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The Internet

Wikipedia On the Brink? Or Crying Wolf? 380

netbuzz writes "Might Wikipedia 'disappear' three or four months from now absent a major infusion of cash donations? The suggestion has been made by Florence Devouard, chairwoman of the Wikimedia Foundation. And while her spokesperson has since backpedaled off that dire prediction, there can be little doubt that the encyclopedia anyone can edit could use a few more benefactors to go along with all those editors."
Networking

Submission + - RegisterFly's domain rights revoked

xiphoris writes: "RegisterFly, a popular discount domain registrar and web host, has had its reseller status revoked by eNom, its reseller. eNom sent me an email today notifying me that they are taking control of my domains:

This is a formal notice to owners of domains which have been registered through eNom via its reseller, RegisterFly.com. Over the last year, eNom has become aware of an increasing number of complaints from dissatisfied RegisterFly customers. As an eNom reseller, RegisterFly is contractually bound to adhere to certain standards of customer service in a speedy and diligent manner. Therefore, effective immediately, we have terminated RegisterFly as a reseller of domain names through eNom.
As a customer who has previously had extensive problems with RegisterFly, I am glad eNom is taking steps to make sure the poor saps who registered with RegisterFly keep their domains and receive good service."
Power

Submission + - Update: Energy Tower Power Calculations

rohar writes: "Since this story was originally posted, the efficiency and power output calculations of this Open Design Renewable Energy Project have been completed for implementations of a mid-sized installation for various climates.

Although the project is not at the pilot stage yet, the physics and math demonstrate that the system can meet the design criteria of a clean, renewable, feasible, location independant, reliable electrical generation system that can be built from common materials.

(corrected link from previous submission)"
Java

Submission + - The future of Open Source Java

An anonymous reader writes: Thanks largely to the open sourcing of the JDK, 2007 promises to be the most exciting year in Java programming. With the developer community in the driver's seat, expect to see Java programming propelled forward, backward, and sideways, probably all at once. This article takes a look at what's ahead for Java in Open Source and predicts what is coming for the Java platform.
The Courts

Journal Journal: No legal relief from spammers spoofing my domain name? 3

For a few years, spammers have been sending out spam pretending to be from my personal, vanity domain. I haven't seen many complaints recently, but it now costs me a considerable amount of time daily to delete hundreds of bounces from mail servers that don't recognized forged headers, etc. The recipients' mail filters are probably also down-rating my domain name as a result, too, further degrading the value of my domain name if I ever want to use it for a commercial venture. I am also concern

Censorship

Submission + - Police blotter: Teens prosecuted for racy photos

An anonymous reader writes: Two teens were prosecuted for having made and emailed racy photos of each other and are charged under anti child pornography laws.

Both were under 18 years old, hence their action (taking the pictures) is clearly illegal. However, the laws seem to have been intended to protect children from exploitative adults. This does seem to be a slippery slope right there.

The story is here http://news.com.com/Police+blotter+Teens+prosecute d+for+racy+photos/2100-1030_3-6157857.html?tag=new smap
Networking

MIT Scientists Reach Fiber-Optic Breakthrough 39

kcurtis writes "The AP (via boston.com) has a story about how MIT scientists have detailed a breakthrough in optics that could lead to cheaper, more efficient optical communications. From the story: 'Like polarizing sunglasses that block light waves oriented in different directions, the MIT researchers created a clever device that splits the light beams as they pass through a circuit. The device then rotates one of the polarized beams, before both beams are rejoined on their way out of the circuit, retaining the signals' strength. But it's not just that device that the researchers are touting. They're also trumpeting the innovative method they devised to integrate the optical circuitry with electronic circuitry on the same silicon chip.'"
Democrats

Submission + - Barack Obama launches social network

politics 2.0 writes: Barack Obama, the Democrat presidential hopeful, has launched his own social network which he's calling MyBarackObama.com. Obama already has an official presence of Facebook and YouTube, as well as an unofficial MySpace page — so why launch a social networking site of his own? As ZDNet's The Social Web notes: "It's clear that the two main functions of Obama's network is to help supporters organize events and connect locally with others — building on Dean's use of Meetup.com — as well as raise the much needed cash to fund the campaign."
Privacy

Submission + - Swedish SIGINT agency FRA the new "echelon"

kursu writes: "As we feared here in Sweden, the government has now approved FRA (Försvarets Radio Anstalt) which is a signal intelligence agency part of the Ministry of Defense to do in-depth wire-tapping of the internet traffic in Sweden.

