Comment Re:FUD? (Score 1) 607
Link to EULA:
http://www.google.com/chrome/eula.html
OpenSSH Releases Version 5.0 41
os2man lets us know that OpenSSH version 5.0 has been released. The mirrors are linked from the top page. "OpenSSH (OpenBSD Secure Shell) is a set of computer programs providing encrypted communication sessions over a computer network using the ssh protocol. It was created as an open source alternative to the proprietary Secure Shell software suite offered by SSH Communications Security. OpenSSH is available for almost any Operating System."
Submission + - UK copyright exceptions to be reviewed
Anonymous EPA writes: The UK government, through the UK Intellectual Property Office, has launched a review of copyright legislation at http://www.ipo.gov.uk/press/press-release/press-release-2008/press-release-20080108.htm
The stated aims of the review include proposals that will "...enable schools and universities to make the most of digital technologies and facilitate distance learning; allow libraries and archives to use technology to preserve valuable material before it deteriorates or the format it is stored on becomes obsolete; introduce a format shifting exception to allow consumers to copy legitimately purchased content to another format, for example CD to MP3, in a manner that does not damage the interests of copyright owners; and provide a new exception for parody..."
The consultation document and information on how to respond can be found here: http://www.ipo.gov.uk/about/about-consult/about-formal/about-formal-current/consult-copyrightexceptions.htm
There are presently no "fair use" exceptions in UK copyright law, and, at first sight, this seems to be a step towards them. You can bet that there will be significant vested interests in opposition to any increase in these exceptions, so it is important that those in favour of liberalisation also make their voices heard!
Also, make sure that you read the PDF to make sure that there are no lurking proposals that have not made the UK-IPO's headline summary!
Anonymous European Patent Attorney
The stated aims of the review include proposals that will "...enable schools and universities to make the most of digital technologies and facilitate distance learning; allow libraries and archives to use technology to preserve valuable material before it deteriorates or the format it is stored on becomes obsolete; introduce a format shifting exception to allow consumers to copy legitimately purchased content to another format, for example CD to MP3, in a manner that does not damage the interests of copyright owners; and provide a new exception for parody..."
The consultation document and information on how to respond can be found here: http://www.ipo.gov.uk/about/about-consult/about-formal/about-formal-current/consult-copyrightexceptions.htm
There are presently no "fair use" exceptions in UK copyright law, and, at first sight, this seems to be a step towards them. You can bet that there will be significant vested interests in opposition to any increase in these exceptions, so it is important that those in favour of liberalisation also make their voices heard!
Also, make sure that you read the PDF to make sure that there are no lurking proposals that have not made the UK-IPO's headline summary!
Anonymous European Patent Attorney
Submission + - Individual Privacy Under Threat in Europe and U.S. (iht.com) 1
Mike writes: "Individual privacy is under greater threat than ever before in both the United States and across the European Union, the international rights group Privacy International has said in a report. "The general trend is that privacy is being extinguished in country after country," said Simon Davies, director of Privacy International. "Even those countries where we expected ongoing strong privacy protection, like Germany and Canada, are sinking into the mire." And things are getting worse, not better, the report concludes."
Submission + - Bell Canada DSL service throttles P2P arbitrarily
Dembonez writes: The fine folks over at P2Pnet.net have compiled some great details on a very dirty deed. That is, Bell Canada as a DSL ISP is following the lead of Comcast in the US and Rogers up in Canada by throttling P2P traffic. Beyond what the other two are doing, Bell are imposing bandwidth caps for 'unlimited' service subsribers, stating that they've gone over the allotted bandwidth restriction for the month. Of course, nowhere in their terms of service do they outline what that restriction is for unlimited users.
It gets better, though!
Bell being an ILEC have 3rd party reseller ISPs. If you were to leave Bell after being identified as a heavy user, they'll deny any of their 3rd party resellers from signing you up!
Bell being as big as they are, they have 3 of the 5 seats on the committee for fair competition in Canada. This means that it's highly unlikely that any complaint about unfair business practices or false advertising would be quashed.
If you're in Canada and using Bell, send them a message... and go elsewhere.
