RoscBottle - Slashdot User

Comment Re:How/where was Denmark on the ISO debacle? (Score 1) 198

by RoscBottle on Friday January 29, 2010 @01:33PM (#30951906) Attached to: Denmark Chooses OpenDocument Format

From memory Denmark (note that Dane though I am, I did not use "we") voted to support both formats. Just like in Norway there were quite a few "strange circumstances"... Can't be arsed to write more than one comment, so I'll use this opportunity to point out that several municipalities have already changed to ODF and (OpenOffice), Microsoft fighting them tooth and nail with lies and half-truths as usual.

Comment Another solution for Apple (Score 5, Funny) 325

by RoscBottle on Sunday January 17, 2010 @01:47PM (#30799564) Attached to: Google Phone Could Drive Apple Into Allegiance With Microsoft

To avoid Microsoft Apple could buy whatever is left of AltaVista. And then we'll have Apple Vista. No, wait...

Court Rules That Palin Must Save Yahoo Emails 412

Posted by timothy on Sunday October 12, 2008 @03:19PM from the hope-yahoo's-ok-with-that dept.

quarterbuck writes "An Anchorage judge has ruled that Governor Sarah Palin must save her emails, as they were apparently used for state business. Last week a Tennessee man was arrested over hacking one of her Yahoo email accounts. The Washington Post also reports that Sarah Palin, her husband, and officials had set up email accounts known only to each other."

Submission + - Ubuntu now available for Eee PCs (bit-tech.net)

Submitted by

wehe

on Monday December 17, 2007 @05:49AM

wehe writes: "bit-tech.net has a story about eeeXubuntu, a customized Linux distribution for the Asus Eee PC: "If you're one of the lucky few who managed to get an Eee PC ahead of the Xmas rush, I'm sure you've thought about replacing the rather basic operating system with something a bit gruntier. Well, how about something gutsier? Dedicated Eee PC owners have produced a customised version of Xubuntu 7.10 'Gutsy Gibbon', the lightweight desktop Linux release based on Ubuntu (which, in turn, is built on Debian). Featuring full support for the Eee PC hardware with no post-installation configuration to worry about, the new release also handles the fairly low resolution screen better than a standard Linux distribution would. Dubbed eeeXubuntu, the most important change the distribution has from the standard Xubuntu install is a tweak to reduce the number of writes made to the irreplaceable solid-state storage device inside the Eee, which has a limited lifespan. Available, as is the tradition for desktop Ubuntu derivatives, as a Live CD which allows users to try it out before committing to install it, the operating system can be installed to either the internal SSD or to an external flash drive.""

Comment Re:I think this headline should be... (Score 1) 300

by RoscBottle on Thursday October 04, 2007 @04:55AM (#20849101) Attached to: PEBKAC Still Plagues PC Security

Water in solid form is usually referred to as 'ice' or equivalent translations thereof.

Submission + - Starcraft 2 Officially announced by Blizzard

Submitted by

unity100

on Saturday May 19, 2007 @09:09AM

unity100 writes: "Blizzard has just officially announced Starcraft 2. From the faq on their site, the game will have the 3 initial races, with some units from Starcraft gone, some new units added. They promise good deal of cinematics, and excellent balance between 3 races again. Storyline will continue where Broow War has left off. Blizzard also promises to preserve qualities that made Starcraft a lasting classic. Read more here : http://www.starcraft2.com/"

Submission + - Dual core Opteron beats in benchmarks quad core Xe

Submitted by

Anonymous Coward

on Saturday May 19, 2007 @05:13AM

Anonymous Coward writes: "Dual core Opteron beats in benchmarks quad core Xeon. In the name of humanity, please delay Barcelona. http://badhardware.blogspot.com/2007_05_01_archive .html#7321346052749364587"

Submission + - BBC Micro: Britain's First PC Hit

Submitted by on Wednesday February 28, 2007 @04:43PM

An anonymous reader writes: North American children grew up with the Apple II. Across the Atlantic, the BBC gave its blessings to the unreleased Acorn Proton (another 6502 micro) and it became the standard in education and home for almost a decade as the BBC Micro, even though there were cheaper, more capable machines on the market. Read about how Acorn won the lucrative contract and slowly disintegrated after their RISC home computer (released in 1987) failed to catch on.

