======================================================================
Going Mobile?
Only the laptop experts offer a complete line of high performance
laptop notebooks and Tablet PCs. Take a look at [SLASHDOT��S] mobility
center for Toshiba��s newest business innovations.
http://mobile.slashdot.org/
======================================================================
Slashdot Daily Newsletter
In this issue:
* Snopes Pushing Zango Adware
* 23,000 Linux PCs For Filipino Schools
* iPhone Application Key Leaked
* US Judge Bars Unauthorized Sales of Phone Records
* The True Cost of SMS Messages
* George Lawrence Photography Revisited
* Telco Immunity Goes To Full Debate
* Trend Micro Sues Barracuda Over Open Source Anti-Virus
* Music Labels say No Deal with Qtrax
* What the MPAA Still Isn't Telling Us
* Programming As Art — 13 Amazing Code Demos
* U2's Manager Calls For Mandatory Disconnects For Music Downloaders
* Engineers Have a Terrorist Mindset?
* The Notable Improvements of GNOME 2.22
* What's the Best Game Console of All Time?
* We Know Who's Behind Storm Worm
* Technical Risks of the US Protect America Act
* EU Court Says File Sharers Don't Have To Be Named
* P2P Fans Pound Comcast In FCC Comments
* BSA's Tactics and Motives Questioned
* ACLU of Ohio Sues To Block Paper Ballots
* Aboriginal Archive Uses New DRM
* Magistrate Suggests Fining RIAA Lawyers
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Snopes Pushing Zango Adware |
| from the say-it-ain't-so dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Monday January 28, @19:54 (Security) |
|
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/29/0047236
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
DaMan writes "Here's something that isn't an urban legend ��� Snopes, the
popular urban legends reference site, has been [0]pushing adware, for at
least 6 months, to users via ads displayed on its Web site. No one seems
to have called them on it until recently."
Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/01/29/0047236
Links:
0. http://sunbeltblog.blogspot.com/2008/01/not-urban-legend-snopes-pushes-zango.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| 23,000 Linux PCs For Filipino Schools |
| from the get-'em-while-they're-young dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Monday January 28, @21:24 (Education) |
|
http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/29/026237
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
Da Massive writes "Speaking at the linux.conf.au event in Melbourne,
Australia, independent open source consultant Ricardo Gonzalez has told
of how he has helped [0]bring 23,000 Linux PCs to over 1000 schools in
the Philippines: 'Ministers in the Filipino government now understand
Linux can do so much for so little outlay.'" The slow process of
educating a government that knew only Microsoft is especially well
described in this piece.
Discuss this story at:
http://linux.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/01/29/026237
Links:
0. http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;1163450117;pp;1
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| iPhone Application Key Leaked |
| from the sign-early-and-often dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Monday January 28, @22:54 (Cellphones) |
|
http://mobile.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/29/0231219
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
HighWizard writes with word from Engadget that the [0]iPhone SDK Key has
been leaked early. "We're not exactly sure how this all went down, but we
trust Erica Sadun over at [1]TUAW when she says that it appears that the
iPhone's SDK key ��� which will probably be required by all 'official'
third-party apps ��� has been leaked. Two [2]different [3]sites currently
have the key posted, but it's all just for show until next month, when
the SDK hits for real ��� and the code is undoubtedly changed."
Discuss this story at:
http://mobile.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/01/29/0231219
Links:
0. http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/28/iphone-sdk-key-leaked/
1. http://www.tuaw.com/2008/01/28/rumors-iphone-application-key-reportedly-leaked/
2. http://www.austinheap.com/assets/isdk/
3. http://zibree.blogspot.com/2008/01/major-iphone-breakthru.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| US Judge Bars Unauthorized Sales of Phone Records |
| from the look-me-in-the-eye dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday January 29, @00:29 (The Courts) |
|
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/29/0317239
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
The Register delivers the good news that a US federal judge had slapped
down the practice of pretexting and ordered a Wyoming company to pay
almost $200,000; AccuSearch was also permanently [0]barred from selling
individuals' phone records without their permission. The FTC had [1]filed
suit in 2006 against the company and four others. AccuSearch had
advertised a service that made phone records of any individual available
for a fee. The current article makes no mention of whatever became of the
other four accused data brokers.
