software

Goobuntu

This is an interesting development which can make lots of analysts hair turn grey. What does it mean? What would happen if you combine Google with a linux distro?

Google is preparing its own distribution of Linux for the desktop, in a possible bid to take on Microsoft in its core business – desktop software.

A version of the increasingly popular Ubuntu desktop Linux distribution, based on Debian and the Gnome desktop, it is known internally as ‘Goobuntu’.

via The Register

Or maybe its all a smokescreen to stop everyone from talking about Goole & China.

Posted on by mklang

Vatican closes source

Richard Owen has written an article Vatican ‘cashes in’ by putting price on the Pope’s copyright in The Times.

The Vatican has been accused of trying to cash in on the Popeâ??s words after it decided to impose strict copyright on all papal pronouncements.

For the first time all papal documents, including encyclicals, will be governed by copyright invested in the official Vatican publishing house, the Libreria Editrice Vaticana.

The edict covers Pope Benedict XVIâ??s first encyclical, which is to be issued this week amid huge international interest. The edict is retroactive, covering not only the writings of the present pontiff â?? as Pope and as cardinal â?? but also those of his predecessors over the past 50 years. It therefore includes anything written by John Paul II, John Paul I, Paul VI and John XXIII.

The decision was denounced yesterday for treating the Popeâ??s words as â??saleable merchandiseâ?? and endangering the Churchâ??s mission to â??spread the Christian messageâ??.

A Milanese publishing house that had issued an anthology containing 30 lines from Pope Benedictâ??s speech to the conclave that elected him and an extract from his enthronement speech is reported to have been sent a bill for â?¬15,000 (£10,000). This was made up of 15 per cent of the cover price of each copy sold plus â??legal expensesâ?? of â?¬3,500.

Not too long ago I wrote about the Vatican Ethics in Internet report being pro-Free Software. The times seem to be changing even in the Vatican. Maybe we will see papal lawyers suing for unauthorised copies. Could this lead to a black market or file-sharing of the popes texts? Would you download a papal torrent?

Posted on by mklang

Apple/iTunes reacts to privacy critics

In a recent update of Apple iTunes recent privacy problems emerged. This was followed by a storm of criticism. Apple has now tweaked the software to show that they are sensitive to the privacy concerns of their users – or maybe its that they are sensitive to criticism.

The EFF write

It is now offering a new update to the program that is a bit more privacy-friendly. A dialog box now asks you for your permission to activate the feature, and says that Apple does not keep any information related to your music library.

However privacy concerns still remain according to the EFF since some users have experienced that iTunes transmits its unique identifier the Apple ID.

Posted on by mklang

Draft GPLv3

Here is a copy of a mail about the GPLv3 process:

The first draft of the GPLv3 is now available at http://gplv3.fsf.org/draft

This means that a global discussion has begun. The FSF expects to receive several thousand comments on the draft. Coordinating all these comments will be a challenging task indeed. A unified single point of coordination is percieved as necessary for this.

As the FSF web site for the GPLv3 is now operational and ready to accept comments in a way that will make this process much smoother for everyone involved, we will close this list down and ask everyone with an interest in the license to sign up at:

http://gplv3.fsf.org/

In case you are interested in general discussions on Free Software, our mailing list discussion@fsfeurope.org will remain available for that.

Best regards,
Georg Greve
FSFE, President

Posted on by mklang

Trust & ATM

While I realise that the ATM runs on software, the full implications of this did not hit me until today when I had to wait until the ATM rebooted. Looking at the whole booting up sequence for NT 4 and seeing it do a virus scan did not really fill me with confidence towards the machine. In addition to this the ATM boot procedure stopped a long time with a view of the classic windows desktop with the icons for my documents and internet explorer showing.

ATM

The moral of the story is that the less you know the more you are able to trust. This means that trust is inversly proportional to the amount of relevant information. In other words if you talk about how secure a system is then you force people to become concerned with security when they really did not consider the system to be insecure. Showing the NT4 boot and the virus scan is obviously not done to inspire confidence but seeing it happen made me think about the vunerability of these systems.

Posted on by mklang

Minister of (in)Justice – part 2

Sweden has never had a Minister of Justice who has managed to push through so much legislation hostile to civil liberties in such a short space of time as the minister we have today: Thomas Bodström. Here are some of the highlights
Dagens Nyheter 22 December 2005.

Phone tapping – Secret surveillance with hidden microphones will be permissable for a long list of crimes (not only the present day murder, manslaughter and armed robbery. This is despite the fact that investigators have been unable to show whether these devices are efficient police tools.

Data retention – Sweden has stood on the forefront demanding that the EU implement data retention. The EU have now approved rules (BBC report) that will force ISP’s and other telecommunication companies to retain data for at least six months. This data includes the time, date and locations of both mobile and landline calls (as well as whether or not they were answered) along with logs of internet activity and email.

