http://www.osnews.com/ Exploring the Future of Computing en-us Copyright 2001-2012, David Adams OSNews version 4 donotreply@osnews.com (Adam Scheinberg) donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Wed, 15 Feb 2012 01:18:57 GMT http://www.osnews.com/images/osnews.gif http://www.osnews.com/ 120 http://www.osnews.com/story/25601/Microsoft_Google_Apple_talk_FRAND_patent_license_fees/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25601/Microsoft_Google_Apple_talk_FRAND_patent_license_fees/ "Microsoft today issued a brief statement promising to make 'essential patents' available to competitors at fair and reasonable licensing rates, and promised not to sue companies making products that infringe these patents. The actual patents themselves weren't disclosed, but Microsoft joins both Google and Apple in making recent statements on so-called fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory licensing terms. Such licensing terms designate certain patents as essential to complying with industry standards, making them available for licensing at (supposedly) lower-than-usual rates." This industry is dysfunctional. Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:04:51 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Legal 20 http://www.osnews.com/topics/44 News http://www.osnews.com/story/25583/Poland_Czech_Republic_Pause_ACTA_Ratification_Process/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25583/Poland_Czech_Republic_Pause_ACTA_Ratification_Process/ It would seem that freedom of speech and the open web are in better hands in Eastern Europe than they are in Western Europe. After Poland, the Czech Republic is the second country to suspend the process of ratifying ACTA. "A wave of protests against the international agreement, including hackers' attacks, has swollen in the world as well as in the Czech Republic. 'By no means would the government admit a situation where civic freedoms and free access to information would be threatened,' [Czech PM] Necas said." Anyone from either Poland or the Czech Republic care to comment on how serious we have to take their politicians? If a Dutch or an American politician said something like this, I'd be weary and mistrusting. Mon, 06 Feb 2012 21:44:04 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Legal 25 http://www.osnews.com/topics/44 News http://www.osnews.com/story/25580/Cables_Reveal_Extent_of_US_Copyright_Pressure_on_Sweden/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25580/Cables_Reveal_Extent_of_US_Copyright_Pressure_on_Sweden/ "Among the treasure troves of recently released WikiLeaks cables, we find one whose significance has bypassed Swedish media. In short: every law proposal, every ordinance, and every governmental report hostile to the net, youth, and civil liberties here in Sweden in recent years have been commissioned by the US government and industry interests." How such prestigious nations with such long and proud histories, like Sweden, The Netherlands, and so on, can succumb to pressure from a former colony is beyond me. We should know better. Sun, 05 Feb 2012 12:26:34 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Legal 54 http://www.osnews.com/topics/44 News http://www.osnews.com/story/25578/Samsung_Says_EU_Probe_Will_Find_it_Compliant/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25578/Samsung_Says_EU_Probe_Will_Find_it_Compliant/ "Samsung, in its first acknowledgment of the European Commission's antitrust investigation of its patent licensing practices, Friday said it believed the commission would ultimately conclude the company complies with the rules. The investigation arose out of Samsung's dispute with Apple over trademarks and patents that cover smartphones and tablet computers." Sat, 04 Feb 2012 14:37:25 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Legal 8 http://www.osnews.com/topics/44 News http://www.osnews.com/story/25567/Antitrust_Commission_Opens_Proceedings_Against_Samsung/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25567/Antitrust_Commission_Opens_Proceedings_Against_Samsung/ "The European Commission has opened a formal investigation to assess whether Samsung Electronics has abusively, and in contravention of a commitment it gave to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), used certain of its standard essential patent rights to distort competition in European mobile device markets, in breach of EU antitrust rules. The opening of proceedings means that the Commission will examine the case as a matter of priority. It does not prejudge the outcome of the investigation." Maybe Samsung should've added '...with rounded corners' to their patent applications. Wed, 01 Feb 2012 21:39:27 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Legal 5 