The Oracle move may give Linux a little more credibility in enterprise shops, but realistically its credibility is pretty high already. Expect Red Hat to feel some pressure to reduce prices, make more frequent releases, and try to out-innovate Oracle in ways that are not easily copied. Customers will benefit no matter who comes out on top.
(from ZDNet, Red Hat: Unfakeable Linux)
David Berlind, for one, is suffering from a recurring DRM nightmare, and it keeps getting worse. Depending on your point of view, DRM stands for Digital Rights Management or Digital Restrictions Management. David calls it C.R.A.P. — and warns that we should all be very afraid.
The bogeyman that haunts Ed Bott and so many other Windows users has been Microsoft’s Windows Genuine Advantage. In Vista, this anti-piracy program will only get worse, warns Ed. “Technically, it’s not a kill switch, but it’s arguably a near-death experience for your PC.”
What other terrors has technology wrought? Ten troubling examples:
- Malware tricks
- 64-bit drivers
- Web 2.0 insecurity
- Honest consumers driven to piracy
- Virtualized SOA
- Microsoft Zune
- Floating nuclear plant
- The DMCA
- Electronic voting
- Traceable ‘PattyMail’
And there’s plenty more scary tech here….
I call “DRM” the “Digital Rights Mafia”, because that’s just what the DRM-pushers are: corrupt sleazeballs who use force to control, coerce, and rip off honest citizens while subverting our legal system in order to line their own pockets. RIAA, MPAA, and legislators who vote for abominations like the DMCA are the new Tammany Hall. Voters and consumers need to wake up and get rid of these scumbags.
PA Police Refusing To Obey The Law
– Ask the Attorney General to rein them in!Gun Owners of America E-Mail Alert
8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151
Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408http://www.gunowners.org
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
The PA State Police are refusing to obey the law, despite court decisions to the contrary.
Federal privacy laws prohibit the mandatory use of social security numbers as identification. In a recent court decision, U.S. District Judge Juan R. Sanchez stated that gun owners cannot be required to supply social security numbers when buying a gun or applying for a concealed carry permit.
But the PA State Police, with the help of the Attorney General Tom Corbett (R), are disregarding the court and are asking a circuit court judge to strike down Sanchez’ order. They don’t want to issue privacy warnings, as required by Section 7(b) of the Privacy Act of 1974; they want to keep collecting the social security numbers of all gun buyers and carry permit holders.
Gun Owners Foundation has been assisting Lt. Col. Michael Stollenwerk, who is leading the fight to stop the registration of gun owners. Stollenwerk won victories in two other states: first in California, where he convinced authorities that their requirement to force gun buyers to turn over their social security number violated federal law; and then again in Virginia, where authorities were less accommodating and only agreed to respect citizens’ privacy after losing in court.
Pennsylvania has been equally contemptuous of federal law and citizen privacy, so Stollenwerk took them to federal court. In 2003, Stollenwerk tried to get a concealed carry permit and purchase a gun. Both efforts failed when he refused to fork over his social security number. On February 24, 2006, Judge Sanchez ruled against Pennsylvania, although the state is refusing to comply.
That’s where your help is needed!
ACTION: Please urge Attorney General Tom Corbett (R) to respect the privacy of gun owners and follow federal law. You can reach him at the contact info provided below. You can reach him by phone, fax or Internet. A pre-written letter is appended below for you to copy-and-paste into Corbett’s webform.
Phone: 717-787-3391
Fax: 717-787-8242
Webform: http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/theoffice.aspx?id=71—– Pre-written letter —–
Dear Hon. Corbett:
I urge you to require the Pennsylvania state police to respect the privacy of gun owners and follow federal law. Thus, please pull the plug on the state’s appeal of the fine decision handed down by U.S. District Court Juan R. Sanchez.
On February 24, 2006 Judge Sanchez ruled that gun owners cannot be required to supply social security numbers when buying a gun or applying for a concealed carry permit. I agree with that decision. Don’t you?
Gun owner privacy has been threatened since 1968 when the federal government began to unconstitutionally require that firearms dealers keep a record (now for twenty years) of all firearms transactions. This has been nothing but a decentralized gun registration scheme that does nothing to get criminals to comply, but represents a constant danger of being used to confiscate privately owned firearms.
But giving the social security numbers of gun owners to the state police represents a CENTRALIZED gun owner registration list. You should know the history of gun owner registration and how it leads to gun confiscation. Even in this country — in New York City — gun registration was followed by gun confiscation under the Mayor Dinkins administration in the early 1990s.
Again, please respect the privacy of gun owners and please pull the plug on this misguided appeal. Thank you.
Sincerely,
****************************
To subscribe to free, low-volume GOA alerts, go to http://www.gunowners.org/ean.htm on the web. Change of e-mail address may also be made at that location.
Problems, questions or comments? The main GOA e-mail address goamail@gunowners.org is at your disposal. Please do not add that address to distribution lists sending more than ten messages per week or lists associated with issues other than gun rights.