Submission + - RIAA Letter to Presidents

Submitted by

JM

on Wednesday February 28, 2007 @04:30PM

JM writes: "The RIAA Letter

RIAA
February 28, 2007
Dear University President:
This week the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), on behalf of its member
labels, is initiating a new process for lawsuits against computer users who engage in illegal
file-trafficking of copyrighted content on peer-to-peer (P2P) systems. In the current round
of such lawsuits, four hundred of these legal actions are directed at college and university
students around the country.
Why have we felt compelled to escalate our deterrence and education efforts? For three
years, we have gone to extraordinary lengths to address the problem of online music theft on
campuses. We have met personally with many university administrators. We have provided
both instructional material and educational resources, including an orientation video
(campusdownloading.com) to help deter illegal downloading. We have worked
collaboratively and productively through organizations like the Joint Committee of the
Higher Education and Entertainment Communities. Our member companies have
transformed how they do business — licensing innovative services that provide free or
heavily discounted legal music to college fans. We have informed schools of effective
network technologies and partnership opportunities with legitimate services. We have
stepped up our notice program to alert schools and students of infringing activity. And, of
course, we have as a last resort brought suit against individual file-traffickers.
All of this has yielded noteworthy progress and we are grateful for the proactive work of
many institutions. Unfortunately, the piracy problem on campuses remains extensive and
unacceptable, and compromises the music industry's ability to invest in new music.
We do not take this step lightly and wish it were not necessary. We will continue to do all
we can to encourage our fans to enjoy music legally, both on campus and more broadly by
the general public.
There is a reasonable role that campus administrators can play:
facilitate our new deterrence program by forwarding pre-lawsuit letters so that
students and others with access to the network can settle claims at a lower cost and
before they turn into lawsuits of public record; and
implement programs and technological solutions that significantly reduce piracy and
therefore the likelihood that students will be sued or receive DMCA notices.
2
A concerted, comprehensive and complementary approach CAN make a difference and
advance everyone's interests.
We are attaching a summary of the important role that universities and colleges play in our
new deterrence program and a summary of the proactive steps schools can take to minimize
students' exposure to lawsuits and DMCA notices. Given the number of people at your
university who may be involved in this issue, we would greatly appreciate your passing this
letter on to the appropriate parties, including such officials as the General Counsel, the Chief
Information Officer, and the Dean of Student Affairs.
Thank you in advance for any help you can give us in addressing the problem of copyright
piracy on college campuses. Your support is critical.
Sincerely,
Cary Sherman
President
3
New Litigation Process For
Forwarding Pre-Litigation Settlement Letters to Students
Our new litigation process will allow individuals we find illegally uploading or downloading
copyrighted works on a peer-to-peer (P2P) network the opportunity to settle claims before
we file a "Doe" suit against them. We have heard repeatedly that individuals who have been
sued want the ability to settle prior to being named in federal court. To accommodate this
interest, we are instituting a new pre-lawsuit settlement option that will allow infringers to
settle at a discounted rate if they do so prior to our filing of a "Doe" suit.
To assist you in extending this option to your students and other subscribers to your school's
Internet service, we will e-mail to you a letter for you to forward to the subscriber. Our email
will also request that you maintain the log files for the relevant individuals while we
attempt to settle the matter with them. The letter to the subscriber will explain that the
subscriber has been identified as illegally distributing copyrighted sound recordings and that
he or she has the opportunity, in advance of a lawsuit being filed, to contact us to resolve the
claims. Whether they want to contact us at that time will be entirely up to them, but, if they
do not, they will not be eligible for a discounted settlement rate. The subscriber will have
only twenty days from the date we send the letter to you to take advantage of the early
settlement option before we initiate a "Doe" lawsuit, so please forward the letters as
expeditiously as possible.
We are hopeful that, by providing early notification to subscribers that have been identified
as infringers, we can greatly diminish the need for litigation. We are also hopeful that the
initiatives we are taking will facilitate a clear process for your subscribers who may be
targeted. Holme Roberts & Owen LLP will continue to serve as our national counsel for
these cases. Your primary contact there, Katheryn Coggon, will also continue to serve in
that role. Should you have any questions about the program or this letter, feel free to contact
Ms. Coggon directly at 303-866-0408 or katheryn.coggon@hro.com.
To avoid any unintended relay of misinformation, the following details may be of
assistance:
The record companies' representatives can be reached at 913-234-8181 or
info@SettlementInformationLine.com.
The RIAA has established a website with information about the copyright lawsuits
that should facilitate early settlement. That website is located at
www.p2plawsuits.com.
4
Ways to Prevent/Reduce
Student Exposure to Lawsuits and DMCA Notices
Implement a network technical solution. Products like Red Lambda's cGrid are
promising as effective and comprehensive solutions that maintain the integrity, security, and
legal use of school computing systems without threatening student privacy. Some schools
have used these products to block the use of P2P entirely, realizing that the overwhelming, if
not sole, use of these applications on campus is to illegally download and distribute
copyrighted works. For schools that do not wish to prohibit entirely access to P2P
applications, products such as Audible Magic's CopySense can be used to filter illegal P2P
traffic, again, without impinging on student privacy.
Offer a legitimate online service to give students an inexpensive alternative to stealing.
In fact one such service, Ruckus, is funded through advertising and completely free to users.
When schools increasingly provide their students with amenities like cable TV, there is
simply no reason not to offer them cheap or free legal access to the music they crave.
Take appropriate disciplinary action when students are found to be engaging in
infringing conduct online. This includes stopping and punishing such activity in dorms
and on all Local Area Networks throughout a school's computing system.
Educate students about the do's and don'ts of downloading and copying music and
other copyrighted works. The music industry offers a free campus educational video
available for order at www.campusdownloading.com.

