they weren’t disabled, sick or parents with small, noisy children. The group making an early exit consisted of once-popular singer Madonna and her entourage of about 15 people.

  • Paper: Brown letter ‘affront to the First Amendment’

    I couldn’t quite believe that, as that Florida Times-Union editorial I linked to earlier suggests, Rep. Corrine Brown had threatened a libel suit against a newspaper columnist for the sort of criticism most politicians face.

  • Why is international data roaming so expensive?

    How high are international data roaming rates? I have direct evidence from two providers: an Italian provider TIM charges about $10 per megabyte; a U.S. provider T-mobile charges $15 per megabyte. The typical business user uses receives about 15 megabytes per day of email. My smartphone uses about four times this. By way of contrast, you can buy a SIM from Vodafone UK with 30 megabytes of data for about $30. Wifi at the airport or a hotel runs about $10-$60 per day. Over-the-air prices charged to local customers is much lower: TIM charges $25 per month for 5 gigabytes of data, of which probably about 2 gigs is actually used, so the effective rate is about $0.0125 per megabyte. T-mobile in the US charges a similar amount for similar service.,

  • Security

  • Defence/Police/Aggression

    • US Senate votes for Russian nuclear arms treaty

      The US Senate today voted overwhelmingly in favour of a new strategic arms reduction treaty with Russia to reduce their nuclear arsenals.

    • Rights groups drop suit after government changes terror suspect defense licensing scheme

      The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) [advocacy websites] on Friday dropped a lawsuit [notice of dismissal, PDF] challenging the US government’s Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) licensing scheme after the government changed the policy. The groups announced in August that they would pursue a legal challenge [JURIST report] to the scheme despite being issued a license to represent Anwar al-Awlaqi [NYT profile; JURIST news archive], a US citizen who was labeled an SDGT in July.

    • One law for them, another for us: is it illegal to record the police on the job?

      In Reason magazine, Radley Balko takes an in-depth look at all the places in the USA where it’s nominally illegal to record the police, and all the people who’ve faced fines or prison for recording law enforcement officers breaking the law with illegal beatings and harassment.

    • America’s Inefficient and Ineffective Approach to Border Security

      Last week, the Senate refused to approve the DREAM Act, a bill that would have offered a path to citizenship for children brought into the country illegally if they attend college or serve in the military. Opponents stated that no immigration reform will happen without first “securing” the 1,951 mile U.S. border with Mexico. America’s current approach to border security is wasteful and ineffective, and “securing the border” will never be achieved until we redefine our approach to, and definition of, border security. With many in Washington expressing concern about fiscal responsibility, reigning in the billions wasted annually on current border security policies should really be a priority. But America’s xenophobic preoccupation with an “invasion” by brown-skinned “illegals” may keep us pursuing an expensive and unreasonable approach to border security.

    • A Banana Republic Once Again?

      Edward L. Bernays, Chiquita, and the CIA-backed Guatemalan Coup

      Chiquita’s most famous act of interference with Central American politics is its role in toppling Guatemala’s left-leaning government in 1954. For the first half of the 20th century, Chiquita poured investment capital into Guatemala, buying the country’s productive land and controlling shares in its railroad, electric utility, and telegraph industries; as a result, the Guatemalan government was subservient to Chiquita’s interests, exempting the company from internal taxation and guaranteeing workers earned no more than fifty cents per day. At the time of the 1944 Guatemalan revolution, Chiquita was the country’s number one landowner, employer, and exporter.

      In 1950, Jacobo Arbenz Guzman was elected with 65% of the vote, and Chiquita perceived his agrarian land reforms as a threat to their corporate interests. Chiquita, with the help of the father of modern public relations, Edward L. Bernays, waged a propaganda war and managed to convince the American public and politicians that Arbenz was secretly a dangerous communist who could not be allowed to remain in power. With McCarthy-era hysteria in full swing, President Eisenhower secretly ordered the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to overthrow the democratically elected Arbenz in a 1954 covert operation.