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/01/29/0317239
Links:
0. http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/29/phone_pretexting_ruling/
1. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/05/04/ftc_phone_record_sale_lawsuits/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| The True Cost of SMS Messages |
| from the call-it-$24K-a-song dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday January 29, @03:05 (Communications) |
|
http://mobile.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/29/0244208
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]nilbog writes "What's the [1]actual cost of sending SMS messages? This
article does the math and concludes that, for example, sending an amount
of data that would cost $1 from your ISP would cost over $61 million if
you were to send it over SMS. Why has the cost of bandwidth,
infrastructure, and technology in general plummeted while the price of
SMS messages have risen so egregiously? How can carriers continue to
justify the high cost of their apparent super-premium data transmission?"
Discuss this story at:
http://mobile.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/01/29/0244208
Links:
0. http://gthing.net/
1. http://gthing.net/the-true-cost-of-sms-messages/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| George Lawrence Photography Revisited |
| from the 99-red-balloons dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday January 29, @05:40 (Graphics) |
|
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/29/0355228
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]danlor writes "We were all taken aback 4 years ago when someone linked
us the history of [1]George Lawrence and his photos of the aftermath of
the 1906 San Fransisco earthquake. I personally thought to myself: man, I
would love to make one of those cameras. The idea of flying 2,000-pound
cameras with kites... Well, someone has actually [2]recreated the feat.
They even provide links to get large prints of the original and recreated
scenes."
Discuss this story at:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/01/29/0355228
Links:
0. http://www.mcbeen.com/
1. http://activetectonics.asu.edu/kites/06eq.html
2. http://www.ronkleinphotos.com/Lawrence.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Telco Immunity Goes To Full Debate |
| from the finger-pointing-all-around dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday January 29, @08:06 (Privacy) |
|
http://politics.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/29/0426234
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
Dr. Eggman notes an Ars Technica analysis of the firefight that is the
current [0]Congressional debate over granting retrospective immunity to
telecoms that helped the NSA spy on citizens without warrants. A
Republican cloture motion, which would have blocked any further attempts
to remove the retroactive immunity provision, has failed. This
controversial portion of the Senate intelligence committee surveillance
bill may now be examined in full debate. At the same time, a second
cloture motion ��� filed by Congressional Democrats in an effort to force
immediate vote on a 30 day extension to the Protect America Act ��� also
failed to pass. The [1]Protect America Act has been criticized for
broadly expanding federal surveillance powers while diminishing judicial
oversight. While the failure of this second cloture motion means the
Protect America Act might expire, a vote tomorrow on a similar motion in
the House will likely bring the issue back into the Senate in time. It
seems, according to the article, that both parties feel that imminent
expiration of the Protect America Act is a disaster for intelligence
gathering, and each side blames the other as progress grinds to a halt."
Discuss this story at:
http://politics.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/01/29/0426234
1. http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070806-congress-approves-sweeping-survellance-powers.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Trend Micro Sues Barracuda Over Open Source Anti-Virus |
| from the troubled-waters dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Tuesday January 29, @08:42 (Businesses) |
|
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/29/1313206
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
Anti-virus firm [0]Trend Micro is suing Barracuda Networks over their use
of the open source anti-virus product ClamAV. The issue is [1]Trend
Micro's patent on 'anti-virus detection on an SMTP or FTP gateway'.
Companies like Symantec and McAfee are already paying licensing fees to
Trend Micro. Groklaw carries the word from Barracuda that [2]they intend
to fight this case, and are [3]seeking information on prior art to bring
to trial. Commentary on the O'Reilly site notes (in strident terms) the
[4]strange reality of patents gone bad, while a post to the C|Net site
explores [5]the potential ramifications for open source security
projects. "Barracuda has been able to leverage open source to bring down
the cost of security. Early on Barracuda was blocking spam and viruses at
roughly 1/10 the price of the nearest proprietary competitor (that was
only selling an antivirus solution). Barracuda has helped to bring down
prices across the board, and it has been able to do so because of open
source. More open source equals less spam and more security. Trend Micro
is effectively trying to raise the price of security." Slashdot and
Linux.com are both owned by SourceForge.
