When Disclosure is better than Disaster
,----[ Quote ]
| CNN just reported that NASA is refusing to disclose air safety data.
|
| [...]
|
| What does this have to do with Open Source software?
|
| Early on in my software development career I learned a shocking truth about
| the software industry: most software sucks. By now that revelation is no
| surprise—we becomed so accepting of bad software that we are surprised when
| software does not suck. The cost of all this bad software clocks in at $386B
| USD per year by my estimates, and if my fellow board member Matt Asay's
| numbers are to be believed, perhaps $1T USD is literally wasted each year.
`----
http://www.opensource.org/node/212
When US-made 'censorware' ends up in iron fists
,----[ Quote ]
| During Burma's short-lived uprising late last month, young dissidents risked
| their lives to smuggle news of their peaceful protest to the outside world.
| They may have been up against Internet censorship software designed in
| America, if a connection found to exist in 2005 still holds.
`----
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1010/p01s01-ussc.html
Related:
Dissidents Leap Myanmar's Firewall With Open Source
,----[ Quote ]
| Cutting-edge technology -- much of it operated by amateurs -- has played a
| remarkably powerful role in documenting the bloodshed in Myanmar and helping
| to spark a global outcry. Video clips of the country's biggest political
| protests in nearly two decades, surreptitiously filmed and filed via the
| Internet, have made their way onto sites like YouTube.
`----
http://www.linuxinsider.com/rsstory/59601.html
Bloggers who risked all to reveal the junta’s brutal crackdown in Burma
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article2563937.ece
Lone Remaining Burmese Blogger Uses Lightweight Messaging Service to Broadcast
to the World
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/lone_remaining_burmese_blogger.php
,----[ Quote ]
| 25 September 2007 (Urgent note)
|
| Boycott Yahoo, Hotmail, MSN, and WebTV for political censorship.
`----
http://www.stallman.org/archives/2007-jul-oct.html#25%20September%202007%20%28Urgent%20note%29
Microsoft sued by Beijing student for privacy infringement
,----[ Quote ]
| Lu argued that Microsoft had violated his legal rights by providing a formal
| contract which had to be accepted in order to proceed with the installation.
`----
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-09/13/content_6718045.htm
Yahoo!, Microsoft ink web pact with Chinese government
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft and Yahoo! have signed a pact with the Chinese government
| that "encourages" the big name web players to record the identities of
| bloggers and censor content. So says Reporters Without Borders, an
| organization that fights for journalistic rights across the globe.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/24/yahoo_and_microsoft_ink_chinese_blogging_pact/
Microsoft, Yahoo Tailor Ads To Users' Behavior
,----[ Quote ]
| Google will remain on the sidelines — at least for now. But its Web portal
| rivals are stepping up their efforts to use behavioral targeting to make
| display, or banner, ads more relevant to Web site visitors.
`----
http://investors.com/editorial/IBDArticles.asp?artsec=17&issue=20070823
New software can identify you from your online habits
,----[ Quote ]
| That is the spectre raised by new research conducted by Microsoft.
| The computing giant is developing software that could accurately
| guess your name, age, gender and potentially even your location,
| by analysing telltale patterns in your web browsing history. But
| experts say the idea is a clear threat to privacy - and may be
| illegal in some places.
`----
http://www.newscientisttech.com/article.ns?id=mg19426046.400&feedId=being-human_rss20
http://tinyurl.com/2lrazk
Chinese Internet dissident committed to mental hospital
,----[ Quote ]
| "It is not acceptable that Chinese authorities use such methods to silence
| citizens who have merely peacefully voiced their opinions", expressed the
| organisation in an announcement. Apparently authorities have not abandoned
| the practice of punishing those who have exposed the abuse of power and
| defied censorship by compulsorily committing them to mental institutions.
`----
http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/94864/from/rss09
Yahoo! Answers is rejecting Open-Source options in answers
,----[ Quote ]
| Someone got a computer from a friend that has some serious problems
| with Windows. S/he has none of the disks (XP or restore) and was
| asking for recommendations.
|
| [...]
|
| How is recommending freely available and legal alternatives abuse?
| ImgBurn is also a perfectly legal program, so are Ubuntu and Kubuntu
| (they're Linux).
`----
http://amandakerik.wordpress.com/2007/04/23/yahoo-answers-is-rejecting-open-source-options-in-answers/
http://tinyurl.com/ywglv7
Microsoft could be teaching police to hack Vista
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft may begin training the police in ways to break the
| encryption built into its forthcoming Vista operating system.
`----
http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2150555/microsoft-teaching-police-hack
UK holds Microsoft security talks
,----[ Quote ]
| "UK officials are talking to Microsoft over fears the new version of
| Windows could make it harder for police to read suspects' computer files."
`----
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4713018.stm
|
|
