Refusing Digital Monitoring Policies
,----[ Quote ]
| Digital restrictions require you to hand over your privacy and freedom in
| advance. They are inherently unsafe because people other than the intended
| parties can access these mechanisms for monitoring and restricting you. They
| are inherently untrustworthy because you aren't legally allowed to know
| what's going on behind the scenes on the device in your pocket, including the
| contents of its continuous conversation with whichever corporation it's
| reporting to. The purpose of the restrictions might sound benign but their
| mechanism is unacceptable -- and what these companies are actually after is
| acceptance of the mechanism, so that they can then put it to other uses.
`----
http://defectivebydesign.org/blog/1147
Recent:
I've Seen the Future, and It Has a Kill Switch
,----[ Quote ]
| It used to be that just the entertainment industries wanted to control your
| computers -- and televisions and iPods and everything else -- to ensure that
| you didn't violate any copyright rules. But now everyone else wants to get
| their hooks into your gear.
|
| [...]
|
| And that's the key to understanding this system. Don't be fooled by the scare
| stories of wireless devices on airplanes and in hospitals, or visions of a
| world where no one is yammering loudly on their cellphones in posh
| restaurants. This is really about media companies wanting to exert their
| control further over your electronics. They not only want to prevent you from
| surreptitiously recording movies and concerts, they want your new television
| to enforce good "manners" on your computer, and not allow it to record any
| programs. They want your iPod to politely refuse to copy music to a computer
| other than your own. They want to enforce their legislated definition of
| manners: to control what you do and when you do it, and to charge you
| repeatedly for the privilege whenever possible.
|
| "Digital Manners Policies" is a marketing term. Let's call this what it
| really is: Selective Device Jamming. It's not polite, it's dangerous. It
| won't make anyone more secure -- or more polite.
`----
http://www.wired.com/politics/security/commentary/securitymatters/2008/06/securitymatters_0626
Microsoft could force your mobile into silence
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft is developing a new technology that could force mobiles into silent
| mode, or even prevent calls from being made.
|
| [...]
|
| Phone jammers, which work in small spaces, are banned in the UK and come with
| a hefty fine for use.
`----
http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/microsoft-could-force-your-mobile-into-silence-393006
Digital copyright: it's all wrong
,----[ Quote ]
| The ACTA draft is a scary document. If a treaty based on its provisions were
| adopted, it would enable any border guard, in any treaty country, to check
| any electronic device for any content that they suspect infringes copyright
| laws. They need no proof, only suspicion.
|
| They would be able to seize any device - laptop, iPod, DVD recorder, mobile
| phone, etc - and confiscate it or destroy anything on it, merely on
| suspicion. On the spot, no lawyers, no right of appeal, no nothing.
`----
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/technology/digital-copyright-its-all-wrong/2008/06/09/1212863783566.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
http://tinyurl.com/6ylvpx
Embattled ACTA Negotiations Next Week In Geneva; US Sees Signing This Year
,----[ Quote ]
| Criticism from NGOs
|
| Canadian law expert David Fewer, staff counsel at the University of Ottawa’s
| Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic, told the Ottawa Citizen
| that the discussion paper was very close to a potential Christmas wish-list
| by Hollywood companies.
|
| Knowledge Ecology International (KEI), in an earlier statement filed to USTR,
| warned against a lack in differentiation and clearness of core terms, like
| counterfeiting, infringement or piracy. “Is Microsoft a “pirate” for
| insisting on the right to continue to infringe the z4 patents in order to use
| an infringing DRM technology to protect Microsoft software itself from
| infringement by unauthorised uses?” KEI asked in its statement.
`----
http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/index.php?p=1071
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