For the PDF: http://www.acenet.edu/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home &TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&CONTENTID=20643"

Submission + - DHS Abandons RFID

Submitted by on Wednesday February 28, 2007 @04:28PM

An anonymous reader writes: The Department of Homeland Security has abandoned plans to embed RFID chips in arrival and departure forms carried by foreign nations in the U.S. The decision comes shortly after a General Accounting Office report found that the chips often were not properly scanned by sensors, and that they provided no additional assurance that the person arriving in the country was the same as the person leaving the country. Privacy groups had criticized the plan to embed the chips out of fear that they would allow people on the street to be scanned for forms that would identify them as non-citizens.

Submission + - RIAA letter sent to all presidents by ACE

Submitted by

JM

on Wednesday February 28, 2007 @03:54PM

JM writes: "Sent via List-Serv today:

David Ward and the American Council on Education's
President to President
Vol. 8, No. 8
February 28, 2007
SPECIAL EDITION

Recording Industry to Announce Efforts to Limit Illegal Peer-to-Peer File Sharing on Campus
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) will announce today that it is initiating legal action against individuals who engage in illegal file sharing of copyrighted materials using peer-to-peer systems. Roughly 400 of these actions will be taken against college students and the RIAA has asked that we share the following letter with you.
In the last three years, several higher education organizations, including ACE, the Association of American Universities, the National Association of State Universities of Land-Grant Colleges, and EDUCAUSE have worked with the entertainment industry to address this serious, continuing problem. The Joint Committee of the Higher Education and Entertainment Communities, currently chaired by William E. Kirwan, chancellor of the University System of Maryland, and Cary Sherman, president of the RIAA, has communicated regularly with campuses about this issue and the need to take appropriate action to stop it.

