Linked by Linux Review on Tue 20th Mar 2012 17:07 UTC
It's been a while since we caught up with Stallman. But a couple months ago we took a look around at what's happening with law, politics and technology and realized that he maybe perhaps his extremism and paranoia were warranted all along. So when we were contacted by an Iranian Linux publication and asked if we would like to publish an English translation of a recent interview they had done with Stallman, I thought that it was a particularly rich opportunity.
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Member since:2006-01-25
Not so simple. DRM is a preemptive policing technology intended for a very practical application. Thus it's not comparable to an abstract gun, but more to putting handcuffs on everyone, just in case someone will decide to act illegally.
Using handcuffs as an analogy is rather ironic to me - handcuffs are a tool used to inhibit a person's ability to resist. DRM doesn't inhibit this at all, if anything it has the opposite effect (it ends up promoting the exact behavior your imply it deters - primarily because it doesn't work and everyone knows it).
We are both against DRM. But I'm against it because it is used stupidly, not because it is evil. Assuming it actually worked, using it to control copying of sensitive data (that you in fact own) is not evil at all.
Demonizing technology doesn't do any good - I prefer to concentrate on the real problems... If people would stop complaining about silly things like DRM and start voting with their wallets a lot of these "issues" would resolve themselves rather quickly.
The fact is virtually no one is really happy with the rights they are granted when they buy a piece of music (DRM or not). But they buy it anyway... THAT is the problem.
Member since:2010-06-08
People do vote with their wallets. But it looks like media companies aren't smart enough to realize that DRM doesn't help them (on the contrary).
If analogy of handcuffs isn't precise, use something akin to restrictive collars, legcuffs etc. which restrict the freedom of movement. Imagine these applied to the whole population just to inhibit agile movement (since potential criminals tend to need agile actions).
DRM is intended to restrict the freedom of access to your data. Since it's preemptive and applied unconditionally, it's immoral. That's pretty obvious.
Member since:2005-07-11
Using handcuffs as an analogy is rather ironic to me - handcuffs are a tool used to inhibit a person's ability to resist. DRM doesn't inhibit this at all, if anything it has the opposite effect (it ends up promoting the exact behavior your imply it deters - primarily because it doesn't work and everyone knows it).
It's not so much that DRM doesn't work, but that it works against those who actually follow the rules (ie, the lawful customers). DRM actually makes the lives of the very customers they are trying to keep just a little bit harder.
DRM servers go down ... paying customers can no longer access their [music|app|game|whatever] ... but the "pirates" can.
All the unskippable crap on DVDs/Blu-rays protected by DRM and other encryption just drive people nuts, to the point where they get fed up with it, and decide to download movies instead of (or, possibly, in addition to) buying them.
And so on. DRM only hurts paying customers. It doesn't hurt the "pirates". Which is completely bassackwards!
News
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 22:33 UTC
Official Apple statement on PRISM and privacy: "Regardless of the circumstances, our Legal team conducts an evaluation of each request and, only if appropriate, we retrieve and deliver the narrowest possible set of information to the authorities. In fact, from time to time when we see inconsistencies or inaccuracies in a request, we will refuse to fulfill it." This is basically Apple re-publishing their earlier statement in a more official manner. You either believe it, or you don't.