The proposal was approved by the Lagrådet (law council) 2007-02-09.

This is just one of many laws passed lately that threats the democracy and free speech i Sweden.

Swedish: Oscar Swartz about the Regime supercomputers around the corner.
The new wiretapping law
National Defense Radio Establishment (FRA)
Wikipedia about ECHELON"
Music

Submission + - Major record producer blatantly ignores copyright

gloom writes: In a follow-up to one of the more exciting David VS Goliath-stories so far this year, american super-producer Timbaland now speaks out on a radio-show ("Elliot In The Morning") and to MTV regarding the allegations that he stole a song from finnish demoscene musician Janne Suni. It would be sort of funny if it wasn't so serious — I quote:

""It makes me laugh. The part I don't understand, the dude is trying to act like I went to his house and took it from his computer. I don't know him from a can of paint. I'm 15 years deep. That's how you attack a king? You attack moi? Come on, man. You got to come correct. You the laughing stock. People are like, 'You can't be serious.'"

Is this new version of the Chewbacca-defence going to hold up? Is it okay to steal music and pass it off as your own as long as you are already famous?
Windows

Submission + - How much does Vista's Content Protection cost us?

em8chel writes: "Peter Gutmann points out in his detailed A Cost Analysis of Windows Vista Content Protection": "Providing this protection incurs considerable costs in terms of system performance, system stability, technical support overhead, and hardware and software cost. These issues affect not only users of Vista but the entire PC industry, since the effects of the protection measures extend to cover all hardware and software that will ever come into contact with Vista, even if it's not used directly with Vista (for example hardware in a Macintosh computer or on a Linux server)...""
Education

Submission + - One Desktop per Child - miniPCs for schools?

gwjenkins writes: I'm a teacher in charge of IT in a small school. We would like to bust out of the computer lab model but don't want a trolley of laptops wheeled from class to class. I've drooled over wifi pdas but just can't afford a class set (and the batteries drain too fast). In a classroom, space is at a premium and teachers won't use a technology that takes too long to set up. 90% of the time the kids are just researching (google), or typing (google docs), the rest of the time they can go to a lab. I would love to have a desk-based solution. My question is, can you run a wifi minipc (sitting under the desk) from a 12volt rechargable battery (sitting under the desk) with a 7" LCD (sitting on the desk), that boots from flashcard into firefox (Damn Small Linux?). No wires! No setup time! Has anyone done this? How? Alternatively can anyone say why this is silly."
Censorship

Submission + - YouTube bans video containing Qur'an quotes

skraps writes: "YouTube, in a move that has caused quite a reaction in the community, has censored popular atheist commentator NickGisburne. Mr. Gisburne has built a large following on YouTube by making simple and accessible logical arguments against Christian beliefs, and had recently decided to change the focus of his videos to the Qur'an, the central religious text of Islam. YouTube reacted by deleting his account, along with 60+ videos, after he posted a simple slide-show video with direct quotes from the English translation of the Qur'an, containing no commentary aside from the video's title "Islamic Teachings — Cruelty from the Qur'an". YouTube's explanation was "After being flagged by members of the YouTube community, and reviewed by YouTube staff, the video below has been removed due to its inappropriate nature. Due to your repeated attempts to upload inappropriate videos, your account now been permanently disabled, and your videos have been taken down."

Do "Web 2.0" sites like YouTube fit the legal definition of a "public commons", and if so, what will it take for corporations like YouTube to start honoring constitutionally protected speech?"

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