  • Cablegate

    • Issues and challenges for the post-Cablegate world

      Legislation — privacy, anti-terrorist, national security, copyright, ACTA, SHIELD, Digital Agenda

      Probably the first and if carefully watched, most visible issue will be the legislation.

      After the national security fiasco that resulted in Cablegate most governments around the globe (with the US at its front) will be hard-pressed to “do something about it”. Because neither police, nor court, nor governement can (or rather should) operate against the law and current law does not direcly criminalise WikiLeaks, they will have to change the law.

    • NZ in Iraq to help Fonterra – cable

      Revelations in WikiLeaks cables that senior civil servants are pushing the United States government’s agenda rather than acting in New Zealand’s interests are disturbing, Green MP Keith Locke says.

    • Julian Assange in £1 million book deal

      “Sweden is the Saudi Arabia of feminism. I fell into a hornets’ nest of revolutionary feminism’’, he alleged. The lawyer of the two women who have accused Mr Assange of sexual misconduct hit back saying that he was spreading “false rumours’’ to smear his clients. He denied allegations made by Mr Assange’s legal team that they were CIA “pawns’’ and pointed out that, on the contrary, they were “supporters of WikiLeaks’’.

  • Environment/Energy/Wildlife

  • Finance

    • Goldman’s new bonus plan captures seasonal spirit

      Goldman Sachs’ new bonus scheme should give shareholders and regulators cause for a little celebration this Christmas.

      The Wall Street firm is to link top bankers’ compensation to a wide range of financial measures, in a formal break with the industry tradition of crudely paying out a slice of revenues.

    • Goldman Sachs May Pay Bonuses Tied to Profit, Revenue

      Goldman Sachs Group Inc., weighing 2010 pay packages for a year that could rank as Wall Street’s second best, said it may grant bonuses that depend on future earnings, in addition to stock performance.

    • Teach for Goldman Sachs

      I’m convinced that the best way to track the mood of Stanford University is to keep an eye on your News Feed. And there’s one thing in particular that keeps popping up on mine- a prestigious program for which dozens of my friends have applied, and to which a lucky few have been accepted. I’m talking, of course, about Teach for America, the educational service corps that places fresh-faced graduates in troubled urban and rural classrooms across the U.S. The program’s rise has been meteoric: it currently boasts 8,200 corps members and claims to have reached 3 million students since it was founded in 1990. Its popularity at Stanford is no mere trick of my News Feed. The Daily recently reported that TFA and similar organizations “have witnessed a surge in applications from Stanford” in recent years.

    • Banks and WikiLeaks

      But a bank’s ability to block payments to a legal entity raises a troubling prospect. A handful of big banks could potentially bar any organization they disliked from the payments system, essentially cutting them off from the world economy.

  • PR/AstroTurf/Lobbying

    • The Great Islamophobic Crusade

      Nine years after 9/11, hysteria about Muslims in American life has gripped the country. With it has gone an outburst of arson attacks on mosques, campaigns to stop their construction, and the branding of the Muslim-American community, overwhelmingly moderate, as a hotbed of potential terrorist recruits. The frenzy has raged from rural Tennessee to New York City, while in Oklahoma, voters even overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure banning the implementation of Sharia law in American courts (not that such a prospect existed). This campaign of Islamophobia wounded President Obama politically, as one out of five Americans have bought into a sustained chorus of false rumors about his secret Muslim faith. And it may have tainted views of Muslims in general; an August 2010 Pew Research Center poll revealed that, among Americans, the favorability rating of Muslims had dropped by 11 points since 2005.

    • Taxpayers Subsidize Big Screen Movie Promos for Cigarettes, and More

      Steven Antin’s new movie, Burlesque (PG-13), features about twenty different brands of products, including gratuitous use of R.J. Reynolds’ Camel cigarettes. Other films that have showcased cigarettes this year include the Disney film The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (rated PG, which features Newport cigarettes), and For Colored Girls (rated R, by Lionsgate, which features Marlboros).