Linked by Anonymous on 06/18/13 22:26 UTC
The open source Contiki operating system and its commercial Thingsquare distribution are making strides towards the connected home. According to a Computerworld article, a new LED light bulb manufacturer is putting small computers into their light bulbs. Each computer runs the Contiki OS, which gives each bulb an IP address and allows them to be controlled with a smartphone application. To connect the bulbs to the application, the bulbs use both Wi-Fi and the much lower power IEEE 802.15.4 mesh technology.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 22:25 UTC
"Google asked the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on Tuesday to ease long-standing gag orders over data requests it makes, arguing that the company has a constitutional right to speak about information it's forced to give the government. The legal filing, which cites the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech, is the latest move by the California-based tech giant to protect its reputation in the aftermath of news reports about sweeping National Security Agency surveillance of Internet traffic." Draining the ditch after the cow has drowned in it.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 17:45 UTC
"I can't find one person who has been using the Nexus 7 for an extended period of time, and hasn't seen a massive downgrade in performance. Just what kind of downgrade are we talking here? I cannot pick up my Nexus 7 without experiencing problems like a lag of ten seconds, or more, just to rotate the display; touches refusing to acknowledged; stuttering notification panel actions; and unresponsive apps." Fully and utterly agreed. My Nexus 7 was blazing-fast and awesome for a few months, and at some point, it just started sucking. Just like that. I've tried loads of ROMs, and nothing helps.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 17:32 UTC, submitted by poundsmack
A new release of the hobby operating system MenuetOS! The release notes are a bit non-descript, but you'll have to take what you can get: "updates and improvements (picview, httpc, ehci, ...)".
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/17/13 17:58 UTC
"The Internet is one of the most transformative technologies of our lifetimes. But for 2 out of every 3 people on earth, a fast, affordable Internet connection is still out of reach. And this is far from being a solved problem. There are many terrestrial challenges to Internet connectivity - jungles, archipelagos, mountains. There are also major cost challenges. Right now, for example, in most of the countries in the southern hemisphere, the cost of an Internet connection is more than a month's income. Solving these problems isn't simply a question of time: it requires looking at the problem of access from new angles. So today we're unveiling our latest moonshot from Google[x]: balloon-powered Internet access." Insane.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/17/13 17:52 UTC
"MineAssemble is a tiny bootable Minecraft clone written partly in x86 assembly. I made it first and foremost because a university assignment required me to implement a game in assembly for a computer systems course. Because I had never implemented anything more complex than a 'Hello World' bootloader before, I decided I wanted to learn about writing my own kernel code at the same time. Note that the goal of this project was not to write highly efficient hand-optimized assembly code, but rather to have fun and write code that balances readability and speed. This is primarily accomplished by proper commenting and consistent code structuring." Just cool.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/14/13 21:03 UTC
Jon Rubinstein, former CEO of Palm: "Well, I'm not sure I would have sold the company to HP. That's for sure. Talk about a waste. Not that I had any choice because when you sell a company you don't get to decide that. Obviously, the board and shareholders decide that. If we had known they were just going to shut it down and never really give it a chance to flourish, what would have been the point of selling the company? I think the deal we had with Verizon really hurt us, but who knew that at the time? These things are all hindsight."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/14/13 20:46 UTC
"And so it is with Dell's Alienware X51 R2, a small form factor gaming PC in console digs. It's shaped similar to Microsoft's Xbox 360 Slim, and though it's slightly larger than either a 360 or PlayStation 3, the X51 R2 would be right at home in a living room setting nestled next to a large screen TV. Indeed, it's adept at running Steam's Big Picture mode, and if your primary objective is to play games in the living room, go ahead and consider the X51 R2 a hybrid game console." This is obviously not the only machine like this - still, these are very valid console alternatives even for those that don't like being hunched over with a cramped WASD-claw. Also, PC gamers among us: could you get away with the $699 model for gaming?
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/14/13 17:32 UTC
From Bloomberg: "Microsoft, the world's largest software company, provides intelligence agencies with information about bugs in its popular software before it publicly releases a fix, according to two people familiar with the process. That information can be used to protect government computers and to access the computers of terrorists or military foes." The lid has officially been blown off.More News »
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Member since:
2010-06-08
Not so simple. DRM is a preemptive policing technology intended for a very practical application. Thus it's not comparable to an abstract gun, but more to putting handcuffs on everyone, just in case someone will decide to act illegally. Handcuffs are just a tool, but putting them on everyone as a preemptive policing practice - is unethical. That's why DRM is unethical. It's not just an abstract technology, but technology created for the single purpose of preemptive policing.
Edited 2012-03-21 02:12 UTC