M&M’s World Headlines: Mar 23, 2009
You may be running non-free programs on your computer every day without realizing it—through your web browser. In the free software community, the idea that non-free programs mistreat their users is familiar. Some of us refuse entirely to install proprietary software, and many others consider non-freedom a strike against the program. Many users are aware that this issue applies to the plug-ins that browsers offer to install, since they can be free or non-free. But browsers run other non-free programs which they don’t ask you about or even tell you about—programs that web pages contain or link to. These programs are most often written in Javascript, though other languages are also used. Javascript (officially called ECMAscript, but few use that name) was once used for minor frills in web pages, such as cute but inessential navigation and display features. It was acceptable to consider these as mere extensions of HTML markup, rather than as true software; they did not constitute a significant issue.
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Watchdog takes on Telstra Herald Sun
Telstra faces tens of millions of dollars in fines over claims it locked its rivals out of the phone network. Telstra shares sunk to a record low as the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission launched legal action against Australia’s biggest telco over claims it breached its standard access obligations. Telstra hit back, condemning the action as a waste of court time and taxpayer money. That didn’t stop investors driving the stock down to a historic low of $2.93 before it closed at $2.96, off 7c. The ACCC alleges Telstra repeatedly breached its carrier licence conditions, and contravened the Trades Practices Act and the Telecommunications Act.
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China, U.S. trade barbs over WTO piracy case Reuters
China and the United States traded blows over entertainment and software piracy Friday as the World Trade Organization (WTO) formally ruled some Chinese practices were illegal but exonerated it of other complaints. But the comments also showed that major trading powers were still ready to work within the international rules-based system to resolve rows even if the economic crisis is increasing protectionist pressures. The WTO’s dispute settlement body adopted a January 26 ruling in a case brought by the United States against China for failing to protect and enforce intellectual property rights, such as copyrights and trademarks, on a wide range of goods.
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One in four government databases illegal Telegraph UK
One in four Government databases are illegal under human rights or data protection and should be scrapped immediately, a panel of experts have warned. Systems including the DNA database, National Identity Register, the children’s ContactPoint index and the NHS Detailed Care Record are “fundamentally flawed”, they conclude. The scathing report says a quarter of public sector databases are either disproportionate, run without consent, have no legal basis or have major privacy or operational problems. In a wide-ranging attack, it warns children are most at risk from “Britain’s Database State” and that data sharing is now creating a barrier to socially responsible activities.
Tata Nano: Meet the World’s Cheapest Car FastCompany
Tata, an Indian auto maker, is unveiling its Nano car today. The animating idea is that the Nano has been designed to bring road transportation to the masses in India, particularly people who’d never had access to a vehicle before. But the car’s also earning itself another reputation as the world’s cheapest car: it costs just $2,000. The car is marketed under the snappy tagline “A comfortable, safe, all-weather people’s car, high on fuel efficiency and low on emissions.” (For more on the Nano’s environmental impact, click here.) It’s a tiny four-door auto, with a rear location for its 2-cylinder gasoline aluminum 623cc engine. Think of it as a smaller Smart car with two extra doors.