    • New Memo Shows Fox News’ Unacceptable Level of Bias

      Media Matters uncovered another internal email sent out by Fox News’ Washington, D.C. Managing Editor Bill Sammon which ordered Fox Network journalists to slant coverage of the climate change issue by “refrain[ing] from asserting that the planet has warmed (or cooled) in any given period without IMMEDIATELY pointing out such theories are based upon data that critics have called into question.” The memo is inflammatory because the increase in global annual average temperatures over the last 50 years is a well-established fact.

    • Fox Slammed by L.A. Times — ‘Shouldn’t Call Itself a News Organization’

      The editorial was prompted by the leak of an internal Fox News memo ordering its “reporters” to “refrain from asserting that the planet has warmed (or cooled) in any given period without IMMEDIATELY pointing out that such theories are based upon data that critics have called into question.” The memo was sent by Bill Sammon, Fox News’ Washington managing editor, in 2009 and released by Media Matters last week.

  • Censorship/Privacy/Civil Rights

    • Reactionary forces are shaping the debate on internet porn

      Government plans to block internet pornography at source, amid concerns about the “premature sexualisation” of children, have prompted a fierce backlash from digital rights campaigners. The proposals have also highlighted how the debate around children and sexual material is increasingly shaped by religious conservatives.

      One of the organisations quoted extensively over the last few days is Safermedia, a pressure group campaigning to “reduce the harmful effects of the media on our children, families and society”.

      Safermedia, formerly known as Mediamarch, supports the “porn lock” proposals and its spokespeople claim academic research substantiates their view that sexual imagery harms children’s mental health. But their moral stance is an explicitly Christian one – the group’s co-founder Miranda Suit is an organiser for the Christian People’s Alliance, and its website cites Saint Paul’s epistles to the Philippians and the Ephesians as inspiration for the campaign.

    • 2010 Trend Watch Update: Hardware Hacking
    • Full Homeland Security Affidavit To Seize Domains Riddled With Technical & Legal Errors

      Another day and even more evidence that Homeland Security’s decision to have its Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) group seize a bunch of domain names without any warning or adversarial hearing was a colossal screw up. We haven’t heard too much about the sites seized concerning trademark infringement, but there were five that were the focus of copyright infringement — including a bunch of hiphop blogs (which were regularly used by artists and record labels alike to promote their songs) and a search engine. Last week, we went through a partial affidavit from a newly minted ICE agent named Andrew Reynolds, which showed numerous technological and legal errors in explaining why the domain of the search engine, Torrent Finder, was seized. Yesterday, we wrote about how some of the “evidence” used against the blogs included songs sent by the labels for promotional purposes.

    • Warrantless-Wiretap Win Nets Victims a Paltry $40K

      A federal judge on Tuesday awarded $20,400 each to two American lawyers illegally wiretapped by the George W. Bush administration, and granted their counsel $2.5 million for the costs litigating the case for more than four years.

    • Web attacks target human rights sites

      Human rights groups and campaigners are being hit hard by huge web attacks launched by those opposed to their views, finds research.

      Many web-based campaigning groups are being knocked offline for weeks by the attacks, it found.

      The researchers expect the tempo of attacks to increase as the tools and techniques become more widespread.

    • DDoS attacks threaten free speech, says report

      Computer attacks launched against sites run by human rights and dissident media groups threaten to knock free speech off the Web, a new report warned this week.

      The study conducted by Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society showed that distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks frequently knocked such sites offline.

    • Shock jock Hal Turner gets 33-month prison sentence

      “This is beyond opinion … beyond commentary. He wanted to threaten and intimidate these judges” by trying to incite an audience made up of dangerous extremists, she said. The judges testified they feared for their lives, she said.

      Turner maintained the posting was nothing more than protected political speech.

  • Internet/Net Neutrality/DRM

    • Not Neutrality

      On Tuesday FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski gave AT&T a decision that was gift-wrapped for the holiday season. By a 3-to-2 vote, the FCC passed a rule that, in the chairman’s words, “protects Internet freedom.”

      If only that were true.

