● 09.28.11
●● Links, Facebook and Boot Aggression Round Up. Spectrum Shortage Lies.
Posted in Site News at 2:28 am by Guest Editorial Team
●●● Reader’s Picks
SecurityMeet the first US Government GNU/Linux distro, the USAF Lightweight Portable Security (LPS) designed for USB and CD use.It comes with non free software, so it’s not really secure or private, but it’s better than Windows. The “C:\” icon on the desktop is strange.Environment/Energy/WildlifeSeveral pollution health and mortality tracking programs are being cut.President Obama has proposed major budget cuts to the Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) National Center for Environmental Health, including asthma prevention programs, funds to track and investigate lead poisoning, and emergency response biomonitoring programs.Clean coal start ups in the Solyndra money pool are also having problemsThe difference between the two is that the coal industry is not serious about pollution control and does not need more government subsidies. The best way to sequester coal carbon and avoid pollution is it to leave it in the dirt. Anti-TrustMicrosoft’s Non-Response to the Secure Boot ProblemMicrosoft has provided a very detailed explanation of what UEFI secure boot is, and what its benefits are. What Microsoft hasn’t done is to actually respond to concerns raised by Matthew Garrett about its secure boot policies. … policies do not require that users be able to turn the feature off. As Garrett says, “end user is no longer in control of their PC.”Garrett’s collection of factsMicrosoft to stop Linux, older Windows, from running on Windows 8 PCsI wonder though if what Microsoft really wants is to avoid a repeat of the Vista fiasco by making sure OEMs and end-users can’t go back to Windows 7 or XP. As Windows 7′s slow adoption and Vista’s flop has shown, users really haven’t been that interested in moving off Windows XP. Since Windows 8′s Metro interface adds an entirely new level of complications … As it stands now Microsoft is saying OEMs don’t have to do it. They just have to do it if they want to sell PCs with Windows on them. Paging the anti-trust lawyers … SVJN was fooling himself and ignoring attacks on Android, Google, Yahoo and others if he thought there was a “new Microsoft”Linux users threaten Microsoft with ACCC (Australia)Linux Australia president John Ferlito told ZDNet Australia today that the council will be meeting on Thursday night to determine whether it will take up a campaign against Microsoft’s secure boot practices.ZDNet is so twisted. Demanding that government protect people from Microsoft aggression is hardly a case of “threaten Microsoft”. PrivacyMedia UK dumps FacebookI Made The Wrong Choice With FacebookUsing Media UK, I could flag up “xxxxxx is using Media UK”, “xxxxxx is using the job section of Media UK”, “xxxxxx is reading a job vacancy on Media UK” – which would flagrantly abuse privacy of my users. I won’t do that; but I worry that, if The Guardian does it, it’ll be seen as “normal”.Facebook’s OpenGraph: Time to get outThe result Zuckerberg is hoping for is that people will leave a detailed record of every aspect of their lives on Facebook’s servers. Sure, you will be sharing those details with your “friends”; but in the end, it will always be Facebook that determines who can see those details. … Facebook decides who you can talk to, and what you can say … in effect, Facebook will be acting as its own private Internet.See also, Not F’d by the FSFLogging out of Facebook is not enoughEven if you are logged out, Facebook still knows and can track every page you visit. The only solution is to delete every Facebook cookie in your browser, or to use a separate browser for Facebook interactions.The separate browser advice may not work on Windows, where Microsoft already spies on users and has data sharing agreements with Facebook.Facebook scares Dave Winer, Scripting NewsI had somehow given access to my Facebook account to ReadWriteWeb. That’s puzzling because I have no memory of having done that. And when I went to see what other organizations I had given access to my graph, there were lots of surprises. I think there’s a good chance that by visiting a site you are now giving them access to lots more info about you.Facebook confesses to some tracking practices and promises to fix them.PJ notes,‘m not sure trust is still on the table. Thank you, Nik Cubrilovic, for telling us the truth about Facebook.Internet/Net NeutralityUS Monopolists sit on spectrum and use the results to get exemptions to network neutrality regulations.538 MHz of wireless spectrum has been allocated to U.S. firms, though some 192 MHz is actually in use. And according to their calculation, at least 90% of that amount is used for … [older protocols with] transmission speeds of less than 1 megabit per second (Mbps) during peak usage hours.The analysts at Citi who did this study did not mention Open Spectrum, which is a real end to the problem but bad for their investments. Policies undermining network neutrality over spectrum shortages are based on a lie.Intellectual MonopoliesWhite House Petition to End Software Patents Is a HitAt this moment, on the White House’s official website for petitioning the government, the only thing as popular as legalizing marijuana [254 and 11,000 signatures, states rights for mj has 7,000 and 9,000, ending war on drugs 9,000] and separating church from state is a petition to “Direct the Patent Office to Cease Issuing Software Patents.”The count is more than 10,000 signatures so we can expect a written response. People should sign it anyway, if they are not bothered by giving the information required. Other interesting petitions that have about as much or more interest include ending the Pat riot Act, abolishing the TSA, forgiving student loans, ending corporate personhood,
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