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/01/29/1313206
Links:
0. http://www.linux.com/feature/125807
1. http://www.freepatentsonline.com/5623600.html
2. http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20080125135544713
4. http://www.oreillynet.com/onlamp/blog/2008/01/feral_patent_threatens_one_hun.html
5. http://blogs.cnet.com/8301-13505_1-9856170-16.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Music Labels say No Deal with Qtrax |
| from the so-close-and-yet-so-far dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Tuesday January 29, @09:22 (Music) |
|
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/29/1249259
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]mikesd81 writes "Sunday we discussed apparently great news: a company
announced making [1]a deal with the major labels to provide DRM-free,
ad-supported music. There's just one problem with that. Reuters reports
that the Big 4 music labels have [2]denied having any deal with Qtrax.
Contrary to Qtrax's reports, Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Warner had
publicly denied that they had agreed to back the new Qtrax service.
Universal Music, the largest of the group, said it also had not signed a
deal for the new Qtrax service and is still in discussions. EMI Group
said that while its song publishing unit has an agreement with Qtrax, its
recorded music arm, EMI Music, does not. EMI Music, Sony BMG and Warner
all previously had agreements with Qtrax, which was testing a paid music
download service. Sources say those agreements expired in the last year
and did not cover the new free, ad-supported model now being promoted by
Qtrax. Qtrax did not immediately respond to further queries about its
agreements with other companies."
Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/01/29/1249259
Links:
0. mailto:mikesd@pt%5B%5Det%5B'd.n'ingap%5D
1. http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/27/2237255&tid=141
2. http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSN2844446320080129
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| What the MPAA Still Isn't Telling Us |
| from the be-nice-if-things-were-above-board-for-once dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Tuesday January 29, @10:02 (Movies) |
|
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/29/1425238
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]Scott Jaschik writes "An essay at the Inside Higher Ed site looks at
the fallout from the MPAA's admission that [1]its statistics on college
student downloading were seriously wrong. Among the questions: What is
the MPAA still holding back? Why isn't the MPAA changing its position on
legislation? 'Perhaps the MPAA's press release acknowledging its "300
percent error" will set the stage for new, less rancorous private and
public discussions about P2P piracy. Colleges and universities respect
copyright; colleges and universities are engaged in serious efforts to
inform and educate students about the importance of copyright. And MPAA
and RIAA officials ... should acknowledge, respect and strongly support
the continuing efforts of campus officials to address copyright issues,
in part by ending the public posturing that portrays colleges and
universities as dens of digital piracy.'"
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/01/29/1425238
Links:
0. mailto:scott.jaschik@insidehighered.com
1. http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2008/01/29/green
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Programming As Art — 13 Amazing Code Demos |
| from the i-know-it-when-i-see-it dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Tuesday January 29, @10:43 (Programming) |
|
http://developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/29/1510213
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]cranberryzero writes "The demo scene has been around for twenty years
now, and it has grown by leaps and bounds. From the early days of
programmers pushing the limits of Ataris and Amigas to modern landscapes
with full lighting, mapping, and motion capture, demo groups have done it
all and done it under 100k. To celebrate this art form, I heart Chaos
takes a look at [1]thirteen of the best demo programs on the web. Flash
video links are included, but it's more fun to download them and give
your processor something fun to chew on."
Discuss this story at:
http://developers.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/01/29/1510213
Links:
0. mailto:cranberryzero@gmail.com
1. http://www.iheartchaos.com/2008/01/28/programming-as-art-ihcs-fave-demos-i-heart-tech/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| U2's Manager Calls For Mandatory Disconnects For Music Downloaders |
| from the got-a-few-things-to-get-off-of-his-chest dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Tuesday January 29, @11:21 (Music) |
|
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/29/1524216
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
sleeplesseye writes "In a speech at the Midem music industry convention
in Cannes, Paul McGuinness, longtime manager of the band U2, [0]has
called on Internet service providers to immediately introduce
[1]mandatory French-style service disconnections to end music
downloading, and has urged governments to force ISPs to adopt such
policies. McGuinness criticized Radiohead's 'In Rainbows'
pay-what-you-want business model, saying that 'the majority of downloads
were through illegal P2P download services like BitTorrent and LimeWire'.
He also accused ISPs, telcos, device makers, and numerous specifically
named companies such as Apple, Google, Yahoo!, Oracle, and Facebook of
building 'multi billion dollar industries on the back of our content
without paying for it', and of being 'makers of burglary kits' who have
made 'a thieves' charter' to steal money from the music industry. The
[2]full text of his speech has been posted on U2's website."
Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/01/29/1524216
Links:
0. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080129/tc_nm/downloading_dc
2. http://www.u2.com/news/index.php?mode=full&news_id=2196
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Engineers Have a Terrorist Mindset? |
| from the only-the-ones-who-drink dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Tuesday January 29, @12:02 (IT) |
|
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/29/1614206
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
An anonymous reader writes "Do engineers have a way of looking at the
world [0]not all that different from terrorists? According to an article
in the EE Times, they do. The story cites 'Engineers of Jihad,' a paper ([1]pdf
download) by two Oxford University sociologists, who found that graduates
in science, engineering, and medicine are strongly overrepresented among
Islamist movements. The paper also found that engineers are
'over-represented' among graduates who gravitate to violent groups.
Authors Diego Gambetta and Steffen Hertog chalk this all up to what they
call the 'engineering mindset,' which they define as 'a mindset that
inclines them to take more extreme conservative and religious positions.'
Is this just pop psychology masquerading as science?"
Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/01/29/1614206
Links:
0. http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=205920319
1. http://www.nuff.ox.ac.uk/users/gambetta/Engineers%20of%20Jihad.pdf
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| The Notable Improvements of GNOME 2.22 |
| from the short-but-pretty dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Tuesday January 29, @12:43 (GNOME) |
|
http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/29/1539230
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]Michael Larabel writes "Phoronix has up a list compiling eight of
[1]the most interesting improvements on track for GNOME 2.22. These
improvements include the Epiphany browser switching to the WebKit
back-end, transition effects inside the Evince document viewer, a new
GNOME application for taking photos and recording videos from web cameras
followed by applying special effects, a mouse tweaking module for
improved accessibility, and a new GNOME VNC client. On the multimedia
end, GNOME 2.22 has a few new features appended to the Totem movie player
and the Rhythmbox player. Totem can now search and play YouTube videos
and connect to a MythTV server and watch past recordings or view live TV.
Rhythmbox now can utilize FM radio tuners, integration with new lyric
sites, improved Podcast feed support, and even has support for
communicating with newer Sony PSPs. There will also be a standalone Flash
player and flash previewing support from the file browser in this
release."
Discuss this story at:
http://linux.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/01/29/1539230
Links:
0. http://www.phoronix.com/
1. http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=11748
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| What's the Best Game Console of All Time? |
| from the duh-obviously-the-fairchild dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Tuesday January 29, @13:22 (Games) |
|
http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/29/1624241
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
The C|Net Crave blog has up an article exploring [0]the history of
console gaming, and wonders aloud about [1]the pecking order of the
various systems. "Gaming is so subjective that there is no single
"greatest" system ever. It might sound like a cop-out, but it really
depends on what standards you're using and what generation you grew up
in. I loved the SNES, and would personally call it the greatest system of
all time. However, the NES and PlayStation could both easily be called
the best, based on the standards they set and the advances they presented
to gaming." The Guardian follows up this piece, noting that the article's
rose-colored recollections of the SNES days [2]may not be entirely
accurate. Subjective or not, it's a good question: which consoles have a
valid place in history and which ones should be forgotten?
Discuss this story at:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/01/29/1624241
Links:
0. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_console
1. http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9858826-1.html?tag=nefd.only
2. http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/games/archives/2008/01/29/is_snes_the_greatest.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| We Know Who's Behind Storm Worm |
| from the can-you-spell-rule-of-law dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday January 29, @14:04 (Security) |
|
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/29/1823242
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]jmason reminds us of a story from a few weeks back that got little
attention, adding "This doesn't seem to be just bluster; as far as I can
tell, everyone who knows the RBN now agrees that this seems likely."
Brian Krebs's Security Fix blog at the Washington Post carried a story
about the Storm worm containing [1]some pretty staggering allegations.
"Dmitri Alperovitch [of Secure Computing] said federal law enforcement
officials who need to know have already learned the identities of those
responsible for running the Storm worm network, but that US authorities
have thus far been prevented from bringing those responsible to justice
due to a lack of cooperation from officials in St. Petersburg, Russia,
where the Storm worm authors are thought to reside. In a recent
investigative series on cyber crime featured on washingtonpost.com, St.