Want to know more? TFA: http://www.p2pnet.net/story/13883
Submission + - Dodd beats telecom spying immunity
cleetus writes: Earlier this evening Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid pulled the FISA bill which had retroactive immunity for spying telecoms from consideration on the US Senate floor. This bill, discussed on /. earlier today, would have shielded telecoms who turned data over to the government from lawsuits over 4th Amendment rights violations. The threat of a full scale filibuster from Senator Chris Dodd (which was partially underway already) was enough to force Reid to pull the bill. While the fight over immunity is over for now, but the bill will be brought up again at some point next month so vigilance it still required.
Submission + - Wikipedia COO was Convicted Felon (theregister.co.uk) 4
An anonymous reader writes: From the Register:
"For more than six months, beginning in January of this year, Wikipedia's million-dollar check book was balanced by a convicted felon. When Carolyn Bothwell Doran was hired as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the Florida-based Wikimedia Foundation, she had a criminal record in three other states — Virginia, Maryland, and Texas — and she was still on parole for a DUI (driving under the influence of alcohol) hit and run that resulted in a fatality. Her record also included convictions for passing bad checks, theft, petty larceny, additional DUIs, and unlawfully wounding her boyfriend with a gun shot to the chest."
"For more than six months, beginning in January of this year, Wikipedia's million-dollar check book was balanced by a convicted felon. When Carolyn Bothwell Doran was hired as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the Florida-based Wikimedia Foundation, she had a criminal record in three other states — Virginia, Maryland, and Texas — and she was still on parole for a DUI (driving under the influence of alcohol) hit and run that resulted in a fatality. Her record also included convictions for passing bad checks, theft, petty larceny, additional DUIs, and unlawfully wounding her boyfriend with a gun shot to the chest."
Submission + - Wikipedia COO was a Convicted Felon (theregister.co.uk)
An anonymous reader writes: The Register writes:
"For more than six months, beginning in January of this year, Wikipedia's million-dollar check book was balanced by a convicted felon. When Carolyn Bothwell Doran was hired as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the Florida-based Wikimedia Foundation, she had a criminal record in three other states — Virginia, Maryland, and Texas — and she was still on parole for a DUI (driving under the influence of alcohol) hit and run that resulted in a fatality. Her record also included convictions for passing bad checks, theft, petty larceny, additional DUIs, and unlawfully wounding her boyfriend with a gun shot to the chest."
Submission + - RSF releases Press Freedom Index 2007 (rsf.org)
KDR_11k writes: Freedom of Press watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF, Reporters Sans Frontieres) has released the annual worldwide Press Freedom Index for 2007.
The US has improved in ranking from 53rd place to 49th while its score worsened from 13.00 to 14.50. All G8 nations saw an improvement in their placing (even Russia which the headline singles out as not improving gained 3 places) although many had score increases. China, despite hosting the Olympic Games next year remained stable at its position 163 with 89.00 points, placing it firmly into the bottom ten. Without computing a comparison it looks to me like the average score of the index went up as several countries improved their position on the list despite showing a worse censorship score. Whether this is due to increasing censorship or just different scoring methods is not clear.
A growing trend is censorship against bloggers which are now targeted as well as professional reporters.
While 2006 saw four countries (Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands) tied for first place with a score of 0.50 each, 2007 had only two remaining with a score of 0.75 each, namely Iceland and Finland. Ireland dropped to position 8, score 2.0 and the Netherlands took a severe fall to position 12 with 3.50 points.
The US has improved in ranking from 53rd place to 49th while its score worsened from 13.00 to 14.50. All G8 nations saw an improvement in their placing (even Russia which the headline singles out as not improving gained 3 places) although many had score increases. China, despite hosting the Olympic Games next year remained stable at its position 163 with 89.00 points, placing it firmly into the bottom ten. Without computing a comparison it looks to me like the average score of the index went up as several countries improved their position on the list despite showing a worse censorship score. Whether this is due to increasing censorship or just different scoring methods is not clear.
A growing trend is censorship against bloggers which are now targeted as well as professional reporters.
While 2006 saw four countries (Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands) tied for first place with a score of 0.50 each, 2007 had only two remaining with a score of 0.75 each, namely Iceland and Finland. Ireland dropped to position 8, score 2.0 and the Netherlands took a severe fall to position 12 with 3.50 points.
Submission + - 15000 protest against data retention, in Berlin (vorratsdatenspeicherung.de)
jonas writes: http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/96385 reports a demonstration, mainly organized by http://www.vorratsdatenspeicherung.de/, that was held against the upcoming telecommunicatons data retention in Germany. 15,000 people protested against a law, that, once passed, will require telecommunications providers to keep all connection and location data for all subscribers for 6 months and will allow the government unrestricted access. The government claims this to be neccessary to protect Germans against terrorism. Many people fear the degredation of ther civil rights, of which there is one that assures the privacy of telecomunication.