      After a year of promises to deliver on President Obama’s pledge to protect Net Neutrality, this chairman has pushed through a rule that favors the very industry his FCC is supposed to regulate, leaving Internet users with few protections and putting the future of the open Internet in peril.

    • The Trojan App

      Look for shortly to appear what I’m calling the Trojan App, a hybrid mobile application that doesn’t exist yet but certainly will within hours or days of the new rules going into effect. The Trojan App is a legitimate mobile application that performs multiple functions, at least one of which is to circumvent the new wireless rules.

      Here’s what I mean. Maybe you saw the story a couple of days ago about technology being brought to market that would enable mobile phone companies to charge Facebook users by the page for access. Under the new rules a mobile carrier can do that, no problem. But because that mobile network offers its own voice service (they all do) under the new rules they can’t similarly restrict Skype or Google Voice or any of the dozens or hundreds of Voice-over-IP third-party services out there. So what’s to keep Skype or Google or Yahoo or iChat or MrVoIP from offering a mobile version of its service that includes a free gateway to Facebook?

      Nothing.

      These are perfectly legitimate applications that are protected from throttling by virtue of their competing with a core service of the ISP, yet in this instance they will have gained a secondary function of acting as a Virtual Private Network link to an otherwise-regulated service like Facebook.

      It’s a digital loophole.

  • Intellectual Monopolies

    • Software Copyright Infringement by the EU Commission

      In a decision as remarkable for its amusement value as for its value as a precedent in law, the General Court has ordered the Commission to pay Systran liquidated damages of over €12 million

      Between 22 December 1997 and 15 March 2002, Systran Luxembourg adapted, under the name EC-Systran Unix, its Systran-Unix machine translation software to the specific needs of the EU Commission.

    • What not to do about China’s IP violations

      The New York Times lead editorial today is entitled China and Intellectual Property link here. It is a familiar litany of complaints about their theft of U S “property” with no suggestion that there might be another side to the question.

      If we were in China’s position, still poor and backward in so many areas, we too would try our hardest to skate around the obstacles to using the latest innovations. Innovation is the key to rapid development and national material progress. We ourselves have violated the IP of other countries when we were behind and trying to develop. Of course, that was before we had fully developed the mythology of IP as “property” and that copying without paying was robbery.

      [...]

      The present IP system in the US is marred by its harmful and excessively long term, by its grossly ambiguous and generous definition of what constitutes innovation, by the capture of the system by big business which dearly loves its monopolies, and by a legal system that grows fat on litigation.

    • Copyrights

      • Porn site: publicizing takedown notices is copyright infringement

        Perfect 10, the porn website that bills itself as displaying “the world’s most beautiful natural women,” claims that disclosing its copyright takedown notices is a little too revealing.

        The copyright-infringement allegations are part of Perfect 10’s ongoing lawsuit against Google, a suit with a tortured procedural history. In 2007, a federal appeals court rendered a far-reaching decision, saying search engines like Google were not infringing copyrights by displaying thumbnails and hyperlinking to Perfect 10’s perfect babes.

      • Discussing The Music Industry Comically Speaking, With Mimi & Eunice

        Mike’s recent post about OK Go is just crying out for some Mimi & Eunice cartoons.

      • isoHunt Continues Legal Fight To Thwart MPAA Censorship

        BitTorrent search engine isoHunt is fighting the permanent injunction issued by the District Court of California last summer in their case against the MPAA. isoHunt contests the imposition of a site-wide keyword filter based on a list of movie industry keywords. By doing so, the search engine also makes a case for the public’s ‘freedom of search’, not just on BitTorrent, but on the Internet in general.

      • Newspaper Lawsuit Factory Sues Over ‘Death Ray’ Image

        Righthaven, the Las Vegas copyright troll formed this spring, has moved beyond lawsuits over newspaper articles and begun targeting websites for the unauthorized reposting of images. First up, more than a dozen infringement lawsuits concerning the so-called Vdara “death ray.”

Clip of the Day

Frost over the World – Julian Assange


Credit: TinyOgg

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