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Phishing Scammer tries it on with CEO of an Anti-phishing software product Online Armor
So, I’m sitting there today working on something for a client when I received an unsolicted Skype Message with an “Important Business Proposal”. I normally mess with these guys a little, just to waste their time , but as I was on the phone to a client I just decided to get rid of him quickly. As you can see – he was suprisingly honest about his ultimate intentions. This is how the scam works Mr Dutu, or Mrs Dutu is usually writing to you from a yahoo or other free email address. It usually doesn’t address you by name. It always offers some opportunity – usually, the chance to get a share of millions of dollars in exchange for some assistance. A common theme is the widow of a Nigerian official (or just a corrupt Nigerian official) wants to move $250M (usually spelled as TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY MILLION DOLLARS) out of the country. He or she just needs a partner overseas. They offer a split of the money. Often there is the chance of further profits (we’d like to invest in real-estate in your country, and we will give you 10% of the profits). Quite often, they thank God for His mercy in finding someone as kind as yourself to help them.[Also see http://www.p2pnet.net/story/19013 p2pnet meets Caroline from Darfur 
]
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Sony Now Charging Publishers For PS3 Downloadable Content, An Unpopular Policy Shift MTV
Until October 1 2008, video game publishers who wanted to offer downloadable content on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 didn’t have to worry about getting a bill from Microsoft and Sony. The million-plus downloads that a popular demo or map pack might receive could delight gamers, but rack up some expensive bandwidth costs. No problem: the publishers, who already pay a licensing fee to get their games on the two big platforms, could count on the platform holders — Microsoft and Sony — to pay the cost of piping that digital content to gamers. That situation changed with the PS3 on October 1 of last year, when Sony implemented a 16 cents per Gigabyte fee to publishers for paid and free downloadable content, according to publishing sources familiar with Sony’s policy. Game publishers are not happy about it.
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Twitter PINs down SMS tweet spoofing Heise Online
Twitter has quietly updated their system to ensure that all users have the option of using a PIN number to stop Twitter SMS spoofing, but it’s not as easy to use as it should be. Twitter SMS spoofing allows a person to use an SMS spoofing service to post updates to a user’s Twitter account if they have the mobile number of the phone the victim uses to post SMS updates to Twitter. US users of Twitter have had the option of using a PIN number for some time; this allows the user to set a 4 digit number which must prefix any updates they send over SMS.
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Skype Now Means Business, Friends the SIP World Gigaom
Skype, a division of beleaguered eBay, is going corporate. The company today announced that it will play nice with corporate PBX systems that use Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). According to The Wall Street Journal, the Skype-for-SIP product will be introduced as a beta product and will be tested by a limited number of companies. Details on how this service will work are still fuzzy — Skype, continuing its habit of playing favorites in the press, hasn’t really bothered to get in touch with those likely to ask tough questions. The Journal story talks a lot of about the market and competition, without getting into the specifics, except that it will be targeted at small and medium-sized businesses.
March, 2009
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March 23rd, 2009 at 3:40 pm
Smooth move Sony that’s a great way to scare away developers from your over priced console
March 23rd, 2009 at 4:06 pm
The Gnu project always seeks to be on the fringe of society at any given moment. I do not — never have, and probably never will — see Javascript as problematic to free software. The fundamental distinction between Java and Javascript that makes Java problematic and Javascript not problematic is the sandbox they’re locked in. Javascript is little more than glorified HTML in its scope. It can’t manipulate anything except the page it’s loaded with. Java, on the other hand, is capable of doing just as much to my computer as any binary program. Its sandbox is so big as to be nearly the size of my entire system. As well, despite Google’s attempt to obfuscate the Javascript, the only thing they can do is just that. I suspect it has a lot more to do with reducing the size of the script than it has to do with obfuscating the code, however. Consider how many times it’s going to be downloaded from their servers.
There is another issue — a social and practical issue, rather than a technical issue. Normally, a website — whether Javascript plays a part in it or not — is viewed as a relatively one-way stream. You read data that is on the server. Maybe the server stores some responses (e.g., a forum or blog comments), but in general, most of a server’s traffic is outbound, not incoming (as always, there are exceptions to any generality). The scripts used to display the page seem qualify as content provided by the server. They’re limited to the page they’re loaded with, just like the HTML. They can be automatically generated, just like HTML. The source code can be viewed, just like HTML. The script is copyrighted right along with the page itself in many cases. I don’t see how a Javascript program is any different from a video on Youtube from this perspective. They’re both data to be displayed by the browser.
What seems to matter with javascript is precisely and exactly the program used to run the script, not the script itself. I won’t run a closed-source browser any more than I will run a closed-source Java virtual machine. But demanding that the javascript be open source is much like demanding that every video I watch is creative commons. It’s not going to happen, and being eccentric in this way is just going to drive off otherwise perfectly acceptable and even disireable uses for the technology and businesses that otherwise would support open source efforts.