Petersburg was fingered as the host city for one of the Internet's most
profligate and cyber-crime enabling operation ��� the Russian Business
Network. Alperovitch blames the government of Russian President Vladimir
Putin and the political influence of operatives within the Federal
Security Service (the former Soviet KGB) for the protection he says is
apparently afforded to cybercrime outfits such as RBN and the Storm worm
gang. 'The right people now know who the Storm worm authors are,'
Alperovitch said. 'It's incredibly hard because a lot of the FSB
leadership and Putin himself originate from there, where there are a
great deal of people with connections in high places.'"
Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/01/29/1823242
Links:
0. http://taint.org/
1. http://blog.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2008/01/unhappy_birthday_to_the_storm.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Technical Risks of the US Protect America Act |
| from the holes-and-sherman-tanks dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday January 29, @14:48 (Security) |
|
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/29/1937207
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
A group of respected security researchers has released a paper on the
security holes that would be opened up if a broad warrantless wiretapping
law is passed. The subject could hardly be more timely, as Congress is
[0]debating the subject now. Steve Bellovin, Matt Blaze, Whit Diffie,
Susan Landau, Peter Neumann, and Jennifer Rexford have released a
preprint of [1]Risking Communications Security: Potential Hazards of the
Protect America Act (PDF), which will appear in the January/February 2008
issue of IEEE Security and Privacy. It will hit the stands in a few
weeks. From Matt Blaze's [2]blog posting: "As someone who began his
professional carrier in the Bell System (and who stayed around through
several of its successors), the push for telco immunity represents an
especially bitter disillusionment for me. Say what you will about the old
Phone Company, but respect for customer privacy was once a deeply rooted
point of pride in the corporate ethos. There was no faster way to be
fired (or worse) than to snoop into call records or facilitate illegal
wiretaps, well intentioned or not. And it was genuinely part of the
culture; we believed in it, even those of us ordinarily disposed toward a
skeptical view of the official company line. Now it all seems like just
another bit of cynical, focus-group-tested PR."
Discuss this story at:
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/01/29/1937207
Links:
0. http://politics.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/29/0426234&tid=158
1. http://www.crypto.com/papers/paa-ieee.pdf
2. http://www.crypto.com/blog/wiretap_risks/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| EU Court Says File Sharers Don't Have To Be Named |
| from the my-name-is-nemo dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday January 29, @15:36 (The Courts) |
|
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/29/2025257
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
Stony Stevenson writes "[0]European Union countries can refuse to
disclose names of file sharers on the Internet in civil cases, the EU's
top court said. The European Court of Justice has ruled on a dispute
between Spanish music rights holders association Promusicae and Spain's
top telecoms operator Telefonica over Telefonica's Internet clients who
shared copyright material on the Web. Telefonica argued that, under a
national law based on EU rules, it only had to disclose the name of an
Internet subscriber for criminal actions, not civil ones. But the court
said: 'Community law does not require the member states, in order to
ensure the effective protection of copyright, to lay down an obligation
to disclose personal data in the context of civil proceedings.' I wonder
if this ruling will have any effect on other cases in other countries."
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/01/29/2025257
Links:
0. http://itnews.com.au/News/69086,eu-court-says-file-sharers-dont-have-to-be-named.aspx
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| P2P Fans Pound Comcast In FCC Comments |
| from the do-not-fiddle-my-bits dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday January 29, @16:09 (The Internet) |
|
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/29/2037222
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
Not Comcastic writes "Two weeks after [0]officially opening proceedings
on [1]Comcast's BitTorrent throttling, angry users are [2]bombarding the
FCC with comments critical of the cable provider's practices. 'On
numerous occasions, my access to legal BitTorrent files was cut off by
Comcast,' a systems administrator based in Indianapolis wrote to the FCC
shortly after the proceeding began. 'During this period, I managed to
troubleshoot all other possible causes of this issue, and it was my
conclusion (speaking as a competent IT administrator) that this could
only be occurring due to direct action at the ISP (Comcast) level.'
Another commenter writes 'I have experienced this throttling of bandwidth
in sharing open-source software, e.g. Knoppix and Open Office. Also I see
considerable differences in speed ftp sessions vs. html. They are
obviously limiting speed in ftp as well.'"
Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/01/29/2037222
Links:
0. http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/16/0238244&tid=95
1. http://politics.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/08/220246&tid=95
2. http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080129-p2p-users-blast-comcast-in-fcc-proceeding.html
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| BSA's Tactics and Motives Questioned |
| from the shakedown-artist-is-still-an-artist dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday January 29, @16:50 (Businesses) |
|
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/29/2141238
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]_Hellfire_ sends us over to Baseline Magazine for a longish article
entitled [1]After 20 Years, Critics Question the BSA's Real Motives,
which paints the Business Software Alliance in the same colors as the
RIAA. "A recent Associated Press story highlighted the fact that 90
percent of the $13 million collected by the BSA in 2006 came from small
businesses. Since 1993 the group has collected an estimated $89 million
in damages from businesses on behalf of its members, every penny of which
it keeps. 'I don't know of a business where you can get away with raiding
a customer with armed marshals and expect them to continue to do business
with you...' said [Sterling] Ball, who shifted his company to open source
software after the raid."
Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/01/29/2141238
Links:
0. http://www.cr0n.net/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ACLU of Ohio Sues To Block Paper Ballots |
| from the something-you-don't-see-every-day dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday January 29, @17:28 (The Courts) |
|
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/29/2219239
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
Apu writes in to inform us that the ACLU is trying to [0]block an Ohio
county from moving from touchscreen voting machines back to paper
ballots. While it may seem like Cuyahoga County ��� which includes
Cleveland ��� is moving in a good direction from the perspective of ballot
security, the system chosen tabulates all votes at a central location.
This means that voters don't get notified if their ballot contains
errors, and thus they have no chance to correct it. The ACLU of Ohio is
asking a federal judge for an injunction against any election in Cuyahoga
County it they move to the new system.
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/01/29/2219239
Links:
0. http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5he8Blnwws1k9ho3ArBE4wYNydVFwD8UF99480
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Aboriginal Archive Uses New DRM |
| from the serving-the-suser-for-a-change dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday January 29, @18:07 (Social Networks)|
|
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/29/2253239
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
ianare writes "An application that gives fresh new meaning to 'digital
rights management' has been pioneered by Aboriginal Australians. It
[0]relies on a user's profile to control access to a [1]multimedia
archive. The need to create profiles based on a user's name, age, sex and
standing within their community comes from traditions over what can and
cannot be viewed. For example, men cannot view women's rituals, and
people from one community cannot view material from another without first
seeking permission. Images of the deceased cannot be viewed by their
families. These requirements threw up issues surrounding how the material
could be archived, as it was not only about preserving the information
into a database in a traditional sense, but also about how people would
access it depending on their gender, their relationship to other people,
and where they were situated."
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/01/29/2253239
Links:
0. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7214240.stm
1. http://www.mukurtuarchive.org/
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Magistrate Suggests Fining RIAA Lawyers |
| from the just-fine dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Tuesday January 29, @18:48 (The Courts) |
|
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/29/2230246
|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "Angered at the RIAA's 'gamesmanship' in
joining multiple 'John Does' in a single case without any basis for doing
so, a Magistrate Judge in Maine has [1]suggested to the presiding
District Judge in [2]Arista v. Does 1-27 that the record companies and/or
their lawyers should be fined under Rule 11 of the Federal Rules, for
misrepresenting the facts. In a lengthy footnote to her [3] opinion
recommending denial of a motion to dismiss the complaint (PDF, see
footnote 5), Judge Kruvchak [4]concluded that 'These plaintiffs have
devised a clever scheme to obtain court-authorized discovery prior to the
service of complaints, but it troubles me that they do so with impunity
and at the expense of the requirements of Rule 11(b)(3) because they have
no good faith evidentiary basis to believe the cases should be joined.'
She noted that once the RIAA dismisses its 'John Doe' case it does not
thereafter join the defendants when it sues them in their real names.
Arista v. Does 1-27 is the same case in which [5]student attorneys at the
University of Maine Law School, "enthusiastic about being directly
connected to a [6]case with a national scope and significance", are
representing undergrads targeted by the RIAA."
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=08/01/29/2230246
Links:
0. http://www.vanfeliu.com/attorneyProfile-Beckerman.
1. http://www.p2pnet.net/story/14814
4. http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com/2008/01/magistrate-judge-in-university-of-maine.html
5. http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/22/1928246&tid=123
6. http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/12/28/1958201&tid=123
Copyright 1997-2006 OSTG. All rights reserved.
======================================================================
You have received this message because you subscribed to it
on Slashdot. To stop receiving this and other
messages from Slashdot, or to add more messages
or change your preferences, please go to your user page.
http://slashdot.org/my/messages
You can log in and change your preferences from there.
No comments:
Post a Comment