Open Source for Sovereignty
,----[ Quote ]
| Using Free software from open source communities makes perfect sense for
| governments, and not just for the obvious reasons of up-front savings on
| license fees. As I heard said on behalf of the Brazilian government, open
| source is a matter of sovereignty. When a government decides to use closed
| software, they are guaranteeing that they will be sending money out of the
| local economy. The degree of expatriation depends on the actual system
| they've chosen. In the worst case, all the money goes to the US, all the
| resulting assets belong to someone else and all the ongoing service and
| support costs pay for the development of skills abroad.
|
| By contrast, using Free software has no licensing costs. Any extra
| programming results in an asset shared by an open source community. All
| service and support can be handled locally, growing the skill-base and
| economy. What could be a smarter way for a government to obtain the essential
| infrastructure it needs and develop the local economy at the same time?
`----
http://blogs.sun.com/webmink/entry/keeping_it_local
It's not just a question of economics but security as well (examples below).
Recent:
Teacher accused of piracy fights Microsoft with open source
,----[ Quote ]
| Now, Reuters is reporting that the teacher has launched a campaign that
| labels big software companies a threat to national security, and he's now
| been pushed to back open-source solutions instead. Ponosov gave the following
| little speech at a news conference:
|
| "Our dependence on Western proprietary software is a risk for us. We are, in
| effect, losing the independence of this country. To quote (Tsar) Alexander
| III, Russia has only two allies, its army and its navy. What would you buy
| for your child if you want them to grow up to be bright—a pretty toy car or a
| construction set? A pretty car that you cannot take apart is like proprietary
| software. The construction set is open-source software. I have not been using
| Microsoft software on my computer at home for more than a year."
`----
http://arstechnica.com/journals/microsoft.ars/2008/02/20/teacher-accused-of-piracy-fights-microsoft-with-open-source
Eurasian Secret Services Daily Review
,----[ Quote ]
| According to the online paper, the project to construct a regional data
| centre with the capacity of about 10,000 servers by Microsoft in the Irkutsk
| Region was among the issues discussed. On November 28, Viktor Alksnis sent
| the deputy’s inquiry to Nikolai Patrushev, Director of FSB. In the given
| inquiry he said that establishing a data centre provides Microsoft with the
| access ‘to various information including public authorities and government’,
| which ‘might seriously threaten the security of Russia’ and ‘which is
| especially dangerous in connection with the undocumented possibilities in the
| Microsoft software’. The unauthorized updating of Windows XP and Vista in
| August 2007 and other cases CNews wrote about in October and November 2007
| were provided as examples illustrating the latter statement.
`----
http://www.axisglobe.com/article.asp?article=1483
Related:
Vista a 'threat' to the national security of India
,----[ Quote ]
| As Mr Bombay Watcher says on his blog, Microsoft has a cosy partnership
| with the CIA, so perhaps the world should take care and caution when it
| comes time to upgrade. We're pretty certain Windows 3.1 would be a safe
| bet. He seems particularly worried about the national security of India,
| as it does, of course, have some conflicting interests with the US
| of A.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=34979
Russian expert: Terrorists may try cyberattacks
,----[ Quote ]
| A Russian computer security expert predicts that terrorists could
| seek to target the country's critical infrastructure through
| electronic warfare, a strategy that could raise the stakes in
| how Russia handles computer crime.
`----
http://www.linuxworld.com.au/index.php?id=2104593093&rid=-50
Homeland Security not ready for Cyber Storm
,----[ Quote ]
| In June, the Business Roundtable issued a report saying that "the
| United States is not sufficiently prepared for a major attack, software
| incident or natural disaster that would lead to disruption of large parts
| of the Internet" and that coordinating a response to such an attack
| or disaster should be turned over to the Department of Homeland
| Security.
`----
http://www.homelandstupidity.us/2006/09/18/homeland-security-not-ready-for-cyber-storm/
http://tinyurl.com/lwp8y
Homeland Security sees cyberthreats on the rise
,----[ Quote ]
| To test the nation's response to a cyberattack, the Department
| of Homeland Security plans to hold another major exercise,
| called Cyberstorm II, in March 2008, Garcia said. A first
| such exercise happened early last year.
`----
http://news.com.com/2100-7355_3-6157809.html?part=rss&tag=2547-1_3-0-20&subj=news
http://tinyurl.com/2dpbmv
Is the US at risk from cyberwarfare?
,----[ Quote ]
| The United States faces many of the same dangers as Estonia. And with public
| utilities such as hydro-electric plants and nuclear power plants moving away
| from proprietary (and more secure) systems toward open-standards-based
| systems that use common Internet protocols such as TCP/IP to connect to one
| another, the list of potential targets is increasing.
`----
http://news.yahoo.com/s/infoworld/20070920/tc_infoworld/91961
Secret services to fend off targeted trojan attacks
,----[ Quote ]
| Professional spies in the service of the state are often behind these
| targeted attacks. In the last year, Chinese secret services in particular
| have repeatedly been accused of carrying out especially tenacious trojan
| attacks. Computers in the German Chancellor's office have reportedly even
| been infected. Estonia has also accused the Russian government of having
| waged cyberwar on its critical network infrastructure.
`----
http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/101475/from/rss09
Germany, UK also investigating government PC espionage by China
,----[ Quote ]
| In recent weeks, the Chinese have been accused not only of hacking the
| Pentagon, but also several German ministries and key sites in the UK, as
| well. In doing research for an upcoming story on the Pentagon attacks, I
| stumbled upon recent reports in Germany of surprisingly similar activity.
`----
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070909-germany-uk-also-investigating-government-pc-espionage-by-china.html
Estonia suspects Kremlin in Web attacks
,----[ Quote ]
| He said more than 1 million computers worldwide have been used in
| recent weeks to attack Estonian government and business Web sites
| since a dispute arose with Moscow over Estonia's moving of a
| Soviet-era war memorial from downtown Tallinn.
`----
http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/internet/05/17/estonia.cyber.attacks.ap/index.html?eref=rss_tech
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