http://www.osnews.com/topics/44 News rhavyn http://www.osnews.com/story/25565/B_N_s_Patent-misuse_Claim_Against_Microsoft_Thrown_Out/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25565/B_N_s_Patent-misuse_Claim_Against_Microsoft_Thrown_Out/ "Barnes & Noble's claim that Microsoft is misusing patents to undermine competition from Google's Android operating system was thrown out by a U.S. trade judge. U.S. International Trade Commission Judge Theodore Essex rejected today Barnes & Noble's arguments the patents should be held unenforceable, Microsoft Deputy General Counsel David Howard said in a statement. Essex's decision is subject to review by the six-member commission, which has the power to block imports of products that violate U.S. patent rights." Wed, 01 Feb 2012 21:19:22 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Legal 2 http://www.osnews.com/topics/44 News http://www.osnews.com/story/25555/Jailbreaking_The_Internet_For_Freedom_s_Sake/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25555/Jailbreaking_The_Internet_For_Freedom_s_Sake/ With so many threats to a free and open Internet, sooner or later, people will need to arm themselves for the fight, writes Deep End's Paul Venezia. 'If the baboons succeed in constraining speech and information flow on the broader Internet, the new Internet will emerge quickly. For an analogy, consider the iPhone and the efforts of a few smart hackers who have allowed anyone to jailbreak an iPhone with only a small downloaded app and a few minutes,' Venezia writes. 'All that scenario would require would be a way to wrap up existing technologies into a nice, easily-installed package available through any number of methods. Picture the harrowing future of rampant Internet take-downs and censorship, and then picture a single installer that runs under Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux that installs tor, tools to leverage alternative DNS servers, anonymizing proxies, and even private VPN services. A few clicks of the mouse, and suddenly that machine would be able to access sites "banned" through general means.' Tue, 31 Jan 2012 22:14:25 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (OSNews Staff) Legal 13 http://www.osnews.com/topics/44 News snydeq http://www.osnews.com/story/25557/Megaupload_Users_Could_Lose_Data_by_Thursday/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25557/Megaupload_Users_Could_Lose_Data_by_Thursday/ According to MSNBC, up to 50 million Megaupload users could lose their data by Thursday. They haven't been able to access their data since surprise US government raids early this month. None of these users has been charged with any crime. This continues the US trend towards expanded use of forfeiture laws to arbitrarily seize and/or destroy private property without due process. The US Constitution's 5th Amendment states "No person shall be... deprived of life, liberty or property without due process or law; nor shall private property be taken... without just compensation." The situation raises questions both about the reliability of cloud services for data storage and the end of due process in the United States. Tue, 31 Jan 2012 03:49:17 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Howard Fosdick) Legal 48 http://www.osnews.com/topics/44 News http://www.osnews.com/story/25537/Dutch_Court_Obliterates_Apple_s_Appeal_Tab_10_1_Not_Banned/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25537/Dutch_Court_Obliterates_Apple_s_Appeal_Tab_10_1_Not_Banned/ Summer last year, the Dutch courts ruled that Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 did not infringe on Apple's community designs, and as such, would not be banned from The Netherlands. This was a "quick case", and as such, Apple had the right to appeal and turn this into a "full case". Apple did, but I now think they really wish they hadn't - the Court of Appeal in The Hague has pretty much ripped Apple a new one [Dutch], and upheld the District Court's ruling. Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:09:31 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Legal 17 http://www.osnews.com/topics/44 News http://www.osnews.com/story/25528/US_Government_Shuts_Down_MegaUpload_com_Arrests_Four/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25528/US_Government_Shuts_Down_MegaUpload_com_Arrests_Four/ And bam, MegaUpload.com is no more. The FBI has arrested four people behind the popular file-sharing website, and is looking for three more, in a worlwide investigation into the website. Apparently, the site is super-dangerous - the indictment behind the arrests minces no words. As a countermeasure, people claiming to be from Anonymous took down the websites of ViaCom and the Department of Justice. Update: Ars has analysed the