These efforts, along with the hard work of campuses, have undoubtedly deterred many individuals from engaging in illegal downloading but there is no doubt that this practice continues to be a significant problem that demands attention.
The RIAA's letter states that it will initiate a "pre-notice plan" that allows students to settle claims before a formal lawsuit is filed. A summary of their approach is attached to the RIAA letter. We have not had time to fully evaluate this idea and cannot, at present, formally advise you on this matter, but it may provide potential benefits to students facing lawsuits as well as to the RIAA. In the event that your institution is contacted, we encourage you to review the proposal with legal counsel and determine whether this approach makes sense for your campus.

An attachment to the letter outlines four ways to prevent or reduce the illegal file sharing problem on campus. One suggestion is to implement a network technical solution. While these products have become more sophisticated and powerful in recent years, we believe the term "solution" overstates the capacities of current technologies. In some cases, the technology may be too indiscriminate, blocking not only illegitimate peer-to-peer file sharing but also the legitimate peer-to-peer file sharing increasingly used in research and education activities. In other cases, the cost may be prohibitive. Nonetheless, because of the continued seriousness of the problem of illegal peer-to-peer file sharing and the promise of emerging network technologies, the Joint Committee has established a new technology working group which is actively addressing this topic and expects to issue a report to the higher education community within a few months.
For a more extensive analysis of the legal aspects of campus peer-to-peer file sharing, you might examine the November 2006 paper, Background Discussion of Copyright Law and Potential Liability for Students Engaged in P2P File Sharing on University Networks.

I underscore that illegal peer-to-peer file sharing remains a serious issue that all campuses must continue to address. My Washington colleagues and I appreciate the efforts you have already made in this area and encourage your ongoing attention to this matter.

David Ward,
President of ACE
****For further information and complete updates, please visit ACE's web site at http://www.acenet.edu/."

Submission + - RIAA Prepares to Sue 400 College Students

Submitted by on Wednesday February 28, 2007 @03:51PM

An anonymous reader writes: The RIAA sent out "pre-litigation settlement notices" to 400 network users at 13 U.S. universities today, continuing a PR blitz that began last week with a much-publicized list of the 25 most notified universities for copyright infringement. Once again, Ohio University tops the list, with one out of every eight notifications. From the press release: "The RIAA will request that universities forward those letters to the appropriate network user. Under this new approach, a student (or other network user) can settle the record company claims against him or her at a discounted rate before a lawsuit is ever filed."

Submission + - European PS3 Won't Carry Chip for PS2

Submitted by Goodasitgets on Wednesday February 28, 2007 @03:50PM

Goodasitgets writes: The PlayStation 3 going on sale in Europe next month will play only some of the games for its predecessor video game machine — a move designed to cut costs and speed up production. Backward compatibility with PlayStation 2 has been billed as a major feature for the PlayStation 3 that went on sale late last year in the U.S. and Japan But packing the machine with two expensive computer chips to play both PS2 and upgrade PS3 games has been racking up costs for the money-losing PS3, a big reason behind Sony Corp.'s flagging earnings lately.

Submission + - Boston Bomb-Squad Strikes Again

Submitted by Brian on Wednesday February 28, 2007 @03:39PM

Brian writes: Boston Police discover (and destroy) the latest pseudo-threat. This time it's not an animated LED sign, but something far, far more nasty — A Traffic Counter. You know, the little boxes that the city (!) places on a roadside to measure the number of cars that pass in a given amount of time. Wow.

Link
via BoingBoing.

Canada Rejects Anti-Terror Laws 507

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Wednesday February 28, 2007 @03:39PM from the shot-down dept.

Coryoth writes "The Canadian parliament has voted against renewing anti-terror laws that had been introduced after September 11, 2001. The rejected laws included provisions to hold terror suspects indefinitely, and to compel witnesses to testify, and were in some sense Canada's version fo the Patriot Act. The laws were voted down in the face of claims from the minority Conservative government that the Liberal Party was soft on terror, and despite the fact that Canada has faced active terrorist cells in their own country. The anti-terror laws have never been used, and it was viewed that they are neither relevant, nor needed, in dealing with terrorist plots. Hopefully more countries will come to the same conclusion."

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