This civil rights movement gains momentum, with only 200 protesters a year ago, and 2000 this spring.
Submission + - MediaDefender Leaks Saga : unexpected outcomes (p2pnet.net) 4
ShakaZ writes: Following the leaks of all the internal emails and later the source code of all the anti-p2p software of MediaDefender, the boss and an employee of the company have been arrested by the LA police. They are charged for illegal uploading with intent to deceive, bandwidth theft, and grievous misrepresentation.
More handcuffs there : http://www.p2pnet.net/story/13397
Due to the released emails, ThePirateBay have proof of infrastructural sabotage, denial of service attacks, hacking and spamming, for which they filed a complaint to the Swedish police. 10 companies of the music, movie and gaming industries are listed in the complaint.
More pirates here : http://thepiratebay.org/blog
More handcuffs there : http://www.p2pnet.net/story/13397
Due to the released emails, ThePirateBay have proof of infrastructural sabotage, denial of service attacks, hacking and spamming, for which they filed a complaint to the Swedish police. 10 companies of the music, movie and gaming industries are listed in the complaint.
More pirates here : http://thepiratebay.org/blog
Submission + - 'Opt Out' soon or Verizon will sell your CPNI 1
Rothfuss writes: "I actually opened and read one of the 'Updates to my Customer Agreement Terms and Conditions' that I received from Verizon today. I have no idea why. This one explains that they will be upgrading my service by assuming (unless I tell them otherwise) that I am willing to let them sell my Customer Proprietary Network Information or give it to anyone they choose. Apparently that will help me. However, the FCC won't let them do this without your permission — like, for example *not* calling them and opting out. If you are a Verizon customer and would like to opt out, you can do so by calling 1-800-333-9956. Ask to speak to Mr. Prosser."
Submission + - Suit seeks "a la carte" TV channel choices (yahoo.com)
An anonymous reader writes: The U.S. pay-TV industry amounts to a cartel because it maintains profits by offering channels in prepackaged tiers rather than "a la carte," according to a lawsuit filed Thursday in Los Angeles.
The federal lawsuit names every major cable and satellite television system operator as well as every major cable and broadcast television network.
"The antitrust laws protect the right of choice," antitrust lawyer Maxwell M. Blecher said. "Here the customer is denied that choice."
Submission + - id's ET: Quake Wars And Carmack's MegaTextures (hothardware.com)
MojoKid writes: "id Software continues to enhance the Doom 3 engine. The recent release
of their Enemy Territory: Quake Wars demo showcases a new texture compression
technology. The
screen shots here, taken on a Geforce 8800 with high quality details and 4X
anti-aliasing, show the first application of John Carmack's MegaTexture for
terrain mapping. This technology allows rendering of extremely large outdoor
terrain without the need to re-use or tile multiple smaller textures. The trick is
all in Carmack's compression algorithm where for example, a 6 gig environment landscape texture map can be compressed down to 8MB without any loss in image quality.
The
HDR-like lighting in the engine looks impressive as well."
Submission + - Comcast Shutting Down Big Downloaders
An anonymous reader writes: The rapid growth of online videos, music and games has created a new Internet sin: using it too much.
Comcast has punished some transgressors by cutting off their Internet service, arguing that excessive downloaders hog Internet capacity and slow down the network for other customers. The company declines to reveal its download limits.
"You have no way of knowing how much is too much," said Sandra Spalletta of Rockville, whose Internet service was suspended in March after Comcast sent her a letter warning that she and her teenage son were using too much bandwidth. They cut back on downloads but were still disconnected. She said the company would not tell her how to monitor their bandwidth use in order to comply with the limits.
Comcast has punished some transgressors by cutting off their Internet service, arguing that excessive downloaders hog Internet capacity and slow down the network for other customers. The company declines to reveal its download limits.
"You have no way of knowing how much is too much," said Sandra Spalletta of Rockville, whose Internet service was suspended in March after Comcast sent her a letter warning that she and her teenage son were using too much bandwidth. They cut back on downloads but were still disconnected. She said the company would not tell her how to monitor their bandwidth use in order to comply with the limits.