indictment. It's pretty damning, but does have a few weird odds and ends. Update II: And more and more sites are falling by Anonymous' hands. Largest operation in their history. Thu, 19 Jan 2012 23:00:05 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Legal 83 http://www.osnews.com/topics/44 News http://www.osnews.com/story/25510/TVShack_Admin_Fights_Extradition_to_US/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25510/TVShack_Admin_Fights_Extradition_to_US/ "Three weeks ago the 23-year-old UK-based administrator of a TV show and movie links site was arrested by police. The site, referred to only as TVShack, could be one of three domains of which two are already controlled by the US government after their seizure as part of Operation in Our Sites. Following his detention in the UK's largest prison, the admin is now fighting his extradition to the U.S. with the help of Gary McKinnon's lawyer." His site only linked; it did not host. The most damning point is that he was found not guilty under UK law. So, does this mean The Netherlands can request extradition of, say, Rick Santorum for his blatant anti-homosexual remarks, which are illegal under Dutch law? That would be fun. Sat, 14 Jan 2012 21:11:42 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Legal 37 http://www.osnews.com/topics/44 News http://www.osnews.com/story/25503/LG_Latest_Victim_of_Microsoft_s_Android_Extortion_Scheme/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25503/LG_Latest_Victim_of_Microsoft_s_Android_Extortion_Scheme/ And yet another major Android vendor will pay protection money to Microsoft. "Microsoft and LG Electronics have signed a patent agreement that provides broad coverage under Microsoft's patent portfolio for LG's tablets, mobile phones and other consumer devices running the Android or Chrome OS Platform. The contents of the agreement have not been disclosed." You know your technology sector is terminally ill when this sort of bullshit is considered normal. Thu, 12 Jan 2012 17:31:46 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Legal 88 http://www.osnews.com/topics/44 News http://www.osnews.com/story/25483/How_the_US_Pressured_Spain_to_Adopt_Web_Blocking_Law/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25483/How_the_US_Pressured_Spain_to_Adopt_Web_Blocking_Law/ "Though a deeply divided Congress is currently considering Internet website censorship legislation, the US has no such official policy - not even for child porn, which is voluntarily blocked by some ISPs. Nor does the US have a government-backed 'three strikes' or 'graduated response' system of escalating warnings to particular users accused of downloading music and movies from file-sharing networks. Yet here was the ultimatum that the US Embassy in Madrid gave the Spanish government in February 2008: adopt such measures or we will punish you. Thanks to WikiLeaks, we have the text of the diplomatic cable announcing the pressure tactics." Isn't it funny that one of the main driving forces behind the push for more stringent copyright laws, Disney, has built its empire almost entirely on appropriating European public domain stories? As a European, that's just insulting. Fri, 06 Jan 2012 09:26:40 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Legal 17 http://www.osnews.com/topics/44 News http://www.osnews.com/story/25478/Google_s_Acquisition_Of_IBM_Patents_May_Aid_its_Oracle_Case/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25478/Google_s_Acquisition_Of_IBM_Patents_May_Aid_its_Oracle_Case/ According to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Web site, Google acquired 188 patents and another 29 patents pending from IBM in a deal recorded December 30.[..]The newest batch of patents from IBM have only a handful of mobile telephony applications. Instead, they are rich in database intellectual property. Wed, 04 Jan 2012 16:20:42 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (David Adams) Legal 3 http://www.osnews.com/topics/44 News fran http://www.osnews.com/story/25452/Galaxy_Tab_10_1N_No_Longer_Violates_Apple_s_Design_Patent/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25452/Galaxy_Tab_10_1N_No_Longer_Violates_Apple_s_Design_Patent/ You really can't make this stuff up. I wish I could - I'd be a millionaire comedian with an annoying ventriloquist dummy whose unfunny show takes over "Comedy" Central every other month. In any case, the Galaxy Tab 10.1N, the slightly modified version of the Tab 10.1 Samsung introduced in Germany to circumvent the injunction from Apple, has been labelled okay by the German courts, even though Apple still contents that it looks too much like an iPad. Thu, 22 Dec 2011 16:16:50 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Legal 20 http://www.osnews.com/topics/44 News