Hemlig telefonavlyssning. En regeringsutredning vill ge Säkerhetspolisen utökade möjligheter till hemlig teleavlyssning. Den ska ske även i “preventivt syfte”, alltsÃ¥ innan ett brott har begÃ¥tts. Enligt förslaget ska ocksÃ¥ den öppna polisen ges utökade möjligheter att registrera svenskarnas telefonsamtal, vilket Advokatsamfundets generalsekreterare Anne Ramberg kallar för “ett paradigmskifte i svensk tvÃ¥ngsmedelshantering”.

Den påtänkta lagstiftningen ger staten kraftigt utökade möjligheter att övervaka medborgarna. Tillämpningsområdet är ytterst brett och möjligheterna till ett rättssäkert förfarande minimala. Både Säpo och polisen skulle ges laglig rätt att kontinuerligt avlyssna miljöer som de finner intressanta. Varken någon lag­överträdelse eller konkret misstanke krävs.

Försvarets underrättelseverksamhet. En departementspromemoria föreslår att den traditionella signalspaningen ska utvidgas till att omfatta all trådbunden trafik som passerar Sveriges gränser. Försvaret ska alltså inte som i dag bara kunna övervaka etern, utan också telefonsamtal, e-post, fax och dylikt som strömmar genom landet naturligtvis utan domstolsprövning. Förslaget innebär ett genombrott för övervakningsstaten, särskilt om det kombineras med tankarna på att försvaret även ska hantera vissa polisiära uppgifter.

Secret Data Surveillance – A proposal has been put forward that will allow the police (with a court order) can enter and insert software to eavesdrop on individuals computers.

These are just a few of the ideas which have been pushed through on the ministers initiative or suggestion. There are many more examples of tough stances against civil liberties – all done to fight crime or terrorism.

handcuffs

Sweden is no longer the country fighting for rights and liberties but it is using the ghost of terrorism to frighten and bully through oppressive legislation. Leadership by fear. In addition to this the approach has been to argue that oppressive legislation actually improves civil liberties. In a comment on the recent data retention decision a fellow party official stated that data retention protects civil liberties. Swedish quote here – “Jag är tacksam och glad att vi fÃ¥r en gemensam lagstiftning för hela Europa. Det här är ocksÃ¥ garantin för att integriteten och de mänskliga rättigheterna inte Ã¥sidosätts, säger Inger Segelström, s”.

This is straight out of Orwell! Remember: “War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength”. Big Brother would have been proud.

Posted on by mklang

Sony-BMG EULA

Kalle tipped me off to an interesting license.

The Sony-BMG’s EULA contains some interesting limitations to the users rights.

# If your house gets burgled, you have to delete all your music from your laptop when you get home. That’s because the EULA says that your rights to any copies terminate as soon as you no longer possess the original CD.

# You can’t keep your music on any computers at work. The EULA only gives you the right to put copies on a “personal home computer system owned by you.”

# If you move out of the country, you have to delete all your music. The EULA specifically forbids “export” outside the country where you reside.

# You must install any and all updates, or else lose the music on your computer. The EULA immediately terminates if you fail to install any update. No more holding out on those hobble-ware downgrades masquerading as updates.

# Sony-BMG can install and use backdoors in the copy protection software or media player to “enforce their rights” against you, at any time, without notice. And Sony-BMG disclaims any liability if this “self help” crashes your computer, exposes you to security risks, or any other harm.

# The EULA says Sony-BMG will never be liable to you for more than $5.00. That’s right, no matter what happens, you can’t even get back what you paid for the CD.

# If you file for bankruptcy, you have to delete all the music on your computer. Seriously.

# You have no right to transfer the music on your computer, even along with the original CD.

# Forget about using the music as a soundtrack for your latest family photo slideshow, or mash-ups, or sampling. The EULA forbids changing, altering, or make derivative works from the music on your computer.

EFF: DeepLinks

The original text of the EULA can be read here.

Posted on by mklang

Ethics in Internet

Its not often I get the chance to quote the Vatican but apparently they are for Free Software- Here is a quote from their “Ethics in Internet” report.

“The technological configuration underlying the Internet has a considerable bearing on its ethical aspects. Use of the new information technology and the Internet needs to be informed and guided by a resolute commitment to the practice of solidarity in the service of the common good. The Internet requires international cooperation in setting standards and establishing mechanisms to promote and protect [that common good]. Individuals, groups, and nations must have access to these new technologies. Cyberspace ought to be a resource of comprehensive information and services available without charge to all, and in a wide range of languages. The winner in this process will be humanity as a whole and not just a wealthy elite that controls science, technology, and the planet’s resources. Determined action in the private and public sectors is needed to close and eventually eliminate the digital divide.”

Ethics in Internet
Vatican Report

Posted on by mklang

New Swedish NGO

The new Swedish NGO has now established its first web presence. http://www.libre.se/.

The “Association for free culture and software” (Föreningen Fri Kultur och Programvara) is called Libre for short and will be active in four areas Infrastructure, Culture, Access & Digital Rights. Since the main focus of the NGO is to bring a major part of an international discussion into the Swedish domain the site is in Swedish.

Posted on by mklang