As much as I’m a fan of free software, and don’t run anything except it on my computer, it just seems too fanatical to me to treat javascript the same way you treat C or binary programs. When I go to a web page, I will continue to ignore the Javascripts on the page until and unless they cause me problems. This seems right to me, FSF be damned.
March 23rd, 2009 at 4:51 pm
um
i can manipulate files with javascript
you should go back to school my friend
you can put malicious javascript into images that cause probs.
YOU can however make some neat browser effects with its neewer form called AJAX
haha blah blah blah
how about a paragraph and GNU has nothing to do with javascript whats that dribble on about
and go ahead and see how much code Google has “open sourced”
this poster obviously hasn’t taken time to go over there and see things.
SOURCEFORGE.NET
Free SOFTWARE RULES
March 23rd, 2009 at 10:06 pm
“Sony Now Charging Publishers For PS3 Downloadable Content, An Unpopular Policy Shift”
Good. Maybe this will be the first step to game makers NOT releasing imcomplete games and then forcing buyers to pay extra to download material that should have been in it to start with….plus incorrectly assuming all gamers can actually connect their consoles to the internet.
March 24th, 2009 at 9:11 am
@Jakykong
FSF is usually ahead of things. For example, re-read the essay below and compare with the recent history we all witnessed:
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
And here is a recipe:
1) Invent DRM or source code protection for JavaScript
2) Push it into a commonly used closed source browser on the next update
3) Get it used/implemented on a very popular site a-la Faceboob or GooTube.
…
10) PROFIT!
(NOTE: This disclosure is deemed prior art)
March 24th, 2009 at 9:24 am
@Jakykong:
If you look around, the recent social networking services are NOT distributed, but controlled by large companies. These large companies may run them on a server farm to “distribute” the load, but they are NOT distributed in the sense e-mail is distributed. You can run your own mail server and send e-mail to all users on all other mail servers. You can run your own Jabber server and your users are able to talk to other users on other jabber servers. As admin of such server, you can choose to filter spam or other junk, but you are not imposing your decision to users on other servers.
But you can’t run your own ICQ server, you can’t run your own Skype server, you can’t run your own Facebook server that federates with others. And this control gives these companies too much power. They are private enterprises and they offer a private, proprietary service, after all. If they don’t like you, they can cancel your account, without notice to you. And they don’t have to like you.
This is why “sites with Javascript” should not be treated as free software. Neither should “cloud computing” services be treated free (as in freedom), because most of the time you are not running a server node in such a system, you can’t choose your account provider (user@server type of account).
This article explains it pretty well: http://www.provider.net.ru/article.48.php (use Babelfish or Google Translate)
April 2nd, 2009 at 12:06 pm
about: http://www.provider.net.ru/article.48.php
here is my comment on this article, please use Babelfish to read it, and I publicate it here, because main http://www.provider.net.ru/article.48.php closed for commenting:
Это хорошо, что разрабатываются альтернативные OpenSource системы, но не стоит также отказываться от ICQ, Skype, Adobe flash и т.д. Я понимаю, что некоторые вкладывают в это своё время, но как пользователю почему бы и нет? А почему бы и не вложить время? Даже если весь мир начнёт пользоваться ICQ в качестве документооборота – что в этом плохого? Рычаги власти? Эти рычаги только для одной цели: содрать какие-то там 0,01% вашего человеческого фактора с рекламных показов, и больше ничего. Никто захватывать мир не собирается. А в случае чего все просто пересядут на вариант с открытым кодом. Зачем захламлять головы людей сейчас-то? Поддержите лучше гигантов, и это Вам обернётся иновациями и новыми возможностями. Лично я больше верю гигантам, а не тем парням в гараже, которые себя воображают Стивами Джобсами и Линусами, в то время как реально вносят вклад в инновации только гиганты и промышленность, и Ваша пресловутая бизнес-система. Фтопку коммунизм!
I fully against ideas of http://www.provider.net.ru/article.48.php web-site