The campaign against AllofMP3.com has been going on for some time already. The site has been a target for abundant accusations, threats, lies, lobbying, etc.
Just to give an example: “The reason AllofMP3.com downloads are cheap, is that neither the artists nor the record companies are being paid” said the BPI General Counsel Roz Groome in April.
So the industry assumes that the site’s price for music is too low for it to be legal and for artists to be compensated. However, the same (or even lower) price per track is being charged at a legal Chinese service top100.cn. It was launched some 8 months ago and has not received much press in the West, apart from the initial press release and recent news about Orchard licensing its catalogue to the biggest legal Chinese download service. “For just one yuan per song (that is 12 cents), mainland consumers could buy anything from The Beatles to Britney Spears” (South China Morning Post). “top100.cn has gained full supports from international and local music industry, international and local copyrights societies, and also Chinese government… John Kennedy, Chairman of IFPI, said to CEO Gary G. Chen in a meeting: we are keen to see your service available in China as soon as possible… top100.cn entered into licensing agreements with major music labels, such as EMI, SonyBMG and also international and domestic independent record labels, like Sanctuary Record Group, China Record Corporation, and many others.” (press release at www.newswiretoday.com)
(from allofmp3.blogs, Album Reviews, Music News and users journals)
It shouldn’t be too surprising that BPI, IFPI and their ilk would ally themselves with China. Birds of a feather flock together.
The bottom line: Mozilla Firefox 2 is a winner, beating Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 on security, features, and overall cool factor and deserving our Editors’ Choice award.
(from ZDNet, Firefox 2 Review & Comparison)
Not all of the extensions (now called “add-ons”) which I used with Firefox 1.5 are available for Firefox 2.0. On the other hand, not all of them are needed anymore. Here is what I am using now:
Fantasmo Cult Cinema Explosion
Episode 20: A Celebration Of The Destroyer
Friday, November 3, 2006 – 20:00
Few names touch the hearts of action movie fans (particularly those who came of age in the 80’s) as that of Remo Williams. Released in October 1985, Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins was an instant cult classic. The film was based on a series of novels (which are still being written to this day) featuring the character of Remo (also known as The Destroyer) and his mentor Chiun. Essentially, Remo is an ex-cop, who is kidnapped/recruited by a secret government agency to become an assassin (under the tutelage of martial arts master Chiun). What makes the books and film so special is the terrific relationship between the two characters, and of course spectacular action sequences. For one special evening, Team Fantasmo will be screening this legendary film on their mammoth screen. As if that weren’t enough, the guest speaker will be none other than the author of The Destroyer series himself, Warren Murphy! In addition to being a prolific novelist, Mr. Murphy is also an accomplished screenwriter. With this in mind, Fantasmo will also be showing one of Mr. Murphy’s early films, the Remo-esque The Eiger Sanction starring Clint Eastwood!
8:00 P.M. – Warren Murphy Speaks!
8:30 P.M. – Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins (1985) – A decorated police officer (Fred Ward) is kidnapped by a secret government agency and forced to become an assassin for the United States. Under the care of martial arts master Chiun (Joel Grey), he will be taught to walk on water, dodge bullets, and kill with extreme prejudice. Rated PG-13
10:45 P.M. – The Eiger Sanction (1975) – A former assassin (Clint Eastwood) is brought out of retirement to uncover the identity of a Russian spy, and then eliminate him. Unfortunately, he will have to accomplish his mission by taking part in a treacherous expedition to climb the Eiger mountain. Rated R
Chesapeake Central Library
298 Cedar Road, Chesapeake, VA 23322
(757) 382-6591
As I first mentioned back in May 2005, “it’s to fight terrorism” is the new all-encompassing excuse for anything the US government wants to do now, replacing the earlier excuse of “it’s for the children”. It would appear that Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and FBI Director Robert Mueller just now got the memo.
Oct 19, 2006
SpamCop and others are monitoring a huge global increase in spam volumes that started late last week. Networks are reporting anywhere from 30-50% increases in spam volume. On our system, this is causing occasional mail delays as our filtering systems struggle with the load. We’re working on installing more systems in the filters to increase our capacity but this won’t be finished for around a week. In the meantime, we may have delays during the middle of the day. We’re aware of the problem and doing what we can to mitigate it until all the new systems are operational.
(from SpamCop Email System News)
I have been getting swamped with spam over the last few days. Most of it has subject lines like “Momentous letter. You must to read.”
We really need a replacement for SMTP. Like, five years ago.
Apple Computer has reported that a small number of its popular video iPods were infected with a virus that targets Windows PCs before they were sold to consumers.
According to a statement issued by the hardware maker on Oct. 17, roughly 1 percent of the iPod Video devices it has shipped since Sept. 12 were loaded with the RavMonE.exe Windows Trojan during manufacturing.
I don’t have a comment. I just think it’s funny.
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Blackmoor Vituperative